With Finder tabs, you can have two folders open side by side in one window, and you can simply drag and drop files across rather than copying and pasting like you would need to in earlier versions of the OS. A plus-sign button on the right lets you open a new tab, and you can drag and drop tabs just like in a Web browser. The new Finder Tabs work much in the same way the tabs do in Safari. So while there are tons of new and useful features here, the Mac OS remains familiar, friendly, and functioning mostly the way it always has.

On top of that, it features new interface elements for Safari, a new tagging system for file management, and much more. What results is a Mac OS that remains familiar to its users, gives apps a cleaner look, brings more iOS apps to your desktop, fixes old bugs, and improves core technologies for power efficiency and responsiveness. Apple, on the other hand, is keeping its mobile and desktop OSes separate, while bringing over iOS apps and features without significantly changing the way you use your computer. Microsoft's stated intent was to break into the mobile space by creating a touch-centric OS that worked on both desktops and mobile devices, and while I like the upgrade for overall performance, I still think changing the way people interact with their computers amounts to more trouble than it's worth (as I wrote in this post last year). With Windows 8.1 hitting last week, Apple's Mavericks provides a stark contrast to the vision of Microsoft's operating system.

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