macOS 10.14, Mojave Drops But Is It Any Good?

So, the new macOS “Mojave” has landed but has it lived up to expectations?

The answer is yes, mostly.  

All things considered, Mojave is a welcome addition to the pantheon of Mac OS… MacOS’s, and comes with a slew of new features and upgrades, but with a with a few things missing that should really have been there. So, should you download it and install it?  

Dark Mode. Wow? Not really, but it’s a nice touch. Mojave though is really an evolution than a revolution, but still a good one for all that.

First things first, the good news. 

It’s free. Yes, that’s right, it’s free if you already have a mac hardware product running macOS, assuming your Mac product has the hardware specs to run it. Yay! (rules out my mac though. Boo!) 

Somebody turn off the lights: Dark Mode. 

Dark mode is a visual update that is part of the new ‘Dynamic desktop’ on Mojave. Essentially, it’s a desktop that turns either brighter or darker depending on the time of day, a bit like the way people’s phones do, depending on light levels. It’s a welcome feature and should stop people being temporarily blinded when turning their macs on when in bed or a dimly lit room. 

Get Organized: Desktop Stacks 

Perhaps the most useful upgrade in Mojave though is the Desktop Stacks options. Stacks is going to revolutionize even the most cluttered of desktops. The best bit about Stacks is that it automatically cleans up your desktop by grouping files into “stacks” of similar files. E.g. got a bunch of documents all over your desktop for projects and articles? Not a problem, Stacks will throw them all into one desktop icon that will expand when you click onto it, and spread them all out for you.  

The wilds of the internet just got safer and more private: Enter Safari 12 

Not that you really need Mojave to use the latest edition of Safari, but it helps. Apple made several privacy changes when Safari 11 came out last year, including make it harder for cookies to track you across the internet, and ended auto-playing videos. Safari 12 has gone even further and now there’s more new anti-advertising features. Cookies can be prohibited by default and Apple have made it even harder for you to be ‘fingerprinted’ and identified by what you do in the internet, which is always nice. 

Among other changes include improvements to the way that updates are downloaded and installed, and a new looking App Store that’s been completely overhauled. If you have more than one piece of mac hardware in your home, then the new Home interface will help make sharing and cross-platform work even easier.

There’s also been quite a few under-the-hood changes and streamlining that’s taken place, so overall everyone using Mojave should see some performance improvements.  

Losing Face. No Group calling on FaceTime, yet. 

Group video calling will be a part of FaceTime, but not yet, and that’s disappointing. Apple pulled it during Beta testing of Mojave so for now, the idea of having a group conversation with more than one person is still a dream. Another disappointing aspect of that is also that unless everyone in the group has Mojave installed, it’s not going to work. 

So, should I upgrade or should I stay in the desert? 

Yes, yes you should. Upgrading to Mojave should be a priority, assuming your Mac can run it. It’s free and the new features are enough to make the download a worthwhile investment.   

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