OS X Mountain Lion: The 9 Coolest New Features Of Apple's Newly Announced Mac Software

Apple on Thursday surprised the tech world by unveiling the developer-only preview of what will soon be its newest operating system for Mac computers, OS X Mountain Lion.

OS X Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the release of OS X Lion, an operating system which sought to unify many of the best features of iOS (Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) with the best features of OS X (its operating system for the Mac). That unification continues with OS X Mountain Lion, which is being touted as an incremental upgrade to last year's major OS release.

Indeed, the Wall Street Journal's Jessica Vascellaro, who got an in-person preview of the operating system from Apple CEO Tim Cook, titled her report on OS X Mountain Lion "Apple to Bring iPhone, iPad Features to Mac." What's more, Apple's official preview page for Mountain Lion's features reads "Inspired by iPad. Re-imagined for Mac."

So, what new features can you expect on Mountain Lion (available immediately for developers, and in the summer for users)? Below, find out what's making Mountain Lion roar. Then, read on for in-depth hands-on looks at the new OS X upgrade by John Gruber (Daring Fireball) and Jason Snell (MacWorld) and MG Seigler (TechCrunch).

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Comments

[brux]

06:49 AM on 03/01/2012

1. I don't want to be a "twit" or communicate with "twits".
2. I don't want to have to pay Apple for an iCloud for my applications to do what they should be doing normally - especially considering the high price I paid for Apple.
3. Does this messaging need the iCloud and do I gotta pay for it?
4. -blah-
5. More iCloud stuff … this is pissing me off!
6. Why do I need to be notified all the time in a million different ways?
7. I don't want share buttons that I might hit accidentally and I would like all these optional things to be able to be turned off from one central location.
8. Games … I don't play games except backgammon on my PC … Apple does not have a decent version of backgammon that I know of.
9. I can already do screen sharing and put the screen of any of my machines onto my LCD big screen, but not a bad idea … but this should just be a software update - I feel ripped off.

[solvseus]

05:00 AM on 07/25/2012

iCloud is free. Much more limited than MobileMe was, and still as flaky, but free. Hopefully it will at least be as customizable as the Finder and some apps, being able to take out the share buttons for example. Depends on the app as far as I've seen. I don't use Twitter much so I didn't notice it really, but I guess we'll see how intrusive it is.

Still not as good as Snow Leopard, but better than Lion, and only $20 for ALL of your (compatible) Macs.

[OndiImbo]

07:45 AM on 02/23/2012

I have been considering leaving the PC world and purchasing a 13" MacBook Air for personal use--mainly for downloading music, managing photos, and writing that million dollar novel (smile). A few commenters have made very negative statements about Lion and naturally, this concerns me. However, it seems these comments were made by small biz owners who use Macs much more intensely than I plan to do.

Anyone out there using a MacBook Air for personal use that can share any pros/cons? I already have an iPad...so I'm wondering if it's even worth spending the extra $$$.

[brux]

06:56 AM on 03/01/2012

I am a big Apple fan and I cannot recommend their Air machines. The battery life is really terrible. I got the 13" version back at the end of last year, and ended up trading it in for the Macbook Pro, which is still bad, but better than the Air. It is a good concept, but the Air with no moving parts ought to have twice the battery life of the Pro. The screen resolution is nice, and it is light.

I think Apple has made a wrong turn with completely changing their desktop to force people into using the iCloud if they want these things to work. I have an iPad and i can play NetFlix on my Ipad for hours, but my Pro or the Air I traded in lasted only 100 minutes.

I also find that iPhoto is really weird. it will take my photos and when i come back to them the next time they are randomly rotated around for no reason. Some of them go missing.

All in all its OK, but it is something I would think about. I just happen not to like Lion, but many do, so don;t know what to say really.

[OndiImbo]

02:12 PM on 03/04/2012

Thanks for the info Brux. I went ahead and purchased the Air and so far so good, although I do see what you mean about the battery life. I'm still trying to figure out how the percentage left can be 90% but the time remaining is 2hrs. I also have an iPad and I am baffled at how I can use it regularly for days without needing a charge. But, then again, I can't (or don't want to) use my iPad for writing and working with spreadsheets, so the Air is most definitely going to get plenty of practical use.

And whoa!! The camera resolution on the Air is TERRIBLE! But hey, I'm still pretty happy with my purchase; I just hope the price tag is worth it in the end...

[Logi indiaPolitics]

08:21 AM on 02/19/2012

No matter what changes has been made in this new LION...its just awesome. The only reason people were buying Mac as well iOS devices to expereince all features made on both devices seperately. Now its coming together: http://forums.techarena.in/reviews/1454801.htm

[Harrier]

09:13 PM on 02/18/2012

I have always heard stories about Mac quality and it just work. I purchased a top of the line MacBook Pro. The Video Chip fried after a few years. It was a know problem that Apple had received a ton of complaints and never addressed. They refused to do anything. That was my first experience with Apple. When I pay that much money for what I believe is suppose to be top notch hardware, it's not what I think I want to be part of. Basic thing lacking with Mac OSX that I expected was something more than bare bones E-mail, no real scheduling program or something to make meetings. IM service that doesn't work with messenger. And iLife that never improved. They never improve it. None of Apples laptops can effective run Adobe or perform Video editing and their Video Cards are all very weak. It does appear that most of the changes that apple makes to its OS is for Business customers. I don't see any improvements in integrating entertainment experiences. I have little, if any confidence in their Laptops. Without Matte screens being offered at a reasonable price, that too is a turn off. For Mountain Lion, I see nothing really that makes much of a difference to the average Mac User. My Mac experience was not a pleasant one.

