Originally published at: macOS 14 Sonoma Now Available - TidBITS
Apple has released macOS 14 Sonoma, and you can upgrade compatible Macs now. The features aren’t likely life-changing, but nor are they causing significant compatibility issues. Read on for more details and upgrade advice.
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As usual at this time of year, I couldn’t resist despite intending to follow the advice and wait a few weeks, so I went ahead and installed this on one of my Macs. Happily all went smoothly with the installation and after a few hours using some of my favourite apps, all seems well! How have other people got on with upgrading - or is everyone made of sterner stuff than me? 
I did two macs, one an M2 MBA (7.7GB download and slow install) and the other a 2018 MBP (12GB download! And it was at Ventura 13.5, but quite a quick install). Not interested in fancy menu bars, or clicking on the wallpaper to display the desktop (I have a hot corner for that). Had to buy a new version of Bartender (worth it), but otherwise I don’t see any differences. I much prefer these releases that are just stabilizing and improving what we have over the paradigm-changing nightmares!
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I upgraded my M1 MacBook Air and my M2 Mac mini to Sonoma yesterday. No problems at all. I’ve got the Air running Stage Manager. I’m not sure I like it, but I’ll keep it for a while to see if I get used to it and if there are any advantages.
I installed Sonoma on my macStudio and my MBP16 - it installed fast. The Studio, however, has had problems. When first booted my Dock disappeared and the Finder refused to show the files display. I found Settings and turned on “Hide the Dock” (putting the mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen revealed the Dock) and then turned off “Hide The Dock” to get the Dock (and Finder) functions. Also, the Studio display required a firmware update.
I just discovered that I have lost the Touch ID function to unlock the macStudio after sleep - it requires a password. The Settings page to turn this on is greyed out and won’t let me change the settings (or scan in another finger. Rebooting didn’t fix that. The Studio keyboard (with Touch ID) is connected to the system via USB.
Any suggestions?
Quick update. My Studio keyboard (with Touch) is connected via USB (not BT) because it connects faster on startup. I disconnected the keyboard, it immediately connected via BT, and the touch functions were restored. Re-connecting the keyboard disables the Touch functions. This is more interface weirdness than I am used to.
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I’m just curious, if you have the click desktop to hide all windows set to on, how do you get all windows back assuming you don’t want to bring each and every app to the foreground one by one? Will hitting the Exposé key move the windows back into focus as if you had hid them with cmd-Exposé?
Just click the desktop again and all the windows will be restored to their original position; it works well for me so far.
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Am I the only dinosaur who still uses the good old stickies app to pin reminders, tips etc. on my desktop? Of course they disappear with Sonoma’s stage manager-like gimmick. If you must clear the desktop you can simply press command-option while you click on it to hide all app windows.
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Gonna hold off till 14.1 or 14.2 stability. I need my Mac right now and no reason for Sonoma. And those of us Oldskoolers… come on man, never update to the first zero release of new OS… unless triple dog dared! 
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After updating my Mini, I found the Finder menu bar unusable. The menus displayed as tiny uncontrollable windows that scrolled faster than I could see the commands. Very scary. Finally went to the Apple Support forum where someone fixed it with a restart. Fixed me, too, but it seems more than slightly sloppy.
how do you get all windows back assuming you don’t want to bring each and every app to the foreground one by one?
I just logged out of Sonoma, but I believe just clicking the Desktop again brought them all back. Clicking just the window you want will get just it.
Of course, I just spent most of the evening defeating all that stuff again… :-}
FYI, 14.1 beta is already out.
Inline predictive text is another feature I can live without.
Sonoma also breaks the Serviio music server. That’s two strikes, either one of which is an out. I don’t know if Serviio worked under Ventura, the Cal/Contact syncing was enough to never bother.
Later…
Hmm…Serviio seems to be working now? Truly bizarre behavior earlier. Got me…
I have a problem with Mail in Sonoma. I like to have the ‘Move to…’ option displaying in the menubar of each e-mail (which I have open as a new window rather than the divided screen as I’m using a 13" screen). I can customize the menubar and add the item to the menubar, but it is greyed out and doesn’t work. If I ctrl-click on the menubar, remove it and re-add it, it sometimes works, but not reliably. Now I have to close the mail message and use the ‘Move to…’ item in the Inbox window’s menubar to file the message. Oddly, the ‘Move’ item does work, but this requires an extra click (‘Move to…’ learns where a mail usually goes to and one click on it will file the message appropriately.)
I haven’t seen that problem with the Move menu in Sonoma Mail, but I have noticed a subtle change in how it’s displayed. Previously, if Mail had a suggested Mailbox to move the message to, it would appear next to the Move icon. Now, it appears as the first suggestion on the dropdown list when you select Move. This is mainly cosmetic, but it does free up some space on the toolbar.
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Without going into great detail, the experience was a nightmare. Took several hours with Apple to recover my documents and get my M1 Mac to work properly. If you are smart, you will wait.
My experience on my M1 Mac mini was not the same. Upgrade from Ventura 13.6 went smoothly with no data loss.
Was Apple able to find anything that caused your upgrade to go sideways?
It was an iCloud issue(s). Everything was recovered(?) Still not sure I’m 100%.