Do you still use both a Mac and a Windows Machine

Ventura was released with enhanced security - which is good. However, in doing so they broke some things. Apple needed to release the security features over the life of the OS instead all at once. The main issue I have with it is they broke file sharing which I used extensively. I have a 13 inch MBP - that I use as a backup server for the other computers. Mainly it backs up photos my MBP 14 M1 Pro and my wife's Intel iMac. It was a lot less expensive to simply buy an enterprise level external hard drive and use to do a network backup. So Ventura hit and like an idiot I didn't do my usual - wait for the dust to settle and updated the server to Ventura. My backup server no longer worked. Turns out - it became a "known issue" pretty quickly. I ended up on the phone with Apple twice and the second time - they admitted they broke file sharing and it had to be fixed. I ended up blowing away Ventura and reinstalling Monterey, and within a half a day the back up server is humming along. This of course is not the first time a new OS update on any system has resulted in broken code. And it won't be the last - but I have relearned a lesson - don't upgrade to a complete new version until about the second hits the street. With Apple that would be X.3.0. With Microsoft that would be Service Pack two.

I'm all far improved cyber security and a Unix OS is going to be more secure than a Linux OS which is in turn more secure than a Windows because of the way ports are managed in a POSIX compliant OS and Mac OS evolved out of NextStep which was based on the Mach kernel a version of BSD Unix. However, Apple needs to be a bit more transparent in communicating their enhanced permission scheme and how one navigates the appropriate configuration.

For instance, file sharing.

Apparently it's still not fixed although 13.3 arrived recently. 13.3 release notes don't mention it.

discussions.apple.com/thread/254588815?page=11

My main OS was Ubuntu from 2006 to 2010 then Arch Linux for the next ten years, but lately, it’s been mainly Windows 10 (MSYS2 makes it not so terrible) and a Mac laptop (MacBook Pro 2021). I still use Linux at work, and I keep an Arch Linux VM to update some of the AUR packages I maintain.

It is mostly related to external volumes connected to the device. 13.2 added a setting to allow access to the files on the volume. It is not enough to simply allow access to the volume. However, even when that is allowed, the permissions are not maintained. So it seems to be a permissions problem. Unix is extremely anal when it comes to permissions. Linux follows the same permissions protocol as Unix. I expect is the issue is in the Ventura UI which allows the permissions to be established from the UI. They just haven't gotten it right yet or more likely they added another layer that caused some unintended consequences. I'll wait until Apple gets it sorted out. They eventually will. i could go into a bash terminal shell and figure it out and fix it but that probably would be overwritten by an OS update. I'll just stay on Monterey for not on the backup server.

Oh, you're saying it can probably be fixed with the chmod command.

My only external volume is exFAT (Samsung T7 SSD) which has no permissions at all. Maybe that's why it works OK on 13.2.1? Anyway, I'm planning to reformat it APFS to use for backups with FreeFileSync.

The underling OS Apple uses in the Mac is a version of BSD Unix. Apple simply puts a desktop interface over the top if one lifts up the hood it is Unix down in the pit of its heart. Unix is anal about permissions. That can drive one crazy at times. Yes it could be fixed with chmod. However, it is unclear how Apply is layering their UI over the permissions and what type of priorities they are setting. I am sure they will address it but like a lot of issues it may be a lot more subtle than anticipated.

The thing that was particularly irritating was I could set file sharing so I had read/write access. I could also set remote login on and remote management on. I could then bring up the screen share application, log into an admin account on the server and do everything. I could see the disk, add, delete or edit files on the external disk. At the same time I did not have permission to use the disk as a back up. An irritating bug for sure. However, I have worked on computers like the IBN 1401 where one had to set word marks and could only write in assembly to supercomputers by Cray. Bugs happen. New OS versions can be a scary proposition.

PC only. Boycotted Apple long ago.

Too bad for you. The Apple M1/M2 processors are simply amazing for performance/battery-use ratio, like nothing else. M1 with W10 VM is faster than SQ2.
linustechtips.com/topic/1290066-how-did-microsoft-screw-this-up-surface-pro-x-sq2-vs-m1-macbook-air/

I still use a Windows machine a bit for scanning film. Most of my work though now is between a MacBook Pro and an iPad. With Lr on the iPad, I don’t use the MacBook much any longer.

