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."

Comments

Hear that, MSFT?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hear that, Microsoft? You could bundle a years worth of Windows Updates, give it a catty name, and sell it for $30! Wake up and smell the revenue!

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why bother? Change the package coloring, claim it's the most secure version of Windows and sell the upgrade for $150.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can hear it now "M$ IS JUST TRYING TO SQUEEZE MORE MONEY OUT OF PEOPLE. There is no reason to upgrade because Windows 7 works fine and this upgrade isn't big enough to matter. It's just Windows 7 Service Pack 2...."

When Microsoft does something it's evil and will never work and nobody wants it etc... Imagine the uproar if you heard that Microsoft could remotely prevent apps from running...

But when Apple does something it's a good idea and boy-howdy let's go buy it right now!

There's never been a company that has faced more double-standards and moving goalposts than MS.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Tharsman]

Why do that when they can just charge 200 bucks for the initial release, with single computer licenses instead of family licensing like Apple does?

I figured Apple may do something like this when they announced Lion would not only be 30 bucks, but also the license would cover every single computer you own (at home, not for business.)

I’m cool with it also since the update is bringing some nice system apps. Game Center alone I would had paid 30 bucks for. Up to this day Microsoft still cant translate XBox Live to the desktop properly.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Zocalo]

Well, they'd have to change a few things to avoid getting sued by Apple. Maybe go after the dog lovers instead of those who prefer cats? Yes, that could work... You could install "Windows 7 SP Shitzu" and really mean it when you say "My PC's running like a dog" or "Man, this new OS is a PoS". Also, anyone who says "It's the dog's nads" would obviously be a paid shill, so it would clear that up too.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[IHateEverybody]

Where do you think Apple go the idea? What is Windows 7 if not two years of Vista updates bundled together with a new name and sold for $90?

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[guruevi]

$90? Where do you get your software? Windows 7 from the Windows store is $319.99. Even the stripped version (Home) is $199.99

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Bert64]

The difference is that MS charge over $100 for the upgrade, while Apple charge $30...
Because of the cheaper price, people will obviously have more tolerance for more frequent but smaller updates.

Also, Apple lets you install a single copy on multiple machines, MS doesn't, so if you have more than one mac the apple deal is even cheaper still.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[schitso]

OS X 10.8 does more to integrate social networking and file-synching into a personal computer than any other OS I've seen.

You didn't look very hard, did you?

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[mikael_j]

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

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Anonymous Coward]

See: OSX 10.7 Lion EULA (PDF) sections 2.A. or 2.B.i. depending on your acquisition method.

Section 2.B.i:

"You are granted a limited, non-transferable, non-exclusive license:
(i) to download, install, use and run for personal, non-commercial use, one (1) copy of the Apple Software directly on each Apple-branded computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server (“Mac Computer”) that you own or control;"

One copy on each computer that you control doesn't equate to a single upgrade.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[stewbacca]

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.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Bill_the_Engineer]

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.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Bill_the_Engineer]

You are not forced to upgrade. I still have machines at work that are running OS X 1.5.8 which is still being supported. In fact the iTunes update was pushed to it last week.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Ihmhi]

give it a catty name

Ooh, how about W7 SP3 "Look at that bitch Chantelle with her new shoes, she think she cute"?

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[mystikkman]

>I figured Apple may do something like this when they announced Lion would not only be 30 bucks, but also the license would cover every single computer you own (at home, not for business.)

All these comparisons in this whole thread fail to take into account a big fact, Apple charges and gets a lot of money for the hardware, whereas MS gets zilch for the h/w you buy. On top of that, they bilk upgrades, have you seen how much difference there is when you upgrade the RAM or the hard drive versus the equivalent on newegg? So you've given a ton of money over to Apple for every single computer in your home already, so if anything, they should be upgrading them for free, not even $30, especially for minor updates(the earlier big updates were a lot pricier). Not to mention that fact that MS service packs are free. If you had bought a XP machine in 2001, you were getting a whole lot of free software upgrades with the three service packs.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Fahrvergnuugen]

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.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[UnknowingFool]

Microsoft also waits a tad more than a year between versions, and doesnt charge you for the service packs.

From wikipedia:
Leopard Release date: October 26, 2007
Snow Leopard Release date: August 28, 2009 (20 months)
Lion Release Date: July 20, 2011 (23 months)

By comparison:
Vista release date: January 30, 2007
Windows 7 release date: July 22, 2009 (29 months)

You were saying?

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[thetoadwarrior]

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.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[siride]

I don't doubt it because I know the facts. The fact is that Windows 3.1 and later had a kernel called vmm386 which provided pre-emptive multitasking in 32-bit protected mode. Each DOS box was in its own VM and all Windows 3.1 programs shared a VM. In Windows 95, each Windows program got its own VM under this kernel.

