OS X Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

[Cristian_25H]

Apple today announced that OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world's most advanced desktop operating system, is available as a download from the Mac App Store. With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion includes iCloud integration, the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, Facebook integration, Dictation, AirPlay Mirroring and Game Center. Mountain Lion is available as an upgrade from Lion or Snow Leopard for $19.99.

"People are going to love the new features in Mountain Lion and how easy it is to download and install from the Mac App Store," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With iCloud integration, Mountain Lion is even easier to set up, and your important information stays up to date across all your devices so you can keep editing documents, taking notes, creating reminders, and continue conversations whether you started on a Mac, iPhone or iPad."





With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion includes:

● iCloud integration, for easy set up of your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Notes, and keeping everything, including iWork documents, up to date across all your devices;

● the all new Messages app, which replaces iChat and brings iMessage to the Mac, so you can send messages to anyone with an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or another Mac;

● Notification Center, which streamlines the presentation of notifications and provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps;

● system-wide Sharing, to make it easy to share links, photos, videos and other files quickly without having to switch to another app, and you just need to sign in once to use third-party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo;

● Facebook integration, so you can post photos, links and comments with locations right from your apps, automatically add your Facebook friends to your Contacts, and even update your Facebook status from within Notification Center;

● Dictation, which allows you to dictate text anywhere you can type, whether you're using an app from Apple or a third party developer;

● AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send an up-to-1080p secure stream of what's on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV, or send audio to a receiver or speakers that use AirPlay;

● Game Center, which brings the popular social gaming network from iOS to the Mac so you can enjoy live, multiplayer games with friends whether they're on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Additional features in Mountain Lion include the revolutionary new Gatekeeper, which makes downloading software from the Internet safer; Power Nap, which automatically updates your apps and system while your Mac is asleep; and a faster Safari browser. New features for China include significantly improved text input, a new Chinese Dictionary, easy setup with popular email providers, Baidu search in Safari, and built-in sharing to Sina Weibo and popular video websites Youku and Tudou.

Pricing & Availability
OS X Mountain Lion is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US). Mountain Lion requires Lion or Snow Leopard (OS X v10.6.8 or later), 2 GB of memory and 8 GB of available space. For a complete list of system requirements and compatible systems, please visit: apple.com/osx/specs. OS X Server requires Mountain Lion and is available from the Mac App Store for $19.99 (US). The OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge from the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 11, 2012.

[Fairlady-z]

$19.99 is not a bad asking price, but sadly I do not have a mac :-(. How ever I do have a new Apple TV coming in with my Yamaha RX-A1010BL

I am looking at potential getting a MacBook air for web surfing, e-mail, and homework for school. I can a PC can do it do, but it be nice to switch it I hope.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Fairlady-z

$19.99 is not a bad asking price, but sadly I do not have a mac :-(. How ever I do have a new Apple TV coming in with my Yamaha RX-A1010BL

I am looking at potential getting a MacBook air for web surfing, e-mail, and homework for school. I can a PC can do it do, but it be nice to switch it I hope.

$19.99 for a service pack sucks.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

$19.99 for a service pack sucks.

Just wait till you pay for windows 8 lol

[FierceRed]

Originally Posted by Fairlady-z

$19.99 is not a bad asking price, but sadly I do not have a mac :-(.

That's not sad at all though...

[Munki]

Since my wife took over my Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard I am going to have to push this out to her. Facebook is 60% of what it's used for, so Facebook integration will get me brownie points. If the wife is happy, it's going to be a good day.

[Delta6326]

Originally Posted by Munki

Since my wife took over my Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard I am going to have to push this out to her. Facebook is 60% of what it's used for, so Facebook integration will get me brownie points. If the wife is happy, it's going to be a good Night.

Fixed

I do like how cheap OS X stuff is.

[Munki]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Fixed

I do like how cheap OS X stuff is.

As do I. $30 for an OS vs Microsoft $200+ or whatever it is.

[TheLostSwede]

http://www.tonymacx86.com/

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Munki

As do I. $30 for an OS vs Microsoft $200+ or whatever it is.

40 bucks for Windows 8 and its a whole new OS. Not a service pack.

[james888]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Fixed

I do like how cheap OS X stuff is.

Originally Posted by Munki

As do I. $30 for an OS vs Microsoft $200+ or whatever it is.

Well if we talkin cheap, I like how cheap linux is. Great, actually secure, os with tons of features and software. $0 is hard to beat. Still though, I use windows.

