On The Advent Of Ventura

I’ve somehow managed to avoid tech and Apple news since early September. It takes mindful intentionality to thwart my old habits. So being careful, I allowed a few related info sources to inform me of particular interests. In this case, Apple’s impending new macOS Ventura.

A new operating system that will affect my favorite computer of all time — M1 MacBook Air — is something to take note of. With its debut imminent, I’m eager to try macOS Ventura out for the first time. I like to ask how the new OS will, if at all, improve or impair my daily workflows, whether I’m casually surfing the web (yeah, I’ll count that as a legit workflow) or journaling my heart out.

This year, most feature additions or upgrades look modest at best, save for one. Here’s what I’m looking forward to:

1. Stage Manager
2. Weather app
3. Notes app: enhanced tagging
4. Memoji: customization and poses
5. Maps: multi-stop routing

There are other small things I anticipate along with the above list. And granted, the list is mostly minor. But let’s face it, macOS is a very mature operating system. It’s not broken, and it doesn’t really need to be fixed. In fact, I’d welcome the idea of a “No new features” year like when Snow Leopard released. That said, little improvements can add up to an overall nicer experience day in and day out, which is when and where it matters most.

Maps

Multi-stop routing in Maps gets a “finally.” It’s a simple concept and absolute necessity. Oftentimes, people need or want to plan a few minor stops in between major ones. Outside a morning commute, how often do you go from point A to B without anything in between? I have two out-of-town trips planned in the next few weeks, and I’d certainly like a multi-stop route for one of them in the traffic congested metroplex. I’m eager to map it on my Mac and then use it for GPS on my iPhone. It’s a no-brainer.

Memoji

More customizable Memoji and poses gets surprising interest from me. Memoji are fine, but they pale in comparison to Bitmoji. It so happens that I recently rediscovered the fun of Bitmoji for texting with my wife. They look better than Memoji to my eyes and have far more expression(s). In short, Memoji are fine; Bitmoji are fantastic. So any improvement here is most welcome. After all, self-expression is often more valuable than people realize.

Notes

I won’t bore you to death with “new and improved tags” in my note taking app of choice. Suffice to say, the added robust yet complex features for smart tags is needed. Last year’s tag system introduction was exactly that, an intro sample. The real deal is now almost here.

Weather

A weather app. On a modern computing system. I mean, why talk up the coming AR/VR revolution if you don’t even have a weather app? Bring it on. Check off yet one more huge, “Finally!” Also, good-bye weather.com with its bad ads.

Stage Manager

Without further ado, on to the big kahuna: Stage Manager, which might turn out to be a dud. Will it reinvent multi-tasking? I guess that’s possible, but yeah…no, not likely. I mean, macOS already has:

1. the Dock
2. a dedicated area for minimized apps/windows
3. Spaces
4. Exposé
5. Mission Control

That’s five ways to open and switch between apps, and Stage Manager is sort of a combo of some or all of those. Does that make it a compromised solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist? Or does that mean it’s the best answer to replace all the soon-to-be obsolete app juggling methods? Well, that’s why I’m eager to try it out!

What are you looking forward to in macOS, if anything? Would you rather leave well enough alone?