Apple's next-gen operating system, Mac OS X Yosemite, arrives this Monday as a free download.
Mac owners will be able to download it via the Mac App Store beginning Oct. 20.
The new OS arrives alongside iOS 8.1, which will include Apple Pay, Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering at Apple, said during an event at Apple's headquarters.
Apple first revealed Yosemite at this year's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), at which time developers were given early access. A beta version arrived in July.
At WWDC, Federighi joked that Apple execs took a road trip to hunt for the best follow-up name to Mavericks. After passing on Mac OS X Oxnard, OS X Rancho Cucamonga, and OS X Weed, they landed on Yosemite.
The major theme of Yosemite is Continuity, which provides for a deeper link between Mac and iOS when users are signed into iCloud.
As part of this Continuity concept, AirDrop will now work between iOS and Mac rather than just iOS devices.
With a feature known as Handoff, meanwhile, you can link up your iOS devices and easily pass files between devices whenever they are close to one another. "Let's say you're composing an email on your phone and you walk up to your Mac, your Mac will notice and prompt you right on the dock," Federighi said at WWDC. "Click it and you can pick up that message right on your Mac."
It works the other way, too. If you're working on a document on the Mac, a little icon will appear on your iPad. Just swipe up, and continue working on the tablet.
As for messaging, Mac users can now get iOS updates from non-Apple users (or "green bubble friends" as Federighi called them). But it's not just texts - Mac users can now get and place iPhone calls on the Mac. And it works if your phone is across the room in a pocket or bag.
For more, see PCMag's live blog from today's event, as well as What to Expect From Apple's iPad Event, as well as 7 Things We Want in Apple's New iPad.