Apple

Screenshots: OS X Mavericks

By · October 25, 2013, 5:47 AM PST · erikeckel

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  • Entire screen

    Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, installed here on a late 2012 MacBook Pro production laptop, continues Apple’s simple interface penchant. Unlike Windows, whose user base encountered historic trouble attempting to adjust to the lack of a Start button in Windows 8, OS X has long leveraged the power of a Dock and menu bar for user operation.

  • Finder tabs

    Tabbed file management is included for the first time within OS X. Users can now leverage multiple tabs within Finder, thereby simplifying file management and interaction.

  • App Store

    Apple’s App Store is a true home run, with more than 50 million apps downloaded. Here's how the App Store appears to users within OS X Mavericks on a Mac (as opposed to an iOS device).

  • Pages

    Apple’s iWork suite, which includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, is consistently ranked among the most popular and top paid apps within the App Store. Most users will be hard pressed to discover any word processing features or functionality not included within Pages.

  • Mission Control

    Multitasking has become more than a hallmark of particularly productive and efficient employees; multitasking is now a necessity for anyone seeking success within a contemporary career. One side product of a frenzied, hectic pace is users often lose track of open windows. Mission Control is one way Apple makes computing easier by providing users with a simple view of open applications.

  • Launchpad

    As users install applications within OS X, Mavericks lists the software programs within Launchpad. The Mac Dock includes a Launchpad icon, providing quick access to applications while eliminating the need for users to have to navigate file structures or Start menus to locate and open applications.

  • Safari Top Sites

    Safari, Apple’s web browser, remembers the web sites users visit most often and positions them as tiled windows within its Top Sites view. The feature is reachable by clicking a single icon parked on Safari’s menu bar, making it easy to quickly access a user’s most frequently visited Web sites.

  • Safari web site

    Safari dedicates minimum real estate to menu bars, toolbars, and navigational aids. Web sites and their content become the primary focus. Safari also receives some upgrades within Mavericks. SharedLinks enables using the sidebar to share links with Twitter and LinkedIn users, and the Web browser is better tuned to enable longer battery life.

  • Safari Reader view

    Safari offers a Reader view in which advertisements and other elements are stripped away. Instead, just the content the viewer seeks is displayed. When users are digging in, studying a difficult concept and attempting to eliminate extraneous noise and distraction, the Reader view proves helpful.

  • iBooks

    iBooks is included within OS X Mavericks, meaning Mac and iOS users’ can now share books, PDFs, and other titles across all their Apple devices.

  • Calendar Month

    Apple’s trend toward minimal, simplified environments proves true with Calendar in Mavericks, where the appointment program receives a refreshed look. Toolbars, menus, navigational aids, and associated elements are minimized in favor of providing better visibility for the calendar and its corresponding data.

  • Calendar Day

    The Mac OS X Mavericks Calendar also offers Day (shown here), Week, and Year views. Users can even leverage the new Calendar to predict the drive time to appointments and trigger notification reminders when it’s time to leave for a meeting.

  • Maps

    The Mavericks OS includes Apple’s Maps app. Most users will find the app’s satellite and hybrid views handy for scouting sites, determining locations, viewing landmarks, and reviewing other geographic and map information. As is Apple’s style, the company has managed to take an application another company originally made popular (I’d argue Google was among the pioneers to make an initial mapping splash) and improve upon it by making the feature easy to use and beautiful to behold while leveraging the stunning graphics power of Macs and adding new Flyover capabilities.

  • Maps driving directions

    Driving directions simplify business travel and assist most users in determining the best driving routes. With Mavericks, users can also share driving directions via email, Messages, AirDrop, and Twitter, among other methods.

  • Map details

    The Hybrid view adds additional map detail, including principal roadways and interstates, cities, and even subdivision information to assist users in better navigating their travels.

  • System Preferences

    Users can configure dozens of System Preferences within OS X Mavericks. Using System Preferences options, users can customize the desktop look and feel, network configurations, security preferences, iCloud settings, and more.

  • Security and privacy

    Users can better secure their Macs by requiring a password immediately after waking the system from sleep or the screen saver. Users can also leverage built-in encryption (using FileVault), disable automatic login, and specify app download settings, among other security options.

  • Users & Groups

    Users & Groups settings within Mavericks are similar to those found in more recent OS X releases. Login icons and options are set, as are Parental Controls, from within the Users & Groups console.

  • App Store settings

    Mavericks allows users to configure numerous App Store settings. Some of the settings include Mavericks automatically checking for app updates, apps downloading in the background, and app updates installing automatically. Users can also choose to automatically install system data files and security updates from within the App Store System Preferences.

  • Time Machine

    Apple’s proven Time Machine backup application continues, largely unchanged, within Mavericks. Time Machine System Preferences enable reviewing the status of various Time Machine media, confirmation of backup status, changing backup schedules, and more.

  • Tags operation

    When storing or transferring photos and creating and editing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, users can assign tags to files as the files are created and updated. Files can also be right-clicked within Finder. A resulting pop-up menu includes an option for selecting and specifying tags to individual files and folders, too. As more tags are applied, integrated searching and retrieval of similarly related items becomes possible, enabling infinitely customizable organization and search capabilities.

  • Energy Saver

    While Energy Saver settings appear the same within Mavericks, the new OS significantly reduces energy consumption. Mobile users will find that they can work longer between charges, as a result. The year-old MacBook Pro shown here is running Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the highest display brightness ,and it possesses a battery life estimated at just under five hours.

  • Notifications

    Notifications can be customized within Mavericks to list email messages, Facebook updates, Tweets, and more. The feature also includes a Do Not Disturb option, which is set to Off in this screenshot.

  • iCloud

    iCloud settings now list Keychain within Mavericks. Keychain enables users to securely track passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information and securely synchronize that information with the user's other Apple and iOS devices.

Entire screen

Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, installed here on a late 2012 MacBook Pro production laptop, continues Apple’s simple interface penchant. Unlike Windows, whose user base encountered historic trouble attempting to adjust to the lack of a Start button in Windows 8, OS X has long leveraged the power of a Dock and menu bar for user operation.

Related Topics:

Apple Enterprise Software Mobility Hardware Innovation Software Consumerization

By Erik Eckel

Erik Eckel owns and operates two technology companies. As a managing partner with Louisville Geek, he works daily as an IT consultant to assist small businesses in overcoming technology challenges and maximizing IT investments. He is also president o...

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