The Mountain Lion

Apple yesterday announced the next version of their operating system. It is named OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, without the ‘Mac’. Based on Apple's revelations, we know that Mountain Lion, bundled with loads of new features, makes your Mac more iPad-like than ever. A few major features include (but are not limited to) the following:

iCloud : Your stuff, everywhere you go, on all your devices. iCloud - new and improved.

iMessages : Its an upgrade to iChat, and integration of iMessages from iOS.

Notification Center : Make all notifications reach you at the same place - email notifications, instant message, friend request, or an app notification.

ShareSheets :  A share button lets you share whatever you're reading, from most apps, right to Mail, Messages, Flikr, Twitter or Vimeo.

Airplay Mirroring : Stream what's on your mac to your HDTV, via Apple TV. Be it a classroom, home or hostel, Mountain Lion will make you rock.

Notes : Thought of something, jot it down; spent some cash, keep a record; Notes even more noteworthy with images and attachments.
All synced with iCloud.

Reminders : The same Reminders app from iOS. Now never forget anything, and iCloud keeps everything synced.

GateKeeper : Protecting you from cyber threats, GateKeeper promises to prevent download of malicious software. Also control what's being downloaded.




Game Canter : Now play games with and against your friends, on Mac, as well as iPad, iPod and iPhone. Are you game?

Not only are these features similar to those in iOS, but they also sync with the same, seamlessly. Although most of these features are available in Lion with the help of third party software, natively including these features in the OS provides a more suitable, integrated and efficient system.

The sad part is, it leaves a few Macs out of the ‘upgradable’ list. This even includes some from the year 2008 (just four years old, and already OUTDATED). The following are (perhaps) not going to be supported:

• Any Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook : late 2007 – late 2008 (Model Numbers: MB061*/B, MB062*/B, MB063*/B, MB402*/A MB403*/A MB404*/A, MB402*/B)
• The ‘original’ early 2008 MacBook Air (Model Number: MB003LL/A)
• The Mac Mini mid-2007 (Model Numbers: MB138*/A, MB139*/A)
• Late 2006 polycarbonate iMac (Model Number: MA710xx/A)

Apparently because OS X Mountain Lion doesn't really support Intel's GMA 950 and X3100 chipsets, the above mentioned macs aren't supported. But neither are PCs. And we all know we'll use OS X 10.8 on PCs. And also on these "apparently unsupported" macs. So don't be disheartened friends, just stay tuned, and we all will eventually pet the Mountain Lion.