Mavericks. That was easy.

http://www.apple.com/osx/

There are probably a zillion more people out there that are more qualified to write a review of Mavericks (The latest version of OS X.)

I just wanted to say that this was the easiest OS update I have ever done.

And there were some times in the project when I thought it would be derailed.  I had some worries about doing the update at all, but no one seemed to be complaining about the update breaking critical software or starting Armageddon.  So why not have an adventure?

I started with the kitchen computer.

This is the computer that the kids use for homework or browsing after school.  We use separate accounts for each family member on it and fast user switching to stay out of each others' business.  Most of the school work is done in Google Docs, so that is backed up.  There really isn't much on it for software, so if I "bricked" the Mac Mini, I wasn't going to be in big trouble.  Great place to start.  So when the kids were off the machine, I started the update download and walked away.

Off course, when I was expecting the download to be done, I found my son playing Minecraft on the Mini.  I thought I would be starting over.  "It's ok Dad, I saw the download going, so I switched to my account."  Well, he was right.  When I got my turn and got switched to my account, there was the download, ready to go to work.

I did the install and that took care of itself nicely too.  Just start it and put in the admin password and away it went.  After the install was over, the first login took some time, but it did open my account with everything working and my files right where I left them.  The only visible change that I noticed looking at Mavericks for the first time was the background photo... it had been changed to that big wave they are using.  Is it my imagination or is Safari faster?

Gaining confidence, I am starting to work on the other household computers.  The laptop was next in line and that went well too.  I did have to update FileMaker 12, but that is the only software on the laptop that need attention.  Developers must have heeded the Apple advice to get ready for this release.  I did get a notice from Parallels that you must upgrade if you expect to be able to use those other operating systems.  The basement tower has that and a number of other pieces of software on it.  So that may be where I find this upgrade an issue.  I am not sure that I am running the very latest of version of everything and support tends to be better for the newest version.   Hopefully everything is in place for the basement tower when I get to it.

I am looking forward to using some of the new features in Mavericks.  I am a bit of a book worm, so iBooks across the devices has my attention.

Mark me down as a happy customer.