The answer to yesterday's question
The Apple keynotes this year were called “Let Loose” (May 7th, new iPads) and “It's Glowtime” (September 9th, new iPhones and Apple Watch). Apple announced other new products with simple press releases. The “Scary Fast” show presented new M3 Macs on October 31st, 2023 (according to CET, in the USA it was still October 30th).
All Advent calendar stories to read
For many years, the Mac operating system had an
As we already told you in this calendar, with macOS Sierra Apple deleted the X, but not the number; the 2016 operating system was called macOS 10.12 Sierra. Apple kept the ten up to and including macOS 10.15, in which it separated itself from other relics from the distant past (i.e. the early 2000s).
The system was called Catalina and its victim was iTunes.
It must have been easy for Apple to let ancient software cross the Jordan in the summer of 2019. The Soundjam, which had been taken over almost 20 years earlier, had grown into a true monster. At first you could import CDs to your Mac and later sync them to your iPod. When the iPhone came, iTunes integrated all other synchronization tasks and thus device management, including for the iPad.
From 2008 onwards, this also included the App Store for iPhone apps, which was logical since Apple had been operating the iTunes Music Store within the program since 2003, which had long since also sold films and other digital content. From the summer of 2015, the Apple Music service was added to the iTunes Store – the “Music” had already been deleted from the name. A wild growth that Apple had to trim down.
That was the main innovation of macOS 10.15 Catalina: no more iTunes. The most similar app has since been called simply “Music” and accesses Apple Music, the music department of the iTunes Store and the tracks imported from CDs, records or cassettes or produced in Garageband and Logic themselves.
TV, films and streaming are available in the “TV” app, podcasts in “Podcast” and device management, which you rarely need on the Mac because the iPhone and iPad have become very self-sufficient, has moved to the Finder. The continent of iTunes has, so to speak, broken into several islands. So it was only logical that Apple named the 2019 Mac operating system, which was supposed to be the last with a ten, after an island: Santa Catalina Island.
The island offers a lot of adventure for tourists, but they have to follow strict rules. In fact, they can only move freely in the main town of Avalon (yes, exactly, borrowed from the Arthurian legend). The rest is a nature reserve; hikes or even bicycle tours are only possible with prior permission.
“It's like Apple – you're not allowed to do anything!” we hear the critics complaining again, but certain restrictions make sense. If you really let everyone stomp or kick through the rocky nature of the island, that's it with the sensitive ecosystem on the rock of Los Angeles.
And if you can really get your software anywhere without checking, then it's definitely iOS, iPadOS and macOS! The EU may have similar strict rules when it comes to nature conservation as the Californians, but one gets the impression that the Commission would let everyone trample and trample on Apple's mobile system.
Of course, it is much more complex than this lame comparison suggests. No one is an island, Apple has to realize that too.
The question: Before Catalina, a desert area was the namesake of macOS. Which?
- Mojave
- Death Valley
- Zabriskie Point
If you know the answer, please enter our competition form by midnight.
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There's something to be won today
Literally
The Verbatim Pocket SSD is less than 10 centimeters long, less than 5 centimeters wide and only 1 centimeter thick. There are keychains that are larger. Via USB (USB 3.2 Gen 2), the external hard drive achieves transfer speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, depending on the file size and the connected system. You always have the right USB-C cable with you because it is part of the holder.
