os x OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

[BajiRav]

Well, that's the nice thing about this Developer Certificate thing. You get Apple's blessing (and the security and user peace-of-mind that comes with that), but you don't have to play by all of the App Store's rules or give Apple a 30% cut.

That's true :blush: I forgot that. I guess if a developer doesn't like Growl or wants to use things like iCloud or notification center, then only they are "forced" otherwise it's a fair game.

[Quillz]

Yeah, it was about time ! I always kept Safari because I think there is nothing better on the Mac yet that is so native, so fast, but that Search Bar separated with Address bar left me rather surprised about the move.

The timing for OS X Mountain Lion will be perfect for the release of Windows 8. Microsoft did not expect that. While even a few Microsoft fanboys are scared about Windows 8, you will see OS X? market share go up a lot.

Doubtful. Both Linux and Mac OS X do not have any real significant market share, and I can't see Mountain Lion changing that at all.

Actually, I wouldn't use NT in that comparison since it is extremely out of support coverage and almost no one is using it. The better usage would be Vista since the engine that Vista/Server 2008 was built on is competely different than NT. It is the same as 8 in that it is just a different way of interacting with your data. I do not see a major difference between 7 and 8 except for the way you interact with it and 8 being made to run on a larger amount of devices without carrying over old issues.

I am actually looking forward to seeing something new and innovative from Apple with the next redesign. I really like the current OS but want them to surprise me and take what I use the OS for every day and turn it on its side.

Windows NT is still very much alive. It underwent a radical change between XP and Vista, but the NT kernel is still very much at the heart of even Windows 8.

Anyway, I'm going to download this ML preview now. I'm curious if there are any other end-user features that have been discovered yet, or if the UI has changed at all in any way. I have read that Software Update is dead, apparently being entirely replaced by the App Store. And it seems Growl is dead, too.

[Elliott]

I have read that Software Update is dead, apparently being entirely replaced by the App Store. And it seems Growl is dead, too.

Yep.

[grendal]

Doubtful. Both Linux and Mac OS X do not have any real significant market share, and I can't see Mountain Lion changing that at all. Windows NT is still very much alive. It underwent a radical change between XP and Vista, but the NT kernel is still very much at the heart of even Windows 8. Anyway, I'm going to download this ML preview now. I'm curious if there are any other end-user features that have been discovered yet, or if the UI has changed at all in any way. I have read that Software Update is dead, apparently being entirely replaced by the App Store. And it seems Growl is dead, too.

Strange, I emailed the Windows Product Group a bit ago and they said different...

[Rudy]

Well, that's the nice thing about this Developer Certificate thing. You get Apple's blessing (and the security and user peace-of-mind that comes with that), but you don't have to play by all of the App Store's rules or give Apple a 30% cut.

I'm pretty sure they said if all you want is a certificate you can sign up for a free account, the AppStore still requires the $99/year sub though

[Elliott]

I'm pretty sure they said if all you want is a certificate you can sign up for a free account, the AppStore still requires the $99/year sub though

So they're going to add a new tier for non-App Store accounts? That'd be nice.

[Quillz]

Strange, I emailed the Windows Product Group a bit ago and they said different...

Well, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are certainly not using the same NT kernel from 1993, nor has Microsoft publicly branded any OS as "NT" since Windows NT 4. But, the underlying kernel is still derived from NT, despite the fact there have been some radical changes since the beginning.

Of course, we're talking about an OS kernel here. Something most people know nothing about and will never care about.

Anyway, to bring this post on-topic, I like that Safari 5.2 finally unified the address and search bar.

[Quillz]

Here's something interesting:

Safari 5.2 reverts from the hi-res magnifying glass to the low-res one. While the same low-res grabby hand cursor remains, too. Funny how they can never seem to get some things right.

[Shadrack]

Thanks, by reading it, it looks like it?s a solution to what I want. I will try that.

Hopefully that works for you. It works well on my end from my rudimentary testing, anyway. Still wish I could use iMessage on Mac to send/receive SMS messages to non-iOS users (and it be just like I sent it from my iPhone).... it's a pipe dream, I know.

One thing to keep in mind: if you friends who send you iMessage have been addressing your phone number and not your email, even after you change the Caller ID and send them a message their iPhone will probably keep sending to your phone number in reply messages. They either have to delete your message thread, or go to the top of the message thread tap on "Contact>" and select your email address. It kind of a mess.... I wish I would have known the "Caller ID" thing when iOS 5 just came out, because my messages going to my iPad are still intermittent with some friends who keep address my phone number...blah

[gazebee_]

I'm hoping for more advanced options and tweaking to Mission Control. The fact that there wasn't an Apple event announcing this was unusual.

[Elliott]

I'm hoping for more advanced options and tweaking to Mission Control. The fact that there wasn't an Apple event announcing this was unusual.

I think they didn't want to overload the media on events. They just had one for iTunes U/iBooks and they're going to have one for the iPad 3 in March.

[gazebee_]

I think they didn't want to overload the media on events. They just had one for iTunes U/iBooks and they're going to have one for the iPad 3 in March.

