It’s been 53 weeks since Lion was released, and today, Mountain Lion is out and available to the public via the Mac App Store.
With some pleasantries taken from iOS, we see the further integration with iCloud, and syncing data between multiple devices with ease. Reminders, Notes, iMessage, Game Center and Notifications have all migrated their way over to the Mac.
That’s all fine and dandy for home, but what about those of us who like to use our Macs for, you know, work?
One of our big gripes with OS X as of late has been Apple Mail. It’s got some quirks, even when working with standardized mail providers, but Lion gave us improvements, and Mountain Lion adds some features that make it even more admirable. VIPs. You and I both know that an email from the CEO is something that we’d look at more timely than the latest announcement from a vendor. With the new Mail, you can identify contacts that are important, and have it notify you differently when they send you a message. Pretty neat for those of us who get a few hundred emails a day, and culling through email is a pain.
From a security standpoint, one of the new features is called Gatekeeper. This seems to be a pretty big step, especially if you actively develop software. By default, Mountain Lion tries to protect you and only allow apps that have been approved by Apple to run. Naturally, if your App comes from the Mac App Store, you’re all set. Don’t fret, though. Apple also has the ability to let developers have their applications that are not in the App store signed off on, thus not raising any red flags for the user. Now to be fair though, Apple doesn’t review the apps, or any sort of background check. It merely allows Apple to revoke their developer license if they’re found to be producing malware.
One of the more fun updates has some great potential within the conference room. AirPlay for Macs. This will allow you to stream your screen wirelessly to an Apple TV. And if you don’t have an Apple TV in your conference room, it should be the easiest $99 you spend. The ability for anyone (not just your team) to collaborate on the big screen with just a few clicks and no wires is very appealing.
So what’s this $19.99 upgrade really worth in enterprise?
Potentially headaches, and a few little niceties. Time will tell what this update breaks, and what it fixes. That being said, this has been one of the most stable OS upgrades in recent history. It seems as if this is truly a gold master, not a “Beta+” like we’ve seen in the past.
In short, it seems as if it’s going to be a nice little upgrade, but no need to call your service provider and get faster internet so it downloads faster. We’ll be testing it out in the real world, so reach out with any questions you have, and leave comments with your experiences too!
