It’s been long-rumored that Apple would be changing the name of OS X, Apple’s operating system for desktops and laptops, to macOS and that it would offer Siri to users. Well, today those rumors are no fact and the company is pretty pleased with itself.
Source: PixabayIntroducing Sierra, the first of many(?) OS upgrades for the Cupertino company
The annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is where Apple shows the world what it has in store for us on the software front. That’s not to say that the company doesn’t use the conference to introduce new products on occasion but it really is a software showcase.
As expected, Apple highlighted the power of Siri today and bundled it with the expected renaming of OS X to macOS. Siri should have been available to desktop users like me who refuse to use an iPhone or an iPod simply because of Apple’s totalitarian view of what can be stored and played on its mobile devices in the hopes that I will buy it from them.
Apple’s OS X has been the operating system for a decade and a half, or more. Now it’s macOS and it will have Siri when released.
Siri has been assisting mobile users of Apple devices for five years and he/she only gets smarter with each update. However, Siri has only been helping mobile users and Apple has finally decided that that needs to change.
Siri will allow users to ask what you’ve come to expect be it: trivial questions, sports and weather, or schedule reminders with a simple activation from the dock or menu bar. But, with macOS, users will also have Siri to help with file searches and optional access to the Notification Center.
macOS Sierra, will also allow Apple Watch and iPhone users to avoid the password lock on their iMacs and laptops simply by nearing them and have added a clipboard that lets file sharing and copy and pasting occur between other devices nearly seamlessly.
Additionally, macOS will make iCloud file management considerably easier. Desktop and mobile devices can trust the iCloud to keep desktop and document folders synced with little to no effort once set up, in theory, making the iMac I’m using work better with the iPhone I don’t own. iCloud has also gotten smarter and will shed itself of clutter by putting it in the cloud when macOS has determined that you’re “done with it.”
While that may seem scary, computers are largely smarter than we are and in my case, I’ve never had a computer with a drinking problem. Granted I’ve replaced a few keyboards that were unwittingly given their first beer in what was less of a bonding moment than I had with my father in my early teenage years.
It’s expected that Apple will release a public beta of Sierra next month with the final release scheduled for sometime this fall. Why give a date? If you have an iPhone in your pocket, macOS will also allow users to make Apple Pay purchases through a revamped Safari and Photos has also see a makeover.
Apple will surely show us more in the coming days, but so far the company has answered rumors, requests and something new as it shows the world a few tricks at the WWDC.
