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Mac OS X Lion Can Run in Chrome OS-Like Browser Only Mode

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,490
30,731






While all the focus has been the many new features found in iOS 5 Beta, Apple also released a new developer beta of Mac OS X Lion last week.

Many of Mac OS X Lion's features have been known for months, but Apple has snuck in at least one interesting new feature called "Restart to Safari". According to a tipster, on the user lock screen, you are given the option to "Restart to Safari" rather than logging in. This allows you to boot the computer into just the web browser and nothing else. This browser only mode allows unauthorized users to simply browse the web through Safari rather than having access to any personal files or other applications on the machine. Of course with Lion's new auto-save and application restore feature, returning users will find themselves back at the same place they were before the restart. This browser-only mode is reminiscent of Google's lightweight Chrome OS which is designed to offer the user a web-only based operating system.

Apple's motivations for offering such a browser-only mode differs from Google's. Google is partnering with manufacturers in order to build Chrome OS only laptops that offer cheap browser-only machines. Apple's not likely to be going that route with Mac OS X Lion but is instead offering a nice sandboxed mode so Lion can easily act as a secure and anonymous web kiosk.

Article Link: Mac OS X Lion Can Run in Chrome OS-Like Browser Only Mode
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/12/mac-os-x-lion-can-run-in-chrome-os-like-browser-only-mode/
W

World Citizen

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2011
168
1
MS remote app

Pleas let someone try to use an MS remote app. ( you know, the internet distributed apps...)

If this works, I will change our company's infra structure.

Mac mini clients, only safarilogon + remote cms and office app. Thats about 50 clients who dont need more than that

10 heavy users can get a normal useracount on the mac, and use rdp to connect to an MS workplace.

I can invest in apple hardware NOW... To change completly in the future.
Our CMS software is bieng rewritten for osx as we speak.. So in 2 year its testetd + we got the hardware = we leave MS except for exchange and office for mac.

Perfect!
 
M

mike5411

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2008
135
0
I wonder if a Mac running this browser only mode would have better battery life than running OSX?
 
B

Becordial

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2009
422
0
This would be great for iOS too. If you want to allow people to use your iPad or iPhone but dont want them to go to your email this would be quite handy.
 
8CoreWhore

8CoreWhore

macrumors 68030
Jan 17, 2008
2,653
1,186
Tejas
Wow! I wonder how much of the OS is running? Maybe all... this is a lock-down feature, not resource saver.
 
el3ktro

el3ktro

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2008
196
0
@MacRumors: The official name for this new operating system is now "OS X Lion" and NOT "Mac OS X Lion". Apple dropped the "Mac" in front of it.
 
A

Apple_OD

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2011
3
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

This was actually an advertised feature. It was mentioned as part of the "find my mac" feature to trick potential thieves into using the Internet whilst stopping them from gaining access to any personal files.
 
J

Jens Engels

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2011
56
83
Question

Wow this is pretty nice, i hope battery life improves then.

i have also a question, does somebody know a program or anything to only watch movies on you macbook pro, without the whole OS working/booting, so you can have a longer battery power, so more movies to watch?

or will this be integrated also in OS X lion?
 
G

Gilj

macrumors member
Jul 13, 2010
44
1
Great!
So when Apple will close the system completely, and we could install App Store Apps only, we could use the Browser only mode for Jailbreakme.com . YAY!
 
Haribokart

Haribokart

Suspended
Sep 4, 2010
328
386
UK
This is a great idea. I work from my Macbook Air so have to always have a regularly changing password set, however it's also my personal computer and sometimes my girlfriend wants to quickly check something online. This is a good way for her to use the web without needing to remember a constantly changing password.
 
U

Ulf1103

macrumors 6502
Jan 5, 2011
282
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; nl-nl) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's not that I'm gonna use that a lot, but it's a nice extra. :)
 
clinton1550

clinton1550

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2011
3
0
Adelaide, Australia
Great feature but how do I use it?

I've booted into my Lion DP4 partition to try it out but I can't find the option to restart into Safari. It's not in the Lock Screen or the Login Window.

Did the "tipster" have any further details?
 
baryon

baryon

macrumors 68040
Oct 3, 2009
3,877
2,924
What's even better is that Safari Only mode runs not from the primary partition but from the recovery partition. This means that you can use Safari even if your entire system crashes or anything happens to it. That's very useful to get help or do emergency communication.

So unless you have a hardware failure, you will ALWAYS have access to the net.
 
theLimit

theLimit

macrumors 6502a
Jan 30, 2007
929
3
up tha holler, acrost tha crick
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Finally, Wife Mode! Now when she wants to use my computer for a minute to surf, she won't accidentally mess up any of my important (porn) files.
 
AdeFowler

AdeFowler

macrumors 68020
Aug 27, 2004
2,317
361
England
Do Extensions work? How about Flash?

I assume it has access to a subset of fonts? What about Java?

So many questions :confused:
 
X

xappeal

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2005
106
0
Brisbane - Australia
It is not on the login screen, but the lock screen.

Set a password, wait for your computer to lock and the option will be on the screen where it asks for your password.
 
A

Aussiebute

macrumors newbie
Jul 11, 2008
10
0
Logon Screen

clinton1550 said:
Great feature but how do I use it?

I've booted into my Lion DP4 partition to try it out but I can't find the option to restart into Safari. It's not in the Lock Screen or the Login Window.

Did the "tipster" have any further details?
Click to expand...

duyvan82 said:
+1 can't find it anywhere on the lock screen.
Click to expand...

Log off your user account, I think this is on the Logon Screen :rolleyes:


xappeal said:
It is not on the login screen, but the lock screen.

Set a password, wait for your computer to lock and the option will be on the screen where it asks for your password.
Click to expand...

sigh i don't have a dev account
 
L

Luis Ortega

macrumors 65816
May 10, 2007
1,137
327
My little Asus netbook has the same feature called express gate cloud os.
You can press a button on the keyboard and it turns on quickly to the asus os that lets you use the internet and some programs.
To be honest, I don't use it since I prefer to just turn on the netbook and have access to all of its features.
 
macsmurf

macsmurf

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2007
1,200
948
World Citizen said:
Pleas let someone try to use an MS remote app. ( you know, the internet distributed apps...)

If this works, I will change our company's infra structure.

Mac mini clients, only safarilogon + remote cms and office app. Thats about 50 clients who dont need more than that

10 heavy users can get a normal useracount on the mac, and use rdp to connect to an MS workplace.

I can invest in apple hardware NOW... To change completly in the future.
Our CMS software is bieng rewritten for osx as we speak.. So in 2 year its testetd + we got the hardware = we leave MS except for exchange and office for mac.

Perfect!
Click to expand...

..Or you could just use Citrix today. This is just a kiosk mode feature, albeit a nice one.

The MS platform is actually very well suited for enterprises. That's why so many enterprises use it. You would be insane to leave all that for kiosk mode.

Apple is not an enterprise oriented company and care little for their enterprise customers. A switch from MS to Apple entails a lot of extra risk and should be justified with some heavy benefits. The benefit of kiosk mode? Please :D
 
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