Apple gave us our first glance at Lion , the next avatar of the Mac OS , last October . Over the past few month , bits and bobs about the young O have lento come out — in part due to a series of developer genus Beta — in planning for its release this summer . Now , it seem like the large cat ’s about to fare out of the handbag once and for all : Steve Jobs himself will reveal the OSto developer and eager onlookers alike during Apple ’s Worldwide Developer Conference tonic address on June 6 .
We ’ll have a liveblog of the tonic when Steve Jobs takes the Moscone West point at 10 a.m. PT on Monday . In the meantime , here ’s a quick refresher course on everything we already know about Lion , so that you ’re up to accelerate in time for the WWDC keynote .
( As for other features that could find their manner into Lion , we ’ve complied our wish tilt of Lion features we ’d like to see . )
Lion loves Magic Trackpads and laptop trackpads alike.
iOS-ification
OnApple ’s Web Sir Frederick Handley Page for Lion , the tagline for the unexampled o reads : “ The power of Mac OS X. The magic of iPad . ” The companionship has taken that slogan to centre : Even going exclusively by Apple ’s short preview last October , it ’s undeniable that iOS has dramatically influenced Lion in both feature film and design — it ’s as if Apple ’s developers ripped features from iOS for Lion the same wayLaw & Order’swriters rip story from the day ’s headlines .
Lion loves Magic Trackpads and laptop computer trackpads alike .
It ’s just a swipe to the left hand : If you ’re still confine out for a touchscreen Mac , we have good news and risky news show . The risky news is that you ’re blend in to have to waitress a long , long clip . The secure news is that you could still get your multitouch fix — without suffering painful arm fatigue — thanks to Lion ’s many new oculus sinister - across-the-board gestures . Rather than directly interacting with your Mac ’s silver screen , you ’ll or else employ an input equipment like Apple ’s Magic Trackpad ( or , if on a laptop computer , a built - in trackpad ) to pilfer , pinch , zoom , and curl . ( Far few gestures will workwith the Magic Mouse . )
Lion loves Magic Trackpads and laptop trackpads alike.
While Lion supports plenty of sword young multitouch gestures , some are more familiar . For example , you may double - tap ( or pinch ) to surge on WWW content in Safari . Lion also carries over one of OS X ’s earliest multitouch gesture — two - finger scrolling — with an iOS twist : By nonpayment , Lion documents scroll in the diametric direction , as if you ’re rive or pushing the subject up or down . In other words , Lion ’s default two - finger scrolling conduct works more like iOS scrolling than Snow Leopard scrolling . There ’s an option to turn that conduct off if it fox you for a closed circuit — for now , anyway .
Ready , located , Launchpad : Talk about being ripped from iOS : Based on what we ’ve check of Launchpad , this new Lion feature article looks almost entirely like someone copied an iPad ’s Home blind and gravel it on the Mac . you could see your total practical software library laid out in ikon form , arrange folders , scroll through Page , and rearrange apps as you see fit .
Launchpad looks an awful bunch like an iPad ’s domicile screen . Which , we suppose , will be useful to some folks .
Launchpad looks an awful lot like an iPad’s home screen. Which, we suppose, will be useful to some folks.
Windows users who transition to the Mac after descend in love with their iPhone may very well take a liking to Launchpad ’s nursing home screen - corresponding interface ; for experienced users with oodles of practical software , however , it may prove too unwieldy for general purpose . As anyone who ’s accumulated a few pages of apps on the iPhone can assure you , it ’s a peck easier to just give up and utilise Spotlight rather than play the app - finding equivalent ofWhere ’s Waldo . That said , Launchpad seems primarily aimed at iOS whipper , and those of us who prefer the puff of the Finder can easy push aside it .
Fullscreen military press : The Mac has long exhibit your coating in adjustable , positionable windows . In direct contrast , on the iPhone or iPad , apps occupy up the integral screen . While Lion go on the basic Mac windowing functionality we all do it and hump , it also introduces an iOS - inspire compromise : fullscreen app program . Click a button , and your program ’s windowpane will fill up your screen — eliminating the Dock and top card bar — so that you may focalize singularly on the task at paw . In fullscreen mode , the software behaves like a devoted Spaces desktop ; to tack back to your Desktop and other window , you’re able to use one of Lion ’s novel multitouch gestures , or a keyboard shortcut like Command - Tab .
Lion ’s fullscreen apps hide everything , including the Dock and the menu streak .
Lion’s fullscreen apps hide everything, including the Dock and the menu bar.
Many of Apple ’s pith applications — like Mail , Safari , and iCal — will support fullscreen mode from the starting time , but third - party package developers will have to update their apps before shoot advantage of the feature article .
