DailyTech - Quick Note: Apple's OS X Mountain Lion Exceeds 3M Downloads in First Four Days

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Software Quick Note: Apple's OS X Mountain Lion Exceeds 3M Downloads in First Four Days
Tiffany Kaiser - July 30, 2012 10:37 AM

28 comment(s) - last by palladium.. on Jul 31 at 3:38 AM

Mountain Lion is available as a $20 upgrade in the Mac App Store

Apple has yet another hit on its hands. Its latest OS X Mountain Lion operating system hit over 3 million downloads in just a four-day period following its release.

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is Apple's ninth major release of the OS X operating system. It was initially announced February 16, 2012.

The new OS comes with many new features, including the Notification Center, Dictation, iCloud integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Game Center, and Facebook integration. It also offers Power Nap, which allows a Mac to check email and sync iTunes content while in a deep sleep while also downloading software updates and performing Time Machine backups.

"Just a year after the incredibly successful introduction of Lion, customers have downloaded Mountain Lion over three million times in just four days, making it our most successful release ever," said Philip Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing for Apple.

Mountain Lion is available as a $20 upgrade in the Mac App Store.

Apple has had a pretty busy year so far. In March, it released the new iPad, which featured a 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 resolution Retina Display as well as 4G LTE capabilities. This fall, Apple is due to release its next-generation iPhone along with its upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 6. The new iPhone is set to have new features like a 19-pin dock connector (instead of the usual 30-pin), a taller screen size of 3.999 inches diagonally, a centered camera, unibody casing with metal backplates, and a relocated headphone jack.

Source: Apple

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Of course it's a hit

By amanojaku on 7/30/2012 11:05:13 AM , Rating: 1

It's only $20 dollars, so even if it sucks it doesn't make a dent in the wallet. You spend more than that on a ticket to the movies, popcorn and a soda.

And please stop calling this an OS. It's a collection of widgets.

RE: Of course it's a hit

By Apone on 7/30/2012 11:40:19 AM , Rating: 2

@ amanojaku

Agreed, but I find the frugality of the "cheap $20 upgrade" contradicting as Apple isn't exactly known for offering cheap products.

quote:
And please stop calling this an OS. It's a collection of widgets.

LOL! Totally made my (Office Space) Monday morning!

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By headbox on 7/30/2012 8:35:24 PM , Rating: 2

No not cheap, but high resale value. I bought a MacBook Pro in 2008 for $1800... sold it 2.5 years later for $1500 within a couple hours of posting the ad. My phone rang off the hook too. Can't do that with a Dell, Sony, Lenovo, etc. the resale value with be a small fraction if it even sells at all. Your "purchase price" economics model is very flawed. And hey, many people don't consider a $2k laptop "expensive" because we actually "make money" with it.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By sigmatau on 7/30/2012 8:59:15 PM , Rating: 3

LOL, you should feel good about yourself for taking advantage of a fool. $1500 for a 3 year old computer? It doesn't matter if your computer crapped out unicorns, it wasn't worth $1500 after 3 years and you know it.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By web2dot0 on 7/30/2012 12:02:38 PM , Rating: 1

Then I guess you can run OSX without installing OSX.

Good luck with that approach though.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By amanojaku on 7/30/2012 12:47:25 PM , Rating: 2

I'm sorry, I should be more accurate. It is and OS, it's just not a NEW OS. It's OS 10.7, along with a collection of new widgets.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By web2dot0 on 7/30/2012 1:33:35 PM , Rating: 1

And you should before you open your mouth with your smug look.

That's like saying Win8 is Win7 with a Metro skin. In essence, you are paying $100 for a UI Skin. Goes both way bud.

So $100 for "UI Skin", or $20 for "widgets". Pick your poison.

At the end, the market will tell you whether it's a reasonable price. If the product isn't worth the price, then no one will buy it. Capitalism baby.

There are plenty of competition out there, so it's fair game. There are lots of alternatives, so what's your gripe?

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By amanojaku on 7/30/2012 2:24:10 PM , Rating: 2

You must be smoking fairy dust and drinking unicorn tears. First of all, I never mentioned Windows 8, but, since you brought it up... Windows 8 has a LOT of new features, and can be had for as little as $15. The average consumer would pay $40-$70 for the upgrade.

Explorer
http://www.pcworld.com/article/238699/microsoft_ov...

Family Safety
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/14/keep...

Hybrid Boot
http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-hybrid-mode-brings-...

Refresh and Reset
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011...

Storage Spaces
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/05/virt...

Task Manager
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-...

Virtualization
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20103376-75/wind...

Windows To Go
http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-windows-to-go-40100...

WORTH IT.

And I was pretty clear about my gripe: Mac OS X Mountain Lion is not a new OS. Unlike Windows 8, which has architectural changes, it is the SAME OS with new applications.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By TakinYourPoints on 7/30/2012 8:01:43 PM , Rating: 2

All less than every OS X update save 10.5 to 10.6. 10.3 to 10.4 alone was bigger than the XP to Vista update, let alone Vista to Win7.

