Apple has just dropped the first developer preview of OS X 10.7 Lion and is now pumping it out to applicable devs through the Mac App Store. At the same time, they’ve updated their Mac OS X Lion page, revealing some new features including universal auto save, a possible new version of Safari, some new multitouch gestures, a new way to wirelessly transfer files between other Mac users, and much more.
Here’s what’s caught our eye.
• Launchpad, a more iPad-inspired interface for opening apps.
• Universal Auto Save, which will automatically save updated documents in any app without it being programmed in. As a writer prone to computer crashes, this’ll be a life saver.
• Versions allows you to track your changes through any document via a Time Machine like interface.
• AirDrop, which allows no-setup wireless file transfer between Macs, just by dragging and dropping files on a user’s name. This seems a lot like DropCopy.
• MacStories thinks the new gesture to slide between tabs in Safari indicates a new version of Apple’s browser is incoming.
• Mail 5 brings the iPad approach to Mail to the Mac, ditching the three-pane view of previous versions of Mail as well as introduces a new, threaded conversations view.
There’s doubtlessly more changes afoot, and we’ll let you know what they are once we have a chance to play with OS X Lion’s first developer preview later. For now, if you are a member of the Mac Developer Program, you can download and install Lion from the Mac App Store using a redemption code attainable from the Mac Dev Center, as long as you are running a 64-bit Intel Mac running Snow Leopard 10.6.6.
