Release Date Archives - EasySAM https://easysam.co.uk/tag/release-date/ Software Asset Management. Simplified. Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:32:57 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://easysam.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/easysam_icon-60x60.png Release Date Archives - EasySAM https://easysam.co.uk/tag/release-date/ 32 32 macOS 12 Monterey: release date, features and everything you need to know https://easysam.co.uk/news/macos-12-monterey-release-date-features-and-everything-you-need-to-know/ Thu, 14 Oct 2021 16:18:00 +0000 https://wptest.easysam.co.uk/?p=15587 What does macOS 12 Monterey have in store for Macs and M1? All the details can be found here.

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What does macOS 12 Monterey have in store for Macs and M1? All the details can be found here.

Published on 14th October 2021

The macOS 12 Monterey is bringing a host of updates and new features to Macs and MacBooks, and Apple users are getting excited. The new macOS, which was announced at WWDC may not be out yet, but it’s already set tongues wagging by promising a substantial upgrade that most weren’t expecting – including Shortcuts, a redesigned Safari, and Universal Control.

Luckily, folks won’t have long to wait. macOS 12 Monterey is expected to launch on October 18 at the company’s Fall 2021 event alongside the rumored MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021) and MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021). As with its predecessors, it’s going to be available as a free upgrade, with its public beta already on hand for download if you’d like a head start on what’s new.

If you’d like to hold on until the final version of macOS 12 Monterey is released, which we would recommend when most bugs and problems have been identified and fixed by early testers, it is slated for public release ‘this fall’ so you won’t have long to wait. In the meantime, here’s everything we know about Apple’s upcoming macOS.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? macOS 12 Monterey, the successor to macOS 11 Big Sur
  • When is it out? Later this year
  • How much will it cost? It will be free

macOS 12 Monterey system requirements

The list of Macs that will be able to run macOS 12 Monterey has been announced, with Apple promising that “macOS Monterey will support the broadest line-up of Macs in history, including the latest iMac, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, as well as Apple’s Intel-based Macs”.

Here are the devices that can run macOS 12 Monterey:

  • iMac late 2015 and later
  • iMac Pro 2017 and later
  • MacBook Air early 2015 and later
  • MacBook Pro early 2015 and later
  • Mac Pro late 2013 and later
  • Mac mini late 2014 and later
  • MacBook early 2016 and later

macOS 12 name: Monterey

Apple has announced macOS 12’s new name: Monterey, picked due to it being part of Big Sur by the Californian coast.

macOS 12 Monterey release date

This was announced at WWDC, with a developer preview of macOS Monterey released alongside the announcement. This is only available to developers, but there will be a public beta version for you to try out in July.

While a September event traditionally confirms release dates for iOS and iPadOS, which happened, for the Mac it’s been known to be a month later. Especially with rumors speaking about an upcoming M1X MacBook Pro, we may hear about a release date for Monterey in October.

As usual, this will be a free update for everyone with a compatible system. If you’re not sure if your Mac or MacBook is compatible, check out the system requirements above.

When will macOS 12 Monterey be available to download?

The final macOS 12 Monterey update should be available for download through your Mac’s System Preferences menu, or you can download it through the Mac App Store application once it’s released towards the end of the year, most likely mirroring past releases of macOS.

In the meantime, Apple have updated their public beta page showing Monterey available to try out. While we have a guide in how to download it, we don’t advise to install it on your main machine for now, as it could be prone to a few bugs.

macOS 12 features

Apple has revealed what we can expect from macOS 12, when it comes to new features.

According to Apple, “macOS Monterey comes with new ways for users to connect, get more done, and work more fluidly across their Apple devices”.

From what we’ve seen, this is an update that will definitely appeal to people who have multiple Apple devices, such as the iPad and iPhone.

There some features however that will only be available on M1 Macs, which looks as though Apple are already moving to Apple Silicon and leaving Intel Macs further behind.

Universal Control

This handy feature means you can use a single mouse and keyboard and switch between Mac and iPad. Use a trackpad on your MacBook and slide over seamlessly to your iPad. 

You can also drag and drop files between iPads, MacBooks, iMacs and more. There’s no setup required, you’ll be able to just put your devices next to each other, and move your cursor between them. This could prove to be one of the most useful new features in macOS 12 Monterey.

There’s been no sign of it as yet in the public betas, but we are aware that it’s an update that may take longer to appear, similar to SharePlay which has already returned in the public beta of iOS 15.1.

FaceTime

This past year has made the way we work and communicate change in drastic ways, and video calls are now more important than ever. So, it’s good to see Apple bringing new features to FaceTime calling in macOS 12 Monterey.

