macOS High Sierra


Apple today previewed macOS High Sierra, the latest version of the world's most advanced desktop operating system, delivering new core storage, video and graphics technologies that pave the way for future innovation on the Mac. macOS High Sierra offers 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. macOS High Sierra also includes a number of refinements to the apps Mac users enjoy every day, including Photos, Safari and Mail.

Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature is interesting. It's not an ad blocker, but attempts to prevent websites from tracking your activity. It will be interesting to see how well this work and whether it can be easily counter-measured. Another Safari feature will stop videos from auto-playing, however, technically this ability is already in Safari as a developer menu option.

Apple is going all-in with its new Apple File System. It introduced Apple File System in the spring with iOS 10.3. This type of major shifts make me nervous, but iOS seems to gone without a hitch. I wonder if Apple will give the option of using Apple File System while still using High Sierra?

Apple seems to be aggressively jumping into VR. The new Metal for VR and Final Cut Pro is a big step, but so too is courting Steam to bring its developer kit along with Unity and Unreal engines. The other part of this is hardware support with beefed up graphics performance. Apple slipped in a mention about supporting external Thunderbolt boxes for graphics processors. External boxes may be their solution for VR on laptops and older or lower spec'd Macs.

Another thing I thought was neat is face detection in Photos will sync across all drives.