OS X was first released to the public over a decade ago as Mac OS X Beta (code-named Kodiak). The decade after that saw Mac OS X go from an interesting oddity unsuited to daily work to a usable operating system with little third-party support to everything most people want out of an operating system and a little more.

Technology doesn’t stand still, and the days of being tied to a desk if you wanted to use your Mac (as most people were when OS X was first revealed) are long gone. Apple now offers lots of ways to use Apple technology. You’ve got Macs, of course, but you also have Apple TVs, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. People want to use all those things, and that’s where Mountain Lion shines. Apple says Mountain Lion is “Inspired by iPad,” and it offers a stunning number of new features designed to make working with multiple devices easier and more streamlined. Mountain Lion does the obvious things—like putting documents in iCloud and sharing your screen with your Apple TV —as well as some unexpected things like making Twitter available system-wide.

Like Reminders on your iPhone? Love notifications on your iPad? Then you’re going to really enjoy Mountain Lion. Apps that were available only on iOS devices are now an integral part of OS X. Other apps were renamed and reworked to match their iOS counterparts: iChat is now Messages, and iCal is now Calendar, to cite two examples.