OS X Mavericks: DP 1 Thoughts
I’ve finally got my hands on the first developer preview of Apple’s newest operating system due out this fall, and it is a beauty. It feels much more stable and snappy than the first preview of Mountain Lion was, although that’s probably because there’s hardly a UI upgrade. So, breakdown:
Speed
Right off the bat, it’s obvious Mavericks was designed to be less of a strain on the CPU while maintaining function. The difference between a fresh install of Mountain Lion versus a fresh install of Mavericks is obvious, what with apps opening quicker and switching between them smoother on the latter.
Maps
Unnecessary, but serves as convenient nonetheless. It’s nice that I no longer have to go to Google Maps to print out my directions anymore, not that it’s needed what with owning an iPhone. At least with the latter, Siri can provide turn-by-turn voice navigation instead of looking at a sheet of paper while driving. The premise is a nice thought, but pointless overall.
Calendar
A slight design change does nothing new for the app - it does what it’s always done and just falls more in line with the rest of the simplified UI changes, including those with iOS 7.
Safari
There is a one-word response to OS X’s default browser: Chrome. Although, it is much faster than it ever has been on Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion, who actually uses Safari over Google’s popular browser?
iCloud Keychain
I’ve yet to test this out, but it seems promising for those that trust Apple enough to hand over all their passwords for every site and account. Frankly, I prefer my “hard copy” memorizations.
Notification Center
There are many more options now per app in notifications, but the most important feature has been asked for for quite some time - finally, it’s possible to respond to e-mails and messages in a quick reply form, rather than having to open the apps themselves. A small touch, but very nice and welcomed.
Notes
Overhaul on the UI, while retaining the simplicity of the original - I like it. What I don’t like is that this is the only app that seems like it’s borrowing from its mobile cousin.
Tags
Frankly, this is useless. When I save my documents, I like to keep them organized by folder and don’t really see the fun in spending more time organizing them by a tag.
Finder Tabs
About freaking time. Long gone are the days of having five Finder windows open just to move some files around. It was messy, looked tacky, and was a headache to work through. Now, however, everything is simplified in one window with each folder able to have its own view, and files can be moved from tab to tab. It’s a plus that Finder can now be fullscreened, too.
Overall, OS X Mavericks is off to a great start and will be a much welcomed update to Lion’s battery-hating existence. It’s a little disconcerting that after using Lion to make OS X more like iOS, Mavericks doesn’t have iOS 7's new flat design - that would have felt like a more dramatic change than how Mavericks currently looks. Although the feature changes are miniscule and nothing innovative, as they are all features asked for by the consumers anyway, the fact that Apple did what they do best and made it cool is how Mavericks will sell.
