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Have you installed Apple's newest operating system upgrade?


Mr.D.

Have you installed Apple's newest operating system upgrade? One change many of you might notice right away is the branding. Apple has removed “Mac” from the OS X title, and it is now branded simply as OS X. This falls in line with Apple bringing more and more of the iOS features “back into OS X”. This trend started with Lion and by all appearances, continues with Mountain Lion.

 

Apple claims over 200 new features in Mountain Lion. Many of these features are system and security related. There are several that will improve useability for many of Apple's customers. Some of those features that may have a bigger impact include:

 

Native support for iCloud. When you install Mountain Lion, you are prompted for your iCloud information. This information is then integrated into the file system, much like Microsoft has done with SkyDrive. One of the more interesting features is the ability to automatically create folders by dragging one document on top of another, in much the same way iOS currently supports. Not only are your files visible on all of your Apple devices, but it displays the documents for that particular app you are using. Don't have an iCloud account? When you run Mountain Lion for the first time it will prompt you to create one.

 

iMessages. You can now send a message to anyone with an iOS 5 device, bypassing SMS or email all together. Apple has come under fire recently for SMS vulnerability, but the reality is that all SMS capable devices and carriers are vulnerable to the same spoofing threats that Apple devices are. You can read more about the vulnerability, and Apple's response to it here.

 

Power Nap. Now when your computer is sleeping, it's doing it with one eye open. Mountain Lion can automatically update your mail, notes, reminders and messages so that when your Mac wakes up, you'll have all of your latest information. However, this feature is ONLY supported on a Mac notebook with built-in flash storage.

 

Mac App Store. While not new, quite a few improvements have been made. OS X updates are available there, as Apple wants you to use the App Store for updating OS X and other installed apps. The App Store will also automatically download these updates for you. Apps can now be pushed to your Mac, no longer requiring you re-download apps to each computer.

 

Game Center. You can use your Apple ID to setup and personalize your gaming experience. A feature directly imported from iOS, and using that account information or your Apple ID, the Game Center lets you see what your friends are playing, invite people to play a game with you, chat in-game, and keep track of you and your friends achievements in those games. It also appears to allow you to play across platforms, meaning you can play a game of chess on your Mac against someone on their iPad.

 

Apple has also tightened the integration with Facebook and Twitter, made improvements to Safari, Accessibility, Auto Save, and in many other areas. If you happen to live in China, Apple has improved your experience quite a bit with updates specifically targeted and Chinese language support and Chinese Government approved search and social media outlets.

 

A few things of note are absent or dropped from OS X 10.8. Some of them include the option to turn off smooth scrolling, a separate search box in Safari – its now integrated into the URL bar, and no more RSS feeds in Safari (or Mail). Some people are also experiencing decreased battery life, and your battery status is no longer displayed in the menu bar. You must now click on the battery icon to see it.

 

For a full review of all the features in Mountain Lion, check out the Ars Technica review located here.


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I've been largely unimpressed with Lion, enough so that I've been mainly with SL since it's release. I found it lacked the polish that really made Apple's products special, and there are really no features which make it that much greater.

 

Now that ML is here and had some time to mature with 10.8.1, I think it might be time to move over and finally replace my SL install. I've been considerably happier with it than Lion, a lot of the minor annoyances have fixed. Hoping to have it installed by the end of the week :)

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I myself love SL and I still have an install on another partition I got rid of Lion in favor for ML so I'll be happily keeping SL and ML. I've said somewhere before in another thread that it seems the positive number upgrades of OS X always seem more polished than that of the odds.

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Ah, the iOS-ification OS X debate...that could almost go in the Real Life forum...:P

 

I didn't jump the gun with Lion, but when my bro got his MBP in mid-September 2011, I installed Lion on my MacBook via his recovery partition (shh, don't tell anyone...:D), and, although it's not too speedy b/c I only have 2GB RAM, I've enjoyed the enhancements, mainly Mission Control and full-screen applications (I also refuse to succumb to the term "app" for every program :P). I've enjoyed it on my hack, too, but like L4UGH1NGM4N I have kept an SL install under my belt for the occasional PPC app. I mainly used Lion because of application compatibility...

 

@iPoco: Mountain Lion is worth it. It is definitely more improved than Lion, and it has made my hack experience so much better. :) I was able to install it simply with the ol' USB method used for Lion.

 

@TH3L4UGH1NGM4N (that's always fun to type LOL), I agree that the positive number upgrades are more polished than the odds. Because, if you think about it...

 

10.2 was the first very stable, very usable, very popular release of OS X. With 10.0 and 10.1 most people stuck with OS 9.

 

10.4 was one of the most stable (and I think still my favorite) release of OS X to date. With enough features to be a good modern OS but still quite classy, it is quite awesome. B)

 

10.6 was just a fine-tuned version than Leopard (with some extra stuff), and it has the App Store. Many Mac users use it as their default.

 

10.8 is a improved version of Lion, and the features are reliably implemented. Very pleased so far. :)

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I did, and I love it. Everything runs smooth and nice.

 

I remember having some compatibility and stability issues with Lion, but Mountain Lion is a dream to use, I have no issue to report, everything runs fine and OOB. While some features are not in my daily use, still handy some days.

 

I totally recommend for people who have the compatible components to run the system.

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I have been hackintoshing for about a year now. Started with a custom distro for SL, then retail for Lion onwards. I did encounter several issues with Lion during installation and post esp. with audio. Comparatively ML seems to be much more stable and has been a dream run so far.

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