Today was Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, aka WWDC and CEO Tim Cook took to the stage to give a heck of a Keynote. Along the way he introduced the newest version of Mac OS, code-named Yosemite.
First, let’s touch on a statistic Apple threw out: the majority of Mac users are using 10.9, Mavericks. Not a huge majority, but a majority. They contrast that with Microsoft’s Windows, where they claim less than 20% of users are running Windows 8. Frankly, I do think this is a bit disingenuous, as it’s bound to include enterprise users, who don’t upgrade as swiftly. However, by the same token the Apple stats have to be full of users like myself, who would love use Mavericks but don’t yet have hardware that supports it (not counting my Hackintosh). Another reason more people are running Mavericks is because of the price – it was free. Apple may have not noted that, but they’re not stupid; Yosemite is also free to purchase.
To be blunt, Yosemite is the first Mac software update in some time to make me think I may need to start saving for a new Mac. Why? Let’s go over some of the features.
Notifications:
The Notifications area to the right of the OS screen has been tweaked quite a bit. It now resembles the Today screen on iOS. Additionally, Apple has switched Widget functionality from the Dashboard and moved it to this side panel. This means you can look at your “at a glance” data without having your entire screen taken over. This is good.
Spotlight:
Expect a lot of “Spotlight takes center stage” gags in the tech press as Apple’s search solution does just that. It’s no longer relegated to the side of the top Finder bar, but is instead front and center. How it works has been tweaked and you can basically run your device off of it. This is similar to what Microsoft did with search in Windows 8, but more obvious.
iCloud Drive:
The iCloud service has come a long way from MobileMe, and is now integrated with Finder. The first 5 GB are free and can be browsed like any other folder. There will be a Windows solution for this as well. It will also be the backbone of a new Mail feature; Ever send a file that’s too large? Now Apple Mail will automatically generate a link and stick it in the cloud for your recipient to download. Yes, you can already to this with DropBox or some other solution, but this is all baked in.
Photos:
Not that much news on the new photos app, but the goal is to sync all your photos (as long as you’re willing to pay for the additional iCloud space) to all your devices – iOS or MacOS. Edits will be maintained across devices. I’ve been spending a lot of time in iPhoto lately, and it has been in dire need of a replacement.
Continuity:
Most impressively, you can hand off work from your tablet to your phone to your desktop via Continuity. Wherever you go, your workflow goes with. You can also do more work across devices by linking them up. This will let you do things like text as well as make and answer calls from your Mac. This was one of my favorite options with webOS, and it looks like Apple has taken the concept and made it more robust.
There are oodles more new features – like the new overall visual metaphor that is more iOS derived, or the built in Markup image editing tool, or the totally redone Safari – but the above features are the ones that have me thinking “Yeah, I need to start putting money aside”.
What about you?
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