Hi this is Gary with MacMost Now.
On today's episode let's exam what we know so far about Mac OS X, Mavericks.
So Mavericks is going to be the successor to Mountain Lion.
Mountain Lion was 10.8 and Mavericks will be 10.9.
It's named not after a cat but a place in California.
A famous surfing spot near Half Moon Bay.
Here is what we know about it so far.
There are going to be Finder changes.
Most notably Finder tabs.
So a Finder window can now, instead of just containing a single list of files and folders,
can actually have multiple tabs just like Safari can show multiple web pages.
And you can switch between these tabs.
This will make it a lot easier to have one Finder window open and access several folders
in there that you need to get to rather than having multiple Finder windows lined up or
overlapping each other.
Now there is also going to be an emphasis on file tagging.
That is not exactly something that is completely new.
File tagging is the ability to apply a key word to a file.
So think of it as you have your file name as the title of the document but you can also
apply multiple key words to it.
Say if it is something for work, something for a special project, something for home.
These are kind of similar to how we had labels before but you can have multiple tags applied
instead of just one label.
It looks like actually it will be just extending labels to create these tags.
So think of tags as combination of labels and also Spotlight Comments which allowed
you previously to enter key words that you could find when searching for the file and
also in addition to that Smart Folders because you will be able to then look at the different
items that have different key words on the left.
So if you tag something as being from work and a certain project you will be able to
look in these folders that will show you everything that is tagged with that.
So you will find files in multiple places.
Maybe under multiple keys words and in the actual folder they are located.
Very similar to how in iTunes you have playlists and in iPhoto you have Albums as well as Events.
Mavericks is also going to change how multiple screens are handled.
Specifically when it comes to things that kind of get in the way of multiple screens.
Like Mission Control which works great if you have one screen like on a laptop.
But if you have multiple screens then it kind of gets a little confusing.
Well with Mavericks now each screen will have its own Mission Control and you will have
multiple spaces with each screen.
Likewise each screen will have its own Dock so you can go to the bottom of each screen
and get the Dock there.
Another things about screens is that it looks like we will be able to use Apple TV as a
second monitor.
Not a mirrored one as we can now with Mountain Lion and AirPlay but actually creating a new
screen that is then shown wirelessly using Apple TV.
Now as predicted Mavericks is going to get rid of some or maybe all skewomorphic designs.
This is when an app kind of looks like something in the real world like kind of the leathery
feel of Calendar or the legal pad feel of Notes.
We don't know exactly which ones are going to go to a very plain flat look.
We know Calendar is one of them.
But perhaps we will see Notes and Reminders do the same as well.
So there will be a new version of Safari.
It looks like the main change is going to be combining several elements into one interface.
You had Top Sites before, we had Bookmark, we had Reading List.
It is all going to be combined so there will be Reading List and Bookmarks on the left
sidebar as well as links from your social networks.
Top Sites can appear to the right of that as well as web pages appear to the right of
that.
So it is kind of a new control center way of navigating your web pages while having
the left sidebar that lets you get to things.
So making Safari maybe a little bit more like Mail where you have a left sidebar and a right
area where you are viewing things.
Of course I'm sure you will be able to just simply view things just as you could before.
Safari also is going to get a little faster as there will be some Java script engine improvements.
Now there will be a new part of iCloud that seems to me to be kind of a replacement for
One Password or Last Pass.
Something that lets you to save passwords securely and other information like credit
card info and then enter it into your browser.
It looks like this is going to sync across devices which will be useful.
I'm not so sure that it is going to completely replace things like One Password.
It was kind of strange in the presentation how you couldn't actually have your three
digit credit card code included in it even though there shouldn't be any real reason
not to if it is securely encrypted and you have to use your password to get to it.
So we will have to see how this feature actually plays out.
Whether it is kind of a halfway step to something like One Password or whether it can completely
replace it.
It looks like we are going to get an iBooks app that will allow us to access iBooks, things
we purchased on our iPad or iPhone, also on our Mac.
Now this is going to be great because it allows expansion of the number of people that can
use iBooks.
So for instance if you are in school and you use a MacBook then you may not have that access
to the iBooks textbooks.
You had to get an iPad to do that.
Now you can do that on your Mac.
Or if you have both devices you can use them on both because if you purchase on one you
get them on all just like with music and apps.
Also it looks like things like Notes and Bookmarks and all sorts of things will sync between
them using iCloud.
In addition, a cool feature, looks like you will be able to open multiple books at the
same time.
So for students having to look at multiple textbooks at once you will be able have them
open in multiple windows.
Another new app will be the Maps App.
So this is going to have the same functionality we get in iOS but you will be able to do it
on the Mac.
Which is great because unlike Goggle Maps there is no web based version of Apple Maps.
So now you have a way to access them.
Also another great thing is that STK will allow third party developers to be able to
use Maps in their apps.
They can already do that on iOS but the ability to do that on the Mac might create some really
cool innovative apps on your Mac that pull in Maps data and allow you to do location
based things.
So now to the nitty-gritty details.
First of all when will Mavericks come out.
All we know is that it is going to be this Fall.
So anytime between the end of September to the end of December.
So my bet is somewhere around November.
Maybe just in time so that anybody buying Macs for the holidays will get Mavericks installed.
But we will have to see.
Apple sometimes has been known to wait until the very last day of the season when they
promise something like Fall or Spring.
So how about compatibility?
Which Macs will Mavericks be compatible with.
We don't have any information about that right now except some leaked information from developers
that have been posted to rumor sites that see to point to that anything that can run
Mountain Lion can run Mavericks.
Which kind of makes sense.
But we will have to wait until the end.
It probably will be a few borderline Macs that can just barely run Mountain Lion now
but will be left out of Mavericks as some of the new features may not work on those
machines.
How about pricing?
Well, if we look back at Mountain Lion, Mountain Lion cost $10.
But before that at Lion it cost $20.
My bet is that it is going to be one of those two, $10 or $20.
How will you get it?
You are going to have to get it from the Mac App Store, I'm sure of that because the last
two operating systems have been distributed that way.
So you most likely will need to have either Lion or Mountain Lion installed although perhaps
with a later version of Snow Leopard, if your Mac is compatible, you also have the Mac App
Store and you may be able to jump straight to Mavericks.
So here is what we know so far.
There will probably be a lot more information given out by Apple or leaked by developers
who have access to Mavericks right now.
But keep in mind with leaked information is that developers could be misinterpreting features
or there could be features that can be in there that Apple then pulls before the final
version.
Also there are things that may be independent of Mavericks like iBooks and Maps App could
be released beforehand or could be released after Mavericks comes out because they may
be completely independent of the operating system itself.
We'll just have to see how it goes this Fall.
I hope you found this useful.
Until next time this is Gary with MacMost Now.