OS X 10.9 to Bring Enhancements to Finder, Safari, Multiple Monitor Support, and Multitasking

[macman34]

There is no data on exact user base, except where Apple occasionally chooses to release it. We can estimate based on two different sets of data though: (1) percent market share, and (2) total PC sales.

OS X market share % globally has steadfast been under 10%. Today, it is about 7% (source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/ope...=8&qpcustomd=0&qpsp=2012&qpnp=1&qptimeframe=Y). Back in SL's hay-day, it was about 5% (source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/ope...=8&qpcustomd=0&qpsp=2008&qpnp=3&qptimeframe=Y). In the US, this marketshare increase has been more substantial, but we're talking about profits so the global scale is more appropriate. Computer sales in general increases from approx 300 million in 2008/9 to approx 350 million in 2012. Source: Gartner.

Thus, Apple sold about 15million copies of SL, and about 25million copies of L/ML (taking into account the same 1 or 2 year period of time. It's worth mentioning that Apple has toutes themselves that their install base was close to 60million recently. However, I think this counts every OS X machine ever sold that is still alive. While this number is impressive, it's not accurate for purposes of this study because not every user upgrades; in fact, most are not even eligible to upgrade. There is a shocking amount of PowerPC users still out there.

Therefore, in terms of profits: 15mil x $129 per copy = almost $2billion in SLs heyday. 25mil x $20 = $500mil today. It is also worth noting that not every copy sold comes from a software upgrade sale. A large percent probable comes bundled with hardware sales, but we can assume that is part of the cost of the hardware.

Conclusion: Apple is making WAY less money selling OSX. However, they more than make up for it by selling songs, movies, tv shows, apps, and icloud services which tie together certain apple apps and content. All in all, itunes is their cashcow for the foreseeable future. In this era of Apple, they have not ever been shy about canibilizing their own sales. This is very clear from the data above, where they chose to sacrifice OS X profits to get more people into iCloud and more iOS-based hardware.

TL;DR - I do have my numbers strait. I'm right. You're wrong.

No you are not you got your numbers wrong again, sl did not cost $129. In addition it's a huge percentage of the user base, the vast majority actually, that updated to sl, lion, and ml. In 2012 it was reported in early adoption studies that 44% was already on lion on 60 million user base. That has grown to close to 70% by now easily.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57450454-37/apples-mac-base-hits-66m-users-40-percent-on-lion/

That is surely close to 50 mil users times 20 dollars, and it's actually a billion not half a billion as you calculated.

Get this, apple is making boatloads of money on os x. And with the "features" they introduced in mountain lion, especially, it was really money for nothing.

 

[flottenheimer]

But will cmd+x finally come to us pro users?

 

[Boris-VTR]

Yes, this is what I am saying. Please inform yourself: http://developer.apple.com/library/....html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH4-SW20

Yeah, real multitasking.

"Implementing Long-Running Background Tasks
For tasks that require more execution time to implement, you must request specific permissions to run them in the background without their being suspended. In iOS, only specific app types are allowed to run in the background:

Apps that play audible content to the user while in the background, such as a music player app
Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app
Apps that support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Newsstand apps that need to download and process new content
Apps that receive regular updates from external accessories"

 

[Simplicated]

Loading a big website in the browser in the background while checking my email. When I come back to the browser, the page is loaded. Safari stops loading the page when you switch to another app.

You're wrong. Safari has been able to load pages in background since iOS 1.0.

 

[gnasher729]

I don't quite get the argument with the power-saving of the pausing-feature. I don't know anybody who has problems with idle apps using too much power, both power-users and home-users, laptops or desktops. I remember this problem arising on windows machines but never on macs.

There's "having problems" and there's "battery not lasting as long as it could". If you have an app that really shouldn't be doing anything when it's in the background but uses 5% of CPU time because the developer didn't take care, that's not a problem, but it will empty your battery quicker.

 

[carlemil]

• 
  Improved finder

• 
  New back-end for Safari: more stabile, better, and yes, snappier

• 
  Much needed improvement of Full-Screen

• 
  Minimal tweak af User Interface

Sounds great.

iOS multitasking on OS X sounds like a great idea. Unlike a lot of you, I believe that the multitasking feature works really well on iOS, and could be used on OS X with a great outcome. Now that more and more of us, use SSD drives, it's advantageous to pause apps like e.g. Photoshop, when you're doing something else on your laptop.

