The next edition of Apple's cat-flavoured operating system, Mac OS X, is right around the corner. This latest edition is dubbed Mountain Lion. Here's everything you need to know about Apple's increasingly iOS-infused desktop platform.
Release date and price
Apple has vowed to get Mountain Lion onto Macs everywhere this summer, which means we really don't have long to wait. Expect Mountain Lion to arrive in the next month or so.
The best news is it's dirt cheap -- expect this update to cost just £14. Like Lion, it'll be available as a digital download through the Mac App Store.
OS X Mountain Lion features
So what are the most exciting new bits and bobs coming to Mountain Lion? Read on to see what's in store for your Mac.
Game Center
Avid iOS gamers will be pleased as punch to learn that Apple's online game network is making its way to Mountain Lion. Game Center supports multi-player from Mac to Mac, as well as cross-device gaming, so you can challenge foes, even if your dastardly opponents are using mobile kit like the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
Dictation
Now you can bark orders at your Mac! Mountain Lion lets you talk into Facebook or Microsoft Word, which could save you a lot of time if you're a slow typist. But how accurate will the speech recognition prove?
iCloud tabs
Browsing on your iPad and fancy continuing your surfing on your Mac? Safari will now use iCloud to sync your tabs, so you can keep cruising the Internet when you switch devices.
Power Nap
The adorably named Power Nap keeps your Mac up to date while it's asleep. So it updates and syncs, as well as backing itself up. Your Photo Stream will also get updated.
This feature isn't for everyone -- Apple says it'll work with second-generation MacBook Airs and the new MacBook Pro with retina display.
Messages
Messages replaces iChat and will work just like iMessage does on iOS gear. This means you'll be able to hold conversations with your iPhone-owning friends on your Mac. Handy -- just make sure you're not gossiping about anyone you share your computer with. Apple says you'll be able to drag photos and videos into the conversation, making it easier than ever to send your pals cat videos.
Notes
Another app shamelessly ported from iOS, the Notes app lets you jot down handy items like shopping lists or the names of your sworn enemies.
Gatekeeper
One for the security conscious -- Gatekeeper is a feature that controls the software you can install on your Mac. You can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be installed or to only install programs created by Apple-approved developers.
Developers will get unique Developer ID from Apple, which marks their software as safe, with the idea of this feature being to reduce the risk of viruses or unwanted malware.
Notifications
You know the notification panel introduced to iOS devices last year? Well, now it's coming to Macs. Dragging two fingers to the left will bring up the notification panel, which displays treats such as new emails or messages, Twitter mentions and direct messages or event reminders.
Airplay Mirroring
One for Apple TV owners, this feature lets you funnel a 720p stream of whatever's on your Mac's screen to a TV that's hooked up to Apple's blocky little set-top box.
This essentially turns your telly into a big monitor, connected over Wi-Fi, and will be helpful for showing friends holiday snaps or airing video that's available on your Mac.
Automatic downloads
This nifty feature sees other Macs that are logged in with the same Apple account automatically downloading new apps when you purchase them.
Requirements
Apple says you'll need to already have OSX 10.6.7 or later installed (aka Lion or Snow Leopard), 2GB of memory and 8GB available hard disk space.
Are you excited about Mountain Lion? Say so in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 14
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anonymous 11 June, 2012 19:39
Great. What was it with Leopard... 1GB recommended, then Snow was 2GB, then Lion was 4GB (2GB minimum but that was painful unless you were a simple user).... so by natural progression, I'm expecting Mountain to have an 8GB recommended. (4GM minimum)
Luckily I'm good to go, are YOU?
anonymous 12 June, 2012 00:55
Absolutely nothing here for me - a 20 year mac user. The only thing going for OSX Lion had drivers for the video card I needed for 3d raytracing but that's it for Lion.
Mountain Lion features list contains absolutely nothing of practical use for myself as a producer.
I also use free aps and X11 environment - how is that going to be affected by the Gatekeeper?
Disappointed Mac fan
Harry
vkvedam 12 June, 2012 06:47
How did you come to a conclusion that it's going to be £13 in the UK? Love the fact that I could go straight from Snow Leopard.
Rich Trenholm 12 June, 2012 07:55
vkvedam - that's a direct conversion of the US price rather than a UK price. On past performance, Apple will probably switch the dollar sign for a pound sign and charge about twenty quid
anonymous 12 June, 2012 09:38
Or just look at the Apple UK site where it states £13.99... http://www.apple.com/uk/osx/
Ruffus Stone 12 June, 2012 12:04
[quote]Rich Trenholm 12 June, 2012 07:55
vkvedam - that's a direct conversion of the US price rather than a UK price. On past performance, Apple will probably switch the dollar sign for a pound sign and charge about twenty quid [/quote]
That straight swap of a £ for the $ symbol takes into account that the UK price includes an additional 20% VAT. US sales taxes are not included in the US price either, so when you take those two factors into consideration, the prices in the USA and UK are pretty much the same on the whole.
Ruffus Stone 12 June, 2012 12:06
I should have added that it's the UK government that's ripping off UK consumers with the higher prices and not Apple.
anonymous 14 June, 2012 14:21
@vkvedam, the price is stated on Apples website at £13.99, so that is the official price, cheaper than Lion which was £20.99
Ruffus Stone 14 June, 2012 15:08
The Apple UK website clearly states "from £13.99".
x
anonymous 16 June, 2012 14:07
Will it work with plex?
anonymous 16 June, 2012 22:17
Well for me Lion has to be the least stable buggy OS apple has released yet. I do hope mountain lion has fixed the issues in Lion I still mainly use Snoow leopard because Lion has been so rushed to release. Perhaps a sign that apple is not listening like Microsoft did which was the beginning of the end.
anonymous 16 June, 2012 22:21
I do think making our computers more like phone os is a retrograde step more options to share things I don't want to share. I value privacy and like to choose what I share without it being so complex I don't know what Im sharing by default.
anonymous 17 June, 2012 14:46
I'm the same as nearly everyone here. I don't want my macs to look like my iPad - in fact, I find even the cometic changes they made in lion to address book and calender extremely irritating . I am not interested in sharing. I don't and never will use iCloud on any of my devices. Skype rules for chatting to friends an clients worldwide. I send all my files by FTP.
Sorry, but I think that Apple have completely lost the plot. Whatever happened to the clean, gimmick free, intuitive, work-horse that we professional users are used to?
anonymous 16 July, 2012 17:50
The only thing useful about Lion (for me) was the multiple desktops and spaces, along with the gestures. It made it so much easier to manage and control multiple windows which I found really helpful for a lot of tasks.
In Mountain Lion, Apple are basically just "adding" things into the system that are already made by third-party software makers. Having said that, I'll probably still get it.
To the hardcore Mac users complaining about all the updates, stay on leopard or whatever you use if you don't like it.