By Alex Brooks Mountain Lion Notification Center on a MacBook Air | Image courtesy of Apple
Today Apple has released OS X Mountain Lion onto the Mac App Store and into the hands of many eagerly awaiting customers. Priced at just $19.99 (£13.99) this marks Apple’s cheapest update and the first OS in a cycle in which Apple proclaims it will deliver an upgrade a year. This philosophy means that the upgrades will be small iteration updates, not the gigantic feature packed updates of the past.
In February when Mountain Lion was announced I wrote up the basic changes that extend far and wide but not necessarily so deep.
Starting with iCloud the integration is everywhere you look. From iCloud tabs across iOS devices in Safari to Documents in the Cloud in apps that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Also coming across is now a very well integrated Messages app bringing across iMessages from iOS. Also coming from iOS is Reminders and Notes, naturally they seamlessly sync over iCloud. If that wasn’t enough the Notification Center has also made it to OS X.
Some of the really new and innovative features include Power Nap which means your Mac can do things when asleep such as periodically updating Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and Documents in the Cloud. Controversially Gate Keeper now keeps a much closer eye on apps being downloaded from anywhere but the Mac App Store. In fact it’s now possible to make it impossible to download software from anywhere but.
But don’t let me ruin all the surprises, head over to the Mac App Store and grab Mountain Lion for yourself.
I do however recommend some reviews that will help you in your understanding of the changes in Mountain Lion.
If you’re looking for extreme detail then look no further than John Siracusa’s review at Ars Technica equally as large is Matthew Panzarino’s review at TNW, for a concise run down then John Gruber has one of them.
For the more consumer focused look then I recommend Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop and Richard Gaywood at TUAW.
There’s also a lot more out there, here’s just some:
MacStories
MacWorld
Shawn Blanc
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Source: World of Apple
