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.
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.
Coming from i3wm, I found Yabai to be an excellent keyboard-first window manager. I do wish something like Yabai was built into macOS.
I've been testing Stage Manager since the first developer beta of Ventura and it did feel awkward, as it had no keyboard control, and I feel slower when pointing and clicking to switch apps.
But after adding support for it in my rcmd app (https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd), and tuning yabai's grid a bit, I found it quite useful for my workflow.
Here's a video on how I use Stage Manager with the keyboard shortcuts in rcmd, if you'd like to see if the same workflow would be useful for you: https://youtu.be/dlwjSf7aIy8
I'm also giving out some promo codes for rcmd to give people a chance to try this functionality and see if they like it:
Not to diminish the work put into making this workflow easier to use, but you can completely replicate this workflow (and then some) with out of the box macOS tooling by creating an "Open <xyz.app>" script in Shortcuts, moving them into the Quick Actions folder and then jumping to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services and then assigning key combinations to launch Shortcuts.app Quick Actions.
For sure you can. I had this workflow with manually added keybindings through many methods over the years: skhd, Hammerspoon, BetterTouchTool etc.
I just found that the functionality is useful enough to warrant an app that can dynamically assign these hotkeys based on the apps I use.
For example I change browsers often to test new additions. And because I have rcmd-B set to focus/launch/hide my current browser app, I can keep my muscle memory even after switching from Safari to Firefox. In rcmd I just press rcmd-ralt-B to reassign that hotkey, in previous workflows this involved editing a specific file, or opening a preferences window and finding the right setting to change.
The experimental window switching/opening using Right Option is also something very useful and really hard to replicate using default macOS tools.
Mac App Store app, click your user name in the lower left corner. Now the upper right corner has a link button "Redeem Gift Card". Click that, enter the code.
Why can’t we have no features AND unstability? If the rumor spreads that Apple doesn’t succeed to fine enough OS-level programmers, it’s precisely because all of usability + stability + innovation are going down at the same time. Gone are the days where you’d expect Apple to launch a new APFS, encryption, or a general SSO solution for employees across all Apple devices.
Which is sorely needed.
Because honestly I’m afraid of paying $12 to $24 per device per employee and per month for an SSO+MDM solution that would make me depend on a dodgy Windows-style UI (Jamf) or worse, all my employees’ ability to login would depend on Okta.
> it’s precisely because all of usability + stability + innovation are going down at the same time
What are you basing that claim on? The only part recognizable from experience for me is the innovation claim and even that is dubious since the entire industry is plateauing as things mature.
Historically, the uninspiring and underwhelming major releases of OS X and macOS have ended up being the ones that users ended up having the most positive feelings about over the long term. They have tended to focus on faster performance, refining past features, and security improvements without the simultaneous introduction of fresh annoyances.
However, since you aren't really missing anything in terms of new features, it also doesn't hurt to wait for a couple point releases to let other people find remaining bugs first.
I’ve been on the betas all summer; Continuity Camera is probably the most Apple-like feature in Ventura. It seems almost magical in how it “just works”.
I don't understand why it is not avaliable for iPad. Usually, I am using my macbook lid closed and I have an iPad in my desk. It would be very good to use its camera and mics for video calls.
Actually, can't recall any recent release of Mac OS that excited me. It's mostly updates to apps I don't use or don't plan to use plus minor tweaks and window dressing. I usually just wait a few months until they fix all the "oops we bricked your hardware bugs" or "oops, this stuff is now broken" bugs.
Safari, Mail, Messages, Photos, I don't use any of it. So couldn't care less about that. This is not an OS update but a list of app updates. Other than that it's mostly window dressing. Some tweaks to settings and a new stage manager thing to replace the launcher thing that I also don't use.
What intrigues me is the ios webcam support and the fact that they use mac book pros without a notch in the mockups of that. Yay to no notch. But does that mean they are removing the web cam in future macs? Kind of relevant because I have an Android phone and no interest in switching to IOS. And I do use the webcam. If not, what's the point of this? Maybe they should just put better cameras in their screens and laptops? Also, what holds up the phone here? This looks very gimmicky to me. Anyway, absolutely nobody I know uses Facetime (I live in Europe, just not a thing here; same with iMessage) and I bet it doesn't work outside of that. I use macs at work, so things like Zoom, MS Live, Meets, Webex, etc. are where I use a webcam.
So, short, stage manager thingy, spotlight tweaks, some deckchair rearranging in the settings and metal 3.
Guys, which freaking keyboard-only window management yall looking for so hard? My daily workflow is jumping between 10 apps on different spaces, some of them are full-screen, some are just piled on one desktop, and the CMD+Tab just works perfectly all the time, you just press the CMD+Tab, select the app you need, jump to it, no focus lost, only distraction is the damned sliding animation (which
everyone wants to turn off for 10 years). What other damn bicycle you need to jump between apps lol
I agree with you but take it further, what's the point of different spaces? Just put all apps to full screen size (not "fullscreen") on the first screen and alt tab instantly
I like some of my apps full-screen, like nvim in the iterm should be full-screen. The top bar, tab bar and controls is not something i wanna see all the time there, as i'm using only keyboard in my workflow. I'm mostly into zen black screen with 100 columns of text in the center when it comes to editing documents, and nvim + iterm can provide such flawless black zen screen. Also games, books, graphic apps, all look better taking 100% of the height not 80%, as the 20% on top is usually mouse controls for those who don't remember any hotkeys
It helps if your problem is only the visuals, but sadly reduce motion keeps all the delays the same. There's a 1.5 second delay when switching spaces with the touchpad gesture (on 120Hz screens; the animation takes longer the higher FPS it's running at), and that animation turns into a 1.5 second fade animation with reduce motion. The new space doesn't gain focus any faster.
Yeah, it used to be possible, but hasn't been for a long time. There are some old stackoverflow posts with `defaults write` commands in them, but they don't work anymore.
I used to be a fairly heavy spaces user with 60Hz macbooks; the delay was too high, but just low enough to not drive me completely insane. But after I got one of the new 120Hz ones, I've almost entirely stopped using spaces, since I just can't stand the extremely long wait where my keyboard inputs still go to the application I'm coming from.
Wouldn't it be awesome if Apple added window-snapping, and i3wm-like keyboard support? They'd leapfrog every other OS in an area where they've been behind for a while, and gain tons of praise from power users. There's so much low-hanging power-user-fruits that Apple's bizzarely not picking, like uBlock Origin support in Safari, better window management, and a Homebrew-like package manager.
Yeah, that's what I use. There's just no good reason not to Sherlock it; if not for the fact that every single Mac power user would expect Apple to bundle a crippled, simplified version, to "dumb it down for the masses". Sigh.
Honestly, the somewhat limited experience works for me as every time I touch linux I get distracted by (endlessly) tweaking it. That's more of a problem with me I suppose!
The feature that made me jump into beta is that Shortcuts now appear in the share sheet so it’s the same experience like iOS. Much easier to create/test shortcuts on the mac
Cmd-Tab -> switch apps, in most recently used order, keep Cmd held down and repeatedly tap Tab to cycle though the switcher bar
Cmd-` -> switch windows of current app
Cmd-H -> hide current app
Cmd-Opt-H -> hide other apps
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.
Coming from i3wm, I found Yabai to be an excellent keyboard-first window manager. I do wish something like Yabai was built into macOS.