![]() ![]() The bad news: you can’t just go buy it on a disc. (If you want to read about every last new feature in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, click here to enjoy.) And, very interestingly, Lion comes with a tool to help switchers migrate from a Windows PC, copying all of the files to the right places on your Mac. Safari, Preview, etc.) have received enhancements large and small. (I’m not sure this is a good thing, but we’ll see.) And all the other Apple applications (e.g. And, speaking of Mail, it’s now going to look a lot more like Mail on an iPad. Also, Lion remembers where applications left their windows and other settings even after you quit them, like Mail already does. ![]() Other cool tricks: AirDrop lets you copy files to nearby Macs on the same network, easy-peasy–it replaces the USB thumb drive. (These features will only work with applications that are updated to support them.) You almost don’t need to think about saving at all you just use your applications. It’s a bit like the way Google Docs operates, but for a desktop operating system. In a nutshell, these features mean the Mac is always saving your work, and you can compare older versions of documents side by side against newer ones, without you having to do anything, because it’s saving automatically. They may not sound sexy (just as Time Machine didn’t back when it made its début in Leopard), but we think Auto Save and Versions are pretty exciting. While these interface enhancements make the Mac that much nicer to use, there are some interesting conceptual changes as well. It sure looks to us like Lion is heralding touch-screen Macs in the not-so-far future, as the lines between a mobile device and a desktop computer continue to blur. LaunchPad temporarily hides everything and shows you all of your application icons in a neat grid, just like your favorite mobile operating system. Mission Control is sort of like a super-Exposé, where you can see miniature windows grouped by application, plus Dashboard widgets, Spaces, and other stuff. Sophisticated multi-finger trackpad gestures will zoom into pictures, breeze through open windows, and more. Windows without scroll bars? Full screen applications? These and other changes, many inspired by iOS (the operating system which drives iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch), are coming your way very shortly. Shipping in July, this new major release of the Mac operating system boasts a ton of new features and, more notably, some of the most dramatic interface changes since the first Mac shipped in 1984. Spoiler alert: no new iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, or Mac models were announced. ![]() What can Mac and iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch users look forward to in the near future? Well, if you want to soak it up just as the developer masses did on Monday, nuke up some popcorn and treat yourself to the actual keynote itself. Steve Jobs and the executive team at Apple held forth with a mighty slew of announcements yesterday at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference. We’ll explain more about future changes and iCloud in an upcoming newsletter. We know many of you have received notices about MobileMe being replaced by iCloud. ![]()
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