The Wait's Over: Mac OS X Yosemite Is Available Now

The wait is over. Yosemite is available to the masses starting at noon today as a free download on compatible Macs running OS X 10.6.8 or later.
Craig Federighi senior vice president of Software Engineering at Apple discusses the operating system update during an...
Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering at Apple, discusses the operating system update during an event at Apple headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014 in Cupertino, Calif.Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Well the wait is over. Yosemite is available to the masses starting today as a free download on compatible Macs running OS X 10.6.8 or later.

The new version of Apple's operating system includes a slew of tweaks and enhancements, including deeper and more-visual Spotlight searches, a revamped Safari browser, PDF-signing and image-markup features in its Mail program, a new-look Notification Center, and easier cross-platform interactions between iOS devices and Macs thanks to its Continuity features, which will be available Monday.

Our own Christina Bonnington has been using Mac OS X Yosemite since its public-beta release, and her in-depth coverage of the operating system’s new features can be found below. Plus, check out our visual tour of Yosemite’s new tricks.