It wasn't exactly a geyser of new information trapped underground and ready to spew, but Apple offered up some critical tidbits today at its product event regarding its latest Mac operating system: the official release of OS X Yosemite is available.
Over a million users gave Yosemite a test run during a public beta, helping guide the platform through testing that saw three gold masters of the code. A gold master is the almost final version of the code ready for release.
Yosemite requires an installation of OS X version 10.6.8 or later, 2GB of memory and 8GB of available storage.
"With OS X Yosemite, we set out to elevate the experience of using a Mac," says Apple. "To do that, we looked at the entire system and refined it app by app. Feature by feature. Pixel by pixel. And we built great new capabilities into the interface that put need-to-know information at your fingertips. The result is that your Mac has a fresh new look, with all the power and simplicity you know and love."
Yosemite places a heavy focus on interoperability with other Apple software, according to Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Apple's software engineering.
Federighi demoed Yosemite's ability to field calls from an iPhone on a Mac, allowing users to communicate via the computer's speaker phone. As long as users have a handset running iOS 8 and a notebook or desktop with Yosemite, they'll enjoy the convenience of sending or receiving messages and calls from which ever device they choose.
Further detailing the interconnectedness of Yosemite and iOS 8, Federighi revealed users can Air Drop files on a device running one platform and have them wirelessly synced on the other.
Similarly, users with a fleshed out Apple ecosystem can use Handoff to move work from one device to another.
"Say you start writing a report on your iMac, but you want to continue on your iPad as you head to your meeting," says Apple. "Or maybe you start writing an email on your iPhone, but you want to finish it on your Mac. Handoff makes it possible. When your Mac and iOS devices are near each other, they can automatically pass what you're doing from one device to another."
Some of the other big improvements rolled out in Yosemite include a more robust Spotlight, a streamlined Safari toolbar, support from iCloud for 5 GB email attachments.
Yosemite is compatible with iMacs from mid 2007 and later; 2008 aluminum MacBooks, MacBooks from 2009 and newer; MacBook Pros mid 2007 and later; MacBook Airs late 2008 and newer; Mac minis from early 2009 and later; Mac Pros from early 2008 and later; and Xserve from early 2009 and on.
