The update is cool but the update process was not.<p><pre><code> -Update available, wanna install?
Sure
-OK don't mind me I'm gonna need a while
OK
-HA HA I LIED I"M READY TO TERMINATE EVERYTHING BYEEEE
WTF
5 reboots with just an Apple icon and a progress bar
The progress bar also moves backwards sometimes
I guess it's a metaphor for life, which is how long this seems to be taking
-OK hello I am back but I need 10 minutes of alone time
-Here is some unfamiliar wallpaper but you can log in I guess
-Oh it's you again, do you want to share analytics with us
-OK here is your familiar desktop, I am not telling you what has changed
Um preferences
-Oh hai I'm called Settings now and I reorganized everything
Yikes but OK this is sorta well laid out I guess
-Hello I am Stage Manager, I put a desktop on your desktop so you can work while you work
Sorta neat, can I configure some things differently though
-No
</code></pre>
Funnily enough I had just started reading the <i>Ars Technica</i> review when the upgrade took place so that helped with navigating the changes but it was an oddly jarring transition. I get that Apple doesn't like burdening users with too much technical information (as in 'any') but given how significantly the Settings app has changed I'm surprised there was no Release notes or feature tour of any kind.
Countless person-years of engineering effort, and Spotlight is still mostly useless.<p>All I want is to hit Command-F to quickly search the filenames in the current folder (not start a sluggish scan of my entire hard disk). There used to be workarounds for this, but then they removed "Find by Name..." from Finder just to make our lives harder. Does anyone know a workable alternative?
My friend has some issues with using the `scp` command on Ventura to copy files to a Synology NAS.<p>It turns out the `scp` has been updated to use sftp protocol since OpenSSH 8.9 and Synology seems to use a different port for sftp, causing some hard to understand errors.<p><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/835962/" rel="nofollow">https://lwn.net/Articles/835962/</a> for context.
Wow, clamshell to external monitor support is vastly improved. I couldn't believe it when it happened the first time.<p>I have a MBA M2 going USB-C -> HDMI on a 4k Dell monitor. You can open and close the laptop and it switches the external from secondary to primary and back almost instantaneously.<p>I'd describe this as a major improvement over every prior MacOS.
I’m usually excited about macOS releases but this one is an underwhelming update and don’t see any reason to update any time soon.<p>Stage manager seems like a half measure to introduce better window management in macOS and it doesn’t help that it doesn’t support a keyboard only workflow, from what I can tell from the demos.<p>Coming from i3wm, I found Yabai to be an excellent keyboard-first window manager. I do wish something like Yabai was built into macOS.
For IT/Security folks looking for a good rundown of what's new we put this together, talks about Passkeys, RSR, Gatekeeper improvements, and Lockdown mode.<p><a href="https://www.kolide.com/blog/the-security-and-it-admin-s-guide-to-macos-ventura" rel="nofollow">https://www.kolide.com/blog/the-security-and-it-admin-s-guid...</a>
I ended up skipping Monterey on my 2013 Mac Pro entirely because it wouldn't let me install it because my original SSD broke and I replaced it with a non-Apple SSD. Starting with Monterey, that's not cool anymore because reasons.<p>Supposedly if you install the original SSD it will update some firmware somewhere and you'll be able to use the 3rd party SSD after that. But, like I said, mine's broken. You can supposedly also buy a used genuine SSD off eBay, but that seems a slightly expensive way to do a free OS upgrade.<p>Interesting story, Apple will not sell you a replacement or upgrade SSD for your 2013 Mac Pro - not for any price. They're only available for warranty replacements, and these computers haven't been under warranty for a long time.<p>Another thing I assume is still not fixed: The ability to permanently disable VRR for monitors that don't behave well with Apple's VRR implementation. That one's been annoying me with Monterey on my work laptop. Every time the computer sleeps, it turns VRR back on, and my screen blinks and flickers away until I manually turn it off again.
<i>macOS Ventura takes the Mac experience to a whole new level with groundbreaking capabilities that help users achieve more than ever. </i><p>Now there's a nothing burger sentence to start us off.