The reason you can delete a file from DOS is because the filesystem drivers in Windows 3.1 would run in DOS, albeit invoked by Windows. That doesn't mean DOS ran the show. It just means that Windows farmed out some of the hardware interaction to DOS, using it as a sort of HAL. In Windows 95 and later, Windows had its own filesystem drivers. This is well documented if you bother to do a Google search on the subject.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Kalriath]

Up to 5 computers. The app store limits delivery to 5 computers maximum for anything.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[fyngyrz]

Apple does not need its OS updates to be PROFITABLE! It uses its OS to push its shiny $2000 boxes!! Why do people still not understand this difference???

...that would be because by far the most of its "boxes" sell in the $600 (mini) -- $1200 (imac) range.

See the Apple Store for current prices of current "boxes."

***Full disclosure: I own, among other Apple machines, an Apple box that was, in fact, well over $3k -- an 8-core, 3 GHz, 6-monitor, 32 GB Macpro; and the reasons I made that purchase include previous experience with lower priced Apple hardware (excellent, I wanted more) and Apple's OS X, which I am an unabashed fan of, at least until the recent attempt to meld with iOS, which I hope they'll get over when they realize they're responding to the wrong stimulus (iOS isn't popular because it's simple; it's popular because it's capable... and it's simple because the iP*ds have very limited hardware resources. iOS should grow towards OS X, rather than OS X towards iOS, and OS X should continue to improve in the usual desktop fashion, adding power, not simplifying. For example, iOS desperately needs a real filesystem, folders, and multitasking, and when Android gets there first because Apple is going the wrong way, and people begin to move so as to get at that power, Apple will be forced to follow, instead of wandering blindly along this silly path they appear to have chosen. And then I will be happy again. 3 cheers for competition.)

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[BasilBrush]

I'm afraid you don't know what a service pack is. Service packs bring security updates and new drivers. New functionality is a rarity.

Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion are about new functionality. They are equivalent to to the XP, Vista, Windows 8 changes.

Apple does them more often than Microsoft because they can. Vista for example was only so long coming because Microsoft development process was fucked, and they had to restart development at least once.

Re:Hear that, MSFT?

[Osgeld]

"That means you could buy version 10.0 Cheetah all the way to 10.7 Lion for the cost of Windows 7"

until the last 2 or 3 versions OSX was around 129.99$ which throws off your cost analysis

lockdown coming.

[God'sDuck]

"But what if you want to run an older app, or download a utility that was written by someone who hasn't paid Apple's $99 fee for a developer's license? If you're an administrative user, you can Ctrl-click on the App, choose Open from the pop-up menu, enter your OS X password, and tell Mountain Lion to trust this app in the future."

One step closer to all apps needing to come from the app store.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf*cking walls around this motherf*cking garden!"

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

You mean like that "walled garden" known as Android that has the same user options to only install from the Android market or to allow "Other sources"?

Re:lockdown coming.

[ColdWetDog]

One step closer to all apps needing to come from the app store.

OK, paranoid poodle, just how would you balance the attempt to limit damage by stupid endusers who will click on anything remotely interesting? It's basically sudo - 'you sure you want to do this?',yes?, 'OK, it's on your head'.

Although I'm not terribly impressed with Apple's attempt to transmogrify a perfectly good interface for users who typically need prompts to breath, this struck me as pretty reasonable.

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

Sort of like how Android by default "spreads FUD" about apps not coming from the Android market? Since, you know, you have to check the "other sources" option in order to sideload apps? Yes, even on the vanilla versions of Android from Google it defaults to blocking sideloaded apps.

Re:lockdown coming.

[jo_ham]

Right, so if they try to do something about the supposed security problem (witness, ranting and frothing about Pwn2Own) then they are criticised for "locking down" but if they do nothing.... well, based on stories on here, they'll still be criticised for locking down. Might as well give it a shot eh?

How does this proposed feature indicate that apps must come from the App Store in the future? Sure, you can extrapolate from your two data points, but that doesn't mean Apple will go all the way to "App Store Only" in the same way that extrapolating from "not married on Sunday, married on Monday, married twice on Tuesday" really doesn't work.

There's not enough evidence to suggest that's the plan at all.

Re:lockdown coming.

[GrahamCox]

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.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Speare]

You mean like that "walled garden" known as Android that has the same user options to only install from the Android market or to allow "Other sources"?

In the minds of many technically-savvy users, there is a huge distinction between a general purpose computer, and media consumption devices like phones and tablets. In the minds of corporations like Apple, eroding those distinctions helps them sell more media consumption devices and more media to be consumed. There will always be more technically-UNsavvy users than savvy, so they're just following the market. However, that leaves a lot of us out in the cold.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

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.

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

Great, and those technically-savvy users can just click the other option and stop whining. For the average user, this option is great. Is a combo box really that hard for you "technically-savvy users" to figure out?

Re:lockdown coming.

[beelsebob]

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.

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

Exactly. And these are the purported "technically-savvy users" who are most complaining about how they can't figure out a combo box and how to type in their password.

