A Look At OS X Yosemite And iOS 8.1
by Brandon Chester on October 27, 2014 8:00 AM ESTConclusion
It has definitely been a busy few months in the Apple world. September delivered the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, along with iOS 8, and a preview of the still mysterious Apple Watch. This month we got the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 3, the iMac with Retina 5K display, iOS 8.1, Apple Pay, and OS X Yosemite. Those last three points are some of the most interesting, and they all happen to be part of Apple's software ecosystem. I don't think that's a coincidence. We're reaching a point where it's becoming more and more difficult to differentiate your products based on hardware alone. Great software driving a great experience is where the focus needs to be moving forward.
Apple's strategy to provide that experience appears to be deep integration of their services across all of their product lines. It starts with the cloud, with new additions to iCloud like iCloud Drive and Photo Library. From there it goes to software commonality, with a design language that exists on both iOS and OS X, and applications that exist on both platforms. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the cloud are the new continuity features which provide integration between all the devices that you have right there with you. SMS Forwarding and iPhone call transferring expands communication on iPad and the Mac to new areas, while Handoff makes the transition between applications seamless and accurate right down to where your cursor was.
What interests me the most about Apple's stategy is how it provides incentive for a user with one Apple device to buy other Apple devices. This exists to a certain degree with other manufacturers as well. If you own a Samsung smartphone, you may be more inclined to buy a Samsung tablet due to the similar hardware design and user interface. But apart from any brand loyalty you feel, you don't really have any incentive to buy a Samsung laptop which runs Windows and doesn't integrate with your other devices. Apple's integration covers their entire lineup of devices. An iPhone user has a lot to gain by choosing a MacBook over a Windows Ultrabook, and an iPad over a Nexus 9. It would be interesting to analyze what percentage of people purchasing a new Apple device already own one or more Apple products.
Overall, I'm happy with the work that Apple has done with iOS 8.1 and OS X Yosemite. It's clear that a lot of this has been in the works for some time now, and integrating products and services to this degree requires a lot of planning to position your hardware and software so that it will be capable of working together in the ways you want them to. The Yosemite redesign has also gone quite well, and there aren't as many jarring inconsistencies as there were with iOS 7 at launch despite OS X being a more expansive operating system. Apple has definitely learned from their experiences with the iOS redesign. That being said, there is still a lot of work to do. Apple Pay needs to expand rapidly, and iCloud Photo Library isn't as far developed as I had expected it to be.
It's hard to say where Apple will go as we move forward. It will be hard to outdo the work that has been done with Yosemite. However, history tells me that there are still great things yet to come from Apple. It seems that year after year Apple is able to make updated products and proclaim them to be the biggest advancements in that product's history, and regardless of my initial reaction, I somehow always find myself agreeing .
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SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
As a long term OSX power user and a long term Android power user I feel constantly dissapointed by OSX updates.I certainly understand Apple efforts to unify their experiences and make them consistent under the same ecosystem. That's good for their business.
Unfortunately I'm on a situation where OSX for me is more a handicap than something I'd like to pay for, and that's something which is reinforced on every single release.
I fear that after 13 years my current MacBook Pro from 2012 will be my last Apple product. I will not use a system which is focused to my grandma and obfuscates all the advanced features under complex bash commands in an effort to make them not available to the users. I will not buy a 2K laptop with soldered RAM and battery, let alone the stupid joke the new iMac is.
I'm sad, because OS X has been my main driver for some many years. But I'm not buying the Apple ecosystem, and apparently that's all that Apple wants to sell now.
tim851 - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
What advanced features are obfuscated in 10.10 that weren't in 10.8?And what kind of power user is afraid of bash?
SirPerro - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
Multi monitor is painful, and basically all the controls other than raising/lowering brightess/volume and activating trackpad gestures are taken as "advance" features and completely obfuscatedI'm not afraid of bash in any way. But there are many things that should have a UI purely for convenience. Apple doesn't build that because they treat their consumers as if they were idiots.
"It simply works" ... "and if not, just go find the solution in stackoverflow because we're not providing that info to you"
blackcrayon - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
You're not going to disprove statements like "it simply works" by saying things like "multi monitor is painful". HOW exactly? As with Mavericks some people like it better if they turn off "Displays have separate spaces" in the Mission Control system preference. I personally like the new way better, so I'm wondering where the "pain" is.darwinosx - Monday, October 27, 2014 - link
You are "bashing" a product you clearly know nothing about so I really doubt you are an experienced user as pretty much everything you said is wrong. Try Windows or Linux. Bye.techconc - Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - link
When people make vague arguments and are not able to provide specifics, they come off as a troll. I'd like to think this isn't the case, but based on the comments provided, SirPerro is apparently just trolling. That's sad.If there is a specific issue, state your case and others will help you solve your problem. At this point, I doubt there is any such problem to speak of.
JimK85 - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
Here are some annoyances in OSX versus windows or Linux:1. Minimal Right-Click Context Menu. More clicking around to do things like simply creating a new folder
2. Wonky max/min window controls. Why cant I just maximize a window with "one" click
3. Far more extensive customization of task bars, toolbars in windows and linux versus the pretty dock and menus in OSX that are mostly "static".
4. Natively having the ability to rename multiple files with ease in windows is pretty handy.
5. Many apps in OSX cant do half screen windows...Why? In the windows/linux world any windowed app can be resized (this was a mistake Microsoft made with windows 8 which they are fixing in Win 10. )
I could go on but this isnt intended to be a bash OSX post. I'm sure we could list things about OSX that cant be done in windows or linux. I just find features I prefer are limited in OSX.
EnzoFX - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
1. Minimal? Apps can enhance right-click just as they do with Windows. Furthermore, what about shortcuts? I find OS X's shortcuts way more intuitive. I rarely use right-click because I can do most things with one click or a shortcut.2. Wonky? You clearly don't understand the intent of the "maximize" button, nevertheless if it's not for you, I can get that. But I wouldn't call it a con right away.
3. Uhm there are just as many apps that enhance the dock and menubar. I'd argue better ones over Win.
4. Renaming multiple files? Are you kidding me? OS X does this too you know.
I'm just gonna stop, you clearly haven't used the OS enough.
JimK85 - Sunday, November 2, 2014 - link
Some of these things are not native in OSX. You have to do it with a batch file or get an add on.osxandwindows - Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - link
I had all of this things sense OS X 10.6