And the legions of System Settings, Control Center, and Share Panel accessibility problems remain intact. I don't even understand the point of filing bugs during these betas anymore; macOS seems destined to be an unusable quagmire.<p>This stuff was noticed months ago: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31669950" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31669950</a>
I'm surprised they released this. I try to participate in every macOS beta I can. This is by far the most unstable release I've experienced.<p>- Settings app has a lot of weird bugs and performance issues. After a restart I have to wait a few minutes before the Settings app actually functions. Overall the Settings app has felt like a step back in terms of UX and performance<p>- Lots of weird issues with Docker (might be on Docker's side though)<p>- My screen goes black after disconnecting my external monitor and requires a restart to fix the issue<p>- Strange networking issues
Installed fine on my 2018 15" MacBook Pro. Still a good machine that I use as my main machine. Took about 20 minutes I guess, didn't time it but was ready quicker than I expected.<p>None of the changes are life changing but oh well, isn't often a desktop OS really surprises me with something new these days. Hopefully it is as stable as Monterey was for me which didn't have a single crash in the whole year.<p>Stage Manager is interesting but a very minimal effort by Apple. They <i>really</i> need to work on better overall window management in macOS. Snapping and tighter keyboard management for moving and resizing windows is badly needed. Either that or they need to relax their accessibility restrictions for apps so that we can get some good third-party options without needing to disable SIP.<p>Overall it seems to be mostly quality of life improvements, a few related to their primary services (such as Photo Library sharing) which will obviously be handy for up-selling iCloud/Apple One paid upgrades.<p>I am interested to see the new virtualisation framework stuff. Wondering if things like Distrobox (podman) can make use of it.
What's the best place to read technical details about new Mac releases? This has a bit, as do other sites like <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macos-13/" rel="nofollow">https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macos-13/</a>, but I wonder if there's something with a more exhaustive list -- something that reads like actual "patch notes".
Apple used to feel to me like a company that sold user experiences and the hardware was a means to that end. Now it feels like an electronics company that sells consumer hardware, and the user experience is just a necessary cost to be minimized.
It's macOS alright. The addition of a weather app is great. Otherwise I feel like macOS has mostly regressed since the redesign with Big Sur.
I still miss the old design and performance has steadily declined with each version.
Stage manager feels like this years version of "What if instead implementing window snapping we make up a new clunky way to disimprove multitasking.
It looks like Ventura drops support for the 2nd generation (Late 2010 to 2017) MacBook Airs (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air</a>). So let's figure one more year for Big Sur, then another year for (edit) Monterey, then I guess they will need to migrate to Linux.
Could anyone please share emoji file, do not want to get 12gb only for this :D `/System/Library/Fonts/Apple Color Emoji.ttc`<p>nvm, <a href="https://0x0.st/oxdZ.ttc" rel="nofollow">https://0x0.st/oxdZ.ttc</a><p>Apple Color Emoji<p>Version 18.0d4e1<p>Glyph count 3 574
Very excited about the ability to run x86 VMs through Rosetta. This will make x86 virtualization a lot more straightforward on Apple Silicon (no more reliance on qemu).
Ventura and iPadOS 16 dropped (along with iOS 16.1), but not Xcode 14.1 (which is still RC). I don't recall them ever not releasing Xcode at the same time as an OS update.
I don't use Safari, Mail, Photos, iCloud or Spotlight (except to start apps - I deselect all the other options), and only activate the sidebar/widgets on accident (out of sight, out of mind). Nor do I own an iPad or play games on my Mac. I'm sure I'll never use Stage Manager and hope it's something I can turn off.<p>In short, this upgrade is simply an hour or so of annoyance, but Apple is Apple. You take the good with the bad. I have a dream - which will never happen - of a "MinMac" setting on install where you just get the least amount of cruft possible.
Was anyone able to resist upgrading from 12.6.1 to 13.0?<p>I've never been enthusiastic about Apple's annual upgrade schedule for macOS, biannual was far more comfortable. When responsible for users' desktops, I tend to wait for months after at least .1 is released and even then only start with one lucky user for weeks of trial period, and I do the same with application updates. Invariably, users ask for upgrades, and I make them tell me what new features or security enhancements they can't do without, and that usually calms them down.<p>At home, I'm still holding out on 10.14.6, but this old mini is only supported up to 10.15.7, so I figured I might as well freeze upgrading on Mojave so I can still run legacy 32-bit software if I want it. I may even downgrade to 10.13 so I can build Basilisk II and other 32-bit only software, but I suppose I can still use binaries, so not absolutely necessary. I just don't need new hardware yet, so I have the luxury of waiting until after Apple stops selling M1 minis. They're so reasonable to begin with, my hope is they can soon after be found for a song. I really want a 2018 Mini, also, but they'll take longer to come down in price, unfortunately and for no particularly great reason.
