This simple utility comes at a time when a number of iPhone users have chosen to skip upgrading to iOS 8. Recent data from Apple shows that only 56% of iOS users have moved to the company's newest mobile operating system version, and that percentage has only increased by 4 percentage points since October.
Indeed, many of the new features in the Leopard operating system version are incremental improvements.
With the release of the newest version of Google's Android operating system (version 4.3, still known as Jelly Bean), the company is making Android tablet computers, like its own Nexus 10 and newly announced Nexus 7, more appealing to parents.
Big PC makers such as Compaq report that many corporate customers want to keep the old version of Windows on PCs they plan to buy later this year.Many firms have been burnt by bug-ridden first versions of new operating systems before.
In some of its banner advertisements on Web pages the company will explain that XP, the designation of its new operating system and new version of the Office application suite, actually stands for "ex paper clip".
Although some older hardware may not be quite up to running the new operating system, the stand-alone version of Windows 8.1 can also be used by those with compatible machines who want to upgrade from older Windows Vista and Windows XP systems.
All three will run a new iteration of the WebOS operating system, version 2.5.1; they're collectively a spin-off of the never-released HP Slate.
Like Windows XP, though, the new operating system will be available in several versions for business and home users, and each version may have slightly different requirements.
"In the old days, we used something called Bosco's Screen Share, but then Leopard, Mac's new operating system, came out with a snazzier version".
