If you've been on the Apple website, you probably already know about most of the major changes and features of Mountain Lion ( Mac OS 10.8 ) that Apple is advertising. Notes, Reminders, Notifications Center, the works. But that's just a few of them.
With a little poking about, I've compiled a list of all the new tweaks and changes in Mountain Lion that I could find. Here it is -
The Big Stuff
Here are the major changes including the ones which Apple has advertised on their site. See below for major changes, additions and features in Mountain Lion including Notes, Reminders, Notification Center, Messages, Game Center
1. Notes
The Notes app on Mac is a new, but highly anticipated addition to OS X Mountain Lion. It syncs automatically with the notes app on your iPad, iPhone and iPad either through iCloud or through one of your Email IDs.
In the notes app on Mac, you can add pictures, go full-screen view notes on your different accounts, format the font, share your notes through Email or iMessage. You can even pin notes to your desktop.
2. Reminders
Again, the Reminders app on Mac is very similar to that on iOS devices. On the reminders app on Mac, you can make to-do lists, sync lists automatically with iCloud, add to them, set due dates and priorities and a lot more. Check off items as you complete them on any device and iCloud automatically updates your lists on all devices.
3. Notification Center
Another feature taken from iOS is the idea of the notification center. Notification Center on Mac OS X Mountain Lion slides out from the right hand side of your screen. A simple swipe to the left shows the you the notification center with all your unseen notifications in a customizable list. You can also press the new notifications button on the top right corner of your screen to view the notification center. Notifications now appear as tiny pop-up banners on the right side of your screen and smoothly slide into the notification center after a few seconds.
4. iCloud
iCloud on OS X Mountain Lion ( Also available on 10.7.2 onwards ) keeps your mail, calendars, contacts, documents, and more up to date on every Apple device you use. A single set up is required for iCloud which may appear either when you sign in for the first time or in System Preferences --> iCloud.
5. Game Center
Although I've never been a big fan of Game Center, it seems to be quite a plus point for avid gamers. After all, it does allow you to play and compete with your friends and others all over the world in the game of your choice over iOS and OS X.'
6. Messages
Goodbye iChat. Hello Messages. you may know this app by its popular iOS name - iMessages. Messages, as it's called on OS X, has replaced iChat and integrated iChat and iMessages into one new Instant Messaging client with a brand new User Interface. It's a great app with an amazing UI which allows you to use your iMessages account, iChat account and even your Facebook account.
7. Share Sheets
Share sheets on OS X are very similar to those on iOS and are spread out throughout your Mac including in Photo Booth, Safari, Notes, iPhoto and several other applications. (Including Finder !) With share sheets, you can "share" links, photos, videos, notes and more through Twitter, Email, iMessage, AirDrop and even Flickr. Share sheets are present as a button which looks like a rectangle with an arrow projecting out of it. ( shown above )
8. Twitter
As in iOS 5, Twitter is now integrated throughout OS X Mountain Lion. The aforementioned Share Sheets ( mentioned in the previous paragraph ) include a Twitter option to share photos, links and more. The integrated twitter share function too requires a single sign in process after which you can tweet or share anything you like. You can even add your current location to the Tweet by clicking a single button.
9. Airplay Mirroring
In previous versions of OS X, you've been able to wirelessly stream Music, Movies, Podcasts and TV Shows to your Television set straight from your iTunes Library ( Through Apple TV ). However you've never had the option to view your Mac screen on your Television set without the use of messy and expensive wiring. Mountain Lion brings you the ability to stream your entire Mac screen onto your TV wirelessly through Apple TV. This means you can view Movies, TV Shows,Podcasts, listen to Music, view Keynotes, browse the Web and more on your Television screen without any wires or media conversion required. When a nearby Apple TV is connected to the same wireless network, a new airplay icon automatically shows up in the right-hand side menubar. Click it and choose the Apple TV to start streaming content onto your TV.
10. Gatekeeper
Although not very impressive from where I stand, gatekeeper essentially prevents you from downloading and installing malicious software you might stumble upon while browsing the internet. It offers three security options for application downloading -
1. The first offers you the ability to download and run applications from anywhere you choose. ( The way it was previously )
2. The second allows you to download and run applications from the Mac App Store and applications with a developer ID. ( moderate safety )
3. The third and the safest, only allows you to run application which you downloaded / purchased from the Mac App Store.
11. Support for China
Mountain Lion brings with it support for many Chinese services. Mail, Contact and Calendar work with QQ, 163 and 126. Chinese Search Engine support is a built in option in Safari. Chinese video sharing websites have also been included in the new Share Sheets.
