“Apple has invested a considerable amount of time and money on iOS, the mobile version of Mac OS X, that powers the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV,” David W. Martin reports for Cult of Mac.
“So it just makes sense that Apple would re-invest iOS technology into the Mac version of OS X. Steve Jobs has pretty much said so himself and we’ll start to see this happen with the release of Mac OS X 10.7 bearing the code name Lion,” Martin reports. “First of all it is no secret that Apple plans on bringing a number of features to the Mac from iOS.”
These features include the following:
• Resuming Applications and Auto Save
• Home Screens
• Mac App Store
• Multt-Touch Gestures
Read more in the full article here.
“Resuming applications” ? Wow. Finally implementing a feature that we had on the Dec-20 back in the 1970’s…
Some applications do resume where they left off, and have been doing so for a while. The problem is, it’s a lot of work to implement that feature, and some developers do it differently then others. What’s new is that Apple is coming up with a unified solution for this that developers can just plug in to their applications. This means ALL applications will be able to have this ability, it will work the same way in each application, and the OS will even be able to manage backups and restore of application states, in a consistent and efficient way so that it just works.
@bjh
You know what, I’m tired of idiots like you saying stuff like that every time Apple comes out with something new. “Oh, well [insert product here] has had this for years, but Apple always invents everything and fanboys eat it up!”
Nobody said this was the first and only time it’s ever been done. But guess what… it’s the first time us as Mac users are getting these features, so it’s worth talking about.
What bjh is saying is actually true (as on earlier times too). The sad part is, that he fails to understand the possibilities a seeminglessly underwhelming feature or technology can open up today, when combined with other tech.
Just look at the cars that got parking radars, so you wouldn’t bump into the car behind you when parking. Not a big deal, but a few years later that same technology combined with a couple of other non earth shaking technologies, give us cars that litterally can save your life, steering u away from frontal collisions, break to a halted vehicle in front of u, etc.
bjhs is just someone stuck in his era, you know “we invented everything, music was much better then… Blah, blah”
These guys usually cant invent or envision anything themselves and seldom are able to understand the potential in anything that is not yet established.
It’s Steve’s candy store, but as a customer since little monochrome displays and microfloppy drives I ask this:
Don’t dumb down OSX to please the WinTards.
I’m tired of OS updates hiding configuration options and all the rest. Some of us don’t want to mess with command line but don’t want some “wizard” doing god knows what for us.
And I’m tired of people saying Apple us dumbing things down every time they make the same functionality easier in an update.
There’s probably nothing you can do in snow leopard that you won’t be able to do in Lion.
All I can say is that the engineers at Apple had better be working overtime if they expect to release OS X Lion this summer. I’d call it a bit of a mess at the present time. Leaving aside the many, many bugs (some of them very serious) that are still being reported by Lion beta testers, some of Apple’s design decisions regarding Lion are being hotly debated on Apple’s own AppleSeed forum. From what I can see at the present time, OS X Lion may end up being a great reason to stick with Snow Leopard.
Yeah. That’s pretty much what people say about every major update and it’s always a bunch of bull.
Apple takes some chances sometimes in order to advance the UI and OS functionality. Occasionally they strike out. But I trust Apple to keep Lion in the oven until it is fully baked. Snow Leopard is quite good – no reason to prematurely release a flawed OS update.
You can be your ass that Jobs is running the engineers into the ground to get it out by summer. I believe they are taking the feedback they receive into consideration and working their tails off to make the best possible package.
“90 hour weeks and loving it”
I hope you are wrong. But, Apple may be looking at the success of the iPhone and iPad and think everyone wants the same features on their desktops. I for one do not. All great products in their own rights. But, I would prefer to see more built in features like dictation capabilities (Nuance?), maximizing memory usage ( I added 4gb to my iMac and am still only maxing out usage at 4gb…weird), easier PDF creation in all apps (not File>Print>create PDF).
Bring it on !
Well, from what i have seen in TextEdit in Lion, is that OSX is finally getting back to Mac roots. How did we get from MacWrite which was made for the peeps, to today’s TextEdit made for geeks. Even for a Mac full time veteran like me, I can’t find basic stuff there easily.
Right now, most of the “first time” Apple customers are coming “into the Store” through iPhone or iPad. And they are current Windows users. Apple wants to encourage them into making their “second time” purchase a Mac by adding familiar iOS-like elements to Mac OS X. I think it will work very well and Apple’s “PC” market share will spike even more than it has already.
@ rockfixer
@ Tony
I think you are being too hard on @bjh. I see that Apple is trying to integrate iOS with OS X. But, I do not believe the “new” features are that big of a deal. Most of them can be accomplished through the existing system, are free or very inexpensive apps on the Mac. I hope I am wrong because i like a good surprise as much as anyone. But, this just looks like a way for Apple to merge two platforms into one and drive down the cost of development.
Naaah, If anything we are being polite.
This is the kind of guy who could also say “iPad? What´s special about that? MS invented that 10 years ago”.
Also, do you really think Apple is about “merge two platforms to drive down the cost of development…”
Apple is about making the best possible products, if they can keep price down as well they will, but that´s not what they pursue as a primary goal.
Not trying to put words in @bjh’s mouth, I agree on the iPad comment. I saw several comments elsewhere pre-iPad launch that made that exact statement. But, now I hear statements like “it’s a large iPhone” from people I know who own them. That is not meant in a derogatory manner. Just a way of describing it. So, for the iPad…heresy I know…but it is not a revolutionary leap forward. Rather an evolutionary one.
Back to Lion, I am not seeing massive leaps forward with this version of the OS. Relatively small tweaks, consolidation of the server software, and a few features many of which are already available in free or inexpensive apps. Snow Leopard is already a great OS. I would like to see more refinement/bug fixes to Spaces which I use extensively throughout the day. I would also like to see subtle changes to areas I use everyday like standardizing PDF creation as a standalone feature instead of having to go to File>Print. Not an Applescript…part of the OS. Mail is in need of improvements. Putting the message text on the right side of the viewer window is already available with a free/inexpensive app. But, Mail needs better features for business users like tables and numbered lists that can be changed back to text if you decide to do. These are just a few. There is a laundry list of refinements in OS 10.6 that are needed. IF they are included in Lion, I will be thrilled. If there are other features in Lion that have not been made public, I will be thrilled. I will buy Lion. I always buy the upgrade. But, I would like to see more.
On the comment about merging the two OS’s ….absolutely. If Apple can do it whole or in part, they will do it. Cost and reliability being two reasons.
Wasn’t one edition of OS X delayed by 6 months or so? I cant remember which one, and I may be wrong entirely. But I seem to remember that one version of OX missed its release date by a half year.
Apple doesn’t have to invent something new every time – there is nothing wrong with taking something tried and true from somewhere in the past and tweaking it, improving it, updating it to work with OSX or iOS. Some of the innovations are behind the curtain… not everything is whiz-bang that you see. Imagine a new car – it still rolls on radial tires – those have been around a long time. And has an internal combustion engine (ditto), head lights, roll up windows, a steering wheel, pedals, gear selector, etc. But a new model comes out, and we don’t say – “ehh, same old shit, fancy new paint job though”