Mac OS X Lion
Encyclopedia
Mac OS X Lion is the eighth and current major release of Mac OS X
, Apple's desktop and server operating system
for Macintosh computers.
A preview of Lion was publicly unveiled at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event on October 20, 2010. It brings many developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily navigable display of installed applications, to the Mac, and includes support for the Mac App Store
, as introduced in Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6.6.
On February 24, 2011, the first developer's preview of Lion (11A390) was released to subscribers of Apple's developers program. Other developer previews were subsequently released, with Lion Preview 4 (11A480b) being released at WWDC 2011.
Lion achieved golden master
status on July 1, 2011, followed by its final release via the Mac App Store on July 20, 2011. Apple reported over 1 million Lion sales on the first day of its release. As of October 2011, Mac OS X Lion has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
, as part of Apple's 2011 third-quarter earnings announcement.
Apple did not initially announce any physical media distribution for Lion, such as a set of CD-ROM
s or a DVD-ROM as used for past releases. Instead, the operating system was said to be available exclusively as a download from the Mac App Store
for US$29.99. The only prior version of OS X that supports the Mac App Store is Snow Leopard, which implied that any machines that support Lion currently running Tiger or Leopard would first have to be upgraded to Snow Leopard, as opposed to allowing a direct upgrade to Lion.
Apple later announced two alternative distribution mechanisms for the benefit of users without broadband Internet access: in-store downloads at retail Apple Stores, and a USB flash drive
containing the OS, priced at US$69, available through the online Apple Store
beginning in August. It is not clear whether the USB distribution will support a direct upgrade to Lion from OS X versions prior to Snow Leopard. On August 4 2011, Apple started to take orders for Mac OS X Lion's USB installation flash drives for $69.99.
The Server portion of Lion is available as a separate download from the Mac App Store for US$49.99, which is in addition to the purchase price of Lion itself.
support for SSDs
shipped with Macs, which is also included in the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8) shipping with current MacBook Pros before July 20, 2011. As of yet, there is no TRIM
support for other SSDs
.
The complete list from Apple can be found on Apple's website.
recommended Lion. They noted that it feels like it is the start of a new line of operating systems that will continue to be influenced by Apple's iOS platform. The review also compared the introduction of Lion, along with its new conventions that change traditional ways of computing, to the original Mac OS X
and when it replaced the classic Mac OS
. Macworld
called Lion a "radical revision", praising the changes made to the operating system to be more user friendly to new Mac users that are familiar with the iOS interface, while criticizing the limited utility of the interface. Ultimately, the magazine considered Lion an operating system worth getting, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars. guardian.co.uk
called Lion a substantial improvement from its predecessors, and considered it a "steal" given its price. On the other hand, Gizmodo
stated that the new interface "feels like a failure" and concluded by saying that "it doesn't feel like a must-have upgrade". Many portable Mac users have also been put off by the lower battery life they have experienced after upgrading to Lion. MacBook Pro users have claimed battery life as low as 2.5 hours after the upgrade to Lion. A temporary fix had been suggested by resetting the System Management Controller
(SMC) and switching graphics
manually. Apple has now unofficially promised to solve the battery problem, and has reached out to MacBook Pro users at the Official Apple Discussion Forums.
Due to Lion's enhanced security features, including application sandboxing, Dino Dai Zovi, principal of security consultancy Trail of Bits and the coauthor (with Charles Miller
) of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, characterized Lion's security as "a significant improvement, and the best way that I've described the level of security in Lion is that it's Windows 7, plus, plus. I generally tell Mac users that if they care about security, they should upgrade to Lion sooner rather than later, and the same goes for Windows users, too."
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Apple's desktop and server operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
for Macintosh computers.
A preview of Lion was publicly unveiled at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event on October 20, 2010. It brings many developments made in Apple's iOS, such as an easily navigable display of installed applications, to the Mac, and includes support for the Mac App Store
Mac App Store
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
, as introduced in Mac OS X Snow Leopard version 10.6.6.
