Apple details OS X Mountain Lion, optimistic about desktop OS adoption

[Julio Franco]

Apple was happy to share new details about their upcoming desktop operation system, OS X Mountain Lion, during WWDC 2012. Despite the company's growing focus on mobile, they are claiming a Mac installed base of 66 million users, where 26 million of those are already using Lion, their most recent OS update.

Mountain Lion is a major release shipping this July with "hundreds of new features", however Apple highlighted a handful of key aspects of the new operating system. The cloud is now a feature, and Apple wants iCloud to become a dependent and dominant part of the OS, building it in deep in the software and able to configure and sync apps and content across devices (Mac & iOS). Apple showcased iCloud integration with Safari, Calendar, Notes and Pages, Apple's alternative to Microsoft Office.

A new version of Safari is also in the works. Relevant updates include a new omnibox similar to Chrome's, improved JavaScript performance that is claimed to beat its rivals, synching with iCloud and Tabview, which is yet another fancy way of looking at all your tabs live.

A third major feature, Power Nap, is claimed to keep your Mac up to date while it's sleeping. Power Nap can backup your data and automatically refresh your data while remaning in a silent, powered down mode. It's only supported on the newer MacBook Airs and the new Retina MacBook Pro.

Game Center from iOS is debuting on the desktop with the possibility to play across platforms, they showcased a racing game played in real time, OS X versus iPad (the desktop won). AirPlay mirroring is a nifty feature which in a nutshell means you no longer have to hack your Apple TV to watch the content you want have stored in your Mac, supporting up to 1080p resolution.

Besides the above, Mountain Lion is getting OS-wide dictation support (speech recognition), native sharing to social networks from any app, and multiple features for the Chinese version of OS X.

Finally, if you want to consider this as yet another killer feature, Mountain Lion will sell for $19.99, upgradeable from Snow Leopard or Lion. If you buy a new Mac tomorrow, you get the upgrade for free when the OS ships next July. Microsoft should take note.

Image credit: The Verge.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/48953-apple-details-os-x-mountain-lion-optimistic-about-desktop-os-adoption.html

 

[mevans336]

Microsoft should take note of what? Charging for service packs?

 

[m4a4]

Microsoft should take note of what? Charging for service packs?

Ahahahahaha, and it not enough that they payed the apple tax on the laptop in the first place...

 

[Guest]

errr, to the above posters, the iCry line starts over there --->, tissues supplied free of charge

 

[Julio Franco]

I'm a Windows user, and I don't know about you guys, but it pisses me off Microsoft is wanting to charge me to upgrade to Windows 8 on new PCs. On that same note, 7 was no less Service Pack to Vista than OS X's iterations are.

 

[bexwhitt]

if it will make my wifi work properly again, I am in

 

[yukka]

More features that have nothing to do with the Enterprise. Its less than a year since Lion shipped and already they are promoting the new OS. Today I took a fresh new MacBook Pro with Lion installed, put some older incompatible software on it (had to test but it worked out poorly as it turned out) and as a result had to reinstall the OS. No DVD to install from, just a 650MB partition you can boot to. No problem until it had to connect to the internet and download the 10gig or so Lion installation files and still no option to create installation media. Macs are toys for single users, not serious manage-able machines for the Enterprise. Getting closer to the iPad experience or forcing iCloud down users throats does not get me excited. Its just more stuff to have to turn off if its going to be used seriously.

As far as Windows goes, I do not mind getting an OEM edition shipped with my new PC if I get one but agree that £150 for Vista Ultimate etc was crazy money. However, Apple are also pushing cloud integration and see they can make more money getting Mountain Lion (the OSX that looks like iOS) on as many desktops as they can to profit from macstore/appstore sales. They aren't offering it at 20 dollars out of kindness.

 

[bexwhitt]

I'm a Windows user, and I don't know about you guys, but it pisses me off Microsoft is wanting to charge me to upgrade to Windows 8 on new PCs. On that same note, 7 was no less Service Pack to Vista than OS X's iterations are.

If you time it right you should be able to get a retail copy of windows really cheap with a pre release offer. Comparing the costs of windows to the closed Apple taxed os x is hardly relevant.

 

[SNGX1275]

Today I took a fresh new MacBook Pro with Lion installed, put some older incompatible software on it (had to test but it worked out poorly as it turned out) and as a result had to reinstall the OS. No DVD to install from, just a 650MB partition you can boot to. No problem until it had to connect to the internet and download the 10gig or so Lion installation files and still no option to create installation media.

Not sure if your particular case could have gone differently or not. But you certainly can make your own bootable Lion install disk. When I upgraded from Snow Leopard I made a DVD of Lion before going through with the install. Once those files are downloaded, you can burn a disk for future use.