Today in Tech: Mac OSX 'Mountain Lion'

• iPad vs. Windows 8: The war of the tweets

  Shots were fired in both directions as partisans previewed Microsoft's next tablet OS

  Source: Twitter

  A war of words -- blogged, tweeted and syndicated -- broke out at Microsoft's (MSFT) annual developers conference Tuesday when the company distributed Samsung tablets loaded with beta copies of Windows 8, its answer to Apple's (AAPL) OS X and iOS, rolled into one.

  Paul Thurrott, the news editor of Windows IT Pro and host of the Windows MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 14, 2011 8:27 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Boy Genius Report, Daring Fireball, Jim Dalrymple, John Gruber, Mac OS, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Tablets, The Loop, Windows 8, Zach Epstein

• One million Lions. Fake Apple Stores. That Hulu deal.

  And other stories we missed while we were busy chasing down Apple analysts

  It was an unusually busy week for Apple (AAPL), which released two new computers and a major overhaul of its flagship operating system the day after it reported earning that have more than doubled in a year. We covered the earnings and the subsequent pop in the stock price. Here are some of the stories we missed:

  A pride MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 22, 2011 10:57 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Ars Technica, China, Daring Fireball, Fake Apple Store, John Gruber, Mac OS, Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Philip Schiller, Snow Leopard

• Attention users of Quicken for Mac who are switching to Lion

  Don't buy Apple's new operating system until you find a new home for your financial data

  Apple doesn't tell you this, so we will.

  With OS X Lion, the new operating system for Macs released Wednesday, Apple (AAPL) has just cut a significant tie to its past -- namely legacy programs like Intuit's (INTU) Quicken that were written for the old PowerPC.

  As John Siracusa points out in his definitive and thoroughly entertaining MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 20, 2011 11:34 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, ArsTechnica, John Siracusa, Mac OS, Mac OS X Lion, PowerPC, Quicken, Rosetta, Snow Leopard

• The Apple Store is back up

  With OS X Lion, a new MacBook Air and a new MacBook mini

  Source: Apple.com

  In Wednesday's apple.com splash screen, Apple (AAPL) is highlighting "the new, faster MacBook Air."

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 20, 2011 8:50 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Apple Store, Lion, Mac App Store, Mac OS, Mac OSX Lion, MacBook Air, Macs, PCs

• Exit Quicken, pursued by a Lion

  Having let the Mac version languish, Intuit prepares for the death of its flagship product

  Click to enlarge. Source: Intuit

  My first three entries in Quicken, dated Sept. 8, 1997, were a $17.31 payment to Bell Atlantic (remember them?) marked "Philip's modem" (remember those?) and $15 for my annual subscription to the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link in Sausalito, Calif., which for many years was my only conduit onto the Internet.

  I've been MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 8, 2011 12:25 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Hypercritical, iBank, Intel, Intuit, John Siracusa, Lion, Mac OS, Macintosh, Mint, PCs, PowerPC, Quicken, Quicken Essentials, Snow Leopard, software, Windows 3.0

• Apple's week of information overload

  Three major products, hundreds of new features, thousands of new programmer interfaces

  Source: Apple Inc.

  "We're going to talk about three things today," Steve Jobs said at the beginning his keynote speech Monday. Then he and his colleagues proceeded to talk about hundreds of things -- so many that days later the reporters who watched the two-hour presentation and the developers who attended the week-long conference that followed were still trying MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 10, 2011 5:30 AM ET
  Posted in: API, Apple, Application programming interface, iOS, iPhone, Mac OS, Mac OS X Lion, Steve Jobs, Steve Levy, Wired, Worldwide Developers Conference, WWDC, WWDC 11

• Kevin Fox's WWDC wishlist

  A veteran designer predicts that iCloud will be to MobileMe what the iPhone was to Apple's Newton

  Image: Apple Inc.

  Kevin Fox spent three years in the 1990s writing software for the Newton, Apple's (AAPL) first, fumbling attempt to do what the iPhone finally achieved. He went on to design Yahoo's (YHOO) Chat and Messenger services and spent five years at Google (GOOG) where as the head of its user experience MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 4, 2011 6:33 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, iCloud, iOS, iPhone, Kevin Fox, Mac OS, Mac OS X Lion, Mobile, MobileMe, PCs, Steve Jobs, Tablets, WWDC

• Microsoft's office: Why insiders think top management has lost its way

  Steve Ballmer's slavish devotion to Windows and Office has made them cash cows, but some say revenues have come at the expense of innovation.

  By Gary Rivlin, contributor

  The traffic jams begin at 5pm on the dot at Microsoft's Redmond campus.

  FORTUNE -- What's the matter with Microsoft?  After spending weeks tracking down and talking with a long list of former Microsoft (MSFT) employees, many of them veterans with fifteen or more MORE

  Mar 31, 2011 10:47 AM ET
  Posted in: Bill Gates, BoomTown, Business, Google, Graphical user interface, iPhone, James Whittaker, Mac OS, Mich Mathews, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Steve Ballmer

• Exit Apple senior VP Bertrand Serlet

  One of the architects of Mac OS X -- and a top Steve Jobs lieutenant -- is out

  "I've worked with Steve [Jobs] for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science."

  Spending more time with science, rather than one's family, is not the usual reason given for MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 23, 2011 11:01 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Bertrand Serlet, Hacker News, Mac OS, Mac OS X, NeXT, PCs, Scott Forstall