The release of the tenth installment in the series of Apple’s OS X operating system, ‘Mavericks’, on October 22nd marked a turning point for all Mac users. Macintosh Software and OS upgrades will now be free for the foreseeable future; “the days of spending hundreds of dollars to get the most from your computer are gone,” says Apple’s Craig Federighi. Yet once you upgrade to Mavericks it becomes less of a surprise that it is free, as there are only very minimal changes to the desktop interface; for example, the ability to colour code your documents through ‘Tags’. With Mavericks there are two new free stand-alone apps. The first, iBooks, is essentially a glorified eBook marketplace, yet for the budding E L James there is also the free iBooks Author app available on the Mac App Store.
The second, Maps, is similar to Google maps in the ability to present either a satellite or simplified view, but the app also has sync functionality with Calendar and the computer’s address book. This strategy was perhaps introduced as a counterbalance to the high cost of the company’s hardware in relation to cheaper PCs. Apple’s free upgrade offers a direct challenge to Microsoft’s Windows 8, which sets you back £70 for the hard copy on Amazon. The new Microsoft Office 2013 is also not cheap, costing around £100 compared to Apple’s equivalent apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote altogether costing only £42. Microsoft will most likely delay the Mac version of Office 2013, but instead they should make it available at a reduced price to compete with the iWork Apps. Although Microsoft still dominates the market in desktop computers, it’s obviously less to do with the price of its software but its pervasiveness through its software licensing agreements with manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Acer.