Apple announced the upcoming fall release of macOS Sierra earlier today at their annual developer’s conference, WWDC 2016, in San Francisco. While iOS 10, tvOS and watchOS news overshadowed the announcements, the new features and capabilities macOS Sierra brings to the table are nothing to scoff at.
First and foremost, the elephant in the room has to be addressed: The Mac OS X name is officially dead. Confirming the rumors spawned from poking around unreleased private frameworks in El Capitan, Apple’s desktop operating system’s naming convention will change to macOS. Long live macOS.
However, with the new name comes a whole bunch of features, including Siri support for the desktop. Siri will be able to do all the same sort of things it currently does on iOS devices, such as searching the web, playing an iTunes playlist or organizing your reminders.
Siri for macOS may actually even be more useful, as it has been designed with multitasking in mind. Meaning, if you’re working on a school project about dolphins, you’ll be able to ask Siri to search for dolphin image before dragging the picture from the pop-up window to the work document.
Online integration with Apple Pay will be coming with macOS Sierra, a new feature that could threaten PayPal’s dominance for streamlined checkout transactions with smaller merchants on the web. The AI system packaged with Photos on iOS 10, the one that will catalog your pictures based on a combination of facial recognition and geolocation data, will also be available on macOS Sierra.
Lastly, although not directly publicized, Apple has unveiled a new file system called Apple File System, or APFS, that is currently available for download with the OS X 10.12 Developer Preview beta (with certain limitations). Ars Technica has gone in-depth analyzing APFS’s documentation, but if a technical explanation isn’t your style, just know it means big things for Apple devices behind the scenes.
Compatibility with macOS Sierra will be limited to MacBooks and iMacs released 2009 or later, or any MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini or Mac Pro released 2010 or later.
- A universal clipboard synced between Apple devices.
- Computer unlocking with an Apple Watch.
- The desktop and document folders will automatically sync with iCloud Drive, ala the way Chromebooks implement Google Drive.
- Optimized Storage, which will push unused files to the cloud to recoup hard drive space.
- A redesigned iTunes, interface-wise.
- Floating windows with the ability to stick to the top and tabs within apps.
Are you excited for the fall release of macOS Sierra? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
