The future of the Mac is already a little bit in the present. Apple has just unveiled the new version of MacOS, the operating system for its computers. It is called Monterey, as one of the most beautiful areas of California and brings with it several novelties. Some are already active in the first beta released to developers, but all will obviously be available in the final release, between September and October of this year. Although it’s early for a full review, first contact with what Monterey will be in its final form is a major game changer for Mac functionality. Because in this update the key is the union that comes from versatility, the opening of native applications and of the system itself to wider uses and wider productivity, communication and entertainment scenarios.
In this sense, the new possibilities for sharing content, through real-time, direct and optimized sharing of video and music through the FaceTime communication channel, is the first significant opening. We have not tried it yet but observed in detail yes, and this advanced management of collective enjoyment is a generational leap for this generation of devices and operating systems, which in this way use Apple’s content platforms (Tv + and Music, a to which you must of course be a subscriber to be able to share the proposals) to create real social entertainment circuits, substantially contributing to reducing distances and bringing participants closer. Just like the smart working revolution has led more and more people to work together from remote locations. And in this sense, the novelty of spatial audio must be tried, which allows you to locate people connected in call from the source of the audio, when you participate in a conference listening to it with AirPods Pro earphones or AirPods Max headphones.
But among the new functions of MacOS Monterey, the one that seems most interesting to us is called Unified Control. It should be thought of as a generational update to what Apple had already done with Handoff, that is the feature that allowed you to “move” activities to and from any device, iOS or Mac. And Unified Control raises this speech to power, allowing you to control more devices with a single keyboard and mouse and in fact create a contiguous environment between the various platforms, which is actually a truly unique environment. An example above all: we have a drawing that we are making on the iPad with ProCreate. We work on it, we save it on the iPad. With a Mac connected in Unified Control, we can take the file directly from the iPad, bring it to the Mac and process it again with any other application. This new feature will also be available on Macs from 2017 onwards, and also on older iOS devices. Obviously it works at the top with M1 processors, but we will tell you better when we can try what is certainly a milestone in the interconnection of Apple ecosystems, and at the same time a feature capable of streamlining production processes a lot and making the chain of typical steps efficient. In fact, the devices become a single united platform, and one can only imagine how this system will evolve, perhaps entrusting part of the work being done on the Mac to the processor of an iPad connected via Thunderbolt, as you would with an eGpu.
Monterey will then reap what was sown on iOS in terms of automation. More advanced Mac users who already use Automator (which for now will remain available) will find in the new Monterey Shortcuts the power of the “Recipes” already seen on iOS with which the new shortcut manager for MacOS is fully compatible. These new automation formulas to make the Mac perform the most disparate tasks, macros and command sequences will be shareable and much easier to set up and use. In fact, a productivity boost that, if on iOS is almost an accessory, was really necessary for MacOs power users, but there are still many new features, from the complete redesign of the Safari browser to the presence of an Authenticator for their most sensitive web users. the recognition of the text in the photos (everything takes place locally and not on the cloud, for those who have legitimate doubts about privacy) and again, a complete redesign of the Maps and the introduction, parallel to iOS and iPadOS 15, of the Focus mode, which sets on the computer specific notification conditions, fully customizable, which will therefore be balanced in relation to the activities that are going to be carried out.
We will see how MacOS Monterey is when it comes out, but from a first contact it is clear that Apple’s effort this time is particularly calibrated on integration and on the expansion of possibilities for each use of Mac use, and in which the iPad comes out of the role of “Sidecar” seen in Big Sur and becomes an absolutely active part.
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