An overview of OS X Lion

Mac OS X Lion's role in the grand scheme of the Appleverse is to fuse the success and simplicity of iOS with the desktop OS. As a result, we've seen a lot of the features found on the iPhone and iPad migrate over to Lion.

One significant change to Lion is how you acquire it. Traditionally, the OS was sold to customers via a physical medium (CD or DVD). Lion changes this paradigm by becoming the first operating system to be sold exclusively online. The product can be purchased through Apple's App Store for a price of $29.99. The product is technically an upgrade, though a bootable DVD or USB key can be created for those who prefer clean installs. Refer to this guide for those instructions.

Some more notable changes include:

Natural Scrolling
Perhaps the biggest change users will immediately notice is how one interfaces with the operating system. Natural Scrolling simulates the interaction one has with content on the iPad or iPhone. Rather than scrolling down to push a page down, users now scroll up. This approach does have logic to it if you've ever used a touch interface. However it might confuse users who have been doing the opposite on Apple devices for pretty much their entire lives.

While the option is turned on by default, it can be disabled by going to System Preferences > TrackPad > Scroll & Zoom, then deselecting "Scroll Direction: Natural".

No More Scroll bars
Another noticeable change to the interface has been the removal of scroll bars. Scrolling is still possible; it's just that the bars themselves have been removed to be more aesthetically pleasing. When you begin scrolling, thin bars will appear to show you contextually where you are in a document, folder or web page, displaying how much room is left to scroll. When you complete the action the bars will disappear again. This effect is identical to that seen on the iPad and iPhone.

Although scroll bars are disabled by default, they can be restored. To do this, go to System Preferences > General. Find the option "Show scroll bars" and select "Always". Oddly, the default is "Based on input device", meaning that non-Apple mice will turn on the scroll bars by default.

Eight directions of resizing
A peeve of many Windows users who migrated to the Mac was the oddly restrictive nature of window resizing. For some reason, a window could only be resized from the bottom right corner. This "feature" is gone from Lion and replaced with the ability to resize a window from any corner or side.

Auto-save & versions
Something that you don't think about on the iPhone and iPad: saving your documents. It's done manually for you behind the scenes. This feature is now in Lion. To take things further, you can also access a Time Machine-like view of your document and review the various "versions" it has gone through, with the option to revert back to those if needed.

Currently, both these features are only available with Apple's in-house programs. Third party developers will need to integrate these features themselves, so it may be a while before your program of preference (Microsoft Word, for instance) adds this functionality.

Launchpad
A new way to access all your applications, presented in the same fashion as the iPad or iPhone home screen. Apps can be moved around and put into iOS-like folders in the same fashion as their mobile cousins.

Full-screen apps
Lion now has the ability to display an application in full-screen. While this might not seem particularly innovative, it does replicate the experience of iOS by hiding both the dock and menu and leaving your program as the only point of focus. Likewise, with gesture support and mission control, you can swipe (or toggle) between full screen apps as needed with relative ease.

AirDrop
Apple has reinvented file sharing in OS X Lion. The older method (which is still available) revolved around finding public drop boxes on a network and dropping files right in there. With AirDrop, you can find any users in your network area simply by clicking on the AirDrop screen. From there, you can drag and drop content and you're done. One caveat though: to see another user in the AirDrop menu, they also have to be in the AirDrop section. So while the peer-to-peer sharing functionality couldn't be easier, both the sender and recipient need to be using AirDrop simultaneously.

Mission Control
Mission Control is a revamp of Expose, Dashboard and Spaces for the purpose of easier management of all your running full-screen applications and programs. Running programs and their various elements are now grouped together for easier identification. Likewise, full screen apps are separated as spaces that can be swiped or toggled between for quick access.

Lion boasts over 250 new features. A full list of features and improvements can be found here.
OS X Lion can be purchased from the Mac App store for $29.99 worldwide.