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Today is the day! Upgrades to macOS Ventura from macOS Monterey can no longer be blocked in enterprises.

With previous macOS upgrades, macOS downloaded a full installer called, for example, Install macOS Monterey.app. Since this was a standalone application, enterprises could use their management or endpoint protection to block this process. Full installers are still available for macOS Ventura but upgrades to Ventura are also available as delta upgrades from macOS Monterey 12.3 or later. Delta upgrades are installed within Software Update without a separate installer process. (In retrospect, I should have seen it coming — major iOS upgrades have been offered as delta upgrades for more than a decade.)

Enterprises still have the option to defer major software updates for up to 90 days. As macOS Ventura was released on October 24th, 2022, today marks the end of any 90-day deferral.

This comes as a shock to many MacAdmins. It did for me in June when I saw the delta upgrade during WWDC. I’ve seen folks shocked by it just this past week. As the shock wore off for me, and it did take months, I started to look forward to rolling out macOS Ventura. Here’s why:

• Major OS upgrades are now much easier. They can be pushed with MDM commands rather than scripts. More users will self-upgrade.
• Major OS upgrades are now much smaller. Delta upgrades are less than 50% the size of a full installer. They’ll download faster and take up less disk space.
• Apple has made it official that not all security vulnerabilities are fixed in previous versions of macOS. As of writing, macOS Big Sur and Monterey have vulnerabilities that are resolved in macOS Ventura.

I’ve embraced that the delta upgrade makes the annual upgrade cycle much easier. But I do not embrace it blindly. 

Starting at the end of June, with macOS Ventura beta 2, I mostly worked on a Mac with macOS Ventura. I filed feedback on bugs and new features, especially the new Login Items management. And while I did not upgrade my primary Mac until the release candidate, I pretty much moved into macOS Ventura and lived in it as much as I could.

Additionally, I filed support requests with our major software vendors asking for timelines for macOS Ventura support. I included that I was doing this due to the new delta upgrade and that enterprises ultimately wouldn’t be able to block macOS Ventura — the vendors needed to be ready. 

And here we are. 90 days later and ready for macOS Ventura. Thankfully, support from our major vendors arrived on time. The upgrades are open.