On February 24, 2011, the first developer's preview of Lion (11A390) was released to subscribers of Apple's developers program. Other developer previews were subsequently released, with Lion Preview 4 (11A480b) being released at WWDC 2011.
Lion achieved golden master
Golden master
In hardware and software development, a golden master is the reference model from which copies are mass-produced. An analogy is made to the production of certain types of physical media...
status on July 1, 2011, followed by its final release via the Mac App Store on July 20, 2011. Apple reported over 1 million Lion sales on the first day of its release. As of October 2011, Mac OS X Lion has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
Release and distribution
On June 6, 2011, at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, it was announced that the official release for Lion would be in July 2011. The specific release date of July 20 was not confirmed until the day before, July 19, by Apple CFO, Peter OppenheimerPeter Oppenheimer
Peter Oppenheimer is Apple Inc.'s senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Oppenheimer oversees the controller, treasury, investor relations, tax, information systems, internal audit, facilities, corporate development and human resources functions...
, as part of Apple's 2011 third-quarter earnings announcement.
Apple did not initially announce any physical media distribution for Lion, such as a set of CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
s or a DVD-ROM as used for past releases. Instead, the operating system was said to be available exclusively as a download from the Mac App Store
Mac App Store
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
for US$29.99. The only prior version of OS X that supports the Mac App Store is Snow Leopard, which implied that any machines that support Lion currently running Tiger or Leopard would first have to be upgraded to Snow Leopard, as opposed to allowing a direct upgrade to Lion.
Apple later announced two alternative distribution mechanisms for the benefit of users without broadband Internet access: in-store downloads at retail Apple Stores, and a USB flash drive
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
containing the OS, priced at US$69, available through the online Apple Store
Apple Store (online)
The Apple Store is the online store of Apple Inc.. All of Apple's product lines are carried as well as select brands of accessories for its products. It is owned and operated by Apple in Cupertino, California...
beginning in August. It is not clear whether the USB distribution will support a direct upgrade to Lion from OS X versions prior to Snow Leopard. On August 4 2011, Apple started to take orders for Mac OS X Lion's USB installation flash drives for $69.99.
The Server portion of Lion is available as a separate download from the Mac App Store for US$49.99, which is in addition to the purchase price of Lion itself.
Hardware support
The first developer preview of Lion added TRIMTrim
Trim may refer to:* Cutting small pieces off something** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process** Editing*** Editing a posting style in online discourse** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees-Places:...
support for SSDs
Solid-state drive
A solid-state drive , sometimes called a solid-state disk or electronic disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block i/o hard disk drive...
shipped with Macs, which is also included in the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8) shipping with current MacBook Pros before July 20, 2011. As of yet, there is no TRIM
Trim
Trim may refer to:* Cutting small pieces off something** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process** Editing*** Editing a posting style in online discourse** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees-Places:...
support for other SSDs
Solid-state drive
A solid-state drive , sometimes called a solid-state disk or electronic disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block i/o hard disk drive...
.
System requirements
- x86-64X86-64x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
CPU (Macs with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, or XeonXeonThe Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
processor.) - At least 2GB of RAM
- Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later (Mac OS X 10.6.8 is recommended)
- 7 GB of free hard drive space is recommended
- AirDropAirdropAn airdrop is a type of airlift, developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, who themselves may have been airborne forces. In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from...
is supported on the following Mac models: MacBook Pro (late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (late 2010 or newer), MacBook (late 2008 or newer), iMac (early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (mid 2010 or newer), Mac Pro (early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card and mid 2010 or newer).
New or changed features
Some new features were announced at the "Back to the Mac" keynote in October 2010, and the Apple website was updated in February 2011 with more details. Other features were announced at the WWDC 2011 keynote or on Apple's Mac OS X Lion Web site after the keynote. Apple states that there are over 250 new or changed features in Lion, including:- Address Book now uses an iPad-like user interface. It also includes improved Yahoo support and FaceTime calling.
