Ever since its sneak attack back in February, we’ve only discovered further details of OS X Mountain Lion through leaks from Mac developers -- that is, until Monday, when the WWDC 2012 keynote offered up the rest of the details, including a price and rough release date.

Apple reached back into its magic hat and pulled out not a rabbit, but rather a second look at the next cat on Monday: A mountain lion, to be exact, which will be unleashed next month in the form of OS X Mountain Lion, essentially Mac OS X 10.8 (although Apple isn’t officially referring it by that name anymore). Curious about what’s new? Read on to find out.

The Name’s X… OS X

Apple is showing a renewed commitment to the Mac with OS X Mountain Lion, which marks the beginning of annual major upgrades for the desktop in the same way the company has been doing for iOS from the beginning. But get ready for a shocker, because the operating system is no longer called “Mac OS X” but simply “OS X,” which developers discovered after installing the beta on Thursday and pulling up the About This Mac window.

While such a move would normally launch a thousand conspiracy theories about Apple’s future intentions for the Mac platform, the company has already made it clear that the Mac is here to stay -- they’re simply choosing to simplify the naming, although OS X and iOS will likely continue to consolidate feature sets over time.

The Working Nap

Thanks to the WWDC 2012 keynote address, we now have a few more details on what else to expect from OS X Mountain Lion, including a new feature called Power Nap. The concept is simple: Your Mac churns away on background tasks, even while it’s sleeping -- and amazingly, it does all of this while somehow conserving power at the same time.

Among the apps that tap into Power Nap are Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac and Documents in the Cloud -- and developers will be able to get their hooks into the same technology to join the party as well. As long as the Mac in question is jacked into a power supply, it can even download software updates and make backups via Time Machine instead of nagging you with those tasks while you’re trying to get some work done.

Somehow, Apple was able to manage Power Nap in a way that system sounds are muted while all of this background work is going on, and no lights or fans will disturb you while the Mac is sleeping. The only catch is you’ll need a Mac notebook with built-in flash storage, which means a second-generation MacBook Air or higher, or one of those swanky new MacBook Pro with Retina Display models you’ve been drooling over.

Goodbye, Software Update

Or rather, hello to Software Update inside the Mac App Store! Apple is working hard to remove any potential confusion from the next major update, which OS X Lion certainly introduced by having certain updates available in the traditional Software Update mechanism and others only available in the Mac App Store. The one and only place will now be the Mac App Store, and users will be notified of updates with badges on the app icon when it’s placed in the Dock (the default method).

Gatekeeper Isn’t as Menacing as It Sounds

There’s no doubt Apple would prefer everyone to download Mac apps from the Mac App Store, although at the same time, they acknowledge that’s impossible for many software packages. To prevent users from installing potentially malicious software downloaded outside of the Mac App Store, OS X Mountain Lion introduces Gatekeeper, which uses a new “identified developer” program. Such developers register their software with Apple and receive a personalized certificate used to sign their apps; by default, Gatekeeper will allow apps from both the Mac App Store and these identified developers, and users will be responsible for allowing the installation of everything else.

Unlike the App Store itself, Apple doesn’t act as a true gatekeeper -- any developer can request the necessary certificate without showing Apple their code. Should an app be found to have gone rogue for some reason, Apple will simply blacklist that developer’s certificate, and Gatekeeper will prevent the app from opening on the user’s system, presumably unless the user has the software set to allow all apps.

Your Wish is the Mac’s Command

It’s not quite Siri on the Mac, but the same Dictation feature from the new iPad is making its way to OS X Mountain Lion, allowing users to talk anywhere you would normally type. Dictation will then convert your words into text using the built-in microphone. Just like Siri, you can also use commands such as “comma” and “exclamation point” to punctuate your text entries.

OS X Mountain Lion’s Dictation feature will also learn your voice characteristics as you use it over time and even recognize people from your contacts to enter names more accurately. The new feature will initially support English (U.S., U.K. and Australia), French, German and Japanese languages at launch.

iCloud Gets More Useful

Don’t get us wrong: We love iCloud. However, it happens to be far more useful on our iOS devices than it does on our Macs. But that will start to change with OS X Mountain Lion, with a more integrated easy setup -- sign in once and you’ll get iCloud in Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Safari, the Mac App Store and FaceTime.

Even more intriguing, OS X Mountain Lion will now offer two methods for accessing documents: The traditional Open and Save dialog boxes, but for apps that support Documents in the Cloud, you’ll also get a new iCloud view, which can be organized using iOS-style folders, plus a less unique On My Mac button for opening any file on your hard drive.

iOS Invades OS X

OS X Mountain Lion continues the “back to the Mac” theme started with OS X Lion, carrying over familiar apps like Reminders, Notes and Game Center as well as the new Notifications preference pane, which will control an iOS-style Notifications Center. That last item will probably sound familiar to longtime users of Growl, but judging from early reports by developers, Apple’s implementation of the concept is far more seamless and user-friendly.

