Mac OS X Lion will be available in July for $30 bringing with it a host of updates and new features for Mac and MacBook owners. These include system-wide auto-saves, a reboot/resume feature allowing apps to save state and run instantly on restart, and Launchpad giving you an iOS-like experience when accessing apps.
Although we know about these big, new features, there are some surprising and potentially very popular features that have yet to be formally introduced. One such feature has just been discovered in the latest Mac OS X Lion beta that limits a restart to just your web browser.
It is called “Restart to Safari” and allows a Mac to reboot into the Safari browser rather than the full OS X experience. As well as offering Mac users a Chrome OS-like experience and faster boot time, it also brings with it a number of security advantages. The main one being you can let a visitor or family member browse the web on your machine without fear of them deleting important files or messing with your OS X settings.
Another potential use is for MacBooks being used on public networks. Rather than boot into OS X Lion fully, you boot to the browser and cut off access to the main file system while surfing on that unsecure wireless connection.
Regardless of whether Apple intend to make a big deal of this browser reboot option or not, you can’t help but feel it is a response to Google’s forthcoming Chromebooks and the potential they offer for quick boot and safe-surfing laptops through Chrome OS.
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