[wickerman]

Just updated my MacBook Air and so far it seems great, no issues downloading, installing or configuring the new features. I am however, very letdown that only the 2011 and onward Airs support AirPlay mirroring. The official line was that only the modern HD graphics are powerful enough, but the late 2010s have Nvidia 320m which is plenty powerful. I suppose CPU load would be increased though, and the 1.86 GHz core 2 duo is a quite a bit behind the newer SB and IVB chips in the newer laptops.

It is a feature I enjoy on my iPad3 and iPhone 4s, so I think it's really pretty weak not to support the 2010 Airs. But maybe this is a good excuse to upgrade? But I really was waiting to see if they would launch a 13" MacBook Pro with a retina display, or perhaps even a retina Air.

But I do like how Apple only charged $20, and that you can easily install it on as many Macs you own. Microsoft should really consider an approach like this. I also don't feel like this is a service pack, the focus is on new features rather than just bug fixes. Powernap, dictation and notification center alone are enough for me to justify the price. Honestly I'd have paid $20 just for the airplay support, but sadly I don't get that yet

[Wrigleyvillain]

Oh c'mon this is not exactly a huge and significant upgrade (which is why less money) but it's also not akin to a Service Pack. Service Packs rarely include any new features outside of shit that shoulda been there in the first place or to keep the OS from being laughably outdated in certain ways (though this was primarily with Windows XP which was around far too long).

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Wrigleyvillain

Oh c'mon this is not exactly a huge and significant upgrade (which is why less money) but it's also not akin to a Service Pack. Service Packs rarely include any new features outside of shit that shoulda been there in the first place or to keep the OS from being laughably outdated in certain ways (though this was primarily with Windows XP which was around far too long).

Come on dude they are not even tweaking the back end anymore. They just added some apps and Facebook integration (IMO is a bad move for security reasons).

You know I'm not one of these anti-apple goons but this is just stupid. 20 bucks is a rip off.

[Ravenas]

Take a look at these upgrade times (SSD vs. HDD):

[Wrigleyvillain]

I do not have any information regarding the back end in this release but where does it say they did not? At any rate I still do not agree with your overall assessment (and I'm not trying to blindly defend as you say you are not blindly bashing).

[Ravenas]

Originally Posted by Wrigleyvillain

I do not have any information regarding the back end in this release but where does it say they did not? At any rate I still do not agree with your overall assessment (and I'm not trying to blindly defend as you say you are not blindly bashing).

If it were $10 people would still complain. Yet they go spend $120 for Windows and they feel great about it. Does that tell you anything? Welcome to TPU

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Wrigleyvillain

I do not have any information regarding the back end in this release but where does it say they did not? At any rate I still do not agree with your overall assessment (and I'm not trying to blindly defend as you say you are not blindly bashing).

If there was back end work they would be bragging about it. All they did was add a "Like" button and call it a new OS.

[Munki]

Regardless of whether or not you think its a rip-off, stupid, or the greatest thing ever, people are going to buy it. Apple has a goal of making money (all companies have this goal) and they will make money. End of story.

[Wrigleyvillain]

Well they just had a "shitty" quarter as they did not blow away analyst expectations for a change (only second time in ten years)--but that still spells out to growth plus a profit of $8.8B.

[Ravenas]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

If there was back end work they would be bragging about it. All they did was add a "Like" button and call it a new OS.

@ you.

[acerace]

@TheMailMan78 Dude, I'm with you this time.

[mandis]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

$19.99 for a service pack sucks.

10.8 Mountain Lion is not a service pack. Windows 7 was not a service pack to vista either...

If you don't like macs then simply don't comment in mac related threads. Otherwise everyone sees you as a hater.

[Kreij]

I don't have any Apple hardware, but as an outsider looking in this looks more like a "feature pack" than a "service pack". To call it a new OS is quite the stretch as there does not seem to be any kernel of GUI updates.

That being said, I thing $20 is very reasonable ... IF you have a use for these features. If not, then just don't buy it.

[mandis]

Originally Posted by Kreij

I don't have any Apple hardware, but as an outsider looking in this looks more like a "feature pack" than a "service pack". To call it a new OS is quite the stretch as there does not seem to be any kernel of GUI updates.

That being said, I thing $20 is very reasonable ... IF you have a use for these features. If not, then just don't buy it.

Actually 10.8 DOES offer a series of Kernel extensions. It allows for a new feature called POWER NAP on SSD based macs. This is an extremely useful feature as the OS downloads and installs all updates for both system and apps while in sleep mode without consuming much energy at all.