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

It's not a walled garden when it's entirely YOUR CHOICE to restrict where you want apps to only be installable from. If you don't like the default option, click on one of the two other options.

Re:lockdown coming.

[pirix]

I'm confused by your response. Besides the fact that Android runs on phones and OS X runs on computers - which I do think is a salient difference - I also don't understand explaining away one company's bad behavior by pointing towards another company that's doing the same thing. I don't see what Android does as being at all relevant to people's frustration with Apple and their move towards rigid control of their platforms.

Re:lockdown coming.

[HarrySquatter]

The point is that when Apple does something no different from Android (which is not called a walled garden) the only response from these whiners is to whine about "walled gardens" when that isn't the implication of this change. This has nothing to do with trying to lock down OS X. It's about giving users control of what applications can be installed.

Re:lockdown coming.

[God'sDuck]

Oh god a check box..... it's sooooo difficult.... please help me!

Note I said "lockdown coming," not "lockdown here." I'm just pointing out that Apple is very, very smart about social engineering. This is of course very "easy" for technical users to deal with. But many users I support (IT of course, this is Slashdot) don't know how to work System Preferences. A smaller number don't know about control-click. So for those users, applications now have to come from the App Store (or at least be signed). So all commercial application developers will fall in line, not because they have to, but because the incremental cost is small (get a dev key) and the cost of not doing it is huge (grandma can't buy your app).

Once those users are used to the change, Apple will take the next step. By taking baby steps, they can morph OSX into a fully walled garden without much protest, because each step is sooooo difficult that the people that complain are easily shouted down. And then they get 30% of every transaction.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

Sort of like how Android by default "spreads FUD" about apps not coming from the Android market? Since, you know, you have to check the "other sources" option in order to sideload apps? Yes, even on the vanilla versions of Android from Google it defaults to blocking sideloaded apps.

How dare you bring objective evidence to an Apple argument, sir!!!! :P

Re:lockdown coming.

[God'sDuck]

What worries me is that it will be just user unfriendly enough that low-tech-savvy users won't know what to do. As opposed to immediately prompting you for your password. My assumption is that this is couched in security, but is actually a deliberate inconvenience to make sure that application developers see a sales loss if they don't fall in line. Yes, it will increase security. I'm just connecting the dots between "Apple making 30% off every app transaction" and "Apple being a business first and a secure OS second" and assuming the business interests are going to take us to some interesting places.

Re:lockdown coming.

[jo_ham]

iOS prints money for them because they sell the hardware - the software side of things lives and dies on third party developer support, which is why they've introduced the App Store to OS X. However, the App Store doesn't really make any money for Apple directly (other than their own apps, but they sold those beforehand), just in the same way that the App Store on iOS is a very small source of profit for them (nearly lost in the noise).

There's no reason for them to change the way OS X works and force an App Store only model, merely offer it alongside what already exists. They're smart enough to realise that not everyone is going to want to use it (or be able to use it) and they're not going to cut off that feature on the Mac - remember, they make the bulk of their money on the hardware sales, so any reason *not* to buy a Mac is just a threat to their bottom line. They know apps like the Creative Suite and other heavy hitters that are expensive or so things outside of the app store guidelines are not going to go away (as well as all the open source and freeware stuff that's part of the BSD side of things).

All they're doing is adding another step to the process in almost exactly the manner people on slashdot have been suggesting ("have the app store, but they should have a way for power users who know what they're doing to be able to work outside of it with a setting or password etc") and suddenly this is evidence of them locking everything down?

It's a security feature (although whether it will become like UAC on Windows and simply clicked through without reading is another matter), not a prelude to removing the ability to install non App Store apps.

Re:lockdown coming.

[sglewis100]

Sort of like how Android by default "spreads FUD" about apps not coming from the Android market? Since, you know, you have to check the "other sources" option in order to sideload apps? Yes, even on the vanilla versions of Android from Google it defaults to blocking sideloaded apps.

That's different. It's open.

Re:lockdown coming.

[itsdapead]

So, isn't this rather similar to the feature that Windows has had for years that warns you about running downloaded files

No, OS X has done something like that for years, too - except that works by using metadata to track downloads and warning the first time they are run, rather than just after they are downloaded (it even remembers where it was downloaded from). This adds code signing to the armory (new to OS X, outside the App Store, but obviously not new to the world) - pretty much anybody can get a signing key, but they prevent further changes after signing & Apple can revoke keys for malware.

Plus, you can turn the feature off if you think you're too smart to run a trojan.

Re:lockdown coming.

[mlts]

I will play devil's advocate here:

Apple's mechanism for checking for signed apps is, IMHO, a very good thing. What this does is force the user to really think about installing a program where the developer wasn't interested enough in obtaining a signing key.

All OSes should have some signed executable mechanism available. What this provides is resistance from attack should a repo/store/marketplace be tampered with, and ownership.

Windows has had Authenticode for years now, to the point where if an application developer doesn't care enough to sign their installer and code, businesses won't buy their product.

