Available from today – for free no less - 10.9 Mavericks (yes, they've ditched the cat names) is Apple's newest update to its OS X operating system.
Packed with new features and design tweaks, it's got a lot of work to do if it wants to live up to the hype surrounding its iOS 7 cousin. And it'll need to keep one eye on a resurgent Microsoft, with the imminent release of Windows 8.1 (and yes, 8.1 is worth worrying...
about...).
Developers have just been asked to submit their Mavericks-compatible Apps to Apple - which means that we're very near to 10.9's release date.
So what glorious new tricks and toys can you expect from Mavericks 10.9? And do we think it looks like a worthy upgrade to The World's Best Desktop OS? Let's find out, shall we...
PERFORMANCE: LEANER, SMARTER, SMOOTHER
Mavericks comes with a ton of highly geeky tweaks to Mac OS X under the hood, most of which are designed to make your battery last longer, and improve the responsiveness of the interface.
Compressed Memory, for example, automatically reduces the memory allocated to inactive apps as your machine begins to run out of headroom. In theory, performance of the active application should benefit. In fact, Apple claims that Mavericks is 1.4x more responsive under load than Mountain Lion, and will wake 1.5x faster from standby.
Then there’s Timer Coalescing, which sprinkles some magic to give your CPU more downtime. The result should be a lower drain on your battery.
Put the two features together, and you should have a Mac that's even snappier (not like Mountain Lion was a sluggard, mind), and a laptop goes further between charges.
NEW IBOOKS AND APPLE MAPS
For years, iOS users have been using iBooks and Apple Maps (in the case of the latter, through gritted teeth). Now, desktop users get to join the club - Apple Maps and iBooks will be available as stand-alone applications in 10.9.
Quite why is slightly beyond us - particularly in the case of iBooks. The experience of reading on a landscape laptop screen, flipping pages using a trackpad, just seems forced compared to the same activity on an iPad. Still, maybe we’re in a minority, and the Rest Of The World is punching the air at the impending arrival of iBooks for Mac.
While iBooks will sync with your literary purchases through the iTunes Book Store, and across your iDevices through iCloud, Maps looks to be a much more sensible addition. It’ll tap into your Apple Contacts book to make finding someone really fast. And if you’re checking out directions on your sofa in the evening, you can send them through to your iPad or iPhone, ready for the trip in the morning. Makes you wonder why it wasn’t there before.
FINDER TABS: AT LAST...
Mac fanboys of the world unite: Apple has listened to your howls of agony. The OS X Finder finally has tabs. Yes, tabs. They even mimic the interface style of those in Safari. Good times, people (although not such good times for Cocoatech, the independent developers of Path Finder, which has offered OS X tabs for years)..
Now, we’ve never understood why this is such a massive deal for so many people (after all, you can put as many folders as you like in the Sidebar with a simple drag’n’drop). But then, we can understand the benefit when copying files between folders. In Mountain Lion, you’d either open two Finder windows, or turn to the spring loading of folders as you worked your way up and down folder hierarchies.
In Mavericks, you can drag a folder or file up to a tab, and it pretty much instantly switches to the new location.
TAGS: ORGANISE YOURSELF TO OBLIVION
Tags are now integrated into the Finder Sidebar, Toolbar and contextual menus. Combined with the new Finder tabs, we reckon the Apple team are trying to steer you to a new way of organising your desktop - have your main folders open in tabs, and filter the files with using the Tags in the Sidebar.
We also reckon that someone in the OS X design team runs their entire world using Tags for their projects. They must do, because you'll be able to assign more than one Tag to a file, and you're almost forced to add Tags when you Save As. So if your intricate, carefully laid plans for world domination are scattered all over your hard drive, you can instantly bring them together into a single view by clicking the ‘I Run Everything, Me’ Tag. Us? We think it’s OCD taken to extremes.
DESIGN: NOT IOS7
Apple's core design language has been completely rewritten for mobile devices. Textures, stitching and gradients have gone, ousted by an interface that’s flat, colourful, bright and clean. So what about the OS X desktop?
Well, there are some major changes to the apps that were the flag bearers for Steve Jobs' love of skeuomorphism. Apple Calendar, previously a sea of needlework and textures, is now as flat as its iOS7 equivalent.
Notes has been subject to a similar ruthless spring clean: bar a slight background texture to the actual note area, the application is so minimal that it barely exists. Even the choice of dodgy fonts for your Notes has gone.
Oh, and you may just notice that one of the defining elements of the OS X interface, the dock, hasn't escaped the lick of paint: in place of the near-see-through approach to dock background in Mountain Lion, Mavericks introduces a whiter, semi-tranluscent finish (we reckon it was meant to mirror the transcucency of iOS7's Control centre - but somehow it doesn't work as well).
As for the rest - we'll have a better idea of how deep OS X Mavericks' makeover really goes in our full review, so stay tuned.
SAFARI: MORE SOCIAL, MORE FLEXIBLE
Changes beneath the bonnet make Safari snappier at rendering web pages, but its the functional changes that will steal the headlines.
For example, links from your friends Twitter and LinkedIn posts will appear in the new tab sidebar. It’s hardly shattering new ground, but it looks like it could be genuinely useful. And the Top Sites tab has been given a light refresh - you'll be able to rearrange sites via drag and drag, and add them from your bookmarks. Again, not earth-cracking, but useful.
ICLOUD KEYCHAIN: NEVER FORGET A LOGIN AGAIN
With Mavericks, your passwords can be synced across your Apple devices using iCloud Keychain. You have to give your permission, of course, before they’re stored away, but once done they’re protected using AES 256-bit encryption.
iCloud Keychain will also generate passwords (always a good thing, standing between you and that fatal error of using the same password on multiple sites). If your world is all Apple, iCloud Keychain makes a ton of sense. If not, give LastPass a try.
MULTIPLE MONITORS: GO FULLSCREEN CRAZY
Mavericks drags Mountain Lion’s approach to dual screens into something resembling the modern era. If you still have Mountain Lion installed, try switching that app to full screen. See? The second screen is now rendered all but useless.
Not so with Mavericks. Your dual screen set-up gets a menu for each screen, and you can shift the dock around as you wish. Go to full screen, and the other screen remains useable. In fact, why not go crazy - run full screen apps on both screens. Scary, huh?
NOTIFICATIONS: NOW WITH ACTIONS
No, nothing new in having notifications. But with Mavericks, they'll come alive - you'll be able to interact with them, in a way that users of Android 4.2 and above will recognise. Got an email? Delete it without switching back to the main Mail app. And as if that wasn’t enough to make you slightly light-headed, you can subscribe to site updates within Notifications, even when the Safari app is closed down.
INITIAL VERDICT
OS X Mavericks 10.9 looks like a thoughtful refinement, not a revolution - but that's no bad thing. You can expect better laptop battery life, spring-cleaned apps, a multi-screen desktop that works, and notifications that you can answer back. And all on top of the world's best desktop operating system. Which doesn't sound particularly drab to us.
Update: OS X Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion users can all upgrade to OS X Mavericks for free, from today.
Source:http://www.stuff.tv/apple/os-x-mavericks-109/review
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