OS X 10.9 Mavericks


Apple officially unveiled Mac OS X Mavericks, the next operating system for Mac users, at its WWDC developers conference. If you've been wondering what the new OS has in store for you—and when—here are 10 things you need to know.

OS X Mavericks: The Basics

1. When Will OS X Mavericks Be Available?
Apple says the new operating system, OS X Mavericks, will be out "this fall"—which one might guess, based Apple's history of releases, really means mid-September. Currently, only developers have access to an early release of the operating system.

2. How Much Will OS X Mavericks Cost?
There's no official word yet on what Apple will charge for OS X Mavericks, but it's not hard to make a ballpark guess after considering Apple's last few operating system releases:

  • 2012 Mountain Lion: $19.99 at release (15.99 euros, 13.99 GBP)
  • 2011 Lion: $29.99 at release (upgrade from Snow Leopard )
  • 2009 Snow Leopard: $29.99 at release (upgrade from Leopard)

As of Lion, users who wanted to upgrade from an older version than the most recent one had to simply buy the intermediate OS. In other words, to get from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, the user first had to pay for Lion, and then pay the extra $20 on top of that for Mountain Lion, which at the time was still a huge bargain, as the total cost was still significantly less than the average cost of operating systems in general in years past.

In short, it's hard to imagine Apple would charge more for the new Mavericks operating system considering the price has gone down over the years.

3. What's With the Name?
The last nine computer operating systems from Apple had cat names (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion). "Mavericks" is the first name to break the pattern.

Mavericks is the name of a surfers' beach in California, and word is the new theme for Apple OS names going forward will be California locations. (Feel free to name some of your favorite ideas in this theme in the comments below.)

OS X Maverick: Noteworthy Features

Predictably, you can summarize what's new in Mavericks in about four words: new design, improved performance. In all seriousness, there are at least six enhancements that I think are worth noting.

4. Tags
Tags may not sound very interesting, but they represent a huge shift that has been creeping up on computer users for a few years now. We're moving away from tree structures, as a way of organizing and finding data, and into an era of "search."

With the addition of tags in the new Mac operating system, users will be able to add metadata to all kinds of files on their computers, from application files to Word docs. Say you have a bunch of files that are part of Project X. You can create a Project X tag and add it to all the affiliated files. Then, when you need to see all your Project X files, you can click the tag name from the Finder. What makes tags different from folders (as all Gmail and Evernote users know) is a file can have multiple tags, but it can only be in one folder. Some computer users are resistant to this change, as they've grown accustomed to the nested folder structure and in fact often build them to mirror their workflow. The good news for future Mavericks users is tags are an addition to the operating system, not a replacement for folders (yet). But mark my words, they are the future.

5. Calendar
Was the Calendar app in need of a refresh or what? I can't say anything about the new Calendar program bundled into OS X Mavericks strikes me as truly novel, but it looks nicer and promises to have some usability improvements.

For example, the updated Calendar will be scrollable month to month, so you won't have to click to page through it anymore. There's also a new feature called "event inspector" that pops up a preview of an appointment, complete with suggested addresses and points of interest if you enter information into its location field. Calendar will also integrate more with map information, providing travel times and weather forecasts when appropriate, which sounds a whole lot like Google Now, eh?

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