As for the OS X App store, yes, it is a double edged sword, and there is justification for being worried that Apple is slowly boiling the frog, but having a store/repo is a security benefit overall, which has been proven with Linux repositories.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Z_A_Commando]

So it's "User Account Control" with a slicker title? UAC warns you that the program's signature isn't verified by Microsoft. If Microsoft had taken the next step, as it appears Apple has, and blocked programs without a verified signature, they would be vilified for it.

Re:lockdown coming.

[jythie]

I am noticing that through this tread, we started with 'Apple will allow users to restrict installations' to 'Apple will no longer allow non-'App' applications'. Good example of whisper down the lane rumors.... 'what if' becomes 'fact' in only a few pages...

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

You are not voiding the warranty by disabling this feature on Mac OS X either. And reading on the feture, it turns out you can disable it entirely.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

Apple is also offering a free-of-charge Apple developer IDs which they can then use to cryptographically sign their applications. The feature by default will not ask for password for any signed app, so this does not force any developer to go exclusively via the App Store, but it may make it necesary to sign your app.

Re:lockdown coming.

[gtall]

Did you even read you link? There's no mention of what it costs Apple to run the App Store. If you Google around, most of the stories say Apple runs the App store at cost or just above to make room for new capacity investment. But don't let that get in the way of pulling figures out of your ass.

BTW: The App Store's market value means nothing to the bottom line of revenues vs. expenditures, err....maybe you don't understand the difference.

Re:lockdown coming.

[jo_ham]

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.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

No, we are talking about OSX 10.8's new signed app treatment. Look at the post you replied before, he notes "This has nothing to do with trying to lock down OS X"

Android was brought up because Android treats apps exactly the same way (well almost) that Mac OS X 10.8 will, yet no one calls Android a "walled garden."

A lot of people here are screaming that forcing users into knowing what they are doing to install unsigned apps translates into OS X becoming a draconian walled garden that is going to destroy computing as we know it, despite being exactly what Android does.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

Now you are just trying to save face in the error.

There is a lot of logic behind bringing code signing to the desktop, starting with the fact that’s where it was born.

By virtue of Android and iOS being new platforms they happened to be entirely built around code signing, but Smartphones are little more than cell capable PDAs, devices that allowed you to do anything you wanted. So did Windows Mobile, actually. Code signing requirements are just an evolution in computing, unless you are 12 you would have seen it coming years ago.

At the end of the day no freedom is being limited in the Mac desktop with this. Entirely the opposite: you are simply gaining more power. The user is getting the tools he needs to be able to say "i only want signed apps to ever run on my computer." He has just as much power to say "let everything run on my computer".

Any hypothesis of Apple locking down the OS just by giving users a strong security tool is just FUD.

Re:lockdown coming.

[beelsebob]

1) Apple hasn't taken the next step, you can still run the programs by right clicking and selecting open.
2) It's not like it's hard to get a signature – free dev account, gets you a cert to sign with. If apple finds malicious apps in the wild, they'll revoke it.

Re:lockdown coming.

[TheRaven64]

More importantly: apps that come from the App Store are now required to run in a sandbox. Apps that do not can do anything. It makes sense to warn when you run a new app outside of a sandbox. It would be even better if it would say 'Do you want to run this app in a sandbox?' and default to 'yes'.

Re:lockdown coming.

[makomk]

By being default-enabled, requiring admin privileges to change, and no doubt coming with scary warnings about how you'll get hacked if you disable it.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Tharsman]

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.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Guy Harris]

By being default-enabled,

Note that the default, according to both Daring Fireball and MacWorld, is "App Store or identified developers", not "App Store only", so it's not as much of a lockdown as iOS by default.

requiring admin privileges to change,

Perhaps they're changing it in Mountain Lion, but the first user account created on a machine is given admin privileges by default. It's up to that user to, if they create accounts for other users, whether to trust those users to run arbitrary apps.

and no doubt coming with scary warnings about how you'll get hacked if you disable it.

Yes, although the warning also tells you how to override the option on a per-app basis.

Re:lockdown coming.

[Sancho]

A few points to consider.

1) Apple now has a kill switch. Part of the point of pushing application-signing is so that they can disable signed apps which turn out to be malicious. Only one has to wonder if that's all it will be used for. It's not that I'm particularly distrustful of Apple--I'm distrustful of companies with a lot of power. Amazon's used their kill switch to remotely delete content, promised not to do it again, then did it again. If a company is big enough to survive the publicity of using their kill-switch, then it is in their interest to use it when locking out that software benefits them.

Heck, merely having the ability to do such a thing invites having some patent lawyer ask for a court order requiring that they use it against allegedly infringing third-party works, even if Apple itself were inherently trustworthy. Kill-switches from software vendors are a horrible idea. Apple almost certainly wants the ability to disable any software running on their hardware, which partially leads into...

2) There's no doubt that Apple would love for all software to be sold through the App store. They make money that way, and they get people accustomed to relying on them for software. I don't think it's inherently bad to run an app store, however requiring people to use it would be bad. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think that's the future for Apple.

