Mountain Lion - Apple's answer to Microsoft's Windows 8

PC era is leaping its last breath ,thanks to converging software and hardware led by Apple’s Mountain Lion and Microsoft’s Windows 8.The pace with which changes are happening in the  OS ( operating systems )are phenomenal .

Both Windows 7 and  OS X 10.6 were released in 2009 with almost nil cloud ,mobile or cross platform features making it as a typical “PC” operating system which means you can’t add extra functionality via third-party software and innovative that were lacking in the standalone PC system.

Both these OS (Operating system)  giants  are expected to release by second half of 2012 ,with enticing features linked to cloud ,mobile or home entertainment revolutionized as the centre of digital ecosystem.

Windows 8 and Mountain Lion,has a single sign-on which lets the users to sync all his/her documents ,images and music between all the devices via Windows Live and iCloud . With AirPlay mirroring and Game Center, Mountain Lion will become  as a complete home entertainment system, allowing Mac, iPhone, and iPad users to stream live  against each other on an Apple TV.On the other side ,Windows 8 apps will automatically sync between five Windows 8 devices (home, office, tablet, and so on).

 Apple is bridging  the gap between the desktop and mobile OSes with new iOS features inserted into the desktop OS ,changes most visible in the Notification Center.A number of apps renamed to mirror the Ios names like iCal renamed as Calendar ,iChat as Messages etc. On the Windows side ,its interface will rely heavily on the Metro Start screen similar to the Windows Phone 7 ( and 8). Also ,rumours are floating that Xbox 720 will be powered by Windows 8.

 It is interesting to note that both these tech giants are shaping up the positioning of these OS ‘s by converging from completely different directions.Microsoft is trying to breakthrough the tablet and phone market by utilizing its huge Windows userbase.While ,Apple is trying to attract its existing loyal iOS users to diversify its experience into a Mac laptop ,Apple TV and eventually an Apple iTV.

Microsoft can’t undermine the massive risks in shifting from highly profitable business on x86 PC’s and servers and the Office suite of software for the last 30 years into brand new architecture of Windows 8 offering Office for free ,taking out the Start button and menu  from the desktop and complicating it  with new  features that will baffling the user accustomed to earlier Windows platforms . It is its long term goal to succeed on tablets and finally ,driving its sales of Windows 8 phone (Microsoft- Nokia product in the making) which can become a risky business proposition .

Common  features of Mountain OS and Windows 8 are :

Messages App:

Mountain Lion:

The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk.

Windows 8:

Microsoft has two highly popular messaging platform called Windows Live Messenger and Skype which allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your PC to another PC or Mac or any mobile device. Both the services has hundreds of millions of users.

Game Center:

Mountain Lion:

Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone®, iPad or iPod touch®.

Windows 8:

Windows 8 will feature Xbox LIVE hub which will allow you to personalize your PC gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a PC or Windows Phone or a Xbox. Xbox LIVE currently has over 45 million active users.

Notification Center:

Mountain Lion:

Mountain Lion presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps.

Windows 8:

Microsoft doesn’t believe in providing a dump place for app notifications, instead apps will have their own Live tiles which will provide the latest updates. You can see how a Mountain Lion home screen & Windows 8 Start screen will look like from the images on the top. I prefer live tiles over sea of icons spread over my computer monitor.

Social Sharing:

Mountain Lion:

System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari®, Quick Look, Photo Booth®, Preview and third party apps.

Windows 8:

Windows 8 will have a new feature called Share contract which allows you to share links, photos and videos directly from Microsoft and third party apps. Now just twitter, any social network can be integrated into Windows 8′s system for sharing.

AirPlay:

Mountain Lion:

Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV

using Apple TV®.

Windows 8:

 Windows 8 doesn’t have any direct alternative to Apple’s AirPlay so far. But that doesn’t mean you can’t replicate the same using some other apps. For example DLNA compatible Windows devices can stream to virtually any DLNA compatible HDTV’s. Also Microsoft has not announced any integration with Xbox on Windows 8 so far which I think is highly possible since Microsoft has already released a Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone devices.

iCloud:

Mountain Lion:

More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices. Mountain Lion uses your Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime® and Find My Mac.

Windows 8:

Windows Live network which has over 500 million users worldwide is directly integrated into Windows 8. You can sign-in to Windows 8 PC with your Windows Live ID which will allow you to roam your contacts, messages, personalization settings, language settings, app settings, Windows settings, credentials, etc,. More than that Windows Live ID will give you access to 25GB of Cloud storage called SkyDrive which can be used to store photos, documents, etc and synced with Windows Phones as well.

Security:

Mountain Lion:

Gatekeeper is a revolutionary new security feature that gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. You can choose to install apps from any source, just as you do on a Mac today, or you can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, you can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.

Windows 8:

Windows has a long history of providing built-in security features in the OS. Windows Defender prevents malware from Windows PC’s and Microsoft even provides a free simple tools called Security Essentials which will protect you from malware, viruses, rootkits, etc,. Apple has even decided to rip-off the logo of Windows Defender & Security Essentials for its new Gatekeeper.  

So as to emerge as winner in its new avenues and innovations ,Microsoft has to differentiates its future products from Apple rather than imitating it. It needs to builds a robust business model and an app ecosystem which will drive its sustainability and reputation in the future as an technology innovator. On the other hand ,Apple has to retains its profitability driven by global sales by  not restricting itself to North American and European markets and creating great products in the same way the Ipads and Iphones did wonders for it .