Comparing OS X versions to Windows service packs only shows technical ignorance.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By sigmatau on 7/30/2012 9:08:46 PM , Rating: 2

This is a service pack, call it what you want. Windows service packs have similar amounts of "features."

I guess Windows is cheaper after all after you figure up all the service packs for which Apple users have to pay.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By koenshaku on 7/30/2012 10:27:46 PM , Rating: 2

Yes it is a service pack, Vista was a massive upgrade to XP. Bringing 64bit, better memory management, Direct X 10, Bitlocker, actually too much for me to even type here. fanboyism is one thing but you are just being silly at this point. Mountain Lion pales in comparison and it is clear it is like paying for a service pack I have a mac book pro at work.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By TakinYourPoints on 7/30/2012 10:46:42 PM , Rating: 3

The 10.3 to 10.4 example I gave brought all of these and more to OS X, years before they were finally available in Windows (64-bit, systemwide indexing that is still far better, UI features like Expose and Spaces, under the hood optimizations, etc). 10.4 to 10.5 was about as large an upgrade. 10.7 and 10.8 I'd put on par with the Vista to Windows 7 upgrades, the main difference being that they are far less expensive. If we're comparing them to Windows 8 they are far less stupid as well (I still can't believe how much they get wrong in the RP).

Again, comparing security and stability patches that constitute a Windows Service Pack to an OS X update that has major features, in some cases eclipsing what was done from XP to Vista, only tells me that someone is technically ignorant. I think I speak from experience given that I've done MS OS updates since the late 80s and Macs only since 2002.

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By TakinYourPoints on 7/30/2012 10:50:12 PM , Rating: 2

He has no gripes, he just has zero idea what he's talking about, completely clueless

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RE: Of course it's a hit

By tamalero on 7/30/2012 1:38:33 PM , Rating: 2

agree, its like they're selling you the Service Pack 1 of Windows 7.

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Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By kmmatney on 7/30/2012 11:49:56 AM , Rating: 2

I'd like to see Microsoft follow-up with a $20 Windows 8 upgrade. It might take that price to get people to switch.

RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By Nortel on 7/30/12, Rating: -1

RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By sigmatau on 7/30/2012 8:56:33 PM , Rating: 2

You are an idiot. Windows 7 can already do that....

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By Apone on 7/30/2012 12:14:56 PM , Rating: 4

quote:
I'd like to see Microsoft follow-up with a $20 Windows 8 upgrade.

Microsoft already does this, their version of the OS X Mountain Lion upgrade is called Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and it costs zero dollars to download and install!

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By ritualm on 7/30/2012 2:31:12 PM , Rating: 2

When the cheapest Windows 7 HP costs $100 (OEM, and before all edu/corp/gov large volume discounts), there is an expectation that software updates are free. When Win 7 Ultimate costs over $150 by itself, that expectation pretty much becomes a guarantee. Ballmer will find himself dragged through hot coal if he ever starts charging for Win 7 OS updates.

Apple charges for each individual service pack, disguised as "major" annual OS X releases. At the end it's about the same thing.

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By KPOM1 on 7/30/2012 2:37:05 PM , Rating: 1

Uh, I didn't realize that Windows 7 Service Pack 1 added 200 new features. In fact, it was just a collection of existing bug fixes.

Arguably, Windows 7 was "Vista Service Pack 2" and they charged $99-199 for the upgrade.

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By ritualm on 7/30/2012 2:57:41 PM , Rating: 2

Yet Apple treats their "Service Packs" as major OS releases.

You're blind and too typical of the brainwashed iSheep.

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By Apone on 7/30/2012 4:25:13 PM , Rating: 2

@ ritualm

Agreed! It's also funny how Apple neglects to mention that these new "OS upgrades" have extensive operating system security hole patches, fixes, and updates that are quietly installed under the marketed new benefits/features/apps of said new OS upgrade.

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By TakinYourPoints on 7/30/2012 10:48:43 PM , Rating: 2

Amazing how many idiots post here, wtf, haha

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RE: Time for Microsoft to follow-up

By kleinma on 7/30/2012 1:12:41 PM , Rating: 2

They have been offering the windows 8 upgrade to new PC buyers for a while now at $15 bucks. The rest of the PC using world will pay $40. If you ask me that is a big improvement over the previous OS upgrade prices. Especially considering Win8 brings a lot of new functionality versus what ML brings to users who already have lion.

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By sprockkets on 7/30/2012 1:30:35 PM , Rating: 2

A lot of people pay $20 for OSX. That's what it's worth.

RE: .

By web2dot0 on 7/30/12, Rating: -1

RE: .

By sigmatau on 7/30/2012 9:10:49 PM , Rating: 2

Oh no! You got up and an apple came out your rear!

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RE: .

By palladium on 7/31/2012 3:38:44 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
What good does an OS do?

Processor, memory, graphics, network, filesystem management,security, all of which are crucial to any device' operation, cloud or no cloud. In almost all of these aspects OSX is still behind Windows.

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