Apple Releases New Lion OS For Developers Only
For those who want a peek ahead at what's in store for the future of the Macintosh OS X, Apple has announced the developer preview of its next operating system, Lion (you begin to wonder if they are going to run out of ferocious cats to name their software after). This is for developers only, the actual consumer product won't be available until this summer, but it's fun to look in from the outside.
The one thing that's significant is that the release will be done through the Mac App Store. No more discs. There will be many new features that draw on what Apple has learned from what people have habitually done on the iPhone and iPad. That means documents will autosave and will restart when you restart your Mac. Mail, in its 5th generation, will also behave much like iPad.
The standard scrollbars along the side will disappear, only to be replaced by scrollbars that appear only when you need them. The UI, is still called Aqua, but Apple says, "Aqua defines the look and feel that users come to expect from Mac OS X. Lion takes this experience and brings it to a new level with popovers, overlay scrollbars, and powerful multi-touch gestures and animations."
There's a function called AirDrop (which sounds a lot like DropBox) and it's a way to send files to any other Mac wirelessly.
Apple says, "With AirDrop in Mac OS Lion, you can send files to anyone around you—wirelessly. AirDrop doesn't require setup or special settings. Just click the AirDrop icon in the Finder sidebar, and you Mac automatically discovers other people nearby who are using AirDrop. You'll even see contact photos for those who are already in your Address Book. To share a file, simply drag it to someone's name. Once accepted, the file transfers directly to the person's Downloads folder. When you're done with AirDrop, close the Finder and your Mac is no longer visible to others."
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