Updated my MacBook Pro, worked well (as expected), then proceeded to upgrade my M1 Mini headless "server". Update in itself went OK, though it doesn't respect that i have user accounts on an external SSD, so i had to ssh in as my "admin account", delete the /Volumes/Homes mount and reboot.<p>Now, my mini mirrors our cloud data locally for backups, and as such every user is signed in, and one way of doing that is simply a remote desktop and "switch user". It's cumbersome, and i wish it would just "magically" synchronize data once the user had registered on it, but it only needs to be done every time it restarts, which is when i new patch/version is released.<p>Anyway, i clicked "switch user" and <i>poof</i> lost connection. Following tries gave an "invalid desktop size 0x0" error, or it simply produced noise on the remote desktop window.<p>Logging in the user directly through remote desktop worked, but just be aware there may be dragons.
Very curious to know if Venture + VM + Linux + Steam is a setup that'll work with the new VM support.<p>I kind of want to play some old school windows games, but I don't want to pay for parallels.
Here's a good write-up on Stage Manager: <a href="https://eclecticlight.co/2022/09/12/why-venturas-stage-manager-is-so-important/" rel="nofollow">https://eclecticlight.co/2022/09/12/why-venturas-stage-manag...</a><p>What I didn't know, is that you can hide "Recent Apps" (the app thumbnails on the left) in System Settings. It supplements Mission Control & Spaces, and makes it quite easy to switch between apps. You can also group multiple windows together to switch to them in one tap. Pretty neat.
Be aware anyone using Parallels 17, it isn't compatible on Ventura so you will have to upgrade to the latest version for $70:<p><a href="https://forum.parallels.com/threads/did-anyone-else-on-17-get-a-macos-ventura-service-notification.358473/" rel="nofollow">https://forum.parallels.com/threads/did-anyone-else-on-17-ge...</a>
Focus on Mac could be so much better, but sadly like file tags, it remains half-baked.<p>I'd love to be able to set, say a "Programming" Focus, and <i>have everything else disappear:</i> All my desktop spaces would change, including their wallpapers (replaced by the Matrix green rain) and only the apps that I allowed would be visible, and even the files/folders and websites which I didn't include in that Focus should not be accessible (from the GUI or Terminal at least).<p>Basically it should be sort of like logging into a different user account, <i>without</i> logging into a different user account (i.e. keeping all your data and state, just temporarily filtering it).<p>In fact I think all operating systems should adopt the notion of a "focus" as a fundamental sub-level under the user account: Bob may have a social networking focus, office focus, or no focus, and so on.
Note: it's possible to install Ventura side-by-side with Monterey:<p><a href="https://eclecticlight.co/2022/10/04/how-to-keep-monterey-when-upgrading-to-ventura/" rel="nofollow">https://eclecticlight.co/2022/10/04/how-to-keep-monterey-whe...</a>
How about fixing the damn MIDI server which is crashing since Yosemite?
Seriously, another big update feels like a pack of minor changes which could fit in a small patch, marketed as "whole new level with groundbreaking capabilities"
So they keep providing updates mostly focusing on people that heavily rely on the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, Mail & Safari, ...), without seriously improving the fundamental features of the OS. Well: very disappointed, again.
All those improvements and the Mail experience is still lousy when you need to quickly move messages to folders. I have been relying on MsgFiler[1] for years, but it's been over two decades and Mail.app has not improved much (and mind you, I still prefer using Mail.app over anything else on a Mac). Thank goodness we still have plugins.<p>[1]: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/msgfiler/id418778021?mt=12" rel="nofollow">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/msgfiler/id418778021?mt=12</a>
Stopped reading at<p>> <i>With Continuity Camera, Mac users can leverage the powerful camera system on iPhone to unleash a groundbreaking webcam experience</i><p>I don't have the energy to parse a lot of text like this...
