As expected, Apple has previewed to the press in its “Back to the Mac” event the next version of Mac OS X, which is the 10.7. The next version will be called the ‘Lion’, which will replace the ‘Snow Leopard’.

“Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed.”

The ‘Lion’ will have lots of new expansion in the multitouch gestures department. Full screen mode for many apps will be the main feature, which will give you an iPad-like experience. Looks like Apple is trying to remove the conventional desktop and Windows interface. As Apple gets obsessed with their massive iOS devices and the successful iOS platform, they’re now adding an App Store for OS X (wtf?).

Also new is the Launchpad application launcher, which will give you an iPad-like grid of icons and let you create iOS-style folders for applications, and the all-new Mission Control, which offers a unified view of all your open windows, open apps, and your dock.

When will it come? Steve says sometime in the summer of 2011. I assume new Mac machines will tag along at that time too.

SOURCE via Apple