 

[lukasz74nj]

How about listing directories first in the Finder window?

Finally, antiquated Finder will be updated. Tabs are nice - but will we finally get an ability to have directories listed first, before other files in the Finder window?

 

[milo]

So now all of a sudden everyone hates skeumorphism?

Nope, people have hated it for years. It's just more recent that people know the name, before that we just hated "stitched leather" or "ripped paper".

Frankly, if Ive rips out all that stuff (which is rumored for iOS in the other article) I'll be happy and as far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he wants with the look.

No but if they are mentioning the 'power user' then maybe there will be a Logic X / Final Cut Next X debut at WWDC to reaffirm its support for the core market has been losing.

It would be really unusual to have app updates like that at WWDC. Even if Logic 10 comes out soon, it would probably be independent of that event.

Similarly with the sports-trackers I use -- the moment I try to do something like change a song, make a call, send a text, check email, or whatever, they stop tracking.

Sounds like they probably programmed it wrong. That's exactly the sort of thing that should keep going in the background.

 

[leman]

Yeah, real multitasking.

"Implementing Long-Running Background Tasks
For tasks that require more execution time to implement, you must request specific permissions to run them in the background without their being suspended. In iOS, only specific app types are allowed to run in the background:

Apps that play audible content to the user while in the background, such as a music player app
Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app
Apps that support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Newsstand apps that need to download and process new content
Apps that receive regular updates from external accessories"

Wow buddy, you really love to argue, do you? Please tell me where I said that iOS was offering unrestricted multitasking. The nice part of iOS multitasking is that its restricted in the first place. And I can see multiple benefits for having similar APIs on the desktop OS - of course as a supplement, not a replacement for the normal unrestricted multitasking. In the meantime, do us all (and yourself in the first place) and just admit that you were wrong with your statements that iOS apps cannot be active in the background.

 

[oneMadRssn]

You're wrong. Safari has been able to load pages in background since iOS 1.0.

No it doesn't. Safari keeps loading the page in the background.

Does it? Go find a good big (like 100MB) PDF; for example an article on JSTOR or HeinOnline. Begin loading it on Safari, then "multitask" to email, perhaps a sudoku app game, or read some articles on nytime app. Come back to the Safari after 10-15 minutes (how long can it take to load a 100MB PDF over wifi?). See where it gets you.

Maybe it does load little sites in the background, or maybe it only continues loading in the background for one minute and then stops. But it certainly does not continue to load until whatever its loading is finished, because I have net ever been able to get that big PDF to load while Safari is in the background.

 

[Boris-VTR]

Wow buddy, you really love to argue, do you? Please tell me where I said that iOS was offering unrestricted multitasking. The nice part of iOS multitasking is that its restricted in the first place. And I can see multiple benefits for having similar APIs on the desktop OS - of course as a supplement, not a replacement for the normal unrestricted multitasking. In the meantime, do us all (and yourself in the first place) and just admit that you were wrong with your statements that iOS apps cannot be active in the background.

Problem was we were talking about 2 different things. I meant about real multitasking. You were talking about active iOS background apps. Was my mistake that i misunderstood you? Probably yes.

Nah i am not really into arguing, just talking.

----------

Nope, people have hated it for years. It's just more recent that people know the name, before that we just hated "stitched leather" or "ripped paper".

Frankly, if Ive rips out all that stuff (which is rumored for iOS in the other article) I'll be happy and as far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he wants with the look.

Well i admit i didn't know name before also, but i actually like it. It looks special and familiar. Besides, it was only on few apps, nothing big (OS X that is).

I am surprised at how many people really hates it

 

[oneMadRssn]

No you are not you got your numbers wrong again, sl did not cost $129. In addition it's a huge percentage of the user base, the vast majority actually, that updated to sl, lion, and ml. In 2012 it was reported in early adoption studies that 44% was already on lion on 60 million user base. That has grown to close to 70% by now easily.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57450454-37/apples-mac-base-hits-66m-users-40-percent-on-lion/

That is surely close to 50 mil users times 20 dollars, and it's actually a billion not half a billion as you calculated.

Get this, apple is making boatloads of money on os x. And with the "features" they introduced in mountain lion, especially, it was really money for nothing.

