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An Early Look At Mac OS X 10.8

adeelarshad82 writes "Earlier today Apple announced their next OS, Mountain Lion. According to an early look, OS X 10.8 does more to integrate social networking and file-synching into a personal computer than any other OS. It tightly integrates with the whole Apple ecosystem that includes iOS devices and the free iCloud sharing service. Moreover Mountain Lion adds a powerful new line of defense against future threats where a malware app is prevented from running even if it is deliberately downloaded to a computer. Even though Apple's clearly got a lot of fine-tuning to do—and possibly a few features to add, there's no doubt that Mountain Lion already looks very fine." Update: 02/16 15:04 GMT by T : New submitter StephenBrannen writes with some more details culled from CNET. The newest OS X has now been released to developers, with an official release date planned for this summer. "Mountain Lion, as it is called, will further blur the lines between iOS and its Mac OS. iOS features that are being ported include: Messages (replacing iChat), Notification Center, Game Center, Notes, and AirPlay mirroring. Also new to Mac OS is the addition of Gatekeeper, which should help prevent malware attacks on Apple products. Not announced is whether Siri will be ported to the Mac."

15 of 658 comments (clear)

  1. Re:lockdown coming. by GrahamCox · · Score: 5, Informative

    a utility that was written by someone who hasn't paid Apple's $99 fee for a developer's license

    According to Gruber at Daring Fireball, the developer IDs will be issued free of charge. It's only if you want to submit to the App Store that you need to pay $99.

  2. Yearly upgrade cycle. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 4, Informative

    gruber's got a few words on mountain lion..

    Interesting to see Apple's moving to an annual release cycle.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  3. Re:lockdown coming. by Tharsman · · Score: 4, Informative

    To be fair, OSX already tells users not to trust any app that is downloaded from the internet, and asks you a confirmation to run it. If the app attempts to modify certain sectors, access some data, or even save information in some places, you are forced to enter a password to allow the app to do this.

    I think this happens every single time the app attempts such modifications. For the most part only installers trigger this password validation now, and they do every time you run them. At least thats where I see them the most often.

    This is not new either, has been there since at minimum Leopard (10.5). It appears the main difference here is the need to right-click (or ctrl click) to get the contextual menu that will allow you to open up the app. Makes it harder for people to accidentally click-open malware apps that somehow get downloaded by them clicking on the wrong thing.

  4. Re:lockdown coming. by beelsebob · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, the OS is set to, by default, say "this application is not signed and hence not trusted", it's nothing to do with spreading FUD, it's a legitimate security device –warning users not to run random things that they don't know the origin of.

  5. Re:OMG! OMG! by kanweg · · Score: 5, Informative

    An Apple boycott would be silly, as just about any other manufacturer (Dell etc.) have their stuff manufactured over there too.

    Apple is the first tech industry to join the FLA which is currently visiting China. First impression: Conditions are better than the norm:
    http://www.vancouversun.com/business/technology/Apple+iPad+factory+conditions+better+than+norm+agency/6162817/story.html

    Bert

  6. Re:OMG! OMG! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is always rumors about a new iOS, or a new iPad or a new iPhone and somehow people get are juiced about them, in the end I just can't reconcile this enthusiams the people are having with the immorality of how these things are created. So Fuck you!

    I know that Apple gets all the bad press for the Foxconn manufacturing atrocities, but keep in mind that Foxconn makes 'gadgets', and many other things, for many major companies besides Apple including Acer, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Vizio. The 'employment accommodations' are basically the same for any product they are making, so let's not pretend Apple is the only company who shoulders the "immorality of how these things are created".

    Let's hear some of your vitriol aimed at these other companies as well, or you're just another Apple hater using Foxconn as an excuse.

  7. Re:Hear that, MSFT? by mikael_j · · Score: 4, Informative

    OS X doesn't have service packs. "Service Pack" is MS terminology.

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  8. Re:Hear that, MSFT? by stewbacca · · Score: 5, Informative

    unless you obtained the Apple Software from the Mac App Store or under a volume license, maintenance or other written agreement from Apple, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at any one time.