Freeze and resume : Nothing ’s worse than having to lay off something — say , browsing in Safari — to re-start your figurer , only to suffer all the chit and windows you were looking at . iOS solves this problem by permit your apps to “ freeze out ” their state upon exit or shutdown , allowing them to resume at the accurate place you leave off . With Lion ’s Resume feature , Mac proprietor can calculate forward to something similar : When you relaunch an coating on Lion , your Mac will attempt to restore it — window , information , and all — to its previous res publica just before you quit . likewise , when you reboot your Mac — say , after installing something via Software Update — Lion will relaunch each program you had lean and attempt to resume its last saved state .
Always on : With Io , Apple has more or less been able to eliminate the notion of “ scarper ” apps versus “ closed ” apps . Now , it seems as if the ship’s company is attempting in part to translate that idea to Lion : By default , the OS eliminates the flyspeck blue index lights under applications in the Dock that let you know whether a programme is presently running . While you may deform those lights back on in the Preferences pane if you so trust , it ’s yet another sign that Apple would wish to dim the melodic line between heart-to-heart and closed applications for the ordinary consumer as much as potential .
Mission Control is a new, more powerful take on Exposé.
applications programme duplicate : Just as the Mac ’s Safari and Mail influenced their iOS counterparts when first introduced , it would appear that the pattern is coming back around . Several of the Lion coating preview bear a striking resemblance to their iOS siblings . Both iCal and Address Book come along to have been reskinned to more closely follow Apple ’s skeuomorphic focus , while Mail has benefit the multiple - pane interface of its iPad cousin-german . Also sure to please Mail users : a three - column port , conversation view , and improve lookup functionality .
iOS et ceteras : Lion ’s iOS - like quirks extend far beyond its hallmark features . On the typing front , Lion will feature iOS ’s car - correction - as - you - type in addition to inline dictionary definitions and a new international emphasis card ( accessible by bear down the key you ’d wish to accentuate ) . The OS will also hit the hay the Mac ’s conversant scrollbar of old , replacing it with an iOS - style hovering scrollbar that appear only when you broach a scroll action . Some graphics — like the pointer itself — have been vectorized , for better Universal Access keep . And , of track , the Mac App Store — which first debuted in January as part of Mac OS X 10.6.6 — will be on full display in Lion .
But wait, there’s more
Apple may have dipped into the iOS pool for a few estimate , but there are still enough more new Lion features that take no influence from the company ’s mobile OS . Take Mission Control — Apple ’s captain - appeal reinvention of Exposé — for deterrent example , or AirDrop , which will allow for easier file sharing between nearby Macs ; additional feature like Versions and Auto - Save will keep your file ( and their preceding alteration ) safely save .
Mission Control is a raw , more sinewy take on Exposé .
In practical economic consumption , Versions and Auto - Save will most likely involve your work flow the most : You ’ll soon line up yourself kick back your Command - S check mark to the curb , as your Mac — like Google Docs before it — now automatically saves your files as you work out on them . you’re able to even go into your papers ’s past — no Time Machine necessary — with interlingual rendition to browse all antecedently saved iterations . ( That being say , you ’ll still want to back everything up to an international source ; if your hard crusade go wrong , after all , Lion ’s automatise backups give out right along with it . )
Lion also hail the death of an era . Unless Apple root for a switcheroo sometime between now and the operating system ’s official release , reports from the developer previews indicate that Rosetta , Apple ’s emulation technology for running PowerPC - designed apps on Intel computer hardware , wo n’t make the journey to Lion . This move has apparently been a recollective time coming : Apple has n’t sell a Mac with an IBM PowerPC chip inside it since 2006 ( and dropped succeeding O support for those systems with the release of Snow Leopard in 2009 ) . As such , software developers have now had almost five year to update their applications to run in good order on Intel ’s hardware — and most of them have . For those still using sure-enough software like Word 2004 , Quicken 2007 , Macromedia FreeHand , or other bygone edition of such titles , you ’ll be faced with a difficult conclusion when Lion roll around : To keep using your preferred app , you ’ll have to interlock your Mac at 10.6 ; otherwise , you ’ll need to reckon about upgrading your workflow along with your operating organization .
And have ’s not bury iCloud . Apple has n’t said yet just what iCloud is , but it may well underlie much of the new OS . Until Jobs speaks , we can only guess atwhat iCloud will land .
The answers, my friend…
Of of course , Lion ’s feature countersink is n’t final until Apple say it is . WWDC is n’t meant to serve as a true stately introduction for the novel Mac OS , but it will provide our most intimate looking at yet at any other feature Apple is planning — along with specifics on that ever - knotty vent date .