True, it's just a pretty radical departure from their previos OS unveilings in the past. It was an experience watching Jobs and others present the OS and all that, and I found out about OS X Mountain Lion through Engadget first.

[Quillz]

Apparently the ML build of Safari 5.2 retains the hi-res magnifying glass cursor. It disappeared in the Lion build for some reason.

Anyway, now that I'm posting from ML, here are some things I've observed:

• iCal is now "Calendar"
  
• Address Book is now "Contacts"
  
• The Screen Saver window got a face lift
  
• Universal Access got a major face lift
  
• Software Update is still in the Apple menu, but now automatically opens App Store and redirects to the Update tab.
  

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

True, it's just a pretty radical departure from their previos OS unveilings in the past. It was an experience watching Jobs and others present the OS and all that, and I found out about OS X Mountain Lion through Engadget first.

John Gruber wrote a lengthy article about how Apple introduced OS X 10.8 to select members of the press, with comments on why they did it the way they did: http://daringfireball.net/2012/02/mountain_lion

When I first saw news items about OS X 10.8 on Twitter I thought 'Wait a minute, it's not April 1st yet!' Turns out Apple can still surprise the hell out of us.

[bbfc_uk]

iMessage (which is an amazing feature) and the unified search/address bar in Safari are my two favourite features!

[protocol7]

Software Update is still in the Apple menu, but now automatically opens App Store and redirects to the Update tab.

That's a smart way to keep pirated Apple software from getting updated via Software Update. If you didn't buy it, it won't be in your App Store account. Of course there'll probably still be the regular downloads via the support website, but it just won't be as seamless as before.

[Owen W Veteran]

This actually made me want to buy a Mac. Here I come, Apple.

[Jan Veteran]

This actually made me want to buy a Mac. Here I come, Apple.

I agree - it's either a gaming PC for me or an iMac. Decisions decisions :/

[Glassed Silver]

I'm quite pi**ed they dropped support for my fianc?'s Macbook (late '07).

To make things short, if you own a Mac with either integrated GMA X3100, 950 or an ATi x1600 you're left in the cold.

Pretty ridiculous, then again we've seen little of what will come in OS X ML.

My guess is that only the features that are relevant to devs are currently public.

So who knows what kind of powerhousing process will use the newer Macs.

Then again, the DP does not have these restrictions and seeing how quite a few will be affected there will probably be workarounds. :)

Adoring the additions so far, iCloud saving is only good with me, if there will be ROCK SOLID corruption prevention techniques in the background.

I'd have adored if Lion brought ZFS, maybe some day Oracle and Apple have a better day together...

Or Apple has something that Oracle wants so they share licenses...

That's a smart way to keep pirated Apple software from getting updated via Software Update. If you didn't buy it, it won't be in your App Store account. Of course there'll probably still be the regular downloads via the support website, but it just won't be as seamless as before.

Hmmm... I installed Lion to my fianc?'s Macbook using my Apple ID (we hadn't set up her iTunes account with a viable payment method back then, she's legitimately on it now.)

Note: My Apple ID is not linked to her Mac.

It was just for the install, after that, she had her credentials in there and also had Lion appear in her Purchased list. :p

Glassed Silver:mac

[Intersect]

this is a full ios os right.? whats the difference between this and snow lepoard? ive been out of the mac os game since 10.4 .

and all i realy use my laptop for these days is surfing/docs/downloading and VMs. it might be time to ditch windows and move

to apple hardware.

[Quillz]

this is a full ios os right.? whats the difference between this and snow lepoard? ive been out of the mac os game since 10.4 .

and all i realy use my laptop for these days is surfing/docs/downloading and VMs. it might be time to ditch windows and move

to apple hardware.

No, it's not iOS, it's OS X. 10.4 was Tiger, this is 10.8, Mountain Lion.

The difference between this and Snow Leopard is some three years of technology. Things in Mountain Lion look and work better, I think, and there is much deeper integration with iOS.

[Glassed Silver]

I must say that some of the changes are radically improving the experience even on paper, however as a nerd I'm hoping for more under the hood goodies...

I have some really nice things on my list...

Hell.. I have a wishlist for iOS on my iPhone, I should start a Mac&OS X wishlist and make a blog of those... I know many of them exist, but I think I might have some thoughts not many would think of, but would welcome a lot.

Of cause this is less about hoping Apple adopts them (not worried if they started reading it though :p), but more of a way to find people with the same thoughts or to inspire other wishlist bloggers...

What do you guys think? Shall I go for it or do you think that "market" is over-crowded...?

Glassed Silver:mac

[Shane Ekanayake]

Will they re-do this? :p

ohh microsoft .....they cant even make a unique icon .microsoft copying apple again :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :laugh:

[Boz]

[PyX]

Doubtful. Both Linux and Mac OS X do not have any real significant market share, and I can't see Mountain Lion changing that at all.

I?m not saying roles will be reversed between OS X and Windows, only that OS X has the chance to grow faster than ever before.

Mac OS X is growing about 30% year after year. They have about 12% of market share in the USA, so if they grow 40-50% instead of 30%, they can reach 18% next year.