Here: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/16/28010 ... otos-video

So it brings certain iOS features to OS X including:
Notification Centre
iMessages
More iOS styled apps (e.g. iCal, iChat)

Gatekeeper is something to note: Gatekeeper will, by default, only allow Mac App Store apps to run on your Mac (you can ctrl-click other apps to run them). Settings can be changed to globally allow all apps.

I might sign up as a dev and try running my work machine on it for a bit to see what its like.

Mountain Lion page @ Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/

You can try out the new Messages app too, it's in public beta: http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-li ... ages-beta/

iMessage download page has been almost immediately overloaded

Just been watching the video on the apple site, looks like the people who make Growl are buggered for a start...

It's funny because The Verge did an interview with the Growl guy the other day: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/13/27892 ... r-forsythe

Messages looks good, though a mate if having problems authenticating with Apple, but is happily using it for GTalk.
Some problems noted at the moment: It doesn't do autocorrect, and it doesn't do full-screen properly.

<dons tin foil hat> so when will they only allow mac app store apps to be installed?

Possibly never, probably not for a while yet. At some point they'll go to 'only run apps from the app store' as the default setting but I'd imagine there'll always be a way to switch that off. And I expect they'll retain the 'right click to run an unsigned app' even when that is switched on for the forseeable at least. There are many apps that have legit functions that the App Store guidelines get in the way of. Anything that interfaces with third party hardware, for example.

The bare fact is this : if they brought out a version of Mac OS that could only run App Store apps it would bomb, sales wise. Few people are going to buy something that is fundamentally less capable than what it's replacing. And making products that will sell badly isn't generally what any company does by choice. At least until we've had say 5 years where the app store is the default way to get apps (and we've got Adobe CS and Microsoft Office on the app store already) the 'appocalypse' isn't a genuine concern.

Jon

How did I not know about this?!?!

Just been reading through this...
http://www.macworld.com/article/165407/ ... t_macworld

...I've got to say I'm a bit underwhelmed, but I'm sure more exciting stuff might be announced nearer the release? Looks like Apple have given up trying to make Lion stable.

because this is the first time anybody has known about it outside Apple. At least, anyone who wasn't under a 'Apple's lawyers will apply a band-sander to your private parts if you talk about this' NDAs.

bah, iMessage beta requires 10.7.3 and I haven't bothered updating yet...

Jon

Before you get yourselves worked up into a frenzy, remember that somne Macs will no longer be supported. PPC macs definitely - Lion and inwards is Intel only. However Mountail Lion causes some earlier Intel Macs to drop off the upgrade cycle.

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/16/mountain ... ac-models/



So, My 2008 Mac Pro survives another update - not bad really. That’s 5 years worth of life before, I suspect, Apple drops it from the upgrade cycle. The MacBook Pro, which is a 2006 model, will be Lion only from now on. That means 5 years worth of updates from Apple, but more crucially it’s not showing any signs of software strain. That is to say that right now, all the apps I run on it run well and comfortably.

I am more likely to jump to CS6 before Mountain Lion. I suspect that will be pretty much mandatory anyway, with me just scraping through too Lion with CS3. As long as my crucially necessary software keeps running in Lion, I’m OK. I’m not planning on updating either Mac at the moment. I think the Mac Pro has represented good value for money, and the MacBook Pro has certainly been given that 6 years on, it’s still viable.

I can understand that the first Intel Macs were scrapped with Lion as they weren't 64-bit, but I'm somewhat puzzled why some of these Macs are being dropped. I have heard something about integrated graphics, but Heathers MBP is being dropped and it doesn't have integrated graphics

Aye, I presume my 2007 MacBook is being dropped for it's lack of dedicated graphics combined with a 2GB memory cap. Bit of a shame, really.

Various articles I've seen suggest it might be due to the BIOS changing - the machines being dropped only support 32-bit EFI, presumably 10.8 has been coded for 64-bit EFI only.

That would make sense.

Given that the 2006 iMac struggles to run Lion, it isn't really a surprise that they are cutting their losses.