
In the tale of two operating systems, Apple's Mountain Lion is a less ambitious endeavor. Rather than completely rewriting the book as Microsoft is attempting with Windows 8, Apple's latest operating system simply cleans house, clearing clutter, while bringing more cloud and sharing features into the fold -- specifically to make the desktop play nice with iOS devices. Some of the new features come directly from iOS, and many are welcome, but some seem unnecessary. Ultimately, what you get is the familiar layout of Apple's operating system and much less of a learning curve than with what we've seen so far of Windows 8's completely new touch-screen-focused interface.
The Mountain Lion release marks the second time Apple has offered an incremental...