The new system, known as OS X 10.8 and nicknamed
Mountain Lion, went on sale today as a $19.99 download through Apple's App
Store.
The strategic idea for the new OS introduction is based
on positioning of your computer as just one in the line of Apple computing
devices, along with iPhone and iPad. Apple wants to make it easier to switch between
all these gadgets back and forth.
It is already relatively easy switching between
iPhone and iPad. For instance, songs and apps you buy on an iPad will
automatically pop up on your iPhone through Apple's iCloud online-storage
service. Mountain Lion brings the Mac into the full compatibility and
functionality of the iPhone-iPad family.
There are some new outstanding features:
There are some new outstanding features:
- A
notification center slides out from the right of the screen to offer
calendar reminders and the latest mail items. It mimics, down to the
background color, layout and font, the way you get Facebook updates, news
alerts and other notices on your iPhone.
- The Mac's
iChat app has been scrapped in favor of Messages, which is made phone
friendly by incorporating the iMessage service for iPhone, iPad and iPod
Touch users to exchange texts, photos and video. Now you can send messages
from your Mountain Lion computer to your mobile friends, or reach another
Mountain Lion user from your phone. The way conversations are presented
feels more like texting than instant messaging.
- Mountain
Lion borrows a "Share" button from iPhone and iPad apps. The
iPhoto image organizer on Lion had that, but it's now built into other
apps such as the Safari Web browser and the Preview document reader. The
options change depending on the app. In Safari, for instance, you can send
a Web page by email or post a link on Twitter. In Preview, you can share a
photo on Flickr or add it to iPhoto.
Facebook integration is coming this fall. You'll be
able to limit who sees your post and add your current location through that
share button. No longer will you have to cut and paste links. Mountain Lion
will also sync contact information on Facebook friends with your Mac's address
book. You need to sign on to Facebook only once, and Mountain Lion takes care
of the rest.
That "single sign-on" feature is available
right away for other services, including Twitter and Flickr. Once you're signed
in, you don't need to enter your username and password again when accessing
that service from another app.
Mountain Lion brings over another remarkable change
from the iPhone. For the longest time, personal computers let you install
anything without question. But with Apple's mobile devices, you are limited to
pre-approved software from the company's App Store. Apple wants to protect you
from bad experiences, but it has also rejected some apparently harmless apps.
Mountain Lion adopts that gatekeeper philosophy,
though the restrictions aren't as severe. If software you try to install
doesn't come from the App Store, it has to be from a software developer who has
registered with Apple for $99. The company doesn't review software unless it
goes through the App Store, but the Mac checks to make sure the registration is
valid. A registration can be yanked if a developer turns out to be evil.
iCloud
integration makes a big difference for the Mac users. All you need is an
Internet connection and an Apple ID, which links your experience across the
various devices. The iCloud service comes with five gigabytes of free storage,
and you can pay for more, if you need.
Pages, Numbers and Keynote - Apple's versions of
Microsoft's popular Office programs for word processing, spreadsheets and
presentations – allow storing automatically all documents online through
iCloud, unless you change the location to a folder on your computer. That means
your documents follow you wherever you go. Type a sentence in a document on
your MacBook and see the changes on the iPad a half-minute or so later. You can
access your files even if you don't have an Internet connection. Copies are
stored on your computer, and changes will be replicated to the iCloud folder
once you're back online.
You get the benefits of iCloud when surfing the Web
on Safari as well. You see what websites are open on other devices, so if you
started researching that dream vacation at home, you can quickly access those
same Web pages in the office. Think of it as automated bookmarks. For this to
fully work, your mobile devices need the iOS 6 upgrade this fall.
A number of other features you may find useful:
- The search
and address bars are now combined on Safari, just as they are on Google's
Chrome browser.
- Safari's
Reading List now works offline. If you are reading a Web page and need to
go somewhere, just click the small "glasses" icon for the
browser to store a copy. You can continue reading in the car or on a
train, even if you don't have an Internet connection.
- Gamers will
appreciate Game Center, which started out as a way for mobile users to
find opponents and keep track of high scores.
Some older computers are not supported by
the new OS, though there's apparently a workaround for Intel-based Mac
Pros that involves upgrading the graphics cards and using an emulated
firmware. Do note that this hack is not guaranteed to work perfectly and it
cannot be used on Apple laptops, as the graphics cards on these machines cannot
be changed.
Those who have bought a Mac computer on, or
after June 11, are eligible for a free upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion via
Apple's Up-to-Date program.
Based on the users’ feedback, Mountain Lion upgrades
can take as little as 13 minutes and as long as almost an hour. Upgrade is a
hands-off affair once the user has downloaded the 4GB installer from the Mac
App Store, allowing Mac owners to step away from the machine and come back when
the new OS is installed.
Screenshots:
You can find OS X Mountain Lion in the Mac App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?mt=12.
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