Apple Releases First Developer Preview of OS X Mountain Lion, Public Launch in Late Summer

Mac Rumors ^ | Thursday February 16, 2012 5:54 am PST | by Eric Slivka

[Swordmaker]

Apple Releases First Developer Preview of OS X Mountain Lion, Public Launch in Late Summer

Thursday February 16, 2012 5:54 am PST by Eric Slivka

Apple today announced that it has released the first developer preview of the company's next-generation operating system, named OS X Mountain Lion. The release will bring over 100 new features, including a number of those familiar to iOS users such as Messages, Notes, Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Twitter integration, and AirPlay Mirroring. The first developer preview is available to registered developers today, with a public launch through the Mac App Store scheduled for late this summer.

“The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.”OS X Mountain Lion included deeper integration with iCloud to automatically configure services like Mail, FaceTime, and Find My Mac, while iCloud Documents handles automatic push syncing of documents across devices. Security is also a focus in the upcoming release, with a new feature called Gatekeeper helping users to specify from which sources apps may be installed on their computers.

Finally, Apple is continuing its emphasis on expanding into China with substantial improvements for Chinese users included enhanced Chinese input methods and the addition of Baidu as a search engine option. Integration with Chinese email and video hosting sites as well as the Sina weibo microblogging service is also included.

Advance previews of OS X Mountain Lion are available from a number of sources:

- The Loop
- Macworld
- Engadget
- The Verge
- AllThingsD
- CNET
- The Wall Street Journal's interview with Tim Cook

And perhaps most interestingly, Daring Fireball's John Gruber relates the private briefing he received from Phil Schiller and other Apple executives.

[Swordmaker]

Apple releases first developer's look at OSX.8 Mountain Lion—PING!

Thanks to Antirepublicrat for the head's up!

Apple into the Future Ping!

Please, No Flame Wars!
Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!
Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[2ndamendmentpa]

Related:

Older Macs voted off the Mountain Lion island

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/02/which-macs-will-os-x-mountain-lion-support.ars

Another Mac OS release, another moment of truth for those using old Macs. Apple’s next OS X release, code-named Mountain Lion, will drop support for some older machines as the company continues to move forward with the iOS-ification of the operating system.

[Blue Highway]

Great news. Apple making their own platforms obsolete to make a buck. I wonder if there is any sympathy for those that bought overly expensive systems only to be left out in the cold now. This is the same old story over and over again yet people still fall for this trick.

[ari-freedom]

They know the deal. It’s part of the experience.

[PA Engineer]

IATTV (In After The Toxic Vomit). Thanks for the ping.

[Blue Highway]

nothing toxic, just more money the Apple faithful will gladly pony up for the latest/greatest.

The adage, "A fool and his money are soon parted" has pretty much been Apple's MO from the get go.

[Scutter]

Another Mac OS release, another moment of truth for those using old Macs.

Yeah, they are dropping support for my Macbook Pro. It is on its last legs anyway, but I will use the opportunity to buy a new tablet PC for Windows 8. I like my Mac, but I spend most of my time working in Windows, and with all the PCs around the house, it's just too expensive to maintain both platforms.

[Talisker]

...the company continues to move forward with the iOS-ification of the operating system.

"iOS-ification" is nothing less than the creation of terminals, rather than stand-alone computers with private integrity. Of course they don't call the hub a 'mainframe" anymore - it's the "cloud" (whcih almost writes itself as a joke by the late, great George Carlin, who loved pointing out such hypocrisies).

Apple, and the Mac of course, made it's name offering an alternative to the terminal, called the personal computer.

Pay no attention to that totalitarian behind the Birkenstocks. Repeat after me: "Think Different. Steve Jobs was a genius. We have always been at war with Microsoft."

[PA Engineer]

The adage, "A fool and his money are soon parted" has pretty much been Apple's MO from the get go.

Yeah. Heard it all before. Something smells.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Occupy Free Republic!

[ari-freedom]

Never discuss the following topics around mixed company:
-religion
-politics
-Mac vs PC

[ari-freedom]

“as the company continues to move forward with the iOS-ification of the operating system.”

ossification:
a. The process of becoming set in a rigidly conventional pattern, as of behavior, habits, or beliefs.
b. Rigid, unimaginative convention.

[ari-freedom]

But this is FR, we can discuss all 3 and drive each other crazy! I love you all!

[PA Engineer]

A modern truth, but so much of the same. ;-)

[SamAdams76]

Yeah it’s crazy. They just keep on fleecing their customers by making their products better. Bah! Computers...who needs them anyway? Just give me a typewriter and a bottle of white-out.

[af_vet_rr]

Great news. Apple making their own platforms obsolete to make a buck. I wonder if there is any sympathy for those that bought overly expensive systems only to be left out in the cold now. This is the same old story over and over again yet people still fall for this trick.

You may not understand too much about computers, but just because Mountain Lion doesn't run on older computers, doesn't mean those older computers have now stopped working, or that Lion will stop working on them.

I know, I know, you're shocked. You thought that by dropping support for older hardware, that it meant that Zombie Steve Jobs rose from the dead and flipped a switch that made those older Macs stop working, but guess what? There is no Zombie Steve Jobs flipping such a switch. Those older Macs still run Lion, and Lion is a very solid OS that will run for years to come.

Hell, I have a friend who has a PowerPC iMac. She was left in the dust a few years ago, I think with 10.6, didn't mean that her iMac stopped working or anything.

[grwcfl537]

doesn't mean those older computers have now stopped working

Sort of makes the case for mac mini; get some good thunderbolt peripherals and swap out relatively less expensive CPU.

Mel

[kevkrom]

Sort of makes the case for mac mini; get some good thunderbolt peripherals and swap out relatively less expensive CPU.

What I'm hearing is that the EOL cutoff is based more on GPU than CPU for Mountain Lion.

As for the "iOS-ification" comments, it's nonsense. Of course Apple wants to make certain applications and UI elements have the same look and feel across devices -- why shouldn't they? It makes it easier to capture iOS device users on the desktop, and it gives those who buy into the entire Apple ecosystem a consistent look-and-feel across devices. And with iCloud integration, it's not just consistent look-and-feel, but consistent data as well.

The point the naysayers miss is that these additions take nothing away from the existing OS -- they're new features. If you're using Apeture and Photoshop, they will still work just fine.

Nor is Apple the only one doing this. Windows 8 anyone? I fail to see what is bad about cross-device consistency.

[2ndamendmentpa]

I thought it was ironic that a lot of the mac boxes that wont be supported...will still run Windows 8! (i think mentioned in the ars thread).