My prediction is that 10.10 will remove the ability to run unsigned content (after all, it's free to get a signing key.) And 10.11 will probably require all precompiled applications to be acquired through the App store (except on the Server version of the OS, for which the option to run unsigned binaries will almost certainly remain.) 10.9 will keep the defaults, as it will take some time to get a critical mass of non-App store developers signing their work.

3) Virtualization. I expect it to be built into the OS at some point, based upon point 2 above. Maybe they'll acquire Parallels or Virtualbox from Oracle. Maybe they'll write their own. It will be a concession to the fact that they still live in a heavily-Windows world, and interoperability is still sometimes required.

Re:lockdown coming.

[nightfell]

I'm confused by your response. Besides the fact that Android runs on phones and OS X runs on computers - which I do think is a salient difference - I also don't understand explaining away one company's bad behavior by pointing towards another company that's doing the same thing.

He's pointing out that it's not a bad behavior. In fact, it's a highly beneficial behavior, and one that is completely optional (and always will be).

I don't see what Android does as being at all relevant to people's frustration with Apple and their move towards rigid control of their platforms.

No one is frustrated with Apple about this. The only people making a stink about it are the anti-Apple fanboys, and bringing up Android serves to perfectly illustrate their irrational fanboyism through hypocrisy.

Hyperbolic much?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

"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"

While having a mechanism for the OS to check and display the cryptographic signature and signing party on an executable before executing it, the notion that this is 'new' seems to stretch credulity. Most Linux distros have been signing packages since shortly after they stopped supporting vacuum tube based systems, and Windows users have been getting little boxes describing(or freaking out about the lack of) 'Authenticode' signatures on drivers, activex controls, and executables for years now...

There are, undeniably, times when Apple introduces novel things, or non-novel-but-polished-to-an-unprecedented-sheen things; but this would not seem to be one of them...

Re:Hyperbolic much?

[HarrySquatter]

Of course. The point was that the idiot above was trying to conflate the statement to mean that Apple is trying to claim that signing executables was their invention when that wasn't even remotely the implication. Then he had to try to through in the lame "BUT TEH LOONIX DID IT FRIST!!!" thing.

Re:Hyperbolic much?

[Bill_the_Engineer]

Sometimes "new" just means "new to OS X" not "new to the entire field of computer science".

When you view the release notes on a different application do you immediately update the word "new" to such levels of importance? Probably not.

What a strange article

[SDF-7]

The opening paragraph has to be the most rabid bit of product love I can recall, especially compared with the actual content.

"upend the video games market"... Really? Just because the screen (if you have a laptop [aka can use the computer anywhere near your sofa] and the AppleTV box) can be wirelessly mirrored to the TV? And using hypothetical controllers that don't exist? Uh-huh.

"For the consumer market ... may be the most significant OS release since Windows 95". A fairly bold statement, given there's nothing in the article that even tries to back that up. Is the new security model supposed to be that big of a paradigm shift (for users, not for vendor lock-in)? Is it the "ooh... you can post to a blog quicker!" stuff? It pretty clearly looks like a point-release to an existing OS that is mildly interesting, but hardly redefining the consumer space.

Re:What a strange article

[Mithent]

I agree, it's ridiculous hyperbole. It also declares that "OS X Lion is already the best consumer OS by far. When Mountain Lion ships, it will only increase Apple's lead. Anyone who uses a computer for both pleasure and work won't want to use anything else." Well, we've been told.

Then the actual article talks about such strange decisions as having no Save As... option in first-party applications, and justifies it because there's an improved workaround for that problem in this version.

Normal users shouldn't install just any program...

[RocketRabbit]

As much as this review will cause hysteria among the Slashdot crowd (OMG THEY ARE LOCKING OUT CHOICES) I am very much in favor of using the App Store as the default repository. This has two major benefits as far as I see it. First, the applications will actually go into the /Applications folder instead of being run from a mounted .dmg file. Second, applications will actually get updated.

Another benefit is that this move will nip a lot of malware vectors in the bud.

Before everybody gets their panties in a twist, note that you can still install whatever you want after entering an admin user/pass and changing the settings.

I will agree with PC Magazine on a few points though - why the hell does a notepad have to look like a real life notepad? That's just cutesy stupid bullcrap.

Clutter futzing my interface, no thank you.

[Shivetya]

So the age of tablets/smartphones/etc is going to result in cluttered desktops too? I already am not a complete fan of the iPad/iPhone icon bloat / cluterfest we have now but I see Apple wants to bring me that same mess to my desktop.

Even better, notifications which apparently want to write to my display but not make use of that convenient Apple bar at top; really - it can display more colors than black on gray - if I get mail just flash the mail icon up there or the like. Since third party apps can use this I hope we get a global opt out

Then comes the walled garden, I wonder what the default will be for new machines coming with Mountain Lion?

I am a little surprised that the dock at the bottom is surviving, been getting worried that its demise is soon.