[solvseus]

05:21 AM on 07/25/2012

If you're talking about the Nvidia video card issue from a few years ago, they were fixing them for free... eventually. I've had my bad experiences with them, but you're wrong about the Adobe apps. I've used 4 different generations of Adobe Creative Suites on my older MBP, all the way up to CS6, and as long as I've had enough RAM it's been fine. It's not exactly a speed demon anymore, and I'm going to miss Snow Leopard, but it works fine. FCS 3 works fine too. There's a free MSN Messenger client, or a free program called Adium that's multiplatform. 10.8's new messenger app is multiplatform, but I don't know if it's as good as iChat. iLife is stagnated, some things about the last iPhoto upgrade seemed like a downgrade, but it's only a year old. I'm sure they'll come up with something soon. Hoping something better this time. Lion was awful for this long time user. iCal is fine for me, but other programs are out there, some even free. Do you use Window's default apps? I also prefer Matte, but it is an option on some of them. ML is better than Lion though.

[manitoumackinac]

08:00 PM on 02/18/2012

It's like getting excited over a new flavor of mouthwash. Front page news, blog posts, millions of comments speculating what color the mouthwash is going to be.

[JackTheSkipper]

09:15 PM on 02/17/2012

From what I hear from mac fanboys, I am surprised to hear mac OS needs gatekeeper. Isn't Mac invincible?

[StinkyPete0279]

02:26 AM on 02/18/2012

It's less about actual security and more about locking you into Apple as a software vendor.

[Dr Hicks]

02:14 PM on 02/19/2012

If you had any technical knowledge at all Stinky; you would understand that your comment is moot mate.

The signing of Applications that is going to happen in Mountain Lion is also something that happens under Windows with some drivers.

This is not about locking you into anything, it's about providing a smooth seamless and secure environment to run your digital life.

[FreelanceWriter]

08:54 PM on 02/17/2012

It's funny how some of these updates are still coming along, yet they seem so basic on the surface that I often find myself saying "Why wasn't that included right from the start?"

For example, I like the Malware Protection idea. The article makes it sound like a bad thing...and as a person who uses BOTH a Mac and a PC, I've been as critical of Apple as the next guy over things (particularly pricing, which is really lame). But that said, the idea of must making 3 simple categories that would give a user total confidence in a program and where it came from and what it does makes perfect sense to me.

Heck, let's be honest, most of the computing world's programs all come from Third Party things that just weren't planned out as well as they should have been -- and once they're on your system, say goodbye to your system!

[brux]

06:59 AM on 03/01/2012

Its not included because a lot of little tiny smaller cheaper upgrades make it seem like the cost is more reasonable. These things should all be software updates to me. Fix some of the bugs and put in fixes to obvious things that have been going on for a long time

[maigoro]

01:49 PM on 02/17/2012

If only they could make Visual Studio for the Mac.

[MNJim]

11:16 AM on 02/17/2012

They still don't have the original Lion OS introduced last summer working properly. Thousands of us are still having connectivity instability and Apple Care can only give us "temporary fixes" like selecting one's own network from the list every time the machine comes out of sleep mode bc it loses contact with the wireless network. They forgot to test Lion OS in iMacs to see if it actually worked before they introduced that piece of krap to the market.

[solvseus]

05:22 AM on 07/25/2012

Mountain Lion is better, but still not as good as Snow Leopard.

[redbluegreen]

02:26 AM on 02/17/2012

Awesome features. I hope the upgrade is $20 or less!

[onlythetruthcounts]

01:59 AM on 02/17/2012

macbook pro for ease of use lotsa power and app-base, ipad 3 (soon) for extreme ease of use and cool-factor, iphone 4S for ease of use and cool-factor and for txt'ing and researching on the go, and late 2009 iMac because it's freakin' so easy to use and looks so awesome! :). That covers me. I'm sure mtn lion will be a refreshing incremental upgrade eg mac os lion. I can understand making small incremental changes to perfect an app or os, better than getting buggy earlier updates. Release it when it's reliable above all.

[Norma Desmond]

01:46 AM on 02/17/2012

zzz....

[solvseus]

05:23 AM on 07/25/2012

Than why did you click the link, and bother making a comment?

[solvseus]

05:24 AM on 07/25/2012

Edit: sorry, that was not meant for your post.

[Anti BandwagonIdi0ts]

01:17 AM on 02/17/2012

What flavor does it come in?

[RealityMyFriend]

01:10 AM on 02/17/2012

Does this mean I can backup all my files now to the icloud?

[StinkyPete0279]

02:27 AM on 02/18/2012

Depends on how much you're paying for it.

[brux]

07:01 AM on 03/01/2012

Homeland security already has your files backed up! ;-)

[RealityMyFriend]

06:11 PM on 03/01/2012

Yipee!!

[whatsjohnupto]

01:00 AM on 02/17/2012

For me the Airplay mirroring is the best feature. Here is a blog post with a list of the major new features. http://www.johnvarghese.com/10-reasons-to-upgrade-to-mountain-lion-on-day-1/