Absolutely mac beginner! Asking about OS X Mountain Lion

[Sahumah]

Hi! hope everyone is doing well.

I really don't know the answer of this question though I searched online but I think it's considered a silly question that is why I couldn't find an answer.

What is the difference between Mountain Lion and Leopard? are they both like operating systems like doing the same job of windows for windows laptops?
And my macbook is new and I updated the software and it says version 10.7.4, does this mean that I don't need to download OS X mountain lion update from apple store?

Please bear with me and thanks in advance.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Since the release of Mac OS X (ten, not eks), there have been nine different releases.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is the sixth version, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is the 9th version.
All Mac OS X versions are different Operating Systems (OS), many aspects change between versions, some are visible, many aspects are invisible and under the hood.

Windows does have different versions too, Windows 2000 is different than Windows XP, Windows XP is different than Windows Vista, which is different from Windows 7, which is different from Windows 8.

If your Mac came with 10.7.4, then you have Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. To get OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, you have to buy it for 20 USD via the Mac App Store (MAS).

Software update, upgrade--what's the difference?

Key differences

A software update is usually downloadable free of charge; a software upgrade usually is not.
A software upgrade usually increments the first "dot" number of a product (for example Mac OS X v10.6, Mac OS X v10.5); a downloadable software update usually increments second "dot" number (for example, Mac OS X v10.6.8, Mac OS X v10.5.8).

Is that understandable?

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

 

[throAU]

Hi! hope everyone is doing well.

I really don't know the answer of this question though I searched online but I think it's considered a silly question that is why I couldn't find an answer.

What is the difference between Mountain Lion and Leopard? are they both like operating systems like doing the same job of windows for windows laptops?
And my macbook is new and I updated the software and it says version 10.7.4, does this mean that I don't need to download OS X mountain lion update from apple store?

Please bear with me and thanks in advance.

Leopard is OS X 10.5 and was released around 2007 (off the top of my head)?
Mountain Lion is OS X 10.8 and was released last month.


To put it in terms you may be familiar with, its like the difference between Windows XP and Windows 8.

They may look similar, but Mountain Lion has a lot newer technology in it and is the current release.

Leopard is very old now and out of support - new software won't run on it, Apple won't provide security updates for it, etc.

10.7.4 (what you have) is the current release of "lion" the previous OS X release.

THis is still current, and you do not "need" to upgrade to 10.8 (Mountain Lion) yet if you are happy with Lion. However in the next couple of years or so, you may need to upgrade to Mountain Lion to be able to run new software or receive security updates.

 

[Sahumah]

Since the release of Mac OS X (ten, not eks), there have been nine different releases.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is the sixth version, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is the 9th version.
All Mac OS X versions are different Operating Systems (OS), many aspects change between versions, some are visible, many aspects are invisible and under the hood.

Windows does have different versions too, Windows 2000 is different than Windows XP, Windows XP is different than Windows Vista, which is different from Windows 7, which is different from Windows 8.

If your Mac came with 10.7.4, then you have Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. To get OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, you have to buy it for 20 USD via the Mac App Store (MAS).

Software update, upgrade--what's the difference?


Is that understandable?

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

THIS IS SO CLEAR! REALLY REALLY THAAAAAANKS! I KNOW UNDERSTAND VERY WELL. I'll read the review about this new update! thanks again.

----------

leopard is os x 10.5 and was released around 2007 (off the top of my head)?
Mountain lion is os x 10.8 and was released last month.


To put it in terms you may be familiar with, its like the difference between windows xp and windows 8.

They may look similar, but mountain lion has a lot newer technology in it and is the current release.

Leopard is very old now and out of support - new software won't run on it, apple won't provide security updates for it, etc.

10.7.4 (what you have) is the current release of "lion" the previous os x release.

This is still current, and you do not "need" to upgrade to 10.8 (mountain lion) yet if you are happy with lion. However in the next couple of years or so, you may need to upgrade to mountain lion to be able to run new software or receive security updates.

and thaaaanks so much for your efforts. Now i really understand>