Overview of new OS X DP4 Mountain Lion

To mark the introduction of the keynote WWDC 2012, Craig Federighi presented the final version of Mountain Lion, which will be available next month. Overview of changes that were still kept secret among more than 200 new features.

Full integration of icloud

Mountain Lion completes the work started with Lion and fully integrates icloud in OS X. While Microsoft has chosen to unify the appearance of its systems, the mobile to the big screen through the tablet, Apple prefers unification by the services: the role of icloud, which is a trait of union between the Mac, iPhone and the iPad. As Lion, Mountain Lion OS X synchronizes mail, contacts, calendars, and photos, but it now has two applications completing the integration iOS: Notes and Reminders.

DP4 The full integration of the function Documents in the cloud: a next update of Pages, Keynote and Numbers will work on the same document on Mac or iOS with updates in real time. Developers have already access to a SDK to add this feature into their applications, and many are ready.

FaceTime and IMessages: towards the merger of Apple ID

FaceTime and messages are now supported on iOS as on OS X, but the identifiers differ from one device to another: it will tend to reach you on your phone number on your iPhone on your Mac to your Apple ID. The "experience" is therefore not unified by mode of contact, messages and calls will not be synchronized on all platforms. Obviously aware of this problem, Apple has taken a first step towards a fusion of different Apple ID.

Since iOS 5, your Apple ID can be associated with your phone number and email addresses side: you can check your data on the Apple site. IOS has six new settings that allow even the iPhone, start a conversation with an Apple ID IMessages and so find it on the iPad and Mac. It's not even a merger, and the setting is not available on OS X, but it is a step in the right direction.

The notification center entered

The center notifications, from iOS 5, has continued to be modified in various versions of Mountain Lion. In the final, it is reported in the menu bar no longer a target icon but an icon list. While the target changed color with the arrival of new notifications, the list remains black.

The center of notifications of final version of Mountain Lion always shows a list of these alerts, but it now has buttons to tweet or post on Facebook (if you have connected your Twitter account or Facebook) to activate the "Do Not Disturb "and, at the bottom to open the preferences of the center. These preferences allow you to decide which particular applications can become lodged in the center of notifications and in what fashion form. The "Do not disturb" can temporarily disable the notification center, which can be particularly useful when in full screen mode, we want to stay focused. When the Mac detects it is connected to a projection device, the method "do not disturb" is activated automatically so that your audience can read your notifications: it's smart.

Facebook integration

Since we are talking of the widget in the center of publication of notices, as we see in iOS 6 that Facebook made its debut in OS X. Unlike Twitter, present since the earliest versions of Mountain Lion and will be available in the final version, Facebook there will be fully integrated in the fall with the release of IOS 6: by then, developers can install a package that adds this feature. We can then connect their Facebook account to X.On OS can then use the Share menu, built into most of the default apps and developers can also use to share content directly to Facebook. Here, we sent a video to the social network.