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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."
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!
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf*cking walls around this motherf*cking garden!"
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"?
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.
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.
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.
gruber's got a few words on mountain lion..
Interesting to see Apple's moving to an annual release cycle.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Eh. I was pushing for Lion King.
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.
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.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
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.
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.
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"]!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Here's my experience maintaining a couple of friend's and family's Macs:
- .dmg files in the Applications folder. .app inside the .dmg, which is still inside the Downloads folder. .dmg and then the app inside it every time they wanted to use it. .dmg ever opened since last rebook still mounted, icon showing on the Desktop and in Finder.
- Apps in the dock that refer to the
- "My application stopped working after I emptied the Downloads folder".
- People who actually opened the
- Every single
Here, we're the 1%. Apple wants to make life easier to the 99%. Can't blame them.
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.
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.
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.
(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."
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.
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.
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.
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.