Interface wise, looks like a spit between white on dark gray and black on white... are the teams not talking to each other?

Hey Apple! There are many things that work well in the device/touch world that need to stay there.

Yearly upgrade cycle.

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

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

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

Mountain Lion?

[Quiet_Desperation]

Eh. I was pushing for Lion King.

Re:Mountain Lion?

[Hieronymus Howard]

I was hoping for Maine Coon.

Re:Oh Boy!!

[Megane]

Hey, Napoleon, did you hear that 10.9 is going to be named "Liger"?

Re:OMG! OMG!

[JBMcB]

What do you think this website is? It's for geeks. Geeks like gadgets, and talking about gadgets. If you don't like these posts, filter them out, or go somewhere else.

Social networking?

[Megane]

OS X 10.8 does more to integrate social networking

So does this mean we'll get Facebook / Twitter / Google Plus / Reddit / Digg / Fark / Something Awful / 4chan / EBaumsWorld / B3ta etc. "Share" icons hogging up every window's title bar? So I can "share" the latest crash log with a bunch of mindless blogheads?

That shit is getting real annoying. No I do NOT want to "share" every little bit of random crap I come across on the intarwebs with my "FaceTwatDitPlus friends circle". And now even /. has succumbed to this hipster crap.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[Quiet_Desperation]

I will risk saying this without the Anonumous box checked

Look out, we've got a badass over here.

The only hysteria I see is the people going off on rants and/or tossing out homophobic slurs (like Mr. AC above) when there is Apple news. Seriously, any Apple news here or on Ars or Wired has endless "Derp! iFag! iSheep! iHerd! Nothing I don't like should be allowed to exist!" in the comments.

There's thousands of popular things out there I don't care for. I ignore them for the most part.

So Fuck you!

Oh, yeah, no overreaction in your post at all.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[Tharsman]

True Apple Haters know that Apple stuff are not gadgets, they are [insert degrading fashion term for gadgets here]!!! No geek would like [repeat what I said on previous degrading insert, amp it up by preceding it with the word "shitty"]!!!

Re:OMG! OMG!

[Anonymous Coward]

After reading the article, I failed to find any hint of exaggeration that would merit the comparison to curing cancer. This is slashdot. It's about gadgets and tech. Updates to an OS, especially those that change the nature of the desktop/laptop experience, are worthy of a post. And I'm not just an Apple fan -- I would find it just as interesting to learn of new updates from Microsoft, HP, Linux, or any of the other players.

If you are feeling frustrated, perhaps you should spend your time elsewhere until you've regained (or developed) a sense of objectivity. About the only thing that has me puzzled is how the parent post rated a 5.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[Mojo66]

It's so groundbreaking! So visionary! No one else had ever thought to do something like this before!!

You mean like putting a touch interface over Windows 7?

Re:Normal users shouldn't install just any program

[ifrag]

First, the applications will actually go into the /Applications folder instead of being run from a mounted .dmg file.

Odd. In my experience most .dmg files I have downloaded have some auto popup showing you that you should be dragging the folder into /Applications (the unmount being assumed I suppose). Or even if the file didn't have the reminder what is stopping you?

Re:Normal users shouldn't install just any program

[blueg3]

Since when does one run applications from a mounted .dmg file instead of from the Applications folder? You're supposed to copy the application bundle in the .dmg to the Applications folder to install it, then trash the .dmg.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[kanweg]

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

Re:Normal users shouldn't install just any program

[AndreR]

Here's my experience maintaining a couple of friend's and family's Macs:

- .dmg files in the Applications folder.
- Apps in the dock that refer to the .app inside the .dmg, which is still inside the Downloads folder.
- "My application stopped working after I emptied the Downloads folder".
- People who actually opened the .dmg and then the app inside it every time they wanted to use it.
- Every single .dmg ever opened since last rebook still mounted, icon showing on the Desktop and in Finder.

Here, we're the 1%. Apple wants to make life easier to the 99%. Can't blame them.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[WrongSizeGlass]

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.

Re:Normal users shouldn't install just any program

[fermion]

I am in favor of Apple using the APP store. Mac OS X Lion has been the easiest upgrade I have ever done. I forgot to make a disk image, you have to do so before you install, but I assume if my machine breaks I can just install snow leopard and redownload.

What worries me is this 'Mac OS' and 'iOS' convergence. We have already seen one fatality, the Apple Airport utility. The version on the Mac has now been dumbed down to match the version on iOS. Now there is no access to logs, no way to display the MAC address, no easy way to choose which configuration to import or manage profiles. It is really a POS. Just in case anyone else needs a working Airport utility, 5.6 is still available for download so grab while you can.

It may be that mountain lion is so dumbed down that it is no longer useful for people who want to create actual product and do actual work. In that case we will be left with no mainstream OS, and I suppose I will just have to find some other *nix.

Re:Not free.

[sglewis100]

iCloud isn't free.

