Mac OS X El Capitan public beta released

Mac OS X El Capitan was announced alongside iOS 9 at the WWDC keynote back in June. Developers have had the ability to try out the new features, but on Thursday, the first public beta was released. While the new OS is certainly buggy and unfinished as expected, early adopters are now able to see some of the progress and new capabilities of El Capitan. As promised, Spotlight has been improved to use natural language searches to find files and applications more easily than before.

Apple Maps includes a new section called Transit, meant for people using public transportation to get around. Mail is now more similar to the iOS counterpart; complete with new gestures and improved performance. A highly-anticipated feature, Split View, has made its way to this version of the El Capitan beta, and it has received some updates to make it easier to use. 

The next update or public beta release will hopefully add extra features as well as more stability as a whole. Like iOS 9, the operating system will be launching sometime in the fall, and will be a free upgrade from Yosemite. With Windows 10 releasing at the end of July, Apple is surely aiming to keep their existing MacBook users and to continue attracting those who have used Windows or other operating systems in the past.

Source(s)