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.

[Scutter]

Odd. Apple just placed a new motherboard in mine, free of charge. AppleCare expired 3 months ago too. If that’s dropping support, I’ll take it!

No offense, but you really should read the article before posting. If you had, you would see that I was referring to the fact that MacBook Pro's from late 2007 (and some others - but that's my model) will not be supported by OS-X Mountain Lion release.

[Swordmaker]

I have a Dell Dimension 4700 from 2003 about as long as I have been on FR. It’s running Windows 7 and pretty sure there will be no problem with Windows 8 either. Again I am saying a 10+ year life span and still staying current is a remarkable feat. Find me a 10+ year old Apple running Mountain Lion.

Good for you. Your $25 Pentium 4 Dell 4700 is CERTAINLY not running Windows7 with all of its functions turned on... and it is certainly running very slowly. Apple chooses to leave behind machines that will not fully function instead of giving the full capability of the OS. That is what is meant by paying attention to the user experience. . . and keeping users happy with that experience.

In addition, Apple switched to Intel Processors in 2006 and no PowerPC Macs will run OSX Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion. So what?

[Blue Highway]

I don't like the Aero UI in Windows 7. Why? Because it is a resource hog and it reminds me too much of the bloatcrap Apple uses.

I just bought a Samsung Galaxy SII which is a much better phone than the iPhone 4S. It has REMOVEABLE memory, Apple doesn't. It has removeable battery, Apple doesn't. Simple things like that will keep me from ever even considering Apple products. And the only reason I bought the SII was because my 5 year old Moto Q (which I was happy with and would have been happy to use it for another 5 years) started acting funny from probably getting water splashed onto it. Even though I have the latest and greatest smart phone I turn off the crapbloatware it has on it. I have the voice activated crap on it and also in my new car which reminds me too much of the idiotic Siri voice activated Apple gimmick, so I will likely never use it.

[Swordmaker]

I just bought a Samsung Galaxy SII which is a much better phone than the iPhone 4S. It has REMOVEABLE memory, Apple doesn't.

Which is a SECURITY issue... removable memory can be stolen along with your data, copied, and replaced! This has been identified by corporations as an issue that keeps them from using phones and tablets with removable memory cards.

It has removeable battery, Apple doesn't.

And simply does not need it... your Galaxy SII has a large screen that eats battery life and when using FLASH, a processor hog drains batteries like crazy... as does Android itself with its load and stay operational multitasking mode of operation, instead of Apple's load and stay resident mode of multitasking which does NOT use battery life. And now that Apple has addressed an issue with notifications in iOS5, the iPhone has a longer operational life than any of the Android competition and far longer stand-by time. Do you really carry an extra battery around with you?

By the way, my iPhone and my iPad DO play FLASH video when I want them to... I just don't look at them in Safari... I use either Puffin Browser or one of the dozen or so other browsers that play Adobe FLASH. It is just not natively supported. So what?

Simple things like that will keep me from ever even considering Apple products. And the only reason I bought the SII was because my 5 year old Moto Q (which I was happy with and would have been happy to use it for another 5 years) started acting funny from probably getting water splashed onto it. Even though I have the latest and greatest smart phone I turn off the crapbloatware it has on it. I have the voice activated crap on it and also in my new car which reminds me too much of the idiotic Siri voice activated Apple gimmick, so I will likely never use it.

And you have never even USED Siri to have a qualified opinion on whether it is a gimmick or not. The voice activation on the Android or your car is to Siri like a model T to a modern power steering car in comparison.

It is engineering choices like those you denigrate that make Apple's user experience the choice that keeps users coming back, and back, and back. reviewers from such anti-Apple rags as The Inquirer, disagree with your opinion as to the Samsung Galaxy SII being "a much better phone than the iPhone 4s" and gave their reasons why... and the iPhone 4s OS5 has been improved since then addressing a couple of their problems they noted.