- AirDropAirdropAn airdrop is a type of airlift, developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, who themselves may have been airborne forces. In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from...
– Lion-to-Lion direct file sharing via Wi-Fi DirectWi-Fi DirectWi-Fi Direct is a standard that allows Wi-Fi devices to talk to each other without the need for wireless access points .-Basic Wi-Fi:...
. No wireless access pointWireless access pointIn computer networking, a wireless access point is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or related standards...
required. - Address space layout randomizationAddress space layout randomizationAddress space layout randomization is a computer security method which involves randomly arranging the positions of key data areas, usually including the base of the executable and position of libraries, heap, and stack, in a process's address space.- Benefits :Address space randomization hinders...
– Address space layout randomization (ASLR), a security technique that puts important data in unpredictable locations, making it harder to target known weaknesses, is available for 32-bit applications, and "has been improved for all applications", in Lion. - Apple Push Notification ServiceApple Push Notification ServiceThe Apple Push Notification Service is a service created by Apple Inc. that was launched together with iOS 3.0 on June 17, 2009. It uses push technology through a constantly-open IP connection to forward notifications from the servers of third party applications to the Apple devices; such...
– Send over-the-air alerts, such as news updates or social networking status changes, using Apple's Push Notification service to applications that support APNS. APNS allows Mac OS X Lion and iOS clients to receive push changes to items such as mail, calendar and contacts from a configured OS X Lion Server. - Auto-correction now behaves much like on iOS devices, displaying an iOS-like popup box.
- Auto SaveAutosaveAutosave is a function in many computer applications or programs which saves an opened document automatically, helping to reduce the risk or impact of data loss in case of a crash or freeze...
– As in iOS, documents in applications written to use Auto Save will be saved automatically so users don't have to worry about manually managing their documents. - EmojiEmojiis the Japanese term for the picture characters or emoticons used in Japanese electronic messages and webpages. Originally meaning pictograph, the word literally means e "picture" + moji "letter". The characters are used much like emoticons elsewhere, but a wider range is provided, and the icons...
support – Apple has added a new Emoji font commonly used in chat to express ideograms. - Exposé in the Dock, a way of activating ExposéExposé (Mac OS X)Exposé is a feature of the Mac OS X operating system. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a feature of the then forthcoming Mac OS X v10.3, Exposé allows a user to quickly locate an open window, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need...
for a single application from the Dock, a feature added in Mac OS X 10.6, is altered. One must now double-tap with two fingers on a dock icon to initiate single application exposé, or simply right-click or control-click and select Show All Windows. - FaceTimeFaceTimeFaceTime is a video calling software application and related protocol developed by Apple for supported mobile devices running the iOS, in addition to Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.6.6 and higher...
comes bundled with Lion. - FileVaultFileVaultFileVault is a system which encrypts files on a Macintosh computer. It can be found in the Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" operating system and later....
now offers full disk encryptionDisk encryptionDisk encryption is a special case of data at rest protection when the storage media is a sector-addressable device . This article presents cryptographic aspects of the problem...
and added security with XTS-AESAdvanced Encryption StandardAdvanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...
128 data encryption. Support for FileVault on external hard drives has also been added. - Finder improvements – Finder search allows multiple search criteria to be specified without creating a smart folder, Finder search offers suggestions, files can be grouped by various attributes, and one can now merge files under two folders with the same name – a prompt will appear asking whether one wants to replace or keep both files.
- Font BookFont BookApple's Font Book is a font manager that comes with Mac OS X since version 10.3 .The program enables users to:* Preview and install font files, avoiding multiple instances of the same font....
3—Font Book 3 now provides more flexible displays of character glyphs supplied by a particular font face. Duplicate font files are now flagged with a warning icon, and can be fixed automatically or resolved manually. - Full-screen apps – Native, system-wide support for full-screen applications running in their own spaceSpaces (software)Spaces was a virtual desktop feature of Mac OS X, introduced in version 10.5 "Leopard". It was announced by Steve Jobs during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7, 2006...
