Apple Unveiled Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About OS X Yosemite

Apple at WWDC 2014, unveiled OS X 10.10 Yosemite, the successor of the popular desktop operating system Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The OS X 10.10 “Yosemite” is named after the popular National Park in California. The OS X 10.10 desktop operating system update not only breaks the usual trend of using members of the cat family for Mac OS X naming, it also comes with a fresh redesigned minimal interface. As you’ll find out in this post, the new changes brings OS X more close to merge with iOS.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite: New Features

The Interface

The new interface is radical with a clean flat interface that’s very elegant. As everyone was expecting, the design overhaul of OS X Yosemite is in the same line of the new radical design overhaul we saw with the release of iOS 7. The interface is pleasant with bright colors and translucent effects. Visually almost all system apps are similar to their iOS counterparts. Many OS X users may not like the bright-vibrant interface. For all of them, Apple made a “Dark” mode option. The Dark mode dims system elements like the Menu and Dock. Thus the darker system elements makes other OS X apps appear more prominently.

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Improved Spotlight Search

Going forward deeper into the system of Mac OS X Yosemite, we notice that the changes are not limited to the visual interface only. Taking a close look into the updated Spotlight, we notice many changes with added features. OS X Yosemite Spotlight is no longer confined to the Menu anymore. The Spotlight appears in the middle of the screen. It now provides quick access to variety of sources using a web-based search engine. Another useful feature added to Spotlight is Spotlight Suggestions. As the name itself suggest, Spotlight Suggestions tries to auto-complete search term by predicting what a user might be search for.

Other Changes and Updates in OS X Yosemite

The Dock is completely redesigned to go with the elegant translucent flat design of Yosemite. The Dock features two-dimensional icons that makes it look very beautiful. One of the changes that brings OS X one step close to iOS is the updated Notification Center. Notification in OS X 10.10 features a new Day View. It shows Today view along with calendar appointments, reminders and weather for the day. This feature is very similar to what we see in iOS 7 Notification Center. Its interactive and offers users option to customize it. Users can now extend functionality of Notification Center using widgets available from the App Store.

Apple Safari is sports a slim interface that gives users more space for browsing. Apple has removed the favorites bar from Safari. Safari now only shows the favorites bar when a user types them in the address bar. Apple provides its users more control over their privacy when browsing through Safari. The web browser opens Private Browsing windows separately. Apple is one of the first company to offer built-in support for DuckDuckGo search engine. If you haven’t heard about them yet, DuckDuckGo is not like Google or Bing search engine that tracks its users. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that doesn’t track its users. Thus offering privacy to all its users. The web browser now supports a lot of advance technologies like CSS3, WebGL and more.

Apple Mail is another app that’s updated with new features and improvements. The updated Mail app includes the ability to annotate, sign messages and attachments, and supports sharing them with others. With its deep integration with iOS, OS X Yosemite now allows users to receive calls and SMS messages not originating from iMessage.

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Apple iCloud features a new Drive feature accessible from Finder. iCloud Drive allows users to share files between Apple Mac, iOS device like iPad or iPhone and even on Microsoft Windows. Continuity is another great addition to iCloud. iCloud Continuity allows users to begin tasks on one Apple device and then seamlessly continue working on it from another Apple device. For instance, you started working on your unfinished work on your Apple Mac in the morning. While commuting on your way to the office, you can continue your work seamlessly on your iPad or iPhone. It’s a useful feature for anyone who may want to finish their unfinished work before reaching their office.

Apple OS X 10.10 Yosemite Release Date

OS X 10.10 Yosemite is expected to be available to the public in the fall. As no official release date is yet available for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, we can only speculate that Yosemite will be available in September or October. This timeline fits nicely with last years release dates of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. Last year, Apple released iOS 7 on September 18, and OS X 10.9 Mavericks on October 22. The best news is Apple is providing free update to OS X 10.10 Yosemite for all users running a compatible (see below for details) Apple Mac.

Developers will have opportunity to get OS X 10.10 Yosemite from today. If don’t have a developer account with Apple, you can try the new OS X Yosemite operating system through Apple’s public beta program. More details about the public beta is available on this page.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite System Requirement

We are here including the system requirements of OS X 10.10 Yosemite Developer Preview. Apple may change them at the release time of OS X 10.10 Yosemite. We will update the list below when Apple releases final system requirement details.

Apple OS X Yosemite (Developer Preview) can run on the following Mac models

  • iMac (mid-2007 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (late 2008 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  • Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  • XServe (Early 2009)

Source: Apple, Image Sources: Apple

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