With OS X Mavericks, Apple showed it still had tricks up its sleeve regarding desktop operating systems.
Long-time apps like Finder got welcome upgrades and rubbed shoulders with newcomers from iOS, such as iBooks and Maps.
Support for multiple displays was given an overhaul, and iCloud Keychain made its debut, to help Mac and iOS users keep regularly used online details safe.
- Check out our OS X Yosemite review
There were big improvements to battery life and app efficiency, and to ensure everyone with a supported Mac could upgrade with a minimum of fuss, Apple scrapped price tags entirely, making Mavericks the first free major OS X update.
But what happens next? When will the successor to Mavericks appear, and what will it offer? What will it be called, and what will it look like once Jony Ive's got his claws in deep? As ever, Apple is keeping quiet, but we've made some educated guesses about what's to come in OS X 10.10…
OS X 10.10 name and brand
Yes, OS X 10.10 - which is the version number that's already been found in analytics - not OS X 11.0. Version numbers don't need to jump from something-point-nine to something-point-zero. 10.10 is simply the tenth 10.x update and not the same as 10.1.
Also, anyone clamouring for OS X.1 should probably be mindful that 1) OS X is now the product name, not a version number, 2) lots of 'X' posters are already up at the WWDC venue, and 3) Tim Cook would sooner make the next iPhone out of dead bees than use such a foul combination of characters.
In recent years, numbers have counted for little anyway - we've come to know OS X by its codenames. Previously, these were big cats, but Mavericks showcased a switch to Californian locations, which is set to continue. The internal codename is Syrah, a dark-skinned grape/red wine, but that's going to change before the public release. The unknown is which location is going to be used.
Mavericks is a surf spot but the word has a dual meaning, positioning Apple as unorthodox. Apple's chosen name for OS X 10.10 will likely attempt to highlight individuality once more, or some other important aspect of OS X, even in an oblique manner.
Apple Insider reported that Apple hasdlodged trademarks for OS X Sequoia, OS X Mojave, OS X Sonoma, and OS X Ventura; banners have also been spotted that suggest Yosemite might be the final choice of name. How any of these might be applied to OS X remains to be seen.
We just hope we won't see OS X Alcatraz: the most locked-down OS X ever. OS X Death Valley is probably one to avoid, too.
OS X 10.10 price and release date
Mavericks was free, and so it stands to reason that OS X 10.10 and all subsequent releases of OS X will be too. This makes a lot of sense, because Apple is primarily a hardware company (and a very profitable one), and so it can afford to give away its operating systems, unlike Microsoft, which makes a huge amount of money from licensing and direct sales of Windows. Expect OS X 10.10 to again be a digital-only update via the Mac App Store.
As for when OS X 10.10 will appear, Lion saw OS X move to an annual release cycle, although this slipped a little with Mavericks, reportedly so Apple engineers could get iOS 7 ready in time for the release of the iPhone 5s. It wouldn't surprise us to see this as the actual plan this year: an announcement at WWDC and then a final release in 'fall 2014', which will probably mean October.
An iOS 7-like interface for OS X 10.10?
The radical visual overhaul of iOS has made quite a few people assume OS X will have a similar design language as of OS X 10.10, and the rumour mill has been buzzing about Apple experimenting accordingly. However, OS X Mavericks showcased subtler changes, ditching UI chrome from the likes of Calendar, resulting in a more uniform OS, but still a familiar one.