5GB is free

Which is it? I guess my DropBox isn't free either, although I don't think I've ever paid.

Also, to the guy that said Apps are too big so you can't back up in 5gb... I have an iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad, and have used about 2gb of my 5gb storage. You see, apps don't count (you redownload them for free). Music doesn't count (you redownload for free). Photos don't count (PhotoStream doesn't subtract from the free storage). It's for settings and documents.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[stewbacca]

About the only thing that has me puzzled is how the parent post rated a 5.

Because Macs can't run Linu.....oh wait...nevermind.

Re:Oh Boy!!

[stewbacca]

Except for the fact that after, oh, 15 minutes, the old way feels wrong on nearly every level...especially valid considering many Mac users are also iOS device users.

Save As = Duplicate?

[MeNeXT]

I still can't wrap my head around one simple issue. The simple one click process which allowed you to take a form letter with a few minor changes and save it has now become this funny process of duplicate and save??? Renaming something and adding steps does not make it simpler. I only updated one system to Lion because this seems to keep on getting in the way....

Keep iOS walled garden on iOS. I don't need silly apps to accomplish tasks I need an OS which will allow me to work. If Apple doesn't have a solution or if the software does not support it I will find my own solution. Sharing is not iCloud, Facebook or Twitter. Those are products. There are thousands or even millions of other solutions out there. Beside iCloud why not FTP/SFTP/SSH? Why no support from the Finder for the iPhone/iPad? Why is there only one way to skin a cat on OsX? As Apple continues with the iOS walled garden the functionality of the desktop is diminishing. My car is not made by Apple and yet I need to interface with it. My phone is not made by Apple because my iPhone could only connect to one computer. 32 gigs and I couldn't use it other than with one computer or a jailbreack.

Common people we are going back to 1983 where Apple products were locked down and limited by the vision of one company. The beauty of OSX is that it is on top of a very powerful OPEN system. As Apple locks this down it's just getting in the way like the ugly notes and contacts interfaces. /RANT

Re:Save As = Duplicate?

[jbolden]

What are you talking about.

Duplicate and Save on OSX 10.7 is because of versioning. In any kind of versioned file system you have to decide what to do with history if you want to branch. The fact that you aren't considering the complexity of branching shows how successful Apple has been.

FTP, SSH and SFTP come with OSX as part of the command line. If you want GUI versions there are tons of apps for all of those.

I'm not sure what you mean by "support from Finder for iPhone/iPad". They don't want you mucking about in the filesystem directly at all. But you can mount those drives like you would any Unix drive. If you don't know how, you shouldn't be directly mucking around with the filesystem. In which case use the iTunes interface.

Re:Save As = Duplicate?

[nitio]

Let me stop you right there. I don't like it either but you're not being very receptive.

Think of it this way: You're working on your form letter template, adjusting signature, header, common text etc. You don't need to worry about saving the document because the document exists and all versions of it as well. You are to forget you need to save - hard, I know. But when you think about it, why the hell should we be worrying about saving a document?

Now, you need to create one letter from your template. Cool, you want it to be saved differently so you'd save as - but then again, saving is a process you don't need so they named it Duplicate. Here is the issue, whan you actually duplicate it freaking creates a new windows with a copy and keep the damn original version open! This is not intuitive.

That's what they fixed. Duplicating now actually will ask you to save the file differently and not create a new window. Truth be told, I'm taking this out of my ass because I might have imagined reading it.


Finally, I believe we finally reached a point in consumer computing where shit happens before you needing to intervene. We may discuss all about saving or not but seriously, why the hell have we gone all these years having to do something that the computer should be doing all along? Is the same shit as AI and context language interpretation.

It's the difference between "Search Pizza Place Near my current location" and "I want some pizza fast".

Re:OMG! OMG!

[jbolden]

This isn't exactly a rumor the article points to Apple's website. The details here are rather official. Given that there is an already released developer preview, no reason to call these rumors.

Re:Not free.

[AresTheImpaler]

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.

Re:OMG! OMG!

[jbolden]

Apple isn't alone in producing things this way. If you want better standards either support:

a) a stronger UN
b) Tariffs.
c) Politicians who support tieing human rights to trade.

Re:Not free.

[Anonymous Coward]

(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."

Re:OMG! OMG!

[mystikkman]

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.

Apple deserves and gets the most blame because they are the ones with most margins to spare and the most cash in the bank (~100 billion). I like how the Apple lovers gloat about Apple taking 75% of the smartphone profits, making tens of billions of dollars of profit every quarter and being worth more than Microsoft+Google COMBINED, and how they get most of the profits from the PC industry as well. So the answer to your question is, how much more money can Nokia pay it's workers on the $20 handsets it sells the most before declaring bankruptcy(ending up in workers completely losing their jobs), versus Apple with it's multi-hundred dollar margins while playing $8 or so for assembly for each iPad and iPhone?

Of course all of them deserve blame, but Apple deserves the most blame, they are in the best situation financially to pay better than all the companies you have listed, and STILL make monster profits. That's why the bad press is directed more against Apple.

