Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is still a very new operating system that was pushed out to Macs using the Mac App Store just a few months ago. But Apple is already ready to release the successor to Mac OS X 10.7 which will simply be called OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Apple has actually dropped the name Mac and is now calling it just OS X similar to how Apple dropped the name iPhone from iPhone OS and now calls it iOS. We don’t know what this means as far as the Apple products go but overall it seems that Apple is just continuing their work to make OS X more like iOS.
Today Apple launched the OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion developer preview which has over 100 new features that Lion didn’t have. However the features really aren’t very new if you’ve been running iOS 5 on your Apple device. You’ll find Notification Center, AirPlay Mirroring, and iMessage just to name a few of the key new features with OS X Mountain Lion.
We’ve detailed some of the key new apps and features found in OS X Mountain Lion below so you can get a good idea of what’s coming this year to Apple computers.
Notification Center
Notifications are something that has been an issue with many operating systems in the past. Look at Windows where notifications show up in the system tray and then quickly go away. Previous versions of iOS had popup notifications that you had to physically close after being interrupted. But the latest versions of Android and iOS have something that’s much better. Basically you have this notification tray where you can see all of your notifications grouped together. You can scroll through them can clear them once you have read them. Just like you’d mark an email as read after you take a look at it.
The new Notification Center feature in OS X Mountain Lion is just like the Notification Center on iOS or the notifications on Android. Apple has a little notification light in the corner of your Mac’s user interface. You’ll then be able to click on it every once in a while to see your notifications. Your current work is pushed to the side and you’ll have the whole screen for notifications. And of course there will be gestures to access the Notification Center as well.
iMessage
There are many ways to communicate with your friends online. There is Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, and so on. there are a lot of different ways you can connect with instant messaging services to chat with friends and in the past Mac users used to use iChat. But with Mountain Lion you’ll be able to use the new service called iMessage found in iOS 5.
iMessage on OS X Mountain Lion is just like iChat but with an improved interface and support for the iMessage service that’s on iOS. The best part with iMessage is the ability to start a conversation on your iPad or iPhone and continue it on your Mac, or the other way around.
AirPlay Mirroring
It seems that connecting to an HDTV or monitor using wires is outdated and part of the past. The future is being able to wirelessly connect to monitors and HDTVs using Apple’s AirPlay Mirroring which is supported in Mountain Lion.
AirPlay Mirroring allows you to wirelessly stream your desktop to your Apple TV as long as they are on the same network. Of course there are limits like you’re limited to 720p output but that might be changed with a future Apple TV that supports higher resolutions. AirPlay Mirroring will be a nice feature for those wanting to give presentations or just play games or watch a movie on their HDTV.
Game Center
Apple brought iOS-like apps to the Mac with the Mac App Store over a year ago and now it looks like they are bringing gaming to the Mac with Game Center. Game Center on iOS devices allows you to play games and share your progress and play multiplayer games with your friends. And on the Mac Game Center does pretty much the same thing as it does on iOS devices.
The most interesting part about Game Center is that there will be games that are cross platform that you’ll be able to play on both your Mac and iOS device. You’ll actually even be able to play games on your Mac against a friend using an iPad which is very interesting and a very new experience. We haven’t really seen a whole lot of cross platform multiplayer games before, Portal 2 is the only one I can think of right now.
iCloud
iCloud is already in OS X Lion but it’ll be pretty much required for OS X Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion will request your Apple ID and password when you setup your Mac and then it will use that information to setup iCloud automatically. All of your documents, messages, reminders, calendars, and notes will be synced across all of your Apple devices which is really nice for those who might have a Mac, iPad, iPod, and iPhone and want to have a very consistent experience.
Gatekeeper
The Mac platform was once extremely small and because of that there was really not a huge need for an antivirus program. But Apple has become a huge company and the Mac has become a very popular platform meaning there are quite a few viruses out there that your Mac can get. Many will argue against that but it’s the truth. Apple has realized that the Mac needs more antivirus protection so they’ve put something called Gatekeeper in Mountain Lion.
Gatekeeper is very similar to Microsoft Security Essentials in Windows 8. It’s built right into the platform and helps secure your computer. Apple actually goes even further and has a setting that allows you to block any apps from being installed that haven’t been signed by a verified developer. This will be a great feature for those who don’t really know what they are doing when installing programs.
Other Apps
Apple also added quite a few more new apps to Mountain Lion. Most of them are actually very familiar to those who own an iOS device. Applications like the iOS Calendar, iOS Notes, and iOS Calendar have all been put into Mountain Lion. They have also been restyled to look almost identical to the app on an iPad which really does make the experience from device to device more similar.
Apple has also included some sharing features in Mountain Lion. The sharing features support Twitter throughout the operating system and other services like Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, and YouTube in other apps. For example you can share a Quicktime video on YouTube or Facebook. Or you can share a website with Twitter. There is a very similar feature that is found in iOS 5 that allows you to share things more quickly and easily.
Conclusion
So as you can tell OS X Mountain Lion has a ton of new features that make it much more similar to the iOS 5 operating system. And to keep iOS and OS X similar from now on Apple will launch a new version of OS X every year from now on. Meaning Apple might have to switch over to OS XI or OS 11 some time over the next few years.
OS X Mountain Lion is available right now for developers in a developer preview and Apple plans to release the final version of Mountain Lion to the public some time this summer in the Mac App Store. We don’t know on the price quite yet but I’m guessing it will cost somewhere from $30 to $50 since Apple hasn’t been charging much for the past few versions of OS X.
