Mac OS X El Capitan: Here’s What You Need to Know About Apple Inc.'s Latest Operating System

Apple Inc. announced OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the latest version of the Mac operating system, which focuses on "experience and performance." Onstage at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, outlined several key features making their way to Macs worldwide.

Here are some of the new features users can expect to see:

-A cursor that expands when the computer wakes up, making it easier to see.

-Improvements to Safari, including pinned sites which will load instantly and indicators for sites that are playing music and video in the background.

-Spotlight enhancements, including contextual results. Typing in "sf giants" will bring up the latest scores for the San Francisco Giants. Apps that use Spotlight will also benefit. For example, you can search for "Mail I ignored from Phil" in your Mail app.

-Split-screen apps, similar to Windows, that will allow users to move apps to either side of the screen.

-Performance improvements. Apple has brought the Metal API to OS X, following its iOS 8 debut. Apple also claims faster app launches, four times faster PDF loads, two times faster app switching and two times faster speed loading mail.

OS X El Capitan will be available as a free upgrade for all users this fall. The update is available to Apple developers today, with a public beta test beginning in July.