OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion hits the Mac App Store in July for $19.99
The next major update to OS X, known as Mountain Lion, will become publicly available for $19.99 on the Mac App Store in July, Apple announced on Monday.
Developers will be provided on Monday with what Apple said is a near-final preview build of OS X 10.8. New features and details about Mountain Lion were revealed at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote in San Francisco.
In addition, users who buy a new Mac between now and when Mountain Lion goes on sale will receive a free upgrade to the latest version of the operating system when it hits in July.
Apple highlighted on Monday the closer integration that OS X Mountain Lion will have with iCloud. For instance, the Notes and Reminders application will sync with the cloud-based service to allow access from anywhere with an Internet connection. The company also revealed that OS X 10.8 will get the voice dictation service, though it won't get the full Siri voice assistant yet.
Another new feature in Mountain Lion unveiled by Apple on Monday is Power Nap. Macs in Power Nap mode will stay up to date while operating in a power-efficient capacity. It is compatible with the second-generation MacBook Air and the next-generation Retina Display-equipped MacBook Pro.
As promised, Apple released the fourth Developer Preview for Mountain Lion on Tuesday. Though the release is close to being finalized, people familiar with Apple's documentation for the release reported that known issues that remain in the software include trouble entering a Wi-Fi password, an incorrectly-displayed login window for some systems with FileVault enabled and problems with some AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. The OS X version of Game Center also still has several known issues.
Developers will be provided on Monday with what Apple said is a near-final preview build of OS X 10.8. New features and details about Mountain Lion were revealed at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote in San Francisco.
In addition, users who buy a new Mac between now and when Mountain Lion goes on sale will receive a free upgrade to the latest version of the operating system when it hits in July.
Apple highlighted on Monday the closer integration that OS X Mountain Lion will have with iCloud. For instance, the Notes and Reminders application will sync with the cloud-based service to allow access from anywhere with an Internet connection. The company also revealed that OS X 10.8 will get the voice dictation service, though it won't get the full Siri voice assistant yet.
Another new feature in Mountain Lion unveiled by Apple on Monday is Power Nap. Macs in Power Nap mode will stay up to date while operating in a power-efficient capacity. It is compatible with the second-generation MacBook Air and the next-generation Retina Display-equipped MacBook Pro.
As promised, Apple released the fourth Developer Preview for Mountain Lion on Tuesday. Though the release is close to being finalized, people familiar with Apple's documentation for the release reported that known issues that remain in the software include trouble entering a Wi-Fi password, an incorrectly-displayed login window for some systems with FileVault enabled and problems with some AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. The OS X version of Game Center also still has several known issues.
Comments
What will the server version have?
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Originally Posted by huntson
What will the server version have?
Even more people that hate it for no reason.
Has anyone tried running the dev previews on older hardware line GMA950's?
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Originally Posted by Mac64
Has anyone tried running the dev previews on older hardware line GMA950's?
The previews work on the computers on which it says they work. It can't work anywhere else.
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Originally Posted by vandil
Even cheaper than Lion. Impressive.
Think about Xs history... each version goes through over a dozen iterations. All they are doing is drastically shortening that cycle and getting users to pay up 9 months after Lion's release. They aren't marketing it that way, but it's starting to sound like a subscription kind of model, whereby you pay some money regularly. 9 figure paychecks for the execs!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClassicGuy
Think about Xs history... each version goes through over a dozen iterations. All they are doing is drastically shortening that cycle and getting users to pay up 9 months after Lion's release. They aren't marketing it that way, but it's starting to sound like a subscription kind of model, whereby you pay some money regularly. 9 figure paychecks for the execs!
Yes. We're certainly forced to buy this software.
[QUOTE]
OS X Lion already integrates with Apple’s iCloud service, but Mountain Lion is taking that integration a step further with Documents in the Cloud. The February demo briefly touched on this feature, showing off integration in Preview; at the keynote, Federighi announced that its cloud data service will now be integrated with other Apple apps (including the iWork suite).