. Supporting applications display a new button at the top right of application window, this button opens applications in full-screen mode. - High-quality multilingual speech voices – users can download new high-quality voices in more than forty languages and dialects.
- iCalICaliCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server....
has an updated user interface, an annual view, and support for a full-screen view. - iChatIChatiChat is an instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its Mac OS X operating system. It has audio, video and screen-sharing capabilities as well as text messaging...
now has support for logging into Yahoo! MessengerYahoo! MessengerYahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!...
. Users can audio- and video-chat with other iChat users using their Yahoo! accounts. - LanguageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s/Localization – Arabic, CzechCzech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, TurkishTurkish languageTurkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and HungarianHungarian languageHungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
are added as full system languages, to make the total number of twenty-two languages available in Mac OS X. - LaunchpadLaunchpad (Mac OS X)Launchpad is an application launcher that was announced alongside Mac OS X Lion. It is designed to be simpler than OS X's current application launching system, the Finder.-History:...
– An application launcher that displays an iOS-like icon grid of installed applications. It features the ability to make multiple pages and group apps into folders that function the same as folders in iOS. - Mac App StoreMac App StoreThe Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
– An application store built in the image of the iOS App Store. Like in iOS, it will provide ways for shoppers to discover apps, one-click installation of apps, and one-click updates of all or selected installed applications. Despite being announced as a future feature of Lion, the Mac App Store was released for Mac OS X Snow Leopard on January 6, 2011 as it was bundled with the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update. - Mail 5Mail (application)Mail is an email program included with Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. Originally developed by NeXT as NeXTMail, a part of their NeXTSTEP operating system, it was adapted, following Apple's acquisition of NeXT, to become OS X's Mail application.Mail uses the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP protocols,...
– Uses an iPad-like user interface, has a fullscreen-optimized view, uses chronological "Conversations" to organize messages, and supports Exchange 2010 (but not through the Exchange ActiveSyncExchange ActiveSyncExchange ActiveSync is an XML-based protocol that communicates over HTTP designed for the synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, tasks and notes from a messaging server to a mobile device...
protocol, as iOS). - Mission Control replaces the "All windows" ExposéExposé (Mac OS X)Exposé is a feature of the Mac OS X operating system. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a feature of the then forthcoming Mac OS X v10.3, Exposé allows a user to quickly locate an open window, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need...
feature. It gives an overview of all running applications just like "All windows" but groups windows from the same application. At the top of the screen it gives quick access to the Dashboard, SpacesSpaces (software)Spaces was a virtual desktop feature of Mac OS X, introduced in version 10.5 "Leopard". It was announced by Steve Jobs during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7, 2006...
, and running full screen applications. - Multi-touch gesturesMulti-touchIn computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...
– Similar to iOS, additional gestures performed using a multi-touch input device (e.g. Magic Mouse, Magic TrackpadMagic TrackpadThe Magic Trackpad is a multi-touch trackpad produced by Apple Inc. Announced on July 27, 2010, it is similar to the trackpad found on the current MacBook family of laptops, albeit 80% larger...
) will allow the user to scroll, swipe to different pages, and enter Mission Control. While this is not the first official multi-touch support for Mac OS X, it has been expanded; other frameworks, such as Lux, have already created multi-touch support. - Multi-User Screen Sharing—The built-in Screen Sharing feature now allows remote users to log into a separate user account from the one that is currently logged in. That means that while one user is logged into a machine, a second user can login to the same machine remotely, seeing their own desktop and user environment.
- PreviewPreview (software)Preview is Mac OS X's application for displaying images and Portable Document Format documents. Like Mac OS X itself, it comes from NeXT's OPENSTEP operating system....
gains several features, including full-screen support and the ability to sign a document just by holding a signed piece of paper up to the camera. - QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
re-incorporates some features from QuickTime Pro. New features cited include Copy/Paste, Insert Clip, Crop Video, Rotate Video, Resize, Trim, and more Export options. - Recovery Partition – Apple has introduced a recovery partition that includes utilities generally found on the OS X discs. This partition will allow the user to restore their computer to its original factory state. It also allows for a new copy of OS X Lion to be installed over the internet.
