We saw a fair amount of Mountain Lion when Apple dropped its developer preview a few months ago. And not only will the download bring all the iOS-ified features promised, it will also bring more integrated iCloud functionality, a redesigned Safari and Siri-like dictation capabilities.
The iCloud functionality has already been documented, working to sync notes, calendars, reminders, messages, email, music and more, but there’s a new one added today: Documents. Documents has been available on iOS devices for a while, but it will now be integrated into the desktop platform as well.
Dictation is said to be integrated throughout Mountain Lion and will be integrated everywhere.
Safari, meanwhile, has been redesigned to function much like Google’s Chrome browser. That means the search and URL boxes have been integrated into a single field.
The main goal of the Mountain Lion update will be to bridge the gap between the traditional interface of Mac OS X, and the touch-friendly design of iOS without forcing either operating system to run on a set of hardware it wasn’t designed for. The two platforms will share features such as Notes, Calendar, Notifications, Reminders, Messages and iCloud, but they will very much remain separate entities in both its user-facing design and technical underpinnings. This is something of a contrast to what Microsoft is trying to accomplish with Windows 8, which was designed to run on tablets and PCs alike, with few tweaks made to the actual software.
More:
– iOS 6: All The New Features Coming Soon To Your iPhone And iPad
– Apple’s New MacBook Pro Is One Amazing-Looking Laptop
– The New MacBook Air Is The Greatest Ever
– Apple WWDC 2012 Meta Liveblog: All The News As It Happened
– Mac OS X Mountain Lion Coming With Dictation And Deeper iCloud Integration