Apple announces OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion


About a just year after releasing OS X Lion, Apple plans to ship OS X 10.8 dubbed Mountain Lion. The update, due late this summer, appears to bring parity of many features from iOS to the Mac.

iOS was formed from the Mac OS, and when Lion was introduced, Apple described the update as iOS giving back to the Mac. A number concepts and some features were brought over, such full screen viewing, Launchpad, and auto saving of documents. Mountain Lion looks to bring many more innovations from IOS to the Mac, specifically for interactive features. Also new is Share Sheets to make sharing media easier with third-party applications and built-in Twitter functionality.

It appears the goal is to make the two platforms compliment and interoperate.

OS X Lion presents over 100 new features. Highlights from iOS include Notification Center, Game Center, a new Messenger app, Notes, Reminders, and increased iCloud integration. Also new is a Gatekeeper system where users can lock down system to only accept installations from the Mac App store, similar to iOS and the App Store. Also new is AirPlay playback of up to 720p video to an Apple TV.

Mountain Lion is available now for developers as a preview release.

OS X Mountain Lion Preview