Getting back on track, the sixth of our ten Lion features is Resume, a feature which allows everything from running programs to the OS itself to remember its last-used state when it's started up. This feature is said by Apple to be "system-wide," meaning that there should be literally nothing that can't be remembered and relaunched in the event of a system shutdown.
In the same spirit of automation, our next feature is auto-saving, which brings to OS X a Google Docs-like attitude toward saving documents: automatically and often, without the need for constant CTRL-S keystrokes or did-you-want-to-save-your-changes prompts. If you don't want a document to automatically save, you can opt out of auto-save by locking it. Apple only demoed this functionality with its own iWork products, but I assume that the APIs will be usable and that the more-widely-used Microsoft Office could take advantage of this service with a few tweaks.
Auto-save works with Versions, which uses a Time Machine-esque interface to allow you to view all past versions of a given document. This happens automatically as you work, though you can also manually save a snapshot of your file if you'd like. You can then compare past and current versions side-by-side, copying and pasting content from one to the other.
Our penultimate Lion feature is Air Drop, which aims to simplify the sharing of files between computers in close proximity. Apple claims that clicking the AirDrop icon in the Finder will automatically find any computer within 30 feet of yours. If the user on the other end accepts the transfer, it's moved over with no need to put the computers on the same network. This would certainly be useful for quick sharing of documents at a conference or something, though if you need to share multiple files with people over a great physical distance, I'd still recommend something like Dropbox.
The last feature Apple demoed was Lion's new Mail app - Mail has been pretty static since 10.4 or 10.5, so it's good to see it get a fresh, Gmail-flavored coat of paint.
In keeping with Lion's "back to the Mac" motif, Mail now more closely resembles its iOS counterpart: The left column is used to show your messages (with or without conversation view: your choice) while the right pane is now a full-height message viewing window. In addition, the new Mail offers search suggestions based on your terms (i.e., searching all messages for the month of March, finding messages from specific senders, and etc.).
Conclusions
These ten features are probably among the more visible in Lion, but keep in mind that Apple is always moving and changing around a lot of little things about Mac OS in between versions - we probably won't know everything about the operating system until we have it in-hand (figuratively, of course, since we have to download it now).
At first glance, I'd say that none of said changes are to the detriment of the platform: the iOS additions and multitouch functionality are generally only used where they'd actually make sense (with the possible exception of Launchpad, which seems a bit tacked-on at best and a way to make non-App Store apps less accessible at worst). You can still use a mouse and keyboard to get around, but I could see the additions to Lion making a touchpad preferable in some circumstances (there's something I never thought I'd say).
Other changes (like the Mac App Store) that attempt to alter OS X on a more fundamental level don't do so at the expense of more traditional functionality (like downloading and installing programs from anywhere you want). The file system is still there. If you have a favorite browser or program that chooses not to make itself available in the App Store, you can still install and use it. Knowing Apple, I don't feel comfortable saying that you'll always be able to do that, but that change isn't coming with Lion.
And that's all she wrote! Stay tuned for more on iOS 5 and iCloud, Apple's other big WWDC reveals, later today!
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PeteH - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Isn't that basically what Apple's always done, a cheap upgrade from the latest version of the OS, but full price from older versions? Or am I remembering that incorrectly?xzion - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
"Apple covered THEIR new products..."sorry, pet hate.
Andrew.a.cunningham - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Urgh, me too, I can't believe I did that. Fixed.GotThumbs - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
Wow! Forget being subtle. Apples is not giving its fan base many options for loading software on to macs. The level of CONTROL apples is wielding over its consumers is growing by the hour. Careful to all those apple fans...before you know it....You'll be drinking the cool-aid. I do think apple is a safe bet for those with limited knowledge and who tend to get into trouble with their PC's and free surfing the web.Good article.
Tros - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
It's AWFUL. It's like being given the choice to use the App Store is completely overshadowing my ability to use any other means to install software.Or maybe you're just making it into something bigger than it actually is.
farhadd - Monday, June 6, 2011 - link
What about old Mac pro towers with 64 bit xeons but no 64 bit kernel boot support?Andrew.a.cunningham - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
I could be wrong, but you *should* be covered. There are a lot of older Core 2 Duo Macs without 64-bit kernel boot support/EFI that support the new OS just fine.Impulses - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
Nothing revolutionary, the lowered price actually fits the upgrade well if you ask me. I'm not too bothered by Apple's desire to focus people on the App store, it's a good move for the average consumer as long as they never go too far in that direction (and completely block other forms of software install for advanced users).Frankly, Steve's quotes about file system scared me far more than their intentions with the App store, there's nothing inherently wrong w/the existing file system... If there's one concept of modern PCs that's easy to understand it's files and folders for pete's sake. Doing away with it would cripple an OS way more than limiting what software you can or can't install. They didn't do anything about this on Lion, but he clearly stated his intentions, he'd like it to be entirely like iOS, ugh.
P.S. Hasn't file version'ing been part of Windows for a while? At 'least since Vista no? AFAIK Windows Office suites have had auto-save enabled by default (without any prompts) for years as well... It sure isn't as slick as the Versions/Time Machine combo tho, but all of it is still predicated on people buying that second hard drive and enabling the backup features, too bad they can't force people to actually do that. :p
psonice - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
Well, they *can't* get rid of it, what they're aiming for is to *hide* it. If you've used an iphone, you'll realise you don't actually need direct file system access to use it.. which gets rid of a lot of complexity and general messing around with stuff that turns out to be unnecessary.For the mac, I think the terminal is a good example of where they might go. Most users don't want or need access to the underlying unix system, so they never see it. Fire up the terminal though, and you have full access. They could do the same with the file system, make it work like the iphone where you don't *need* the finder, so most users won't touch it, but it's there if you do. Just the same as the app store being the default, but other options are there for those of us who know what we're doing.
I think this is good, for anyone technical it's still a very powerful OS, but it gets easier to do the simple stuff, and you get even fewer support calls from friends + relatives who don't care what the technical bits do, they just want a browser and a way to write emails and letters.
gofasterstripes - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
Hi Guys and Gals -If this is download only, is it going to possible to make a Hackintosh still?
I have a x58 system I was going to install 10.5 on, but not got around to it yet. Now I guess I'd be 10.6 if I was going to, but I am unsure how this would now work. Do I need to buy 10.5 and then upgrade? Or is it just download to an existing machine and burn the stand-alone 10.6 disk. Either way, I have a suspicion Apple's servers won't let me download from them if the connection doesn't come from a registered Apple machine. Any thoughts?
[new to posting here, and having a little trouble trouble seeing all the existing comments as under FF4 no-matter which page of comments I'm on it always shows as page 1, so if this has already been asked please forgive me]
Thanks! GfS