Apple has finally unveiled its new operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, which has received generally favorable reviews.
Yosemite is not only a great operating system, but it also reveals a lot about the future of Apple and operating systems in general.
Design
OS X 10.10 Yosemite has been given what many would call "the beauty treatment." Colors are flatter and designs are simpler. Yet while the design is clearly different, it is still familiar for long time Apple users. It's easy to navigate and looks pretty, too.
Designs have been moving this way for a while now. Flat colors are becoming the norm across a number of operating systems, including Windows and Android. OS X Yosemite simply confirms the operating system of the future, or at least for the next few years, will include flat, simple colors, no apparent gradients (although subtle ones such as those found in Android 5.0 Lollipop may appear) and colors will be bright and fun.
Connectivity is Key
Apple brings interconnectivity between devices to a new level. Continuity is Apple's new feature that allows users to do things like take and make calls and texts straight from a computer. It also allows for users to start editing a document on one device and then have the document automatically pulled up on another device, mobile or desktop, to continue editing. Sure, services like Google Drive allow document editing through the cloud, but Apple brings this to the next level by almost literally handing the document to the user as soon as they switch devices.
Such device connectivity will be extremely important going forward and not just between devices of one vendor. Companies like Google are going to have to come up with ways to offer similar features on Chrome OS, but also on OS X and Windows. The technology is clearly there, now it's time for OS players to step up and implement it.
The Cloud
There's no denying cloud storage is the way of the future. OS X Yosemite boasts iCloud Drive, which is similar to Google Drive but located right in the Finder. Operating systems in the near future will continue to implement cloud storage. In fact, Google Drive has a desktop client that gives users a folder automatically backed up to Drive. It's not hard to imagine this trend will continue to be improved upon and that eventually everything on a computer will automatically be backed up using free storage, whether it be through Google Drive or an Apple equivalent.
Conclusion
OS X Yosemite is a pretty big upgrade in terms of Apple's direction for the future. Between the new design cues, device interconnectivity and cloud storage, OS X and other operating systems have a very interesting road ahead.
