Among the most eagerly-anticipated announcements Apple made today was on the subject of OS X the Lion, the eighth major iteration of the Apple operating system. According to Apple, Lion is “inspired by many of the iPad’s software innovations,” and should be available by next summer.
"Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press statement after the Back to the Mac Event. "Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed."
Included in the new operating system, Jobs said, was something called the Launchpad, which would help users organize widgets and apps into an “innovative new view of everything on your Mac.” Launchpad, Apple said, would be similar to the “home screen on the iPad,” in that “you can see all the apps on your Mac elegantly displayed just by clicking the Launchpad icon in the dock.”
