Apple surprised everyone this morning with a developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The new release brings a number of iOS-like features to the Mac, as detailed in this video:
- Messages - new version of iChat with iMessage support
- Reminders - create lists and tasks, synced via iCloud
- Notes - create notes, synced via iCloud
- Notification Center - on screen pop-up notifications
- Share Sheets - share buttons to email, tweet, message, etc...
- Game Center - social gaming center for Mac
- AirPlay Mirroring - broadcast your Mac's screen to your Apple TV
Apple also released a public beta of the Messages App for OS X Lion users and is available today.
Apple did give some of the media early previews of Mountain Lion, which we suspect may have been the unusual media event that had been predicted. OS X Mountain Lion is available to registered developers today, and will be go on sale in late summer 2012.
Roundup of our earlier coverage:
- OS X Mountain Lion's Documents in the Cloud Simplifies File Access Across Devices
- Apple Officially Drops 'Mac' Name from OS X Mountain Lion
- Software Update to Move Inside Mac App Store in OS X Mountain Lion
- OS X Mountain Lion Limits Apps to Mac App Store, Signed Apps by Default
- OS X Mountain Lion Drops Support for Many 2006-2008 Macs with Integrated Graphics
- OS X Mountain Lion to Be True Mac App Store Exclusive
We've also opened an OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion forum for questions and discussions about Apple's new operating system.
Top Rated Comments
They haven't mentioned a single feature related to pro users. Nothing. It's all about being a consumer, consuming video and sharing your unemployment stories with your friends.
P.S. Why am I a newbie even though i joined in 2003?
To play games with friends? It's a perfectly understandable addition to OSX.
It remembers his 'state'. So you don't have to uncheck it anymore.