Desktops and Notebooks: Apple's Mac OS X 'Lion' Prepares for Windows, webOS Competition
Mac App Store
Mac OS "Lion" includes a baked-in Mac App Store, which offers access to a wide variety of full-screen applications. It is a spiritual descendent of the App Store long available for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
App Access
Clicking the LaunchPad icon in the Mac's dock will open a grid-like page of applications and folders reminiscent of iOS.??Ã
Full-Screen Apps
Lion will offer full-screen applications.
App Windows
With one click, individual windows within applications will zoom to full screen, and swiping the track pad will allow users to cycle to other windows.??Ã
Mission Control
Another new feature, Mission Control, allows the user to "zoom out" of their desktop to a bird's-eye view of everything running on the system, including applications.
Versions
Versions is Time Machine for individual documents, allowing the user to revert to any number of previous versions with a single click.
Resume
A feature called "Resume" will restore an application to the same condition prior to logging out or restarting.
Retail
Lion will retail for $29, starting in July. Apple plans on making the new operating system available via the Mac App Store.
Lion Server
OS X Lion Server includes the Profile Manager remote-manager application, file-sharing capabilities for iPad and tweaks to the Mail Server.
Multi-Touch
With Lion, track pads now support an increased range of gesture control, including page and image zoom and full-screen swiping.