- Resume – Applications resume in the same state when re-opened as already seen in iOS.
- SafariSafari (web browser)Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
– With full-screen mode and the new WebKit2 layout engineWeb browser engineA web browser engine, , is a software component that takes marked up content and formatting information and displays the formatted content on the screen. It "paints" on the content area of a window, which is displayed on a monitor or a printer...
. - System Information – This feature is a re-design of System Profiler, which has been completely altered with new views which display graphical information on displays, storage devices, memory usage along with other hardware information. The previous layout remains available by clicking "System Report". Early builds of Lion also used System Information as a replacement for "About This Mac", although the final release reinstated the version of this dialog box found in Snow Leopard.
- Terminal has extra features, including full screen mode.
- TextEditTextEditTextEdit is a simple, open source word processor and text editor, first featured in NeXT's NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. It is now distributed with Mac OS X since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep application for other Unix-compatible operating systems such as Linux...
gains a new graphical toolbar with font selection and text highlighting. The new TextEdit also supports Apple's new automatic file saving and versions technologies. - Versions – Time Machine-like saving and browsing of past versions of documents for applications written to use Versions.
- Vertical text – Lion supports vertical layouts for East Asian languagesHorizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scriptsMany East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. The Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts can be oriented in either direction, as they consist mainly of disconnected syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space...
.
The complete list from Apple can be found on Apple's website.
Server features
- Wiki Server 3 – Making it easier to collaborate, share, and exchange information. Users can quickly switch between a server's home page, My Page, Updates, Wikis, People, and Podcasts. File sharing is simpler, and a new Page Editor is added for easy customization.
- WebDAVWebDAVWeb-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
File Sharing – Lion Server delivers wireless file sharing for clients that support WebDAV. Enabling WebDAV in Lion Server gives iOS users the ability to access, copy, and share documents on the server from applications such as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. - Profile Manager – Profile Manager delivers simple, profile-based setup and management for Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. It also integrates with existing directory services and delivers automatic over-the-air profile updates using the Apple Push Notification service.
User interface changes
- Redesigned Aqua user interfaceAqua (user interface)Aqua is the GUI and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests, with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects...
elements, including buttons and progress bars. The red, yellow, and green buttons in the window decorationWindow decorationIn graphical computing, window decorations are provided by window managers to improve the usability of a multi-windowed desktop. They typically consist of a title bar along the top of each window and a minimal border around the other three sides, although this can often be varied upon if the user...
s have also been made smaller. - Flexible window resizing from any corner or edge of the window, similar to window resizing in Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and many window managers for X11X window managerAn X window manager is a window manager which runs on top of the X Window System, a windowing system mainly used on Unix-like systems.Unlike the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows platforms which have historically provided a vendor-controlled, fixed set of ways to control how windows and panes display...
. - The metal finish has also been slightly altered. It is now a lighter shade of grey than before and features a speckled texture.
- On demand scroll bars now disappear by default when they are not being used, similar to iOS.
- Scrolling is reversed by default, to act more like a touch screen computer, so that content moves in the direction of finger movement on touch-pad or mouse, rather than the scrollbar moving in the direction of finger movement. Also, like in iOS, scrolling "bounces" when the scroll bar hits the top or bottom of the window.
- When resizing a window by clicking on the green button (left-top), a transform-effect animates the enlargement.
- New windows fly to the front (like opening an app in iOS).
- The dashboard is now its own space in Mission Control, rather than in previous versions of OS X where the widgets simply flew in and the background dimmed. The "ripple effect" that was seen previously when adding widgets is no longer there due to this change. Users have the option to return to the old dashboard configuration in System Preferences.
- Tabs, when selected, now appear as being pushed in and darkened as opposed to previous versions where selected tabs were highlighted in aqua blue.
