Apple today released a developer preview of
OS X Mountain Lion which brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac. Mountain Lion introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration and AirPlay Mirroring.
Mountain Lion is the first OS X release built with iCloud integration with apps. The developer preview of Mountain Lion also introduces Gatekeeper, a security feature that helps keep users safe from malicious software by giving you control over what apps are installed on your Mac. The preview release of Mountain Lion is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store in late summer 2012.
“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.”
The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the new Messages app which replaces iChat and allows users to send unlimited messages, photos and videos directly from Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today
Lion users can download a beta of Messages and the final version will be available with Mountain Lion. Reminders and Notes help users create and track their to-dos across all devices. Game Center lets users personalize their Mac gaming experience, find new games and friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
Mountain Lion includes notifications. Notification Center provides access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so users can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari, Quick Look, Photo Booth, Preview and third party apps. Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what's on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.
Apple says that more than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier to set up iCloud and access documents across users devices. Mountain Lion uses users Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and Find My Mac. The new iCloud Documents pushes any changes to all your devices so documents are always up to date, and a new API helps developers make document-based apps work with iCloud.
Gatekeeper is a new security feature that gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. Users can choose to install apps from any source, just as they do on a Mac today, or they can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, users can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.
Click here to find out more about Mountain Lion.