You're right, my bad. SL did not cost $129. Doesn't matter for my arguement.

However, my original point is still correct. Apple's Mac user base has not grown as much as you imply; it has grown, faster than other PC companies, but not so drastically. Find me real source numbers that say otherwise, because Gartner and NetMarketShare both say OS X's total global market share has risen only a few percentage points since they dropped prices from $130 to $20 for dot rev OSX versions.

To go from $130 to $20, and still make the same amount in total sales, their user base would have had to increase 6.5x. Yet, they went from ~5% market share to ~7% market share; in the same period the total market has less than doubled (about 1.75x). So we can approximate that Apple's total user base in that time has doubled, and that is being VERY generous to your side of the argument. All of these numbers are from Gartner and NetMarketShare.

So, their user base has gone up 2x. Not the 6.5x required to generate the same total sales. There is no way, mathematically with the real data I can find from reputable sources, that Apple is bringing in the same amount of total cash from OS X sales alone today as they did when they were charging way more.

I bet the $20 they charge per download is close to their actual overhead on development and distribution, nothing more. I bet they net close to nothing from OSX alone, but derive most of their income from hardware, services, and media.

Their most recent earnings report backs this up: 53% of revenue from iPhone hardware, 20% from iPad hardware, 12% from Mac hardware, 2% from iPod hardware, 9% from iTunes media and software, and 4% from "other" (most likely accessories and iCloud). So, some slice of that 9% is OSX sales. Also part of that 9% is every song, movie, tv show, and app sold through iTunes; thus the slice that is OSX sales is definitely a small one. I would be shocked if OSX sales were even .5% of Apple's revenue. (http://www.mactrast.com/2013/04/eve...ays-apple-earnings-report-charts-infographic/)

They just don't make that much from selling OS X.

 

[steve333]

That's what the app store is for.



Not being rude, but how is adding scroll arrows going to make scrolling simpler? Isn't it just as simple to use the two finger scrolling and not have to worry about clicking to move the page down?

The App Store shouldn't have to fix a major OS flaw. It should be simple for a newbie to use and it isn't. Having an intuitive OS is what made Mac famous and OSX has design flaws.

As for number 2, not everyone wants to use a scroll wheel. Apple used to make it a choice to have arrows on the bottom and top or just the bottom, I see no reason to take that choice away.

 

[Drew017]

The App Store shouldn't have to fix a major OS flaw. It should be simple for a newbie to use and it isn't.

In what ways is the App store not simple?

Having an intuitive OS is what made Mac famous and OS X has design flaws.

Every operating system has design flaws, but to be honest that really depends on your opinion. In my opinion, I like the design of OS X a lot better than any other OS. Although it's not perfect, it has improved with every release and (I hope ) will continue to get better.

As for number 2, not everyone wants to use a scroll wheel. Apple used to make it a choice to have arrows on the bottom and top or just the bottom, I see no reason to take that choice away.

You can scroll with the trackpad, use an Apple mouse, or use the arrow keys on the keyboard as well as use a scroll wheel in a regular mouse.

I think they took the choice away because it simplifies scrolling and saves a little space. It makes it so that users can just scroll and the bars will go away and they can have a simpler look to the window. Also just my opinion though

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

This is why I don't like these major name changes. If the other changes aren't drastic, why is given a 10.9 moniker? A couple of minor changes to monitor support should just be 10.8.4. And monitor support changes are LONG OVERDUE.

 

[50548]

Just PLEASE fix basic multiple file selection within a finder window when scrolling. I constantly need to make multiple file selections and unless I first drag the finder window open large enough to see all the files in one window you cannot easily select all the files as the bottom of the window (horizontal scroller) gets in the way. Annoying and shows Apple's declining ability to focus on and get the BASICS right.

Also, still missing the four finger app selector swipe...

Absolutely. It's infuriating to still see such a behavior in OS X.

And what about the STUPID column view that not only NEVER memorizes your viewing preferences, but also scrolls horizontally in a way that simply forgets how wide your current window is, thus always forcing you to click back so you can remember where you are?

These are the kinds of improvements we are looking for, Apple - not iOSified CRAP.

 

[subsonix]

Absolutely. It's infuriating to still see such a behavior in OS X.

I usually do:

"⌘ + a" select all
"⌘ + click" multiple selections

 

[MackyMoto]

Finally some news on OS X!