That might be true, but this is just a part of the picture. I was hesitating a lot a few months ago, and in the end, I bought a Windows laptop. I could not get used to the Mac OS in the past, and I tried. My MacBook Pro is still working, BTW.

About 6 weeks after I dropped a good chunk of change on a souped up PC, Apple dropped those M chips. Probably going back the next time I upgrade my desktop.

Started life with Apple ][. When the Mac came out I was using the ][ in the lab for recording and analyzing data. For that I needed I/O peripherals. Apple did not supply them, nor were there any third party suppliers for Apple because they wanted it all. So I went to the PC and stayed there for 40 years. Then I got a new wife and she was all Apple. She got me a MacBook M1 for Christmas '21. I had to keep the wife happy so I used it.

Took about a month to get sort of used to it. At 82, rejiggering my muscle memory is tough but eventually I sort of got used to having the window controls in the upper left instead of the upper right. More or less got used to the one-shot uses of the taskbar icons. I can use it pretty well but the old muscle memory still bites me occasionally, particularly since I still use the old Win10 laptop because of software incompatibility (I really like IrfanView and Downloader Pro and, being old, I have other old stuff I still use).

I had developed a program for charting stocks using Python. Had it working just fine in Win10, but some things don't work in MacOS. Had to kluge some workarounds.

LR/PS is a pleasure to use on the MacBook. Much faster than on Win10 (admittedly an old machine full of background tasks). I really recommend it for photography (but I can't speak for the pre-M1 chip machines, having no experience there).

The one thing that really bugs me about MacOS is the taskbar and handling of focus. Clicking on an icon opens an app in both MacOS and Windows. In Windows another click on that icon will minimize the app. In MacOS it does nothing. Opening an app, then opening another app will overlay the windows in both MacOS and Windows. Minimizing the top app in Windows will place focus on the app that previously had focus. Minimizing the top app in MacOS loses focus for anything else. In Windows you could place the cursor on a taskbar app and click-click toggle between two apps without moving the mouse. In MacOS you have to move the mouse from one icon to the other to do that.

On the whole, the MacBook works OK and the environmental stuff is nice but it's Different for an old Windows user. Still, it's my primary machine.

Although I am a Mac user now, my wife has to work in a Windows environment. So even now and then I need to have a look into the Windows computer. It does help that I used to work with MS-DOS 2.X a long time ago... :)

I have read somewhere that 13.3.1 does fix this issue. I ended up dropping back to Monterey on the back up server added a log in for each user client and CC is working fine to backup to a disk on the MBP 13 M1 being used as a backup server. That took about a half day to blow away Ventura, reformat the disk, reinstall Monterey and configure the machine. I'm in no hurry to try on 13.3.1 on the backup server.

I have a Surface 4 for travel (gift from my son), with an external SSD, and an iMac at home with various external hard drives, some pretty old by now.

They both are connected and in front of me, the iMac on top and the Surface below, with a small extra display for the iMac. The Surface's original keyboard died ages ago, so it uses the iMac's small keyboard (sitting on my lap), while the iMac uses an older wired Apple keyboard on the table.

Works for me.

Didn't really like Windows until version 10, so I'll stay with that. My dear son Peter was an avid PC kid but now professionally he uses the best Apple stuff there is.

Macs don't need to be updated (except for the safety updates) as long as you use a
modicum of safety procedures, like using the latest browser, with the latest updates.

My iMac runs old Big Sur, which still gets safety updates!

I like Brave (a Chrome clone) as it keeps a lot of junk away, and avoiding
Google search as Startpage.com is much safer.

I use Brave on both systems and upgrading PCs is about as simple as
upgrading Macs.

My iMac is six years old and the PC (Surface 4 Pro) is just a bit younger. The Microsoft is
pretty crappy mechanically and can't be upgraded beyond Win 10, and is just a bit slower
processing RAWs (I usually run DxO PL 6 on both).

Both computers use Apple Magic keyboards! The Microsoft keyboard that was part of the
Surface (detachable) died ages ago.

I have stayed away from Ventura, as Big Sur gives me what I need! Why change
something that works? Like XP users still use XP as it is the stablest Windows version ever,
although Win 10 is not bad at all.

Big Sur has had nil issues, to this day!