OS X Mountain Lion Available in July, Priced at $19.99
No more guesses or vague release schedules, Apple has announced that OS X Mountain Lion will be released in July at a price of $19.99. The download will be available exclusively through the Mac App Store and following along with Apple’s generous purchase policy, a single purchase of Mountain Lion will install on all personally authorized Macs.
Versioned as Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion includes a wide variety of new features, including iMessage integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Dictation (think Siri minus the responses), Sharing Sheets, Notifications, Notes & Reminders apps, GateKeeper, Game Center, improved full screen support, and all-around heavy iCloud integration.
As we have mentioned before, you can upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion directly from Snow Leopard in addition to Lion.
Any new Macs bought from here until the official release date qualify for free upgrades to Mountain Lion, that includes the fancy next gen MacBook Pro.
As a former Microsoft Server user, I am very impressed with OSX and Apple’s cost basis for upgrades. $30 for upgrading 5 computers? That’s about $750 in MS land, however, the learning curve is a lot steeper for the OSX Servers (just an opinion, my experience, at least). Also, no user/machine licensing fees either. Wow… just wow!
Will Mountain Lion Server release in July as well?
I’m saying yes because the 10.8 Server GM is out for Devs now. Also, since you’re so experienced with Windows-based servers and their interface, its more difficult for you to swap over to OS X. However, when someone brand new to computers gets in front of OS X, its easier for them to use and navigate through as compared to sitting down in front of Windows 7 instead.
I read somewhere that it would be a one off payment for any Mac in the same household. Anyone know if that’s true or just wishful thinking on the part of the author.
All major OS X releases purchased through the App Store will install on all personally authorized Macs that share the same Apple ID. It’s part of Apple’s App Store policy.
Nice one, thanks.
Anyone else notice when they were demoing Power Nap that the Calendar icon was July 17th? Seems a bit much of a coincidence…
I can’t find Torrent links anywhere, not even on iModZone.
Why don’t they just make this OS updates free like they do with iOS. And then everyone will really also start questioning Microsofts business model of charging for 300 per upgrade every 3 years to run on sub par hardware.
Everyone should already be questioning Microsofts Business model. If they don’t do something soon their 24 month upgrade process time that their users take will turn into none because they simply don’t want to spend that amount of money on an upgrade. In the worlds eyes people need to stop saying that whatever they are talking about is the Microsoft of that topic and replace it with Apple.
Easy work around for the expensive Windows programs: TPB :)
Looking like we are being pushed towards Lion or Mountain Lion, as the new update to Aperture will not work on Snow Leopard.
Now I’m sure iOS is great on a handhled device, but on a desktop I’m not convinced, personally I use a mouse not a pad and don’t care about all the gesture stuff.
So can I skip Lion completely and jump from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion?
Yes. You can go directly from SL to ML.
Correct, you will need Mac OS X 10.6.8 and the Mac App Store though.
Yes, you don’t need ti have Lion to install Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard with the up to the latest upgrade will be enough.
Yes you can. But wait just a few weeks and watch a few YouTube videos of people reviewing the OS.
yes, u can do it.
“If you are running Snow Leopard (10.6.x), update to the latest version of OS X Snow Leopard before you purchase OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store. Click the Apple icon and choose Software Update to install Snow Leopard v10.6.8, the latest version,” from http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade.
“*As a power user*, I’m so completely against the iOS-ification of the desktop.”
As a troll you mean.
With Lion a mere 12 months old, can we safely call it a failure? I’m looking forward to see what other “features” they put into Mountain Lion that we’ll have to write little apps to remove, disable, and otherwise undo.
As a power user, I’m so completely against the iOS-ification of the desktop. I will never use dictate, GateKeeper, or apps in full-screen. Probably won’t be a fan of the notifications system, and I’m sure the iCloud use will be clunky at first.
Mountain Lion is what they cut out from Lion. Sorta as an experiment, and also so they can squeeze more money out of people.
Squeeze money out of people? You did see the $20 price tag, right? They’re practically giving it away! Literally, for anyone who bought any of the new Macs starting today.
Let’s count that $30 first for 10.7 and then additional $20 for 10.8 (and probably $9.99 for finished Cyber Space Lion 10.9 next year).
And they’re disabling Messagess beta if you have installed it in 10.7. Shameful, Apple giveth, Apple taketh away because if you don’t have much more to show in your new OS X 10.8…..
So it’s not like FaceTime beta which was even later made available in AppStore for $0.99. By the way I would prefer that they put some stuff as an app in the AppStore. If you would want everything you could buy the whole package for $20 (with exclusive cosmetic changes like ‘save as’ keyboard shortcut, launchpad search etc.) but if you want for example Reminders, iMessagess, Notifications, AirPlay or maybe Dictation (!) just buy the chosen app for $0.99, $1.99 or $2.99. Would you buy anything from Mountain Lion ? If yes, then in your opinion which app is worthy to have it already ?
It’s twenty dollars, youre cheap. You bought a Mac that starts at $1000 ($600 if you got a Mini) and you’re complaining about $20?!
Let’s think of it this way. To upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate (to get all the features; which is only fair because with OS X, you get all the features as well) cost $219.99. Apple just SAVED, let me say that again… SAVED!!! you $200 and you’re getting a way better OS as well. OS X has lots more features that make daily life using your comp easier and more concise, such as all your mail in one place (Mail), simply displaying all the activities that have occurred in one place (Notification Center), and stitching together internet browsing on all you devices so you can pick up on you Mac where you left off on your iPod (iCloud tabbed browsing on Safari).