    "Unless" is a very important word here. Since most people bought Lion from the Mac App Store, the rest of the quote is irrelevant. Simply put, you can buy one copy of Lion from the Mac App Store and use that single copy on ANY Apple-branded computer...according to your cited text, it doesn't even have to be one you own (unless that is stipulated elsewhere in the EULA).

    It's not "simply copyright violation". And you are correct, you didn't even need to consult the EULA, because when you did, you got it wrong.

  9. Re:Not free. by AresTheImpaler · · Score: 4, Informative

    The apps themselves do not count towards the 5GB only the data created by them. I have less than 1gb on iCloud backups and use both an iphone and ipad. I have Rage installed too.

  10. Re:Hear that, MSFT? by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Only if you're breaking the law. That $30 only gives you a single upgrade.

    I don't even need to consult the EULA for that one, since it's a simple copyright violation...

    You need to actually read the stuff that you link.

    Section 2.a. only states that you are not allowed to transfer the OS X that came with your Apple computer to another Apple branded computer. This also applies to people who decided to purchase the upgrade that is packaged on the thumb drive from Apple. BTW you can provide your own thumb drive and go through the iTunes method of purchasing and STILL be able to use section 2.b. below.

    Section 2.b. explicitly allows you to use the upgrade that you purchased using iTunes (The method first pushed by Apple) on any computer that you own which is an actual Apple branded computer using at least OS X snow leopard. I legally updated my iMac and two laptops with my $30 update. Apple was even nice enough to help.

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  11. Re:Not free. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    (Responding AC because I'm at work...)

    A free account is 5GB, which can't even handle a full ipad backup (something I recently encountered as it tries to back up your apps as well, and with a game like rage weighing in at 1.1GB, you can see it fills up quickly).

    You could not be more wrong.

    http://www.apple.com/icloud/what-is.html

    "Your purchased music, apps, books, and TV shows, as well as your Photo Stream, don't count against your free storage."

  12. Re:lockdown coming. by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look at Apple's financial statements (and if you think they are lying, tell the SEC) - the App Store makes a profit for Apple but it a very small one in comparison with the hardware sales that are the reason the store exists for in the first place.

    Apple has repeated stated year, on year, that the App Store is not much better than break even for them as a standalone product - the real money makers on the store are the third party developers.

    Yes, much is made of the "massive" 30% cut they take for handling payment processing, store front, advertising, servers, bandwidth etc that go into running the store.

    Yes, they pay all of those running costs and "the rest is profit" - and it *is* running in profit, just a very tiny profit compared to the hardware. They're not running the store to make money directly - they run it at near break even so that they can make money selling iOS devices.

    The store prints money for third party developers - Apple stated something like $2.5 billion paid out to developers at the last big keynote I saw (Steve was alive at the time, since he was the one who said it), and it's going to be even more now.

    It's not printing money for Apple though, not directly at any rate.

  13. Re:Hear that, MSFT? by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 5, Informative

    In fact, the Mac App Store prevents you from paying for it twice. If you go to another Mac and enter your username and password, it knows you already purchased Lion and you get an "Install" button instead of a "Buy" button.

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  14. Re:Hear that, MSFT? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 5, Informative

    The OS only ever costs $30. So yes MS charging $260.65 for Windows 7 ultimate and then charging $30 for service packs would be a fucking insult. Where as you have to buy 8.7 versions of OS X to equal the cost of Windows 7 ultimate. That means you could buy version 10.0 Cheetah all the way to 10.7 Lion for the cost of Windows 7. So that is nearly a decades worth of operating systems upgrades for the cost of one microsoft operating system and since you .7 left over that means you also get 70% of the cost of Mountain Lion left over for when it comes out.

    So now compare that to the cost of XP, Vista and Windows 7 in the same time frame.

  15. Re:lockdown coming. by Tharsman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apple developer IDs are entirely free, not technically.

    The way Apple Developer program works is that you first get an Developer ID. Once you have that, you log in and you can subscribe to the iOS Developer program($99/year), the Mac Developer Program ($99/year), or the Safari Developer program (free.)

    You only have pay for the Mac Developer program if you want access to software and OS betas and App Store publishing among other things.

    Up to this point everyone has stated only a Developer ID is required to get the required certificate. Anyone that goes through said process would know the rest I listed here. Gruber likely thought not everyone would figure Dev IDs are free.