FileWave Support for Ventura

[cdegaeta]

Considering the release of Ventura is next week on the 24th, what's the status of Filewave's support for Ventura? Can we expect a KB article before release discussions what version of Filewave will fully support it?

While Ventura beta seems to be working, the UI & Reports recognize it as generic macOS. Also I'm sure there's been Profile updates that came with Ventura.

[Josh Levitsky]

Apple has policies that prevent us from saying we support it before it is released. As soon as it is released we will be able to say. As soon as it and iPadOS 6.1 come out we will be able to say. 

[Josh Levitsky]

Anyone thinking about Ventura coming out shortly may want to also consider this thread: https://alliance.filewave.com/topic/41-macos-ventura-blocking/#comment-110 If you don't consider it then think about if you'll suddenly have devices on Ventura when it releases. It's hard to know until it's really out but if you have AppleSeed, a developer account, or the public betas you could do independent testing to confirm if you feel comfortable with being able to block the update until you can verify that you have no compatibility issues with applications. 

[Pierre-Nicolas]

Usually : Apple announces major changes during WWDC in June - that's the time we start working on integrating changes into FileWave - and we test with beta versions for the next month.

Apple is not 100% clear about what we are allowed to disclose or not - when we sign for Apple Seed program to download to early access, Apple makes it clear the content should not be shared publicly, even the vast majority of the information is shared either by Apple directly or by the Apple community. But we can't say we support macOS Ventura until macOS Ventura is out - and history has shown that there may be changes between the last RC and the release, even for MDM features, so we'll run final round of testing on macOS 13 release before we claim "we support it".

That said - unless there is a very huge change between RC and the release -, our current testing shows that FileWave 14.8 works with the current beta / RC (new OS name is known too late to be added to 14.8 so it will be reported as generic macOS Intel - something to change), and new features like the usual profile changes will come very soon in the coming version.

[Josh Levitsky]

@cdegaeta You should see an email shortly...

We are as happy as you are to see Apple have released iPadOS 16.1 and macOS 13 Ventura for general distribution, and we are excited to deliver support for them. Here's what you can expect from FileWave regarding these releases:

• Version 14.8.0 currently supports both Ventura and iPadOS 16.1 from a management and content distribution perspective
• Version 14.9 is on its way soon with support for the new Apple features/profiles, with some more FileWave goodies besides.

If you have questions about this topic, please join us on the Alliance Forums. The forum uses our Single Sign On like the Foundry and Support sites. If you have trouble logging in, please reach out to Customer Experience. 

[cdegaeta]

Thanks @Josh Levitsky. Any roadmaps available detailing when 14.9 may be available?

[Josh Levitsky]

30 minutes ago, cdegaeta said:

Any roadmaps available detailing when 14.9 may be available?

No problem. First we have our links to our Roadmaps here: https://fwkb.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/4333256/FileWave+Product+Management and you can also make product suggestions and vote on things. The links go to the Foundry which you can get to since you can sign in here on the Alliance Forums. 

Specifically for 14.9 it's in QA now and they are working on checking that it passes all the tests. I can't give a specific date but say that we are working towards a couple of weeks to get everything clear. This version will include a tool to move from Associations to Deployments that was shown off on the WebAdmin Webinars. I'd say as soon as there is a build where we feel it's able to have a selected date I could share then. Also if anyone wants to be amongst the first to get releases we do them in waves so no matter if you are on-premise or hosted by us just let me know at josh.levitsky@filewave.com and we can make new releases available sooner to those who ask to be on the list. 

[Josh Levitsky]

We've been working out the release timeline for FileWave 14.9.0 and our current plan is that the week of November 7th it would go to the first wave of customers. That's where you can ask if you like to be amongst the first. That week @Emma Ainsworth, @Andrew Kloosterhuis and I will be at HECC in Indiana and will have a session on the Friday morning to talk about the release some with anyone at that conference. 

The week of November 14th would then be the release to all customers which would also be the week of our next Alliance eMeeting so we'd be able to talk about the release with anyone globally who would attend that virtual event. We also post that to our YouTube channel afterwards so there will be another opportunity to see it. 

As always these timelines are subject to change if we find a critical issue, and I can post here if I find that it changes. 

[Josh Levitsky]

As an update we are still on schedule for the first customers to get 14.9.0 on Wednesday next week. An email will be going out to them as soon as the KB articles are live. This KB + Emails are planned for Monday (Nov 7th) morning. You'd only see an email if you are in that first round. The wider release is planned for the beginning of the week after.