Dropped features
- Front Row, a media center application. The application has been copied into Lion by third-party users, however its incompatibility with iTunes 10.4 renders it useless.
- RosettaRosetta (software)Rosetta was a lightweight and dynamic binary translator for Mac OS X which Apple released in 2006 when it transitioned the Macintosh from PowerPC to Intel processors. It allowed pre-existing software to run on the new systems without modification....
, software which makes possible the execution of PowerPCPowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
software on x86 hardware, is no longer available. This disables some programs that ran on previous versions of Mac OS X. Programs requiring Rosetta to operate are not allowed to be distributed via the Mac App Store. - Adobe Flash PlayerAdobe Flash PlayerThe Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
and Apple's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) are not included in new installations of Lion, but both can still be downloaded and installed manually. Apple will no longer be actively maintaining its JRE, but Software UpdateSoftware UpdateSoftware Update is a software tool by Apple Inc. that installs the latest version of Apple software on computers running Mac OS X. It was originally introduced to Mac users in Mac OS 9. A Windows version has been available since the introduction of iTunes 7, under the name Apple Software Update....
will offer to download Snow Leopard's JRE if a user tries to run a Java program without there being a JRE installed. Programs using Java are not allowed to be distributed via the Mac App Store. - iSyncISynciSync is a software application published by Apple Inc. It runs only under Mac OS X and is used to synchronize contact and calendar data from Address Book and iCal with many non-Apple SyncML-enabled mobile phones via a Bluetooth or USB connection. Support for many devices is built-in, with newer...
, software used for syncing contacts and calendars to third-party mobile phones, is no longer included; however, iSync v3.1.2 from Snow Leopard continues to work. - Remote Install Mac OS XRemote Install Mac OS XRemote Install Mac OS X is a remote installer for use with MacBook Air laptops over the network. It works by having it run on a Macintosh or a Windows-based PC with an optical drive and then connecting over the network to a client MacBook Air to perform system software installs.Remote Install Mac...
, software which allows OS X to be installed using the Remote Disk feature. Using Target Disk ModeTarget Disk ModeTarget Disk Mode is a boot mode unique to Macintosh computers.When a Mac that supports Target Disk Mode is started with the 'T' key held down, its operating system does not boot...
, users can circumvent this omission. - Apple USB Modem is not compatible with Lion.
Reception
Reception for OS X Lion has generally been positive. In an extensive review of the operating system, Ars TechnicaArs Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
recommended Lion. They noted that it feels like it is the start of a new line of operating systems that will continue to be influenced by Apple's iOS platform. The review also compared the introduction of Lion, along with its new conventions that change traditional ways of computing, to the original Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and when it replaced the classic Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
. Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
called Lion a "radical revision", praising the changes made to the operating system to be more user friendly to new Mac users that are familiar with the iOS interface, while criticizing the limited utility of the interface. Ultimately, the magazine considered Lion an operating system worth getting, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars. guardian.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
called Lion a substantial improvement from its predecessors, and considered it a "steal" given its price. On the other hand, Gizmodo
Gizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
stated that the new interface "feels like a failure" and concluded by saying that "it doesn't feel like a must-have upgrade". Many portable Mac users have also been put off by the lower battery life they have experienced after upgrading to Lion. MacBook Pro users have claimed battery life as low as 2.5 hours after the upgrade to Lion. A temporary fix had been suggested by resetting the System Management Controller
System Management Controller
The System Management Controller is an internal subsystem introduced by Apple Inc. with the introduction of their new Intel processor based machines in 2006. It takes over the functions of the SMU...
(SMC) and switching graphics
GPU switching
GPU switching is used on laptops with multiple graphics controllers. The standard situation gathers an integrated graphics device and a discrete video card, the latter consuming more power than the first but also providing higher 3D performances, such as needed for game playing and CAD...
manually. Apple has now unofficially promised to solve the battery problem, and has reached out to MacBook Pro users at the Official Apple Discussion Forums.
