It seems funny to type that — 10.10 — but Apple’s newest OS incarnation is just that: the 11th version of the OS X operating system (pardon the redundancy). In his keynote, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, talked about the “future of OS X: “Yosemite.”
My first thought: How can the successor to Mavericks top itself? I’ve loved the cleaner, more iOS-like interface of Mavericks, and especially loved the changes to Finder and couldn’t make the switch fast enough, especially since it was free-of-charge to Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion users. However, along with the beneficial features and the fact that it kicked off a new OS naming scheme dedicated to notable California locales, it also had a few hiccups (most notably with Mail) that could stand to be improved upon.
From the looks of Yosemite, it delivers and then some.
So, what will users see in the latest Mac OS? For starters, Yosemite also includes a user interface redesign, further adding iOS 7 (and iOS 8!)-like visuals to your desktop. Yosemite boasts a more seamless integration between all of your devices as well as major new features focusing on seamless integration between Mac and iOS devices, a storage system called iCloud Drive, which is essentially iDisk coming back but with enhanced cloud features, and phone and text features added to your desktop.
- New Interface and Notification Center
- Continuity
- Spotlight
- iCloud Drive
- Safari
There was a ton of information included in the keynote, so we figured it might be better to expand more on it on the blog. Head on over to our blog, Barkings! for all the details and to check out some screenshots of the new software.
Both Yosemite and iOS will be available for free to the public this Fall.
I’m really excited to get this on my (personal) iMac, since we’ll be restricted from using Yosemite until IT clears it — likely beyond the official Fall release date. I plan to renew my Developer account, so we’ll see. In the meantime, since Don has already installed it on his personal machine, we’ll be pestering him for details that we’ll make sure to share in future issues of Kibbles & Bytes.
In the meantime, check out what other users with Developer access to the beta have been saying about Yosemite so far:
Mashable’s Article: With OS X Yosemite, the Mac Comes of Age
Apple Insider’s Article:OS X Yosemite first look: Spotlight search
MacLife’s Article: OS X Yosemite: The 8 Best New Features