Credit: Apple Inc.
Apple officially launched its newest Macintosh operating system dubbed, Mountain Lion, OSX 10.8 yesterday, Wednesday July 25, 2012. The new software narrows the gap between the PC and phone software packages, making Mac personal computers work more like iPhones and iPads. Only computers running the most recent versions of Mac OS, Lion and Snow Leopard, can be upgraded. It will be sold only as a download from Apple’s official Web site with a price tag of $19.99. Macs bought on or after June 11 can be upgraded for free.
The new software will bring dictation to Macs, essentially allowing the computer to type as you talk. Using Dictation allows you to write notes, compose e-mails, and reply to chat conversations simply by speaking whatever it is you want to type. The benefits of using such an option on a mobile device are quite obvious—you can probably speak faster than you can press the tiny virtual keys of the gadget.
Mountain Lion’s additions of iOS apps like Game Center, iMessage and Reminders makes experiencing the Apple ecosystem seamless. But if you don’t own an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, those features may not be “must haves.”
Air Play mirroring is another feature that has gotten a lot of attention. Now Mac users can watch videos in 1080 p on their high definition televisions over Wi-Fi, using Apple TV or iTunes. Mac OSX Mountain Lion is available now at the Apple App Store. The size of the file is 4.05 GB.
I’m planning to buy the new iPad on Saturday with a Logictec keyboard case by Zagg. I’m not very good typing over a glass surface. I prefer the old traditional keyboard. Shortly after acquiring the gadget, I too will probably download the big cat from Apple. I also had plans to buy an iMac but its steep price is outside of my cash-strapped budget. Meanwhile I’ll use my ole HP and the recently acquired Sony Vaio laptop. Those babies will keep me busy for a while. Good Day and enjoy your Apple-a-day.
Voice recognition software has a LONG way to go. I had a top of the line program a while back. It takes quite a bit of time for it to become accustomed to YOUR voice and it still comes up with some pretty bizarre spellings.
Voice recognition will NOT let you get things down faster than typing now, nor do I think it every will. It may be okay for making notes to yourself, but little more. With voice recognition you still have to say such things as “comma,” “period,” and “paragraph” to have those things entered on the computer page. If you don’t say those things you’ll get the longest run-on sentence in the history of literature. Not only that, but voice recognition software doesn’t type as fast as you talk and you find yourself having to wait while it catches up. Maybe someday, but not today or anywhere in the near future.
Hi Richard:
I was thinking it could be useful for composing small e-mails without using the digital keyboard. I feel lost typing on a glass surface. With time, I’m sure voice recognition software will be greatly improved. Computer software is getting better and better all the time.
My Windows XP works very well, even though it’s been out in the wild for several years. I understand Apple excels in user-friendly software. I’ll find out Saturday when I buy an Apple iPad (with a standard keyboard). My Kindle Fire has very limited features in Panama; nothing compared with what you can do with the same gadget in the States.
Bye,
Omar.-
A couple items.
1. You said you were going to get an iPad and then get Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion only runs on Apple desktops or Apple laptops. IOS runs on the iPad and a new release #6 is scheduled for October.
2. The Apple products give you more if you have more than one product. In other words, an iPad with an Apple desktop will do more than an iPad with a Microsoft desktop. Some of the real benefits come from the integration with the “cloud”.
3. I played with the dictation on Mountain Lion some yesterday. It actually works pretty well. You do have to put in punctuation, but it got 95% of all my words correct. For example, I said, “Koki is my dog.” and it typed “Cookie is my dog”. Still close. It was much better than I was expecting.
The upgrade to Mountain Lion went very well. The added features are well worth the effort and the cost is trivial ($19.99 for up to 5 devices).
Hi Don:
Thanks for the info. I can wait until October to upgrade to release 6 if the features are promising.
I’m glad that the Dictation features works well. It can be very useful in composing small e-mails and/or notes.
The cost is minimal, I agree.
Regards,
Omar.-