Last fall was pretty “insane” as far as the computer world was concerned. There were new iPhones, a much thinner iPad Air, an iPad Mini with a Retina screen, a new Mac OS 10.9. I shouldn’t leave out the fact that Microsoft halfway redeemed themselves with Windows 8.1.

There was a lot of confusion because of a lack of clear directives from Apple on OS security. Soon after OS 10.9 was released, Apple put out security updates for it that were not released for previous Mac OS’es. I made sure all of you upgraded to Mac OS 10.9 as a result. Finally, in January, nearly 3 months after OS 10.9 was released Apple re-affirmed a previous commitment to updating the current version of OS X (naturally) and the previous two versions. Therefore as of right now, 10.9, 10.8, and 10.7 are still getting security updates. The last batch of 10.6 and 10.7 only Macs were sold up until Oct 20, 2009. 4+ years is a long time in the computer world.

So, with the history lesson, and Apple’s policy on OS updates clarified — I will let you know that Apple is coming out with its next operating system 10.10 (Yosemite) later this year. Every Mac OS is a big deal, and an eventual must do upgrade, because Apple comes out with a new OS every year!! I don’t like this policy, but they followed this course since July 2011 and we have to live with it. (In contrast, someone can buy a Windows 7 PC today and get updates until Jan. 2020.)

Some of the big features in the new Mac OS hone in on deeper integration between iPhone / iPad and Mac. It will be easier to carry on e-mail and Messages conversations between devices. Also, you will be able to answer iPhone calls on your Mac. There are sure to be a bunch of under the hood stability and performance enhancements. I hope so. 10.9 has been awful.

When 10.10 comes out, as many previous versions, there may still be some kinks to work out on day 1 or week 1. So I am putting a 3 month “embargo” on recommending upgrades from 10.9 to 10.10 to you. Let’s wait until it comes out, Apple will put out a few small updates to it (as is usual), and then it will be a good time to update to 10.10. I believe Apple will make 10.10 a free upgrade as they did with 10.9 last year.