With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has made several changes to the existing applications. Some of these are practically lifesavers while others change the look and feel of the apps either for better or for worse - depends on the user.
Existing Application Changes
With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has made several changes to the existing applications. Some of these are practically lifesavers while others change the look and feel of the apps either for better or for worse - depends on the user.
Safari
With Mountain Lion, Apple has made several changes to their famous cross-platform browser. The majority of changes have been minor changes have been made, some of which are lifesaving tweaks or layout changes while others just add a little color to the browser. However, other layout changes too have been made in Safari 5.2 ( Developers preview available )
Here are some of them:
12. Reader
Reader has always been, in my opinion, one of Safari's under appreciated talents. After all, the feature to turn cluttered and clunky multi-page articles into a single paged neat and ad-free article with the perfect layout and font-size has definitely earned a spot on my list of favorites.
What was previously a small black button that would appear upon availability is now a permanent and prominently visible button next to the URL bar. When Safari detects an article on the webpage, the reader button automatically turns blue. Click it to read in a clutter-free and clean environment space.
13. Unified Search and URL bar ( Safari )
The google search bar on the right corner of the safari window has now been integrated with the main URL bar. ( Possibly an idea taken from chrome ). To google something, simply start typing.
14. Tabs on Safari
19. Three Column View
Calendar and Contacts now have a three column view available. In OS X Lion, Calendars in the iCal app could be viewed as a pop-down list on the left hand side. Many people were dissatisfied with this change and preferred the old sidebar which wasn't a pop-down menu and didn't disappear every time you clicked somewhere else. Well, it's not old, but Mountain Lion has added such a sidebar back to the two applications.
The sidebar can be accessed in Calendar by clicking on the button on the top-left corner of the window called "Calendars". The sidebar slides out to display a mini-calendar of the next three months along with all your calendars and accounts to which they are synced.
The sidebar in Contacts can be accessed by choosing the first view option( three columns ). The sidebar appears on the left with a list of your accounts and their respective contacts.
20. Miscellaneous in Contacts and Calendars
The red bookmark in contacts used to access groups is now gone, and has been replaced by three separate viewing options. The first ( three-column view ) shows you the groups in the left sidebar.
The stitching in the toolbar of the Calendar app is no longer there. Pity, I quite liked the desk calendar look and the stitching added to the detail.
The search box in Calendar now supports search tokens like the ones in Finder and Mail.
The Mail app has been left largely untouched but for a few minor changes -
21. VIPs and Alerts
VIPs in Mail are people whose messages you consider important enough to receive special notifications and special attention. VIP's mails appear under the VIP collapsible menu on the left sidebar. Expand the menu to see individual VIPs. To add some one as a VIP, control-click or right click on their names in an email you received from them and click "Add to VIPs".
To give VIPs special email alerts, go to Mail --> Preferences --> General and Change the option labelled "New Message Notifications:" to VIPs
22. Find and Replace
The Mail app on OS X - in its Compose mode now also supports the find and replace tool which allows you to find and replace certain text within a composed email itself.
Tabs on Safari now expand to fill the tab bar no matter how many tabs are open. Even if you have just two tabs open, Safari will expand them to fill the entire space which makes viewing and switching between tabs a breeze.
15. Http removed
The 'http' before the site URL no longer exists.
16. Gray out
Apple has grayed out the everything after the root domain making the root domain far more prominent.
17. Passwords
Passwords can now be 'Autofill-ed'. Safari asks you if you want to save the passwords for any websites which require it. If you choose to, it will automatically appear in Safari's preferences under the new 'Passwords' tab
18. New and Old Options
The options for default font and font size seem to have vanished.
Also, new privacy options such as "Tell websites not to track me" have appeared.
iCal and Address Book ( Contacts and Calendar )
Here are some changes in iCal and Address Book that I managed to dig up. Note: They are now called "Calendar" and "Contacts" rather than "iCal" and "Address Book" ( See "Name Changes" below )
Calendar and Contacts now have a three column view available. In OS X Lion, Calendars in the iCal app could be viewed as a pop-down list on the left hand side. Many people were dissatisfied with this change and preferred the old sidebar which wasn't a pop-down menu and didn't disappear every time you clicked somewhere else. Well, it's not old, but Mountain Lion has added such a sidebar back to the two applications.
The sidebar can be accessed in Calendar by clicking on the button on the top-left corner of the window called "Calendars". The sidebar slides out to display a mini-calendar of the next three months along with all your calendars and accounts to which they are synced.
The sidebar in Contacts can be accessed by choosing the first view option( three columns ). The sidebar appears on the left with a list of your accounts and their respective contacts.