This includes spatial audio support (a big theme of Apple’s WWDC 2021 keynote), so depending on where the person is sitting, their audio should feel like it’s coming from their position.

There’s also Voice Isolation, which uses machine learning to eliminate background noise and make voices clearer and easier to understand.

There’s also Wide Spectrum, which does the opposite, and means all ambient sounds (as well as voices) are boosted, which can be useful in some circumstances where you need to hear the environmental sounds where people are.

MacBooks and Macs using Apple’s M1 chip will also be able to blur user backgrounds thanks to the Neural Engine, though this is something that has been part of other video calling applications for a while now, and doesn’t require specialist hardware.

More useful is the ability invite anyone to connect to a FaceTime call, even people using Windows and Android devices, and they are will still benefit from the end-to-end encryption.

Airplay

You can now use AirPlay on a Mac, and use your Mac or MacBook as a speaker or video output.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are also coming to Mac. These allow you to automate everyday tasks. You can set your own, or use ready-made ones.

These can be triggered via Siri without using your hands, and you can import Automator workflows with Shortcuts.

Shortcuts will be integrated throughout macOS 12 Monterey, including the menu bar, Finder and Spotlight.

Safari

Safari, Apple’s web browser for macOS, has been redesigned for macOS 12 Monterey. Tabs are now more compact, the toolbar is refined and you can use tab groups.

This saves and groups tabs together for easy access. Useful for people who end up browsing with loads of tabs open at once.

You can name the groups, and they can be accessible across all devices. Make a change on a Mac, and the groups on iPad and iPhone will also change.

You can use a search box to find certain websites, and the Tabs bar changes colour depending what website you’re on.

Notes

The Notes app has been improved, making it easier to organize and collaborate notes. The Quick Note feature lets you write down notes from any app or website, and you can add links from Safari or Maps.

Multiple people can work on notes, and they can add their own comments. People’s edits can be easily found in the new Activity View, and tags can be added so you can easily find them later on.

Focus

The new Focus feature looks like it’ll be a powerful ‘do not disturb’ setting for Macs and MacBooks on macOS 12 Monterey. Depending on your current activity, notifications can be filtered out.

You can set your status so other people know you’re not to be interrupted, and if you set up Focus on one device, it will be mirrored on all your other Apple devices.

It doesn’t look like we’re getting a Big Sur-like huge update, though. Instead, macOS 12 seems to be a release to fix up bugs and refine the operating system further.

Think of this release as more the Snow Leopard of macOS releases. Back in 2009, Apple made efforts to push the fact that it was a refined release, and no new features.

With a move to a completely different chip last year, it makes sense for macOS to be refined again to be even faster on the new Apple Silicon chips.

Source

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/macos-12

Image Credit

Apple

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]]> Microsoft Office 2021: Everything you need to know https://easysam.co.uk/news/microsoft-office-2021-everything-you-need-to-know/ Tue, 05 Oct 2021 15:02:00 +0000 https://wptest.easysam.co.uk/?p=15595 Office 2021 is available now, having launched alongside Windows 11 on 5th October. It offers a subscription-free alternative to Microsoft 365.

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Office 2021 is available now, having launched alongside Windows 11 on 5th October. It offers a subscription-free alternative to Microsoft 365.

Published on 5th October 2021

The release of Office 365 in 2011 saw Microsoft take its productivity software in a new direction. For the first time, the likes of Word, PowerPoint and Excel would now be available as part of a subscription service. The big attraction of this was regular updates, with Office apps previously getting one big update every few years. 

Less than five years after launching, Office 365 was named as the most popular enterprise cloud service. It’s since been rebranded to Microsoft 365, but still offers the same core service that many people have come to rely on. This includes Outlook, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams.

Despite this success, Microsoft still releases standalone versions of all its powerful Office apps every few years. These are simply known as ‘Office’ followed by the year of release, with a 2021 edition having released alongside Windows 11. Here’s everything you need to know.

Microsoft Office 2021 release date

In an official blog post from February 2021, Microsoft 365’s Corporate Vice President Jared Spataro revealed that Office 2021 would be available consumers and small businesses ‘later this year’. A subsequent post from September 2021 confirmed its release date – 16 September for business users, and 5 October for consumers.

It’s no surprise to see a consumer version launch on the same date as Windows 11. Office 2021 will be optimised for the new operating system, despite a version also being available for macOS. The release date is is roughly in line with previous standalone versions of Office from 2019 and 2016, both of which arrived in September.

