At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, the company's senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, introduced the new version of MacOS, named ‘High Sierra’.
On June 5th, 2017, the company showcases its desktop operating system that brings refinements to core storage, video and graphic technologies, an all-new file system, support for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and an update to Metal, Apple’s advanced graphics technology that powers everything from machine learning to virtual reality content creation.
Others include a bunch of tweaks to Photos, Safari and also Mail.
According to Federighi:
First up, is Apple File System (APFS). It's a feature that enhances performance, security and reliability of data inside Apple devices. APFS replaces the previously formatted HFS, and should make for significantly faster performance when performing tasks like copying files between locations.
Federighi also mentioned about capabilities like Native encryption, crash protection, and instant file and directory cloning.
High Sierra also maintains complete read-and-write compatibility HFS drives and data and is designed to accommodate future advancements in storage technology.
APFS is aimed at every product Apple makes. It is to unify the underlying file systems that everything from the company’s wearables to its high-end workstations run on. That includes iOS, macOS, watchOS and also tvOS.
The next is Apple's support for industry-standard HEVC (H.265). This enables Apple to optimize compression for smaller file sizes and better 4K performance. This is supported by hardware acceleration that is built into recent and upcoming Mac hardware.
Then Apple's Metal 2, the company's OS graphics suite, is getting a redesign interface. Metal can be used to tap into the GPUI power of a Mac. Metal 2 features a refined API and improved performance that should help developers in accelerating their apps. It adds support for machine learning used in speech recognition, natural language processing and computer vision.
Metal 2 also brings driver optimizations, indirect argument buffers, SIMD group data exchange, uniform variables, sampler arrays, and resource heaps. It also brings support for external graphics.
High Sierra adds support for VR content creation for the first time, enabling developers to create immersive gaming, 3D and VR content on the Mac.
Refinements To Apps
Not just improving the things that power the OS, Apple High Sierra also made refinements and improvements to its apps. The highlights are:
- Photos in the macOS adds a new always-on sidebar that presents albums and organizational tools. The 'Edit' has been redesigned to include tools like 'Curves and 'Selective Color'. Live Photos can be edited with effects and 'Memories' can curate user photos and videos around several new topics. Photos also supports external editors, so Photoshop and others can launch directly within Photos.
- The next is its Safari. High Sierra has enabled automatic reader in the web browser to open articles in clean and uncluttered format. The 'Autoplay Blocking' stops media with audio from automatically playing. High Sierra also introduces 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention' that uses machine learning to identify and remove tracking data that advertisers use to follow users' online activity.
And because it has an improved JavaScript performance, Apple said that Safari is 80 percent quicker than Google Chrome.
- Its Mail app is also getting a few refinements. They include the ability to surface important messages right at the top of the window (Top Hits), and a split view that should make it easier to compose messages. In addition to those, the app will also consume 35 percent less storage for storing mail on the hard drive.
- Siri also gets an improvement in which it can respond with a natural and more expressive voice. It can also learn about users' music preferences, and can create custom playlists and answers music trivia.
- High Sierra introduces simple tables for Notes app. Using them, users can type in cells, and make edits and move rows as well as columns.
- Spotlight is able to provide flight status information that include: departure, arrival, delay, gates, terminals and a map for the flight path.
- iCloud File Sharing also gets an improvement that allows users to share any file stored in iCloud Drive and collaborate with other people.
Other new features include the ability for apps to open new windows as tabs, support for Apple Pay on the desktop, and a hands-free unlock with the help of a nearby Apple Watch.
With all that, Apple is bringing itself armed and ready in a fight against Microsoft Windows 10.