Poor OS X can't get no respect.

Apple's Mac operating system has been playing second fiddle to the iPhone since 2007, when Leopard was delayed to make more room for the then-new smartphone. And despite the occasional protest to the contrary, OS X hasn't been the apple of Apple's eye since then. It was second to iCloud, second to iMessage, second to the post-Scott-Forstall flattening of the operating system. And as an added insult, Apple couldn't find time at a two-hour product event to mention OS X or the Mac except in passing, mainly in the context of other platforms. We got a release date for El Capitan on the day of the event, but it was posted to Apple’s site, not mentioned onstage.

OS X is obviously still important to Apple's strategy—the one where the company wants to trap you so thoroughly in its ecosystem that you can never leave—but it doesn't get to lead the charge anymore.

The subtle difference in El Capitan is that we’re actually seeing new features come to both iOS and OS X at the same time rather than existing on iOS first and then trickling down to the Mac later. Many of the biggest, most noticeable changes here are the same ones you saw in iOS 9 two weeks ago. The new Split Screen multitasking mode, tweaks to multitouch gestures, changes to services like Spotlight , and overhauled apps like Notes all fall into this category. Others, like System Integrity Protection, are merely iOS-inspired.

Really, this is the first time in several years that iOS and OS X have felt like they’ve gotten (and needed) the same amount of attention from Apple—both get to spend a release in the slow lane as Apple puts its marketing muscle behind newer platforms like the Apple Watch and the new Apple TV. Like iOS 9 (and Mountain Lion, and Snow Leopard), El Capitan is about refinement. Yosemite’s big statement was “This is what OS X looks like now.” El Capitan’s is a relatively meek “Hey, I have a couple neat tricks to show you.”

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