Apple's next Mac OS, Mountain Lion roars to life

If you thought with the passing away of Steve Jobs, Apple would tone down the surprises, then think again! Apple, out of nowhere has announced the next operating software for the Mac. This update, like the Snow Leopard, is a minor one, but Apple has thrown in over 100 new features in their latest OS to the follow-up to Lion, which is Mountain Lion. The brand has released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, which is the ninth major release of an operating software for the Mac. Apple claims that this new OS brings popular apps from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation.

Apple is working to enhance their ecosystem

The announcement from Apple states, “Mountain Lion introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration and AirPlay Mirroring. Mountain Lion is the first OS X release built with iCloud in mind for easy setup and integration with apps.” The developer preview has been already made available and the rest of the world will receive the update later on this year.

Apple states that there are over 100 million users with iCloud accounts and with Mountain Lion, one can easily access documents across the devices. This new OS uses one’s Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and Find My Mac. It also features the new iCloud Documents, which has the ability to push any changes to all of one’s devices, so documents are always up to date.

Apple is doing away with iChat and replacing it with the Messages app that allows one to send unlimited messages, photos and videos directly from their Mac to another Mac or iOS device. The Messages app will continue to support other IM clients, like AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. There are other enhancements as well with Mountain Lion and Apple says, “Mountain Lion presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari, Quick Look, Photo Booth, Preview and third party apps. Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what's on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.”

Apple has added various other features to the latest OS and for more information on the features of Mountain Lion, click here.