20. Miscellaneous in Contacts and Calendars
The red bookmark in contacts used to access groups is now gone, and has been replaced by three separate viewing options. The first ( three-column view ) shows you the groups in the left sidebar.
The stitching in the toolbar of the Calendar app is no longer there. Pity, I quite liked the desk calendar look and the stitching added to the detail.
The search box in Calendar now supports search tokens like the ones in Finder and Mail.
Mail
The Mail app has been left largely untouched but for a few minor changes -
21. VIPs and Alerts
VIPs in Mail are people whose messages you consider important enough to receive special notifications and special attention. VIP's mails appear under the VIP collapsible menu on the left sidebar. Expand the menu to see individual VIPs. To add some one as a VIP, control-click or right click on their names in an email you received from them and click "Add to VIPs".
To give VIPs special email alerts, go to Mail --> Preferences --> General and Change the option labelled "New Message Notifications:" to VIPs
22. Find and Replace
Small but Significant
There are several changes in Mountain Lion which may not be major OS changes but definitely count as significant and make your life far easier. Its the little things that count, right ?
Bid farewell to your old dashboard app launcher ( the slide-up one ) and meet the new widget launcher which looks a lot like Launchpad except with a dull grey background. This can be seen by pressing the little plus button which previously revealed the slide-up widget launcher. A minus button next to the plus button displays little crosses next to the low-resolution icons of the widgets. Click on the cross to delete a widget. Dashboard widget icons can also be grouped into folders.
24. Launchpad and Dashboard Search.
In OS X Mountain Lion, Launchpad and Dashboard have an added search bar for instant access to applications and widgets.
25. iOS-like File Transfers in Finder
Now, when you're transferring, copying or moving files on your Mac, an iOS-like progress bar will appear on the file / folder icon as shown above to show of the status of your file transfer.
26. Better Accessibility
The Accessibility Preference pane in System Preferences has gained a new layout in OS X Mountain Lion which makes it far more... Accessible. Tabs in Accessibility are now grouped in a menu on the left-hand sidebar.
27. New Screen Savers
OS X Mountain Lion has given screen savers a complete makeover. This includes new screen savers as well as new ways to display your existing photos in screen savers. Even the screen saver preference pane has taken on a whole new look.
28. Notifications Preference Pane
In System Preferences, you'll find a new preference pane under the "Personal" category. Here, you can edit the way notification banners behave. For example, you can have notification banners, alerts ( essentially, banners with buttons ) or no alert at all. You can choose whether or not to play a sound for the notification, how many notifications to show in notifications center and more.
29. Preview and Text Edit: Browser / Library
On OS X Mountain Lion, Preview and Text Edit seem to have some new sort of document finder. I'm not sure what the official term for this is, but knowing Apple I'm guessing it would be something similar to "Library" Or "Browser
This "browser" shows you all the Preview / TextEdit compatible files on your Mac and on your iCloud account. It also has a new "New Document" button which works in TextEdit but strangely, not in Preview.
The Renamed, the Replaced and the Removed
Mac OS X 10.8 or Mountain Lion - Apple's new operating system - has been incorporated with a variety of new features many of these borrowed from iOS.
But along with this, Mountain Lion has also "killed" ( replaced, renamed or removed ) many applications, services, devices and names. Here's what Mountain Lion has in its crosshairs:
30. iChat
Apple's famous instant messaging and video chatting software is being replaced by the Messages app. Installing the Message app ( beta ) on Lion replaces the iChat application. Installing Mountain Lion ( For developers only ) also replaces the iChat application with the Messages application.
While you can still use all the functions of iChat on Messages, the app itself has been replaced by the messages app in mountain lion. However the Messages application also incorporates the iMessaging feature ( Instant Messaging between Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads ) into Mountain Lion.
31. Address Book
Don't worry, the app hasn't been deleted. Merely renamed to the name of its iPad equal: Contacts.
32. iCal
iCal too has been renamed to Calendar, the same name as its iOS counterpart ( Too much iOS-ification ? )
33. Older Macs
Apple has decided its time to cut the cord with the older Macs. Mountain Lion will no longer have support for older Macs.
34. Software Update
Gone are the days of Updating Your Software with the 'Software Update' application accessed through the button in the Apple menu. Clicking the same button now takes you to the Mac App Store where from you can update your OS X Software.
35. Mac
It sounds weird, but Mac has decided to scrap Mac. What was previously Mac OS X is now simply called OS X. Its quite possible that this move was made merely to symbolize the unification of "OS X" and "iOS". Something that is being referred to as "iOS-ification"
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