OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of OS X (previously Mac OS X, now called macOS), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012 for purchase and download through Apple's Mac App Store, as part of a switch to releasing OS X versions online and every year, rather than every two years or so. Named to signify its status as a refinement of the previous Mac OS X version, Lion, Apple's stated aims in developing Mountain Lion were to allow users to more easily manage and synchronise content between multiple Apple devices and to make the operating system more familiar.
The operating system gained the new malware-blocking system Gatekeeper and integration with Apple's online Game Center and iCloud services, while the Safari web browser was updated to version 6. As on iOS, Notes and Reminders became full applications, separate from Mail and Calendar, while the iChat application was replaced with a version of iOS's Messages. Mountain Lion also added a version of iOS's Notification Center, which groups updates from different applications in one place. Integrated links allowing the user to rapidly transfer content to Twitter were present in the operating system from launch. Facebook integration was also planned but unfinished at launch date. It was released as a downloadable update later.
OS X Mountain Lion received positive reviews, with critics praising Notification Center, Messages, and speed improvements over Mac OS X Lion, while criticizing iCloud for unreliability and Game Center for lack of games. Mountain Lion sold three million units in the first four days, and has sold 28 million units as of June 10, 2013, making it Apple's most popular OS X release. Mountain Lion was the last paid upgrade for an OS X major release, with OS X Mavericks and later being free.
System requirements
The official system requirements of OS X 10.8 are 2 GB RAM, 8 GB available storage, OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later, on any of the following Macs:
- iMac (Mid 2007 or newer. Late 2006 is supported if an app called MlPostFactor v0.3 is used.)
- MacBook (Aluminum, Late 2008), (Polycarbonate, Early 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
- Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
- Xserve (Early 2009)
As in 10.7, the earliest models supporting AirDrop are the late-2008 MacBook Pro, late-2010 MacBook Air, late-2008 MacBook, mid-2010 Mac Mini, and early-2009 Mac Pro with an AirPort Extreme card. Any Mac released in or after 2011, except the MacBook, supports AirPlay Mirroring. Power Nap is supported on the mid-2011 or newer MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with Retina display.
The technical basis for these requirements is incompatibility with 32-bit EFI and 32-bit kernel extensions (most importantly, drivers for GPUs shipped in some older Macs). In order to prevent potentially incompatible systems from installing 10.8, the installer contains a whitelist of supported motherboard IDs. Users have bypassed these limitations so that 10.8 may run with varying functionality on some officially unsupported computers.
