Catalina, what’s new? No… for real. What’s new?

Maybe Catalina is faster than Mojave. Maybe it reverts some misbehavings back to the status quo of High Sierra.

For me, until now it wasn’t and didn’t. My 2014 Mac mini was barely usable the day I upgraded and I hope it’ll get fixed, soon. Until then a commented overview of what Apple is touting to be big features.

So, let’s see what’s new in macOS Catalina by the 14 points Apple provides us with when we first lauch our updates systems and get a dialogue presented asking us if we want to know what’s new in macOS Catalina. All the 13 points, step by step.

Music
An elevated music experience
“The songs you had in iTunes are now in the Apple Music app. Look in your library to find the music you purchased from the iTunes Store or saved from Apple Music — organized by artists, albums, and songs.”

The first thing Apple provides us with while talking about new OS features is the successor to iTunes.

Notice that this sentence would also fit on iTunes. Separation of iTunes into multiple apps is fine for me, I never liked Videos being housed in iTunes, but come on, it’s not even a minimal killer feature.

TV
Your front row seat
“Watch movies and TV shows, and subscribe to favorite channels — all in the Apple TV app. Go to Watch Now to browse suggestions just for you. To see movies or TV shows you already own from iTunes, click Library.”

Same as above.

Podcasts
Explore, listen, follow
“Your podcasts have a new home in Apple Podcasts. In Listen Now, catch up on favorite podcasts, or explore suggested shows. Click the play button to start listening, and click the add icon to save an episode to your library.”

Again, same as above. The first three innovations of Catalina is in fact iTunes split up. How is that in any way innovative?

Find My
Locate what matters most
“The new Find My app helps you meet up with friends and find missing devices, including your Mac — even if it’s offline or asleep. To turn on Find My Mac, open System Preferences and click Apple ID, then click iCloud.”

Number four. An app was renamed and got some features. Alright.

Sidecar
Turn iPad into a second display
“Extend your workspace across two screens so you can do more at once. To get started, click the AirPlay status icon in the menu bar on your Mac, and choose your iPad.”

Finally, after almost ten years of iPad history, Apple decides to build in that kind of feature.

It’s almost the same as having VNC on your iPad, there have been apps around for years doing this. Sure, it’s built in and stuff, but it doesn’t really matter. Furthermore the feature requires you to have relatively new Apple hardware.

If not, one of Catalinas key features won’t be vailable to you.

Apple Arcade
Ready to play?
“Apple Arcade lets you play more than 100 new, groundbreaking games — with no ads. Play offline, switch between devices, and even connect popular controllers to your Mac. To start a free trial of Apple Arcade, open the Mac App Store, then click Arcade.”

Another new app pretending to be an OS killer feature. I don’t get it. It’s an emulation framework and technically it’s been always possible to run compiled iOS apps in Xcode as a developer.

Another example of taking something that’s been there already and putting it somewhere else, as a feature. Think of iPhones getting two cameras first and three cameras after that. There’s innovation, but it’s repeating and trying to generate hype that just isn’t there.

Sign in with Apple
Quick, easy, and private
“Sign in to websites and apps with your Apple ID, instead of creating new user accounts and passwords. Just click Sign in with Apple on a website or in an app.”*

Maybe someone can explain to me what this has to do with the new OS itself, I don’t see it.

Screen Time
Take control of your time
“Keep track of how you spend your time across all your devices. Get detailed reports on your app usage, or set limits for your children. To get started, open System Preferences and click Screen Time.”

Parental controls, tweaked. Nice to have, but nothing new.

Accessibility
More possibilities
“Voice Control lets you control your Mac entirely with your voice. Use comprehensive commands to open and navigate apps — for example, say “Show numbers” to reveal numbered labels next to items you can click.”

Wow, they made an end user UI for AppleScript objects.

Photos
Bring your best shots forward
“An intelligent new viewing experience brings your collection to life. Live Photos and videos play automatically as you scroll, and larger previews highlight the best parts of your photos.

Click Days, Months, or Years to easily browse your photos by when they were taken. Or click All Photos to see your whole collection.”

New Photos version — cherish Catalina!

Notes
Easier to find and share
“The new gallery view makes it easy to find the note you’re looking for — just click the gallery view button . And you can collaborate on an entire folder of notes — click the more options button , then choose Add People.”

Notes got an update. Same as the last point — and others before.

Reminders
Organization made easy
“The redesigned Reminders app lets you quickly add a date, time, location, flag, or attachment when you create a reminder. Then click one of the four smart lists to see just the reminders you want — for example, click Today to see only items scheduled for today.”

Description “Redesigned app” fits perfectly, nothing more than this. New UI, some new features, that’s it.

Safari
A smarter start page
“With built-in features that help you browse safely and privately, now Safari helps you get to the sites you want even faster. The new start page shows Siri Suggestions — including your bookmarks, Reading List, iCloud tabs, and even links that were sent to you in Messages. Open a new tab to get started.”

Your new browser start page, one of the core reasons to upgrade to the OS. Wonderful!

By the way, you’ll get this also if you don’t update do Catalina, probably.

I don’t want to be cynical or anything, I am happy about the existance of Apple and probably will be because I still think it’s in many ways superior to Windows. But I’m seeing some things happen after Jobs died and I don’t like them at all.

I’ve been with Apple over 25 years, I saw the lows and highs. Something changed not so long ago and I don’t know whether it’s coming back again.