Three other apps are also getting rebranded with OS X Mountain Lion: You’ve probably already heard that iChat is gone, replaced by Messages, which is already available as a beta download for OS X 10.7.3 users from Apple’s website. iCal and Address Book are also getting the boot, at least in name only -- iCal will now be simply known as Calendar, while Address Book becomes Contacts, in keeping with their iOS equivalents.

Surfin’ Safari

Apple spent a bit of time with the OS X Mountain Lion version of Safari at WWDC 2012, which introduces a unified search field for entering URLs as well as queries, all the while suggesting Top Hits, popular search terms and even pages from your bookmarks and history to help you find whatever you’re looking for in a hurry.

iCloud Tabs will sync between your OS X Mountain Lion-powered Mac and an iOS device, so you’ll always be able to pick up wherever you left off. Last but not least, Safari will now include an entire web page when you add an item to your Reading List -- perfect for offline reading when an internet connection isn’t available.

Safari also gains a much larger and more prominent Reader button with additional emphasis on the website domain you’re visiting, which appears bolder than the rest of the address (presumably to help thwart phising schemes).

Can I Share with You?

Apple is also bringing iOS 5’s sharing functionality over to OS X Mountain Lion with Share Sheets, which are best described as something similar to the sharing capabilities of Google’s Android. Click on a Share icon and a Share Sheet will pop up, featuring a variety of services that users can choose to share through -- Add to Reading List, Add Bookmark, Email, Message and yes, Twitter, which is now baked right into the desktop operating system as well as iOS, as are other Apple-blessed partners like Flickr and Vimeo.

Integrated Facebook

Now that we know for sure that Facebook will be integrated into iOS 6 this fall, it should come as no surprise that OS X Mountain Lion is also getting the same kind of status update. Built-in Facebook support means you can share whatever you’re doing from any app you happen to be in at the time, including posting photos or links, comments or locations. Sign in once and you’re good to go.

OS X Mountain Lion will add all of your Facebook contacts to your Address Book (including profile photos), which automatically gets updated whenever your friends update their information. Facebook status updates also appear in Notification Center as well.

Unfortunately, Facebook won’t be part of the OS X Mountain Lion party when it launches next month -- it’s promised as “coming this fall,” presumably alongside iOS 6 itself.

Several More Things…

OS X Mountain Lion will also introduce some smaller but equally significant changes. AirPlay mirroring is likely to be huge with road warriors who prefer to cart a MacBook Air around instead of an iPad 2, allowing a 720p video stream to be thrown onto any HDTV connected to an Apple TV over Wi-Fi. We can also see this feature in use for extending a home theatre setup, say for watching Hulu content that’s not available from Hulu Plus, for example.

Safari isn’t being ignored with OS X Mountain Lion, either -- the browser finally gets a unified toolbar capable of both URL entry and search in a single place, with a much larger and more prominent Reader button and additional emphasis on the website domain you’re visiting, which appears bolder than the rest of the address (presumably to help thwart phising schemes).

Last but not least, OS X Mountain Lion will be big in China, where Apple has beefed up support for writing in Chinese, with an improved dictionary and text entry. The leading Chinese search provider, Baidu, is now built in to Safari, and Mail, Contacts and Calendar work with popular Chinese services such as QQ, 163 and 126.

You Might Need a New Mac

Apple has updated the system requirements for OS X Mountain Lion, which now lists specific models that are compatible with the operating system. These include:

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

Good thing there happens to be some swanky new MacBooks introduced at WWDC on Monday, so those users will be ready to go. Everyone else might want to check the list above before OS X Mountain Lion slinks down the mountainside and uses your aging Mac as its prey.

Great! When (and How) Can I Get It?

Patience, young grasshopper… good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes. Since the February reveal of OS X Mountain Lion, we now know that the software will arrive next month -- that’s July for those of you who don’t know what month it is right now. No word on exactly what date, but we’d place bets on the later part of the month.

Apple previously confirmed that OS X Mountain Lion will be a paid upgrade available exclusively from the Mac App Store -- no more USB thumb drives, as the company grudgingly did with OS X Lion last year. Speaking of which, you’ll want to make sure you’re running the latest and greatest version of OS X Lion when the day arrives -- otherwise you’ll have a bunch of upgrading to do ahead of time.

The good news is that the upgrade will be less painful on the wallet -- only $19.99 compared to the $29.99 we had to shell out for OS X Lion last year.

Apple has now posted a complete list of the more than 200 new features coming with OS X Mountain Lion, so head over to the website and check ‘em out -- then stay tuned to MacLife.com to find out the latest news until the big cat hits the Mac App Store next month.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

(Moutain lion image courtesy of Cult of Mac)