So Apple recently (and very silently) announced Mountain Lion on their website. It is currently only available for developers but will be released around summer for consumers.
So what is Apple adding this time? Well Apple describes it as "bringing some of the fundamental elements of the iPad experience to the Mac" and so far they have revealed 10 new things. They might add more before the final release but I doubt that they will add anything major. So what are those 10 features?
1) iCloud
Will sync your mail, calenders, contacts, documents and some other things across your iDevices. I am pretty sure you can already do this via iTunes, but this is stores on Apple's servers, so you won't have to plug your iDevice into your computer in order to sync.
2) Messages
Basically let's you send free messages from your Mac to your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
3) Reminders
To-do list which also syncs with your iOS devices.
4) Notes
Yeah I have no idea what's new about this... The features on Apple.com lists things like "choose fonts, styles and colors" which to me sounds like they don't really know what to say about it either. It's just a simple note taking program, which can sync with your iPhone and iPad.
5) Notification Center
Now this probably the biggest new feature in OS X Mountain Lion and one which I really approve of. The notification center is basically the same notification center which Apple introduced in iOS 5 and I am very surprised that Apple didn't give OS X something like this earlier. Even Windows XP had a notification area (and probably even earlier versions of Windows) and it's a very very useful tool. I'm not sure if the OS X notification Center will bring the same level of functionality as the Windows 7 notification area where you can execute commands and such (depending on the application) but it will still be a nice addition to OS X.
6) Share Sheets
Seems like you'll be able to share stuff you're doing inside some OS X Mountain Lion applications via Email, Twitter and some other services. I don't really see the point of it. Apple shows an example where someone is looking at a picture in Photo Booth and is about to send the photo to someone via Email or something. Think if it as those obtrusive "share this" buttons websites seems to love these days, but instead of being on a website they are built into your applications.
7) Twitter
I'm not sure why they didn't post this under the "share sheets" sections since it seems like it is exactly the same, but instead of sending it via email or whatever, you use twitter.
8) Game Center
If you've ever used Game Center on a device running iOS you'll probably understand what this is. It's something you sign into and you can challenge people you know to multiplayer games and stuff. What does this mean for the Mac and OS X? You will be able to challenge iPhone users to a game of Fruit Ninja or whatever's popular on the iPhone right now.
9) AirPlay Mirroring
Let's you wirelessly use your TV as an extra monitor for your Mac, but only if you're one of the ~10 people who actually own and use an Apple TV (pretty sure it has to be the newest model in order for it to work).
10) Gatekeeper
Let's the user set the Mac into one of three different security modes. One allows the user to install whatever they want. The second one allows the user to only install apps from the Mac App Store and from identified developers. And the last setting (which is the one set by default) limits the user to only installing software via the Mac App Store.
I think this is a slippery-slope and it won't be long before you won't be able to install software outside of the App Store in the near future.
Personal Point-Of-View
So what are my thoughts? Well I think it looks like Apple is trying to turn the Mac platform into a desktop version of iOS, instead of iOS being a mobile version of OS X like it used to be (at least more than it is now).
Most of these new features are rubbish and doesn't really add anything of value. Apple is once again just copying the competition and some of the third party apps. Most of the features are mainly just there to make it easier to sync data with your other iOS devices but useless if you don't own any other iOS device.
I thought Apple sunk low with Lion and its disappointing feature list, but this is even more disappointing...
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