Microsoft Office 2021 price

In the same February 2021 blog post as above, Spataro revealed that the price of Office 2021 would be unchanged at the time of release. Indeed, it’s priced identically to Office 2019:

  • Office Home & Student 2021 - £119.99/US$149.99
  • Office Home & Business 2021 - £249.99/US$249.99

Both are available for one PC or Mac, and include the current standalone versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. You also get 60 days of Microsoft support. 

Microsoft Office 2021 new features

While Microsoft confirmed that Office 2021 was on its way, it revealed a handful of new features.

Arguably the most interesting is dark mode in Word, which was first revealed in an Office Insider blog post in February 2021. Dark mode was already available to Microsoft 365 customers, but it will be the first time we’ve seen it on the standalone version. This is an even darker version of the original mode that was rolled out, while text and other elements on the page will also shift to darker hues. A ‘Switch Modes’ button will be added to the View menu above the document.  

We can’t be sure what else will arrive in Office 2021, but new features coming to the commercial-focused LTSC version give us an idea of what to expect. These include accessibility improvements, performance improvements across many apps and advanced features like Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel.

Microsoft has indicated that it will ‘announce more details about new features included in Office 2021 closer to general availability’. We’ll update this article as soon as we know more.

What's the difference between Microsoft Office 2021 and Microsoft 365?

The most notable difference is how you pay for them. Office 2021 will be available with a one-off purchase, and then yours to keep indefinitely (although Microsoft usually only supports each version for five years). For access to Microsoft 365, you’ll need to pay a regular subscription fee, with plans currently starting at £59.99/US$69.99 per year.

However, it’s not a case of having to pay regularly for the same service. In addition to the regular Word, Excel, PowerPoint Outlook and OneNote apps you’ll get with Office 2021, Microsoft 365 also provides access to Skype and 1TB of OneDrive storage. Microsoft Teams subscriptions also offer access to web-based versions of these services. 

The other key attraction of a Microsoft 365 subscription is the regular updates. While there’s no official schedule, Microsoft says this is at least once a month. This will often include new features, which is not the case with the standalone version. While Office 2021 will still be updated following launch, but this will just be security patches.

Source

https://www.techadvisor.com/news/software/microsoft-office-2021-3801952/

Image Credit

Microsoft

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]]> Oracle releases Java 17 – and it’s free! https://easysam.co.uk/news/oracle-releases-java-17-and-its-free/ Tue, 14 Sep 2021 17:09:00 +0000 https://wptest.easysam.co.uk/?p=15620 Oracle have today announced the release of version 17 of Java, delivering thousands of updates. It also gives customers security, performance, and bug-fix updates through September 2029.

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Oracle have today announced the release of version 17 of Java, delivering thousands of updates. It also gives customers security, performance, and bug-fix updates through September 2029.

Published on 14th September 2021

Java 17 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release under Java’s six-month release cadence and is the result of extensive collaboration between Oracle engineers and other members of the worldwide Java developer community via the OpenJDK Community and the Java Community Process (JCP). Since the previous JDK 11 LTS released three years ago, over 70 JEPs have been implemented.

Offering a Simpler License

Oracle JDK 17 and future JDK releases are provided under a free-to-use license until a full year after the next LTS release. Oracle will also continue providing Oracle OpenJDK releases under the open-source General Public License (GPL), as it has since 2017.

Enhancing Long-Term Support for Customers

Oracle is collaborating with the Java developer community and the JCP on enhancing LTS scheduling to give organizations more flexibility on when, or if, they want to migrate to a newer Java LTS version. Oracle is proposing that the next LTS release should be Java 21 and made available in September 2023, which will change the ongoing LTS release cadence from three years to two years.

Backed by the Oracle LTS and Java SE Subscription, customers can migrate to Java 17 at the pace that best meets their needs. Oracle will provide customers with security, performance, and bug-fix updates for Java 17 through at least September 2029.

“Over the last three years we’ve heard how much developers love the latest features, and we’ve seen the ecosystem truly embrace the six-month release cadence,” said Georges Saab, vice president of development, Java Platform Group, Oracle. “One of the biggest challenges Java developers face today is that their organization only allows them to use the latest LTS release. By moving LTS releases to every two years, developers that are with conservative organizations now have more choice and access to the features that they love and want to use.”

“Oracle is making changes that will significantly benefit the Java community by shifting the long-term support releases to a two-year cadence and introducing a new, more relaxed license that provides free production use of Oracle JDK for an extended time,” said Dr. Arnal Dayaratna, research vice president, Software Development at IDC. “These changes will give organizations greater flexibility in managing the complexity of modern application development and deployments in the cloud, on-premises, and in hybrid environments.”

