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GUI OS X Operating Systems Upgrades Apple

An Early Look At Mac OS X 10.8 658

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."
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An Early Look At Mac OS X 10.8

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:36AM (#39059373)

    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: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by 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? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Tharsman ( 1364603 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:48AM (#39059597)

      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.

      • >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 equiva

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      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.
    • 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?

      • by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @10:01AM (#39059811)

        $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? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Bill_the_Engineer ( 772575 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:06AM (#39061023)
      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.
    • by Ihmhi ( 1206036 ) <i_have_mental_health_issues@yahoo.com> on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:12AM (#39061135)

      give it a catty name

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

  • lockdown coming. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by God'sDuck ( 837829 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:36AM (#39059375)
    "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.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:38AM (#39059421)

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

    • Yep. It's time you Export yourself outside the walled garden. It'll be a strange feeling for a few months. But boy is it liberating.
      • by HarrySquatter ( 1698416 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:42AM (#39059471)

        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. (Score:4, Informative)

          by Speare ( 84249 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:55AM (#39059715) Homepage Journal

          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. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:43AM (#39059501) Homepage

      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.

      • by God'sDuck ( 837829 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @10:16AM (#39060073)
        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. (Score:4, Informative)

          by Tharsman ( 1364603 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:52AM (#39061851)

          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.

    • by jo_ham ( 604554 )

      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 On

    • Re:lockdown coming. (Score:5, Informative)

      by GrahamCox ( 741991 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:52AM (#39059659) Homepage
      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. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tharsman ( 1364603 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:58AM (#39059755)

      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.

  • Hyperbolic much? (Score:3, Informative)

    by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:47AM (#39059571) Journal
    "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...
    • by Bill_the_Engineer ( 772575 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:46AM (#39061789)

      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.

  • by SDF-7 ( 556604 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:49AM (#39059613)

    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.

  • by RocketRabbit ( 830691 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:52AM (#39059649)

    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.

    • by ifrag ( 984323 )

      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?

    • by blueg3 ( 192743 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @10:17AM (#39060097)

      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.

      • by AndreR ( 814444 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @10:30AM (#39060343) Homepage

        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.

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      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 M

  • by Shivetya ( 243324 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:53AM (#39059667) Homepage Journal

    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.

  • by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki@co x . net> on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:54AM (#39059685)

    gruber's got a few words on mountain lion. [daringfireball.net].

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

  • by Quiet_Desperation ( 858215 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @09:54AM (#39059703)

    Eh. I was pushing for Lion King.

  • by MeNeXT ( 200840 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @10:53AM (#39060781)

    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

    • by jbolden ( 176878 )

      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 muck

  • by longbot ( 789962 ) <longbottle@gmail. c o m> on Thursday February 16, 2012 @11:54AM (#39061879) Homepage
    Does it fix SAMBA, which was (and still is) horribly broken in 10.7?
  • by Lord of the Fries ( 132154 ) on Thursday February 16, 2012 @12:27PM (#39062315) Homepage

    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

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