I really really hope they do some under the hood improvements... 10.7 and 10.8 have been nowhere near as fast as 10.6 in my experience. I hope they bring some colour back to finder too...

Could not agree more. 10.8 is painfully slow.

 

[steve333]

In what ways is the App store not simple?



Every operating system has design flaws, but to be honest that really depends on your opinion. In my opinion, I like the design of OS X a lot better than any other OS. Although it's not perfect, it has improved with every release and (I hope ) will continue to get better.



You can scroll with the trackpad, use an Apple mouse, or use the arrow keys on the keyboard as well as use a scroll wheel in a regular mouse.

I think they took the choice away because it simplifies scrolling and saves a little space. It makes it so that users can just scroll and the bars will go away and they can have a simpler look to the window. Also just my opinion though

I didn't mean the app store isn't simple, I meant the downloading process. You have to admit it's a little strange. Can't you imagine a newb downloading a dmg and thinking wtf? Then going to delete it and it says eject?
Apple should automate the actions, IMO
Everything Apple has done lately makes the OS more complicated and less intuitive. It should be the opposite.

 

[Drew017]

I didn't mean the app store isn't simple, I meant the downloading process. You have to admit it's a little strange. Can't you imagine a newb downloading a dmg and thinking wtf? Then going to delete it and it says eject?

Thats the reason for the app store… it eliminates the downloading of DMGs … but still… downloading a DMG, then dragging and dropping the app into the apps folder isn't a terribly complicated process.

Apple should automate the actions

If Apple automated all actions people would complain even more i think.

IMO
Everything Apple has done lately makes the OS more complicated and less intuitive. It should be the opposite.

How so? Again not being rude here but OS X does seem simpler IMHO than previous versions, and is a lot cleaner looking. Adding features like the app store, notification center, mission control, and launchpad aim to simplify the OS, and I think they do a good job of it. I find OS X very comfortable and easy to use.

 

[steve333]

Thats the reason for the app store… it eliminates the downloading of DMGs … but still… downloading a DMG, then dragging and dropping the app into the apps folder isn't a terribly complicated process.




If Apple automated all actions people would complain even more i think.



How so? Again not being rude here but OS X does seem simpler IMHO than previous versions, and is a lot cleaner looking. Adding features like the app store, notification center, mission control, and launchpad aim to simplify the OS, and I think they do a good job of it. I find OS X very comfortable and easy to use.

Not everything on the computer is from the App Store. If they were it would be nice.
Downloading something and that big screen pops up (sorry I'm at work on a PC and I forgot what the program is called)-whats the deal with that? Does it make anything easier?
Now, everything I'm talking about is outside the App Store and I'm not referring to myself but to friends and family who have Macs that ask me questions.
I don't dislike OSX, just the downloading process and some niggly things.

 

[milo]

Does it? Go find a good big (like 100MB) PDF; for example an article on JSTOR or HeinOnline. Begin loading it on Safari, then "multitask" to email, perhaps a sudoku app game, or read some articles on nytime app. Come back to the Safari after 10-15 minutes (how long can it take to load a 100MB PDF over wifi?). See where it gets you.

That's probably a case of running out of ram, not an issue with how multitasking is implemented. I'd rather see them up the ram than mess with the multitasking.

If the other changes aren't drastic...

We have no idea what the other changes will be. This is just what has leaked so far, nobody knows how many other things will be updated and how big of a deal they will be.

 

[50548]

I usually do:

"⌘ + a" select all
"⌘ + click" multiple selections

Read his post again - it's about the bottom scroll bar blocking access to the lowermost item...it happens all the time with me as well - you CANNOT select it unless the window is sufficiently resized.

 

[Drew017]

Not everything on the computer is from the App Store. If they were it would be nice.

That indeed is a good point.

Downloading something and that big screen pops up (sorry I'm at work on a PC and I forgot what the program is called)-whats the deal with that? Does it make anything easier?

Do you mean the finder window that pops up showing the contents of the DMG?

 

[subsonix]

Read his post again - it's about the bottom scroll bar blocking access to the lowermost item...

I did read it the first time. The keyboard short cut for select all, does select all regardless if they are visible or not. Likewise, additional selection keeps the previously selected regardless if you scroll. What view are you using?