Launchpad Gives -Lion’ an iOS Feel

OS X Lion features the Launchpad tool, which is meant to put all of ones applications at ones fingertips; could this be the first sign of a future merging of the OS X platform with iOS?

Mission Control brings together all the applications currently running into a one-blink view: open windows, Dashboard widgets and full-screen applications all get a bit of the limelight.

Apple has stopped referring to its 802.11 wireless networking as AirPort, choosing instead to go with the industry standard WiFi and thereby saving users some confusion.

The Finder has been given a makeover, with the Lion theme of muted colors and larger, more-visible titles in the sidebar.

The Mail application in Lion has also been reskinned with the Lion OSs muted themes and a reorganized interface meant to give users more screen to work with.

The Preview tool for viewing image and PDF files has seen a reworking, with a new full-screen view, a smart magnification feature, and auto save support, as well as other enhancements.

The iCal appointment manager has also gone full-screen in Lion, and a new Year view allows the user to see 12 months at once.

The overhauled FileVault encryption feature now supports encrypting the entire disk, instead of being limited to the users home directory, as in previous versions; external volumes can also be encypted.

The leather-bound look also makes an appearance in Address Book, which adds support for FaceTime video calls, birthdays without a year, and social network profiles.