Mac OS X Lion Features: See What Apple Will Show Off At WWDC 2011 (VIDEO)

When Steve Jobs takes the stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote on June 6, he'll introduce a host of new software features and services, including a considerable revamp of Mac OS X Lion.

Last October, Apple promised oodles of new additions to the eighth update of its Mac OS X software and described Lion as "Mac OS X meets the iPad." We've got some of the details you need to know before Apple gives its extensive preview of the software at WWDC next week (Apple promised in a press release that the company would "unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X").

Lion will feature an app home screen, called a Launch Pad, that resembles the home screen found on an iPad. The new software will allow the user to set apps like iPhoto, Mail, iCal and Preview into fullscreen mode. Redesigns are also coming for apps like Apple Mail, Finder and iCal.

A Mission Control panel will give the user a look at every program currently open on her Mac device and will let her navigate quickly to the program she wants.

A feature called AirDrop will let the user share files with other devices on her local network. According to The Guardian, iCloud may be used to store these documents for easier sharing.

Gigaom describes Apple's forthcoming improvements to saving and restoring documents:

Lion is a great step forward for document and information management. Auto Save automatically saves changes you make to a file, while Versions allows you to look at and revert to older iterations quickly and easily. Resume means that every time you restart your Mac, you go back exactly to where you left off with open apps and documents, so there's no reason to put off that crucial Software Update that requires a restart ever again.

New multi-touch gestures like pinch to zoom and swipe to navigate, as well as tweaks to existing gestures, will make scrolling through app pages, navigating inside apps and managing documents more seamless.

Check out the Mac OS X Lion preview page to see what else Apple has in store. Read on to see what new features Apple could announce for iOS 5 at the World Wide Developers Conference, which will take place in San Francisco from June 6 through June 8.

To view some of Mac OS X Lion's new features in action, take a look at the video (below).

Comments

[ASRock78]

09:03 AM on 06/03/2011

I fail to see why this is such a "WOW" factor.....it is nothing but an evolution on a concept that already exists...merging both the current MBP and the iPad concepts together.....

[Larry Cohen]

07:33 PM on 06/02/2011

If that's all, than that doesn't justify paying for an upgrade. It just doesn't excite me. a non player.

[Scott Stevenson]

01:09 PM on 06/02/2011

They're bring back Launcher? Wow, haven't seen that since what, OS 7?

[omg wtf lol bbq]

01:28 AM on 06/03/2011

OS 9.

[Scott Stevenson]

01:52 PM on 06/03/2011

Sorry but your wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_7

[JohnTheMac]

10:15 AM on 06/02/2011

I love the multitouch on my MBP.
I dread using a mouse anymore.
I need to get that little trackpad on my iMac, bad!

[bryanzth]

05:27 PM on 06/02/2011

Hee, hee, I use the multitouch but I have a trackball by logitech (the bug!) on the side. I can no longer stand a mouse. But a combination of the two is great! :D

BZ.

[kinogod]

03:34 AM on 06/02/2011

When apple revamps APPLE ID I will upgrade. The company is too phobic about content = device = password. Amazon is kicking it's butt with their system to cross share content across devices; it's simple, it's not in conflict and it works without orwellian security measures. If I own somethin, use your magical apple sensor to know it based upon simple computer device recognition and password.

[segdae22]

10:35 AM on 06/06/2011

well *hopefully* the iCloud service will rectify that but i agree with you...i HATE that my content is restricted to one device. I can't keep my iphone synced to both my work and home laptops - its such a pain.

[uncc49er]

03:38 PM on 06/01/2011

A good upgrade of Mac OSX Leopard could do all these stuff. Why bringing a new OS? I will stick with my Leopard for another year or so.

[bryanzth]

05:28 PM on 06/02/2011

Snow? :D

BZ.

[uncc49er]

05:59 PM on 06/02/2011

yeap, Snow Leopard.

[Krek]

02:33 PM on 06/01/2011

Resize a window from any side? Genius. Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?

[DefineReality]

12:28 PM on 06/02/2011

MS did, years ago... all windows are resizable from any side...

[maxben]

04:39 PM on 06/02/2011

When was the last time you used XP?
Thats an oooooold feature.

[Valerio della Porta]

01:34 PM on 06/01/2011

I have been missing Versions for the last twenty years since I quit using VMS. Glad I'll be getting it back :-)

[ResearchtheFacts]

01:32 PM on 06/01/2011

Already being done on Windows.... Lion is a great step forward for document and information management. Auto Save automatically saves changes you make to a file, while Versions allows you to look at and revert to older iterations quickly and easily. Resume means that every time you restart your Mac, you go back exactly to where you left off with open apps and documents... Here we go again with the copy of other's technology.

