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Mountain Lion changes enough to be worthwhileJul 28, 2012 (Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- PC users are bracing themselves for the fall release of Windows 8, which just might bring the most radical changes to the Windows platform since it was launched. Meanwhile, Mac users are busy downloading their latest operating system update, OS X Mountain Lion, which, at first glance, doesn't seem to change much at all. This is the Apple way. OS X gets updates more often than Windows, but each one tends to be less dramatic than those of Windows. Yet Mountain Lion seems pretty modest, even by Apple standards. Is the update worth the $19.99 The basic interface of Mountain Lion remains close to what it has been for years, with users picking out frequently used and open applications from symbols within the "dock" at the bottom of the screen. The dock now has the appearance of a strip of brushed aluminum, emulating the side of an iPhone right down to a small line on one end. In fact, a lot of changes make OS X feel more like its iOS cousin. Apple has replaced iChat with a Messages app, which can share messages for free with iPhones and iPads. And iCal has become Calendar. Address book has become Contacts, and Game Center and Notification Center have been added. The secret ingredient that makes all this feel like more than just cosmetic changes is full integration with iCloud. Changes you make on one i-device show up everywhere else with no effort involved. Tweak a contact's email address on the Mac and it'll show up instantly on an iPhone. A notification set to pop up on your iPad will also pop up on the Mac. It's amazingly handy -- assuming you already own other Apple stuff. The other major change is the institution of Gatekeeper, which will only increase the number of times tech writers refer to i-devices as "walled gardens." Unless you turn it off, it will automatically filter out any app that doesn't have a certificate from Apple. At the strictest setting, you can't run anything that didn't come from the App Store. Apple's argument is that this will make computers safer, and for the most part the company has done a great job of keeping malware from slipping onto its App Store. But anyone hoping to do more than what Apple has given its stamp of approval will surely bristle at the concept. At least it can be turned off. I was hoping to try Power Nap, which allows the system to download app updates, make data backups and synchronize with iCloud while sleeping, but it looks like the feature only works with MacBook Airs and the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Safari, which is Apple's Web browser, has a few interesting tweaks in Safari 6, which can also be downloaded for Lion. The address bar is now an "omnibar," which combines the address bar and a search field. Type in and you'll go straight to our website. Type in "Tulsa World," and you'll get a Google search that pulls up everything that mentions our publication. It's quite handy. Safari 6, like other applications, also has a "share" button that can allow you to add material to a reading list, email or message the material, or post it on Twitter. But for all the new capabilities, Apple has removed Safari's support for RSS feeds. That's a painful one for me, as I love getting news and updates from various sites without having to seek them out. Beyond that, it's hard to find things that have changed. You can now search through apps in the launch pad, there's support for mirroring the screen within Apple TV, and there are several new features for users in China. It's a light update. Fortunately the price is light as well. There are just enough useful features here to make updating worthwhile, especially if you have an iPhone or iPad. OS X Mountain Lion Mac operating system $19.99 Pros: Excellent iCloud integration, new apps that mirror iOS, "omnibar" for Safari. Cons: Relatively few changes, RSS integration has been removed, Power Nap is only on a few models. Robert Evatt 918-581-8447 [email protected] ___ (c)2012 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at www.tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |