Apple Releases Updates To Mac OS X Mountain Lion And Lion

Apple has rolled out updates to the two most recent versions of its Mac OS X Mountain Lion operating system and the earlier Lion.

The updates introduce a number of improvements, bringing bring Lion up to version 10.7.5 while the Mountain Lion is now at version 10.8.2.

The new version of Mountain Lion can be downloaded through the Mac App Store, with Lion available through the more traditional software update process.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion was first released onto the Mac App Store in July and introduces many of the most popular features of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. It secured three million downloads in just four days making it the most successful version of OS X ever.

10.8.2 brings new GameCenter sharing options and a single sign-on to Facebook, with users able to share links and photos and new notifications appearing in the OS X notification centre. Access to the iMessage platform introduced in iOS 5 is also included.

Ars Technica says that although it isn’t explicitly stated by Apple, the new version should improve battery life. Independent testing of previous builds indicates that the problems seen in previous versions of Mountain Lion have been sold.

The headline addition to OS X Lion is Gatekeeper, the security tool that debuted with the initial release of Mountain Lion. Gatekeeper blocks the installation of applications that do not have an Apple-issued developer ID, although such draconian settings can be relaxed. Improved Wi-Fi performance for iMacs released from late 2009 is among the other upgrades.

What do you know about operating systems? Find out with our quiz!