OS X Mavericks

Apple’s OS X update, Mavericks, is free. Just in case you have not heard that. So yes, upgrading to the latest operating system should be an easy decision. Or at least, one that doesn’t involve price concerns. On the one hand, it probably came as a surprise that Apple made this update free. On the other hand, I think it totally makes sense.

The last couple of OS updates have sold at increasingly lower cost (US$29 for 10.6, US$29.99 for 10.7, and US$19.99 for 10.8). Apple doesn’t make all that much from the OS sales, although that might still be a considered an appreciable revenue given the volume. Apple has always said they were a hardware company, and all their other activities revolved around pushing their hardware. So, doesn’t it then make sense that their operating system should simply be given as part of their hardware?

You realise that’s already how it is with iOS. Apple has never charged for iOS version updates. iPhone, iPad and iPod (Touch) users always updated to the next major version for free, providing of course that their hardware is still supported by the new iOS version. iOS is simply considered something already paid for, including any future versions, when you buy an iPhone, iPad or iPod.

This is certainly a great way to keep users happy. They always get the latest OS features. Occasionally, the new OS may have features that would require new hardware. This, in turn, would be good for Apple, pushing users to upgrade their hardware to take advantage of latest OS features.

The Mavericks update is mostly under the hood. About the only thing that’s obviously changed when you boot up into Mavericks is that the desktop wallpaper has changed. Even though there isn’t anything terribly obvious to see, the changes underneath are really something quite significant.

My favourite new feature is the bunch of stuff Mavericks now does to help you reduce battery consumption. These are things like App Nap, Timer Coalescing, and Safari Power Saver. Arstechnica’s benchmark found that the 2013 MacBook Air can run for over 15 hours on a “light web browsing” workload. That’s really impressive. It’s pushing battery runtime into the category of tablet devices!

I also liked that multiple displays now behave more properly as, well, multiple displays. It’s kind of silly that Apple didn’t get this right until now. Other simple things I also liked, though they are literally just “skin deep”, are that the Calendar, Notes and Address Book now look like ordinary apps instead of trying to mimic the look of some real life object.

Then there’s all the other stuffs, of lesser interest to me, which I’m sure you can read about from elsewhere. Things like tabbed Finder, iBooks, Maps, bunch of Safari new features, etc.

Truly, the most amazing thing is about the focus on energy conservation.

Mavericks is a free update from as far back as Snow Leopard. So if you qualify, grab the OS X 10.9 update now.