Due to Lion's enhanced security features, including application sandboxing, Dino Dai Zovi, principal of security consultancy Trail of Bits and the coauthor (with Charles Miller
Charlie Miller (security researcher)
Charles Miller is a computer security researcher with the consulting firm Accuvant LABS.Prior to his current employment, he spent five years working for the National Security Agency. Miller demonstrated his hacks publicly on products manufactured by Apple...
) of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, characterized Lion's security as "a significant improvement, and the best way that I've described the level of security in Lion is that it's Windows 7, plus, plus. I generally tell Mac users that if they care about security, they should upgrade to Lion sooner rather than later, and the same goes for Windows users, too."
Software incompatibilities
- Applications depending on Rosetta, such as Office for Mac 2004Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
and Quicken for Mac 2007QuickenQuicken is a personal finance management tool developed by Intuit, Inc.Quicken runs on Windows and Macintosh systems. Previous versions ran on DOS. An online version is also available. The last version of Quicken for Macintosh computers was Quicken Essentials for Mac released in February 2010...
, are no longer supported. This affects applications listed as Classic or PowerPC in System ProfilerSystem profilerA system profiler is a program that can provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer. Typically workstations and personal computers have had system profilers as a common feature since the mid-1990s....
. - Unix package managers for Mac OS X such as FinkFinkThe Fink project is an effort to port and package open-source Unix programs to Mac OS X. Fink uses dpkg and APT , as well as its own frontend program, fink ....
and MacPortsMacPortsMacPorts, formerly called DarwinPorts, is a package management system that simplifies the installation of software on the Mac OS X and Darwin operating systems. It is a free/open source software project to simplify installation of other free/open source software...
require reinstalling and then running XcodeXcodeXcode is a suite of tools, developed by Apple, for developing software for Mac OS X and iOS. Xcode 4.2, the latest major version, is available on the Mac App Store for free for Mac OS X 10.7 , and on the Apple Developer Connection website for free to registered developers Xcode is a suite of tools,...
. Many core packages have yet to be successfully ported to Lion.
Release history
| Version | Build | Date | OS name Uname uname is a software program in Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems that prints the name, version and other details about the current machine and the operating system running on it... |
Notes | Standalone download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.7 | 11A511 | July 20, 2011 | Darwin Darwin (operating system) Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.... 11.0 |
Original release | Available from the Mac App Store |
| 11A511s | August 16, 2011 | Darwin Darwin (operating system) Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.... 11.0 |
Build contained on Lion USB Thumb Drive | Lion USB drive | |
| 11A2061 and 11A2063 | July 20, 2011 | Darwin Darwin (operating system) Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.... 11.0.2 |
For Mid 2011 Mac Mini (11A2061) and Mid 2011 MacBook Air (11A2063) | Lion Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R upon reboot on Mid-2011 or later Macs) | |
| 10.7.1 | 11B26 | August 16, 2011 | Darwin Darwin (operating system) Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.... 11.1.0 |
About the OS X Lion v10.7.1 Update | Mac OS X v10.7.1 Update |
| 11B2118 | For the Mid 2011 Mac Mini and Mid 2011 MacBook Air | Mac OS X v10.7.1 Update for MacBook Air and Mac Mini 2011 | |||
| 10.7.2 | 11C74 | October 12, 2011 | Darwin Darwin (operating system) Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.... 11.2 |
About the OS X Lion v10.7.2 UpdateAdds iCloud ICloud iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple Inc. announced on June 6, 2011 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference . The service allows users to store data such as music files on remote computer servers for download to multiple devices such as iPhones, iPods, iPads, and... , various bug fixes, minor user interface tweaks, Safari 5.1.1, and the ability to boot into Lion Recovery from a Time Machine disk. |
Mac OS X v10.7.2 Individual update (delta Delta update A delta update is an update that only requires the user to download the code that has changed, not the whole program. It can significantly save time and bandwidth.... ) Combo update (includes 10.7.1) |