Here’s a list of things that Mountain Lion killed today

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Apple’s merging of iOS with OS X continues today with our first glimpse at 10.8 Mountain Lion, the next major OS release for Macs. Of course, in the process of bringing the best of both worlds together, some things win out. In the case of Mountain Lion, several apps and features were replaced with their iOS counterparts. Here is everything from past OS X releases that died today at the hand of Apple’s iOS-ifying of Mountain Lion:

iChat: Mountain Lion introduces an OS X version of the iOS “Messages” app that replaces iChat and integrates your AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts when installed. It also introduces unlimited messaging to and from Macs and iOS devices. Although the FaceTime app still appears to be present in Mountain Lion, the new Messages app also integrates FaceTime video chats. Messages on OS X completes the merging of FaceTime and iChat with a Mac compatible version of iMessages from iOS, making iChat and just about every third-party messaging app obsolete in the process.

iCal & Address Book: In Mountain Lion Address Book and iCal were both replaced with names of their iOS equals, “Contacts” and “Calendar.” In this case, the change is mainly just the names, but improved iCloud integration gets the OS X Contacts and Calendar apps and the iOS versions closer to becoming one in the same.

Growl: For a long time, third-party, open-source notification utility Growl was the go-to solution for OS X users. It is hard to argue Apple’s integration of a Notification Center almost identical to iOS 5 does not completely replace the need for Growl. Apple is letting developers integrate notifications into their apps, and we will likely see further integration between Notification Center on iOS and OS X in future updates.

“Mac”: While it i’s not something the average user is likely to pay attention to, Apple’s decision to officially drop the “Mac” from “Mac OS X” signifies a big change. Mac was part of the OS name for more than 10 years, and dropping the “Mac” will surely make things easier when the inevitable unification of iOS and OS X is complete. There are even models of Macs that did not make the cut for Mountain Lion support.

HDMI out: With AirPlay mirroring support in Mountain Lion, HDMI out is on the way out. It might not be reason to throw out your HDMI cables right away, but the prospect of wirelessly beaming your Mac’s screen to the upcoming Apple HDTV means Apple is likely to keep improving it.

source 9to5mac.com

Messages replaces iChat, public beta available today (Updated)

Posted By Ray Nicolini


Apple on Thursday released a public beta of Messages, its next-generation messaging app for the Mac that will be a part of Mac OS X Mountain Lion. It lets you send and receive iMessages, just like iOS devices running iOS 5. Now you can "text" chat via iMessage with the iPhones, iPads and iPod touches in you life.Note that when installed, Messages replaces iChat, but not its functionality. You'll still have chat support for your AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts. As with iOS, Messages lets you see when your partner is typing via an ellipsis animation. Messages also supports drag-and-drop support for sharing photos and videos.This is a beta build, so expect changes before the final version is released. Lion users can try it out. Note that iot requires Mac OS 10.7.3. Have fun!


Update: The beta release seems to be temporarily unavailable. Apple notes: "Our apologies but there was an unexpected error with the application. This problem has been noted, and an email has been sent to the administrators. Please check back in a few hours to try the download again."