[URL=http://forums.appleinsider.com/image/id/167509/width/600/height/454][IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/image/id/167509/width/600/height/454[/IMG][/URL]
Developers will be able to enable iCloud integration in their own programs (though presumably only those that have been sandboxed) by using a software development kit. Federighi also briefly demonstrated iCloud syncing for Reminders, Notes, and Messages.
[/QUOTE]
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Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Even more people that hate it for no reason.
He is just asking a valid question.
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Originally Posted by drblank
He is just asking a valid question.
And I'm giving a valid, if lighthearted, response. Hopefully 10.8 Server will placate many of the people who had problems with Lion Server.
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Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Yes. We're certainly forced to buy this software.
I don't mind the $20 price tag, it is certainly a LOT cheaper than Microsoft's model which is a LOT more. The only thing I think they should do is to give AppleCare users FREE updates during the AppleCare 3 year period. That would give people and incentive to buy AppleCare.
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Originally Posted by drblank
I don't mind the $20 price tag, it is certainly a LOT cheaper than Microsoft's model which is a LOT more. The only thing I think they should do is to give AppleCare users FREE updates during the AppleCare 3 year period. That would give people and incentive to buy AppleCare.
Huh. That's…
No, that'd never happen. Interesting idea, but Apple has no intention of supporting devices that are more than a year old anymore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClassicGuy
Think about Xs history... each version goes through over a dozen iterations. All they are doing is drastically shortening that cycle and getting users to pay up 9 months after Lion's release. They aren't marketing it that way, but it's starting to sound like a subscription kind of model, whereby you pay some money regularly. 9 figure paychecks for the execs!
Disagree.
1) It's a year cycle, not 9 months cycle. (Lion was out July, 2011)
2) Do the math. $19.99 x 10 years = $199.9 not a big money.
3) Lion is still great. You don't have to upgrade if you are happy with Lion.
4) It is not subscription because it does no expire. Even if you don't buy Mountain Lion, your Lion will still growl.
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Originally Posted by gctwnl
Simple question: will this syncing across devices work for any document and all appa? E.g. wil it sync Word documents between different Macs? Or will it only work for Apple apps like Pages?
If Microsoft updates their Office suite to support iCloud, yes you can use it like what Apple showed today with iWork.
In fact, ANY apps can use the benefit if iCloud, if the developers update their apps to support it.
$20 is awesome. I thought Snow Leopard and Lion were flukes at only $29 each. But perhaps mac sales have jumped so much over the years that their pricing model now allows them to charge as little as $20 because they sell so many more of them.
My MBP was only bought in November of 2011 and I'll likely get ML when it comes out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClassicGuy
Think about Xs history... each version goes through over a dozen iterations. All they are doing is drastically shortening that cycle and getting users to pay up 9 months after Lion's release. They aren't marketing it that way, but it's starting to sound like a subscription kind of model, whereby you pay some money regularly. 9 figure paychecks for the execs!
What a foolish comment. OSX used to cost $129, though I suspect you're not old enough to remember that.
10.1 (Puma) cost $129.
11 months later, Jaguar was released, costing $129.
14 months later, Panther was released, costing $129.
Furthermore: Lion was released in JULY, 2011. July 2011 to July 2012 isn't 9 months.
$20 for an upgrade like that? It's a bargain.
P.S. You don't have to pay for the upgrade if you don't want to. Lion will continue to function after Mountain Lion is released. Your Mac won't explode if you don't upgrade, nor will you die.
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Originally Posted by Eriamjh
$20 is awesome. I thought Snow Leopard and Lion were flukes at only $29 each. But perhaps mac sales have jumped so much over the years that their pricing model now allows them to charge as little as $20 because they sell so many more of them.
I guess it's a balance between making money from upgrades and the desirability of having a high proportion of users on the latest OS. The more users you have on newer versions, the better you can integrate those users into the Apple ecosystem (iCloud, Mac App Store, etc.), and hence convince them to buy additional Apple products and services.
I think $20 is pitched pretty well for most Mac users.
The Engadget blog also mentioned that anyone running Snow Leopard that is supported by ML can buy ML and upgrade directly, skipping Lion. Not too shabby. Save $30 and get current on your OS.