I hope they fixed Night Shift. It was always turning off when it was supposed to turn on. Whatever checkboxes checked. Like 6pm screen goes blueish, wtf.
I can't help but wonder how Steve Jobs would have flipped out if he saw something like this on his devices.
<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/product/availability/Apple-macOS-Ventura-Continuity-Camera_big.jpg.medium.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/product/availability/A...</a>
I never checked before but just assumed my MBP from 2016 would be supported. It’s not. Really sucks since the current latest version works really well and the machine was maxed out (i7, 16gb ram) and is more than capable of handling Ventura. Apple seems to be aggressively dropping support for x86 macs, quicker than historically they did.
The Mac (historically being known for desktop publishing) should know that Ventura was someone else's brand.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Ventura" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Ventura</a>
Some very nice additions, specially in the backend (like improvements to the virtualization framework and metal 3). But I still despise this new iOS-inspired UI. They should make iOS prettier and more usable not macOS uglier and less usable.
Every time I get a notification, Notification Center pegs to 100% CPU and locks up. Can't even get rid of the notification. Gotta kill the process.
Did this update add an "archive" feature to Messages? I can't directly tell from this summary ("powerful" isn't all that descriptive, turns out).
Lockdown mode looks very usable despite the messaging that it is "designed for the very few individuals." Users can even exclude applications from Lockdown mode.<p>When Lockdown Mode is enabled, some apps and features will function differently, including:<p>Messages - Most message attachment types are blocked, other than certain images, video, and audio. Some features, such as links and link previews, are unavailable.<p>Web browsing - Certain complex web technologies are blocked, which might cause some websites to load more slowly or not operate correctly. In addition, web fonts might not be displayed, and images might be replaced with a missing image icon.<p>FaceTime - Incoming FaceTime calls are blocked unless you have previously called that person or contact.<p>Apple Services - Incoming invitations for Apple Services, such as invitations to manage a home in the Home app, are blocked unless you have previously invited that person.<p>Shared albums - Shared albums are removed from the Photos app, and new Shared Album invitations are blocked. You can still view these shared albums on other devices that don’t have Lockdown Mode enabled.<p>USB accessories - To connect your device to a USB accessory or another computer, the device needs to be unlocked.
Configuration profiles - Configuration profiles can’t be installed, and the device can’t be enrolled in Mobile Device Management or device supervision while in Lockdown Mode.<p>Phone calls and plain text messages continue to work while Lockdown Mode is enabled. Emergency features, such as SOS emergency calls, are not affected.<p><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212650" rel="nofollow">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212650</a>
how a better windows management looks like:<p>- show all windows of an app when switching windows (cmd+tab). currently only one window from each app is shown.<p>- transition period when switching windows via three fingers gesture is too long. make it snappier.
When will Safari include Push Notifications on iOS? This SEEMS to say iOS 16.1 will, but I am not sure<p><a href="https://webkit.org/blog/13399/webkit-features-in-safari-16-1/" rel="nofollow">https://webkit.org/blog/13399/webkit-features-in-safari-16-1...</a>
> The Weather and Clock apps come to Mac with all of the features users know and love from iPhone, and do things like check local forecasts, create alarms, set timers, and more.<p>And yet there is no Apple weather app for iPad!
To switch to another window, we already had Command-Tab, Mission Control, Expose (now part of Mission Control if I understand correctly), and also clicking on the icons in the Dock. And now we have Stage Manager. I had to use Windows 10 as my main workstation for a few weeks at work, and I'm starting to think windows management is – perhaps – one of the rare things Windows does better than macOS. But of course I should probably try Stage Manager before ranting about it here :)
There's a few nice quality of life features in Ventura, but MacOS really seems way down Apple's priority list nowadays.<p>They're using all software building resources for iOS and then just slap any reusable features on their desktop OS whenever possible. Great when it works for apps that are quite similar (e.g. messages), terrible for things that simply work very differently on a desktop OS (system settings, stage manager is pointless etc.).<p>Good opportunity for Windows to finally beat MacOS in UI/UX, since they don't have a mobile OS to worry about?