Apple has announced that OS X Mavericks, the 10th major release of Mac OS X, is available for free from the Mac App Store.
With more than 200 new features, OS X Mavericks brings iBooks and Maps to the Mac, includes a new version of Safari, enhances multi-display support, introduces Finder Tabs and Tags and delivers new core technologies for breakthrough power efficiency and performance, says Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. He says that Mavericks introduces:
° iBooks, which gives you instant access to your iBooks library, more than two million titles in the iBooks Store, and works across your devices;
° Maps, which brings mapping technology to the desktop and lets you plan a trip from your Mac and send it to your iPhone for voice navigation on the road;
° A streamlined Calendar that estimates travel time between appointments, and provides a map with weather forecast;
° A new version of Safari with Shared Links, which helps you find what’s new on the web by consolidating links shared by people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn;
° iCloud Keychain, which stores your website usernames and passwords, credit card numbers and Wi-Fi passwords and pushes them to your devices so you don’t need to remember them;
° Enhanced multi-display support, which makes using multiple displays easier with no configuration required;
° Interactive Notifications, allowing you to reply to a message, respond to a FaceTime call or even delete an email without leaving the app you’re using;
° Finder Tabs, which help unclutter your desktop by consolidating multiple Finder windows into a single window with multiple tabs;
° Finder Tags, a new way to organize and find your files located on your Mac or in iCloud.
Mavericks also includes new core technologies that boost performance and improve the battery life of your Mac, says Federighi. Timer Coalescing and App Nap intelligently save energy and reduce power consumption. Compressed Memory automatically shrinks inactive data to keep your Mac fast and responsive. Mavericks also delivers significant performance enhancements for systems with integrated graphics through optimized OpenCL support and dynamic video memory allocation.
Any Mac capable of running OS X Mountain Lion can also run Mavericks. You can upgrade to Mavericks for free directly from OS X Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion. For a complete list of system requirements and compatible systems, please visit www.apple.com/osx/specs . OS X Server 3.0 requires Mavericks and is available from the Mac App Store for US$19.99.