Mac OS X Mountain Lion is version 10.8 of Apple Computer’s Mac OS X operating system for Macintosh desktop, laptop and server computers. The Mountain Lion release is the ninth update for Mac OS X, following earlier updates for the operating system: Cheetah (v10.0), Puma (v10.1), Jaguar (v10.2), Panther (v10.3), Tiger (v10.4), Leopard (v10.5), Snow Leopard (v10.6) and Lion (v10.7).
Most of Mac OS X Mountain Lion’s new additions are features and applications that have migrated over from Apple’s iOS mobile operating system as the company continues to meld OS X and iOS towards a single unified operating system. iOS features that make their debut in OS X Mountain Lion include Reminders, Notes and Contacts standalone apps; a new Notification Center patterned after the one in iOS; Game Center integration; and more.
Other additions in Mountain Lion include improved seamless integration with iCloud, a built-in Messages client (as seen in iOS-powered devices like the iPad and iPhone), a new Share Sheets feature (for sharing links, photos and more), AirPlay Mirroring capabilities, Gatekeeper security protection features, extensive Twitter integration, improvements to Safari and more.
Apple made Mac OS X Mountain Lion available for download through the Mac App Store on July 25th, 2012. The operating system can be purchased for $19.99 as an upgrade for current Mac OS X Lion or Snow Leopard OSes.
