Apple ditches the cats, launches OS X Mavericks

Apple has ditched the cat theme for its operating system for some California dreamin’ with the launch of OS X Mavericks.

The new OS takes its name from the famous surf spot and its inspiration from Apple’s home state of California, as will any other new operating systems to come out of the Cupertino-based giant in the next few years.

Announced at Apple’s annual WWDC developers’ conference, Mavericks doesn’t really represent a complete direction shift for Apple. Instead, it seems like the natural evolution of Mountain Lion. Rather than making a desktop version of iOS, Apple has upped the subtle nods to its mobile OS.

“The Mac has consistently outpaced the PC industry and OS X continues to be the most innovative and easy to use operating system in the world,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “OS X Mavericks is our best version yet and features new Maps and iBooks apps, Finder Tags and Tabs, enhanced multi-display support, performance and energy saving features, and an all new Safari.”

Here’s a breakdown of some of the most noteworthy new features of Apple’s first no-cat desktop iOS in years.

Tags

Once you’ve upgraded to Mavericks, you’ll be able to “tag” documents, pictures or videos saved to your computer by topic. If you’re saving videos of your pets for instance, you can tag them as “pets”, theoretically making them easier to search for.

Multiple Displays

Apple’s done something pretty special for anyone who works on multiple displays, with Mavericks. Rather than just duplicating or extending the background across multiple displays, the dock and menu bar appear on both displays. It’s a small detail sure, but it shows that Apple’s software team is thinking about people, rather than just trying to outdo Mountain Lion (no easy task given that it was its most successful OS yet).

Safari

We haven’t seen Safari pushed so heavily during an Apple keynote in a long time. The new Safari is apparently way more efficient than Chrome and Firefox and comes with a fe new features. Among these new features is a sidebar bookmarks bar. You can read lists on the sidebar, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn. The former of these social networks is baked deep into the OS, and the general consensus is that you could almost use it as a basic Twitter client.

Notifications

This is probably one of the more useful upgrades to OS X. You can now reply straight from notifications to things like emails and FaceTime messages.

Calendar

The leather look makes way for something much softer and more clean. It’s a break from the era of Scott Forstall and, interestingly, a move away from the faux-realistic look that Steve Jobs was so enamoured with.

Maps

Another iOS feature ported to the desktop is Maps. And, like the mobile offering, the maps look beautiful but a little scant in comparison to Google’s offering. You can also push directions from Maps to your iPhone, sort of like Google now allows you to do with Maps and your Android phone.