[Mydian01]

12:08 PM on 06/02/2011

i am forced to use windows for Softimage XSI.. i would love to use this feature, where is it exactly?

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:25 PM on 06/02/2011

I can hard reset -- which means hit the power off key not control/alt/delete or shutdown or restart and have my system come back up opening all programs docs etc that where open before I threw my system into shock, in a forced crash. Office has been performing this function for years now.

[ResearchtheFacts]

01:29 PM on 06/01/2011

A repair kit with each new purchase.

[bryanzth]

05:32 PM on 06/02/2011

Huh? What troubles have you had?

BZ.

[redmaple]

11:43 AM on 06/01/2011

Wow! Those functions don't need a upgrade to be implemented. A simple app would have suffice. But I guess the press gets more exicited with "upgrades".

[Mydian01]

12:10 PM on 06/02/2011

i couldnt tell much difference between vista and windows 7, except 7 kinda worked a little bit better.. i call 7 vista sp2

[maxben]

04:41 PM on 06/02/2011

Call it what you like, people in general thought it was way better than Vista.
I don't really know since I never used Vista.

[bryanzth]

05:35 PM on 06/02/2011

Hah, I get Windoze fanbois so angry when I call Windows 7 "Vista 7" And Vista "Vista 6". The new one most likely will be Vista 8 or Vista 2012 (the year when, if MSFT makes an interface truly useable, the world will fall off the turtle's back).

And boy oh boi when the tech guys get ahold of one of my Vista 7 threads, they hang on like pitt bulls, since I mock their wonderful system. It is to laugh.

BZ.

[redmaple]

11:42 AM on 06/01/2011

WHAT??? No anti-malware?

[rangermac]

12:39 PM on 06/01/2011

Sure they have anti-malware, and a host of other new security features, like ASLR and whole disk encryption. But at the same time, they recognize their marketing edge that comes from the public perception that they are more secure than Windows, so they do not market these new features because it calls attention to the man behind the curtain.

[ScapeGoat]

08:20 AM on 06/03/2011

Have been using Mac for over 20 years .. never had a virus (other then windoz viruses that do not effect apple) and never been hacked. Can you say the same?

[redmaple]

11:34 AM on 06/01/2011

Full-screen apps. Now that's revolutionary and magical.

[samuel liu]

10:37 AM on 06/02/2011

i get annoyed when i hit on one of the chrome apps and it becomes full screen. I'm not sure how to navigate from there.

[jgeurian21]

09:39 AM on 06/01/2011

Funny that an OS that has less than 6% market share gets a top page article on Huffington. But Windows, a platform that 80% of the world uses, is set to show new features of Windows 8 and there is nothing on this "tech" website. On Engadget the new OSX features on no where on the front page and yet the possible Windows preview is "breaking news" and a top story. I have said it countless times, just put a link to Engadget and call it a day.

[eurisko67]

10:27 AM on 06/01/2011

Argumentum ad Numerum. Nice empty argument. Apple gets a top page article because it remains on the cutting edge of technology. But don't worry, Windows will be copying these features and calling it their own soon enough.

[AnasaziTribe]

10:41 AM on 06/01/2011

Nice Latin. Interesting that the heralded Lion will incorporate features that Windows has had for years - true full screen display, auto-save, and frame window resizing. Will Windows 8 copy those features in Latin from Lion?

[NoMoreHeroes]

10:57 AM on 06/01/2011

Cutting edge? Are you joking? They made OSX run the same apps from a frontend and they are reintroducing shared folders under a market friendly name. It's okay, it's a consumer cult, just laugh, say BS and move on.

[Pectin]

11:01 AM on 06/01/2011

Users of Apple products are interested in such articles, and click on them.
People that hate Apple click on such articles so they can post disparaging remarks in the comment section.
So an article about Apple or it's products gets lotsa hits.
So there'll be another article about Apple soon...

If Apple's detractors would simply ignore the articles, there'd be less of them to whine about.

[bryanzth]

05:39 PM on 06/02/2011

And when they post, it's always a rant about "fanbois" what is that? Something that MSFT copied?

BZ.

[Artinhouston]

08:47 PM on 05/31/2011

Even as an apple nerd Alfred makes that feature mostly pointless.