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Goodbye OS X, hey macOS: Here's what's new in the upcoming 'Sierra'

Apple’s desktop operating system gets a new name, and a bunch of new capabilities

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macOS Sierra brings, along with a new family name, a range of updated features and capabilities.
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At their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple finally announced the realignment in the nomenclature of their family of desktop operating systems--the original OS X will now be known as macOS. And the upcoming version will be called macOS Sierra.

Here then are the key features and capabilities that mark the release of this new update.

Siri, finally on the Mac desktop

Users can now fire up Siri right from the Mac Dock, menu bar or keyboard. In its new desktop avatar, Siri sports special features including the ability to use voice to search for information, find files and send messages (eg. “show me the files I worked on last evening”, “add a meeting to my calendar for tomorrow morning”, or “start a FaceTime call with Neil”.)

It is also possible to drag and drop Siri search results directly into documents or emails, and pin search results of live news in the notification area for easy access.

Synchronize your desktop files across devices

macOS Sierra can now automatically replicate files on the Desktop and the Documents folder to any other Mac iOS device or even PC, a la Google Drive. On the iPhone and iPad, these files can be accessed via the iCloud Drive app and on iCloud.com or on the iCloud Windows app. After logging into the second device, files are transparently copied from the cloud and replicated within the device’s Desktop or Documents folder.

Picture-in-picture video

Want to keep track of the cricket match while working on your spreadsheet? There’s a new picture-in-picture feature on macOS Sierra that enables popping out a video and floating it to any location on the desktop. This video can be resized and pinned to any corner of the screen, and it maintains its position even when switching between spaces.

Copy and paste between devices

Ever wished you could copy a file on your iPhone and paste it onto your desktop? Now you can--with the Continuity feature in macOS Sierra, you can copy and paste images, text, photos and even videos across the Mac, iPhone and iPad, making it easier than ever to transfer information between these devices.

Tabs across apps

Taking a cue from a feature that is now the mainstay of the browsing experience, tabbed functionality has now been extended across several other Mac apps that support multiple Windows including Maps, Mail, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, TextEdit and even third-party apps.

Apple Pay, now on the Mac desktop

The Apple Pay experience has now been extended to Safari on macOS Sierra--when making an online transaction in supported regions, simply selecting the Apple Pay button at checkout enables users to complete the transaction using TouchID on a trusted iPhone, or even using a paired Apple Watch.

Under-the-hood enhancements

Other features in the new macOS include being able to log into the Mac by simply approaching it with a trusted Apple Watch, offloading infrequently used files to the iCloud to clear local space, and an updated Photos app with the new image recognition and ‘Memories’ feature. Communication apps like iMessage and FaceTime now also have end-to-end encryption enabled by default, facilitating better privacy and communication security.

Mac users can sign up for the macOS Sierra Beta Program and download the software starting in July at beta.apple.com. The final version will be available for free from the Mac App Store in the October-November time frame this year.

For more information, visit the macOS Sierra preview page.

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