Accelerating Java’s Adoption in the Cloud

Java is one of the most successful development platforms ever and is built on continuous innovation that address the evolving needs of developers. To accelerate Java adoption in the cloud, Oracle recently introduced the Oracle Java Management Service, a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)-native service to help organizations manage Java runtimes and applications on-premises or on any cloud.

Java Management Service gives customers visibility into their Java deployments across the enterprise. This spans all of the Java versions installed in their environment, including versions of Java running in development and in production. It also highlights any unplanned Java applications running and checks if all installed Java versions are up to date with the latest security patches.

JDK 17 includes new language enhancements, updates to the libraries, support for new Apple computers, removals and deprecations of legacy features, and work to ensure Java code written today will continue working without change in future JDK versions. It also offers a language feature preview and incubating APIs to gather feedback from the Java community. Updates include:

Java Language Enhancement

  • JEP 409: Sealed Classes – Sealed classes and interfaces restrict which other classes or interfaces may extend or implement them. This enhancement is yet another improvement from Project Amber, which aims to increase developer productivity by evolving the Java language.

Updates and Improvements to Libraries

  • JEP 306: Restore Always-Strict Floating-Point Semantics – The Java programming language and Java virtual machine originally only had strict floating-point semantics. Starting in Java 1.2, small variances in those strict semantics were allowed by default to accommodate limitations of then-current hardware architectures. Those variances are no longer helpful or necessary, so they have been removed by JEP 306.
  • JEP 356: Enhanced Pseudo-Random Number Generator – Provides new interface types and implementations for pseudorandom number generators (PRNGs). This change improves the interoperability of different PRNGs and makes it easy to request an algorithm based on requirements rather than hard coding a specific implementation.
  • JEP 382: New macOS Rendering Pipeline – Implements a Java 2D pipeline for macOS using the Apple Metal API. The new pipeline will reduce the JDK’s dependency on the deprecated Apple OpenGL API. 

New Platform Support

  • JEP 391: macOS AArch64 Port – Ports the JDK to the macOS/AArch64 platform. This port will allow Java applications to run natively on the new Arm 64-based Apple Silicon computers.

Removals and Deprecations

  • JEP 398: Deprecate the Applet API for Removal – All web-browser vendors have either removed support for Java browser plug-ins or announced plans to do so. The Applet API was deprecated, but not for removal, in Java 9 in September 2017.
  • JEP 407: Remove RMI Activation – Removes the Remote Method Invocation (RMI) Activation mechanism, while preserving the rest of RMI.
  • JEP 410: Remove the Experimental AOT and JIT Compiler – The experimental Java-based ahead-of-time (AOT) and just-in-time (JIT) compiler were experimental features that did not see much adoption. Being optional, they were already removed from JDK 16. This JEP removes these components from the JDK source code.
  • JEP 411: Deprecate the Security Manager for Removal – The Security Manager dates back to Java 1.0. It has not been the primary means of securing client-side Java code for many years, and it has rarely been used to secure server-side code. Removing it in a future release will eliminate a significant maintenance burden and enable the Java platform to move forward.

Future Proofing Java Programs

  • JEP 403: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals – It will no longer be possible to relax the strong encapsulation of internal elements via a single command-line option, as was possible in JDK 9 through JDK 16. It will still be possible to access existing internal APIs, but it will now require enumerating, as command-line parameters or JAR-file manifest attributes, each package for which encapsulation should be relaxed. This change will lead to more secure applications and fewer dependencies on non-standard, internal JDK implementation details.

Previews and Incubators for Later JDK Releases

  • JEP 406: Pattern Matching for switch (Preview) – Allows an expression to be tested against several patterns, each with a specific action, so that complex data-oriented queries can be expressed concisely and safely.
  • JEP 412: Foreign Function and Memory API (Incubator) – Improves incubating APIs introduced in JDK 14 and JDK 15 that enable Java programs to interoperate with code and data outside of the Java runtime. By efficiently invoking foreign functions (i.e., code outside the JVM), and by safely accessing foreign memory, these APIs enable Java programs to call native libraries and process native data without the brittleness and complexity of Java Native Interface (JNI). These APIs are being developed in Project Panama, which aims to improve the interaction between Java and non-Java code.
  • JEP 414: Vector API (Second Incubator) – Allows expressing vector computations that reliably compile at runtime to optimized vector instructions on supported CPU architectures, thereby achieving performance superior to equivalent scalar computations.

Source

https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-releases-java-17-2021-09-14/

Image Credit

Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

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