What I Want To Know...

[longbot]

Does it fix SAMBA, which was (and still is) horribly broken in 10.7?

Re:What I Want To Know...

[MassacrE]

I believe (like FreeBSD) they are fine with GPL v2. It seems like projects switching to GPL v3 is motivating Apple and a few other of the BSD'ers to create new open source projects for all the functionality they were getting from these projects. I love that it finally motivated someone to invest heavily in coming out with a gcc alternative (clang + llvm).

I have noticed a pattern that apple's replacements only implement the newest defined functionality or protocol, however. For an example, there is work going on to replace libstdc++, but the replacement is only meant to target compilers that support C++11. So I wouldn't be surprised to find out that say, a Lion Mac has trouble connecting to a Windows 2000 server using their samba replacement.

I've been wondering for a now if there is a project somewhere to come out with a BSD-licensed replacement for bash.

Re:Oh Boy!!

[curious.corn]

There's a setting for that: System Preferences > Personal > General | Show scroll bars : Always
Indeed it is annoying but you can change it...

Re:OMG! OMG!

[UnknowingFool]

Apple deserves and gets the most blame because they are the ones with most margins to spare and the most cash in the bank (~100 billion). . . So the answer to your question is, how much more money can Nokia pay it's workers on the $20 handsets it sells the most before declaring bankruptcy(ending up in workers completely losing their jobs), versus Apple with it's multi-hundred dollar margins while playing $8 or so for assembly for each iPad and iPhone?

So Apple is to blame because the system that exists where most electronics manufacturing occurs in countries like China simply due to the fact they make more profit? I see where does HP and Dell fall in line as (by all accounts) they make many more computers than Apple in China?

Of course all of them deserve blame, but Apple deserves the most blame, they are in the best situation financially to pay better than all the companies you have listed, and STILL make monster profits. That's why the bad press is directed more against Apple.

Um Apple does pay better than their competitors. However maybe you haven't parsed the notion that these are the same exact factories that work for Apple's competitors. Meaning paying one set of workers more than another does not really change the situation very much. And the situation is cultural. If you live in rural China where most of theses workers originate you have two choices: Subsistence farm and be at the whim of droughts and floods or go work in a factory far from home. Be aware that if you don't like the work, there are millions of others ready to take your place. As for wages, they are a decent wage for China. Most slashdotters can't seem to understand that living wages differ in different parts of the world. $7.25/hr in the US is a fortune in some places. In other places, that is pittance.

The New Naming Paradigm?

[Lord of the Fries]

So is this the evolution of Apple's "cat" themes? Pick a general cat name for an odd release, followed by a specialized variant for the even number?

10.5 Leopard
10.6 Snow Leopard
10.7 Lion
10.8 Mountain Lion

Will there be a contest for the next set? I'd like to submit

10.9 Kitty
10.10 Hello Kitty

Re:OMG! OMG!

[cayenne8]

You know...I think most people just don't know...and many people are like me in that, well...they just plain don't care.

I figure if they didn't have these jobs, conditions would be even worse there. It isn't our fault they or their govt tolerate bad human working conditions....they do that in order to be able to do this work, otherwise, the cost would go up, and some of that work might come back to the US.

So, no..I don't really care...it is their choice, and I get the benefits from it.

If getting China up to better standards, means manufacturing jobs come back over here, when then...I'll show some interest in this. But for now...they make their own bed.

No one holds a gun to China's collective head to force them to allow this....

Re:Oh Boy!!

[TheRaven64]

After 15 minutes, I found the setting to change it back to scrolling the correct way, which makes sense when you're using a trackpad rather than a touchscreen. It still automatically hides the scroll widgets, but since they made them very ugly in 10.7 that's probably for the best, even if it does lose you the immediate feedback of knowing how big the current document is and where you are in it.

Re:Normal users shouldn't install just any program

[ColdWetDog]

I run older apps from their .dmg all the time. The main reason is 'cause they're compressed that way - saves some space.

So, how did you get that 10 megabyte MFM drive in your iMac?

Re:OMG! OMG!

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

OMG! OMG! OMG!!!! New Apple news!!!

Blah blah blah blah blah Walled Garden! Blah blah sheep! Blah homosexual blah blah blah BLAH BLAHs!!11!!1! Whine whine Foxconn!

I'm jizzing myself!!!

-Sent from my Android carbon copy of an iDevice

Re:OMG! OMG!

[schlachter]

I will risk saying this without the Anonymous box checked.

this

Re:OMG! OMG!

[Uberbah]

Apple deserves and gets the most blame because they are the ones with most margins to spare and the most cash in the bank (~100 billion).

Except Apple is getting all of the blame, not just "most". Microsoft also has a gigantic pile of cash, yet you don't see anyone holding their feet to the fire over the XBox 360 and all the suicides at that Foxconn plant.

Which is why this is just an excuse to break out the Apple Hatorade.