“While macOS adopts a new name, it retains the existing versioning system, with macOS Sierra being version 10.12,” Brandon Chester writes for AnandTech.
“Like all updates to macOS, Sierra comes with a number of new features. With the bulk of Apple’s device sales being mobile devices, there have been a number of features in recent versions of macOS that work to leverage how devices running macOS, iOS, and watchOS can work together,” Chester writes. “Having cloud sync across devices is one thing, but building and properly executing Apple’s continuity features really requires control over the hardware and software stacks across all devices. Unfortunately it’s difficult to test these features during Apple’s beta period, but that just gives Apple’s users things to look forward to later in the year.”
“macOS Sierra seems to be a good improvement on OS X El Capitan. Users will feel right at home after they upgrade, and they’ll be greeted with new features and small tweaks throughout the system that help make the experience better.,” Chester writes. “f you’ve bought into Apple’s device ecosystem you also get some features that don’t really have any equivalent within Microsoft’s or Google’s device ecosystem.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Even in beta and with not everything working, we’re liking macOS Sierra very much!
SEE ALSO:
Hands-on with Apple’s new Photos features in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra – July 11, 2016
Take a screenshot tour of Apple’s new macOS Sierra – July 8, 2016
Apple releases macOS Sierra public beta – July 7, 2016
macOS Sierra preview: Auto Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch – July 7, 2016
So far, Siri is not working for me. It cannot open any of my apps or files. When I try to open an app (even Apple’s build-in apps) Siri says they aren’t installed and I should check the app store. I didn’t expect things to be perfect in a beta, but I had high hopes after watching the WWDC demo. Is there something I am missing? I just upgraded. Does Siri need to index my hard drive first?
Update: After returning from lunch, things are working much better. Siri is opening applications and finding files. I guess Siri did need to index my hard drive.
Pretty good first look review. And while I’m truly not trying to be negative, it doesn’t seem like the new features are for me. Anandtech finds Siri to be just a ditzy as on iOS. I don’t foresee myself having the time to teach proper context to a poor listener.
For someone who has a large screen monitor and knows how to switch rapidly between windows, I don’t see Tabs as being all that useful. Certainly more exciting than tabs in Excel that some of us have been using forever. But no doubt some will herald this teensy feat as a great improvement and sign of Apple’s amazing innovation.
Gripes: PiP is a pure distraction, no interested. Apple’s incessant push to get you to rent iCloud server space continues, again with poor user control. Photos is still near useless for proper photo archival.
Anandtech’s final line: “Sierra itself is fairly rough around the edges at this point, but it’s available now as an open beta for users who want to want to install it and check out the new features for themselves.”
My question: given how modest the changes are, most of them merely implementing what has existed for 5+ years now on other platforms, why is Sierra so rough???
I want to see the updated file system, proper system font & font size selection, proper skeu, a better app store, an integrated help/traing menu that rocks, ability for user to easily and completely uninstall undesired features (iCloud), a less annoying Gatekeeper, a better iTunes for people who own their music, legible calendar, improved Mail, …. and so forth.
Is there some reason that with all the resources Apple has, they can’t keep improving desktop computing? All Cook thinks about is the goddamned iCloud, and it shows.
Again… This is the first beta. If it’s not polished yet, and things aren’t working, that’s normal. Now if this were the gold master then I think your gripes would be warranted. But we have at least 3 ½ months before this is released, so chill.
No, this is not the first beta. This is the first public release. As Paul states, all of the announced features in Sierra are just ported in from elsewhere.
Some of us here don’t have the unflagging faith that Apple cares about the desktop user anymore, and the last several years of hardware and software quality prove it.
The fact that major things aren’t ironed out in Sierra is an indication of how overcomplicated and bloated Apple has allowed OS X to become. Apple seriously needs to clean up its core, and move a lot of fluff to the application layer where they can be updated and refined more frequently with dedicated app groups. It’s painfully clear that Apple’s OS X team has been directed to make the Mac look and feel like flat skinny white ugly iOS, and are wasting enormous resources ruining what used to be a great desktop OS in order to complicate it with fingertip control schemes and reliance on iCloud. If Apple continues down this road, then Sierra will never be as fast and efficient to use for desktop functions as Snow Leopard was back in 2009. The web is full of OS X desktop feature requests, but Apple just delivers iOSification and iCloud/Continuity/Handoff which works poorly and is not even close to a complete multi-platform sharing solution. Multi-platform compatibility is more important than ever since Apple’s professional apps are so far behind, and so many people we work with _need_ Windows programs to do their work efficiently. Apple isn’t even competitive anymore.
Under Cook, Apple’s progress is more like Microsoft than ever before. Microsoft tied everything to Windows, and Apple is tying everything to iCloud even as the core parts of OS X are creaky legacy code and key apps (iTunes, Calendar, Mail, …) are dramatically in need of fixing. Same business plan, different brand.
I highly doubt this will be sorted out in the next few months.
I have it but it breaks a number of apps I use daily, so I boot into El Cap instead.