![]() Highlight a file, click the button and you'll be able to tag it with an existing label or a new one. This is just one of many entry points for tagging. Open a window and you'll immediately spot a new button, just to the right of the Share feature that came along for the ride in 10.8. There are, however, some notable additions here. That means, thankfully, that the company hasn't yet transformed OS X into a desktop counterpart to iOS, but it also means that after 15 years, this once-revolutionary operating system is starting to feel a bit stale. While Microsoft has made its way through a couple of UI overhauls over the past decade (some, admittedly, more successful than others), Apple's tinkered and tweaked and iterated, sprinkling in new features where it saw fit, but generally choosing not to mess with a good thing. Rest assured, everything is just where you left it. If you've so much as touched a Mac in the past decade, you won't be blindsided the first time you boot up Mavericks. But is it enough to help OS X maintain Apple's self-proclaimed "world's most advanced desktop operating system?" Or is the company's reluctance to think different on the desktop hampering innovation? We can tell you right now that there's enough in here to justify the download time, especially given that this is free for people already running Snow Leopard or higher. And while there are no changes to the Finder as major as Notifications, tabbed windows and tags aim to help users better organize their desktops. As the company's decidedly modest tagline puts it, Mavericks lets users "Do even more with new apps and features." At the top of the list are the additions of Maps and iBooks - two apps first introduced in iOS. That's not to say there aren't a fair number of additions. Which makes sense, in a way: there's little question that the success of its smartphone and tablet offerings have contributed to the erosion of desktop sales, so it figures that the company is focusing much of its developer talent on mobile. ![]() Apple didn't opt for a "biggest change ever" update as it did with release of iOS 7 (and potentially risking alienating longtime users as a result). Like all the iterations before it, version 10.9 is a building block atop the operating system's familiar UI. Meaning, those of you waiting for an altogether new experience will have to keep holding your breath. When Apple first unveiled Mavericks, the latest version of its desktop operating system, we noted one key takeaway: The company is committed to OS X. ![]()
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