OS X El Capitan

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OS X 10.11 El Capitan
A version of the OS X operating system
OS X El Capitan logo.svg
OS X El Capitan screenshot.png
OS X El Capitan desktop
Developer Apple Inc.
Written in {{#property:p277}}
Source model Closed source (with open source components)
Released to
manufacturing		 September 30, 2015; 8 years ago (2015-09-30)
Latest release 10.11.5 (15F34) (May 16, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-05-16)) [±]
Latest preview 10.11.6 Beta 1 (15G7a) (May 23, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-05-23)) [±]
Update method Mac App Store
Platforms x86-64
Kernel type Hybrid (XNU)
License APSL and Apple EULA
Preceded by OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Official website www.apple.com/osx/
Support status
Supported

OS X El Capitan (el-KAP-ɪ-TAN) (version 10.11) is the twelfth major release of OS X, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. It is the successor to OS X Yosemite and focuses mainly on performance, stability and security.[1] Following the California landmark-based naming scheme introduced with OS X Mavericks, El Capitan was named after a rock formation in Yosemite National Park.

The first beta of OS X El Capitan was released to developers shortly following the 2015 WWDC keynote on June 8, 2015.[2] The first public beta was made available on July 9, 2015.[3] There were multiple betas released after the keynote. OS X El Capitan was released to end users on September 30, 2015, as a free upgrade through the Mac App Store.[4]

System requirements

All Macintosh computers that can run OS X Mavericks or Yosemite can run El Capitan, although not all of its features will work on older computers.[5] For example, Apple notes that the newly available Metal API is available on "all Macs since 2012".[6]

These computers can run El Capitan, provided they have at least 2GB of RAM:[7]

Of these computers, the following five models were equipped with 1GB RAM as the standard option on the base model when they were shipped originally. They can only run OS X El Capitan if they have at least 2GB of RAM.

The following computers support features such as Handoff, Instant Hotspot, AirDrop between Mac computers and iOS devices, as well as the new Metal API:[9]

  • iMac: Late 2012 or newer
  • MacBook: Early 2015 or newer
  • MacBook Air: Mid 2012 or newer
  • MacBook Pro: Mid 2012 or newer
  • Mac Mini: Late 2012 or newer
  • Mac Pro: Late 2013 or newer

The upgrade varies in size depending upon which Apple Mac computer it is being installed on, in most scenarios it will require about 6 GB of disk space.[10]

Features

OS X El Capitan includes features to improve the security, performance, design and usability of OS X. Compared to OS X Yosemite, Apple says that opening PDFs is four times faster, app switching and viewing messages in Mail is twice as fast and launching apps is 40% faster.[11][12] The maximum amount of memory that could be allocated to the graphics processor has been increased from 1024 MB to 1536 MB on Macs with an Intel HD 4000 GPU.[13] OS X El Capitan supports Metal, Apple's graphics API introduced in iOS 8 to speed up performance in games and professional applications.[14] Apple's typeface San Francisco replaces Helvetica Neue as the system typeface.[15] OS X El Capitan also adopts LibreSSL in replacement of OpenSSL used in previous versions.[16]

Window management

File:OS X El Capitan Split View.png
An example of the split screen view in OS X El Capitan.

OS X El Capitan introduces support for snapping two windows side by side to create a split view, similar to the snap-assist feature in Windows 7 (and later) and several Linux desktop environments, such as GNOME.[17] OS X El Capitan improves Mission Control to incorporate this feature across multiple spaces. It also enables users to spot the pointer more easily by enlarging it by shaking the mouse or swiping a finger back and forth on the trackpad.[18]

Applications

OS X El Capitan adds multi-touch gestures to applications like Mail and Messages that allow a user to delete or mark emails or conversations by swiping a finger on a multi-touch device, such as a trackpad. OS X also analyzes the contents of individual emails in Mail and uses the gathered information in other applications, such as Calendar. For example, an invitation in Mail can automatically be added as a Calendar event.

Apple Maps in El Capitan shows public transit information similar to Maps in iOS 9.[11] This feature was limited to a handful of cities upon launch: Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Shanghai, Toronto and Washington D.C.

The Notes application receives an overhaul, similar to Notes in iOS 9. Both applications have more powerful text-processing capabilities, such as to-do lists (like in the Reminders application), inline webpage previews, photos and videos, digital sketches, map locations and other documents and media types. Notes replaces traditional IMAP-based syncing with iCloud, which offers better end-to-end encryption and faster syncing.[19]

Safari in El Capitan lets users pin tabs for frequently accessed websites to the tab bar, similar to Firefox and Google Chrome. Users are able to quickly identify and mute tabs that play audio without having to search for individual tabs. Safari supports AirPlay video streaming to an Apple TV without the need to broadcast the entire webpage. Safari extensions are now hosted and signed by Apple as part of the updated Apple Developer program and they received native support for content blocking, allowing developers to block website components (such as advertisements) without JavaScript injection.[20]

Spotlight is improved with more contextual information such as the weather, stocks, news and sports scores. It is also able to process queries in natural language. For example, users can type "Show me pictures that I took in Yosemite National Park in July 2014" and Spotlight will use that request to bring up the corresponding info.[21]

System Integrity Protection

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Main article: System Integrity Protection

OS X El Capitan has a new security feature called System Integrity Protection (SIP,[22] sometimes referred to as "rootless"[23][24]) that protects certain system processes, files and folders from being modified or tampered with by other processes even when executed by the root user or by a user with root privileges (sudo). Apple says that the root user can be a significant risk factor to the system's security, especially on systems with a single user account on which that user is also the administrator. System Integrity Protection is enabled by default, but can be disabled.[25][26]

Releases

Previous release Current release Beta
Version Build Date OS name Notes Standalone download
10.11 15A284 September 30, 2015 Darwin 15.0.0 Original Mac App Store release N/A
10.11.1 15B42 October 21, 2015 About the OS X El Capitan v10.11.1 Update OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 Update
10.11.2 15C50 December 8, 2015 Darwin 15.2.0 About the OS X El Capitan v10.11.2 Update
10.11.3 15D21 January 19, 2016 Darwin 15.3.0 About the OS X El Capitan v10.11.3 Update
10.11.4 15E65 March 21, 2016 Darwin 15.4.0 About the OS X El Capitan v10.11.4 Update
10.11.5 15F34 May 16, 2016 Darwin 15.5.0 About the OS X El Capitan v10.11.5 Update
10.11.6 15G7a May 23, 2016 Darwin 15.6.0 General bugs fixed and improvements N/A

Reception

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Upon release, OS X El Capitan was met with mostly positive reviews from both users and critics, with praise mostly going towards the overall functionality of the new features and improved stability. Dieter Bohn of The Verge awarded the operating system a score of 8.5 out of 10;[27] while Jason Snell of Macworld was also positive, rating it 4.5 out of 5.[28]

Issues

After the 10.11.4 update, many users started reporting that their MacBooks were freezing, requiring a hard reboot.[29] This issue mostly affects Early 2015 MacBook Pro computers, although many others have reported freezes in other models.[30] Several users created videos in YouTube which showed the freezes.[31][32][33] Soon after this, Apple released the 10.11.5 update, which contained stability improvements.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ The Mid 2007 iMac is the first iMac to support eight major OS X versions: 10.4-10.11.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Preceded by OS X 10.11
2015		 Incumbent
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