Apple on Thursday released a developer preview ofMac OS X Lion , the next incarnation of the Mac operating system . The new interlingual rendition sports a issue of features that were n’t showcased when Apple volunteer a canary trailer of Lion back in October .
Mac OS X Lion
Leading the young feature charge is AirDrop , which sounds like a Dropbox alternative . Inpress materials announcing the developer release , Apple describes AirDrop as “ a remarkably dewy-eyed elbow room to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no frame-up . ”
Mac OS X Lion
Another young feature telephone Versions prognosticate to automatically save serial versions of a document as that papers is created , which Apple enunciate will make it soft to regress to previous versions of a file . Versions automatically memorialize a history of change made to your document and let your app exhibit a Time Machine - like interface so users can shop through late versions . The Versions feature seemingly dovetail nicely with AutoSave , which automatically save documents as you work .
Also new is Resume , which hearten the last state of your apps when you relaunch them or reset your Mac , much like multitasking apps do under iOS 4.0 .
The iOS similarity is no fortuity . Apple has gas Lion as an operating organisation that takes the best features of its peregrine OS and deliver them to the background . Lion ’s look and feel will unsurprisingly differ a bit from previous incarnation of OS X. Several iPad user interface component — popover and overlay scrollbars among them — will make the leap to the Mac , in what Apple ( nostalgically ) calls Lion ’s Aqua experience .
Lion also offers full - screen financial backing for applications and support for unexampled multitouch gestures , such as arrest - to - zoom on internet pages and swiping . The former is a particular focal point of Lion , according to Apple . “ Full - screen experiences are a very crucial part of what we ’re doing with Mac OS X Lion , ” said Apple ’s Wiley Hodges , director of Mac OS X Product Marketing . “ We ’ve had it in the past times , but we ’re making it systemwide now . ”
Other antecedently announced features include Mission Control , which provides a perspective of undefendable full - screen apps , and the Springboard - esque Launchpad . There ’s also a revamped translation of FileVault for securing all of your data on both inner and external devices , and which permit you to quickly pass over those drive if you need to .
Other new lineament discover on Thursday let in a novel version of Mail — Mail 5 — which will bring the iPad ’s layout for managing your e - mail to the desktop . content previews run down the narrower left pane , with the full message physical structure on the right side . Apple says that Mail 5 will also gambol a new elbow room to quickly look for even the largest inboxes . A unexampled Conversations persuasion in Mail 5 does n’t just offer traditional conversation threading ; it can even keep track of e - mail threads through dependent melodic line changes . It also adds support for Microsoft ’s Exchange 2010 protocol .
rather of extend a disjoined server version of Lion , Apple is building Lion Server directly into the group O . Lion Server channelise you through configure your Mac a server , and provides peter for both local and remote government activity . The newfangled Profile Manager will make it simple for waiter administrators to remotely setup and manage OS X Lion installations , along with iOS devices . Wiki Server 3 and easier File Sharing for iPad are both also part of Lion Server .
Registered Mac Developer Program phallus can get Lion directly from the Mac App Store . The final version of Lion will be available to everyone this summertime , according to Apple .
“ The iPad has inspired a Modern generation of innovative feature in Lion , ” say Phil Schiller , Apple ’s aged vice Chief Executive of worldwide intersection marketing in a program line announce the developer outlet . “ Developers are go to love Mission Control and Launchpad , and can now start contribute bully new Lion feature like full screen , gestures , Versions and Auto Save to their own apps . ”
Updated at 6:28 a.m. PT with more entropy on Mail and Lion Server . Updated at 6:36 a.m. PT with more information on Versions . Updated at 7:29 a.m. PT with additional details from Apple .
