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Lion Server to be bundled with Mac OS X Lion

by Dana Franklin Feb 24th 2011 at 12:15PM

Mac OS X Lion includes server

Today, Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion will include software that previously cost IT departments an extra $499: Mac OS X Lion Server.

"Lion Server is now part of Mac OS X Lion," says Apple's marketing web page. "It's easy to set up your Mac as a server and take advantage of the many services Lion Server has to offer."

Some advantages of the newly integrated suite of server administrative software include a guided setup process for configuring a Mac as a server; "local and remote administration - for users and groups, push notifications, file sharing, calendaring, mail, contacts, chat, Time Machine, VPN, web, and wiki services - all in one place"; "simple, profile-based setup and management for Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices" with Profile Manager; Wiki Server 3, designed to make it "even easier to collaborate, share, and exchange information"; and WebDAV services that give iPad users "the ability to [wirelessly] access, copy, and share documents on the server from applications such as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages."

The built-in server software joins a long list of new features planned for inclusion in Mac OS X Lion, including Launchpad, full-screen apps, Mission Control, new gestures, global auto save, Versions, Resume, and AirDrop. According to Apple's documentation for developers, Lion Server will appear as a customizable option during the initial installation process.

Mac OS X Lion is available as a developer preview today. It is scheduled for release this summer.



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Today, Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion will include software that previously cost IT departments an extra $499: Mac OS X Lion...
 

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23 Comments

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Greg Thomas

@makesense Go to the Apple Developer Forums and there is a thread there that will help you out!

February 24 2011 at 8:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cy Starkman

You know everyone is saying...

Server is now free or is Apple killing off server.

It is strange..

Cause way I see it Apple has killed off the OSX client not server.

Now they ship only server, but instead of 3 levels of Admin access there is 4, the 4th being off. Even better, instead of their internal resources focusing on a sturdy osx client and a somewhat busted osx server, it will be only server.

Ooo a bad outcome might be that iOS becomes the study one and OSX...

February 24 2011 at 5:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
makesense

Greg, no Server.app

February 24 2011 at 5:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny

I haven't found any of the server features in the small time I've had to play with Lion, yet. Maybe they will add that in a later beta.

February 24 2011 at 2:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Johnny's comment
makesense

Neither have I

Installed Lion Server via install Customize button...but, get what looks like Lion client......no server apps

February 24 2011 at 2:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Greg Thomas

You should have Server.app in the Applications folder.

February 24 2011 at 4:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
pika2000

I'm guessing it won't be $29 then.

February 24 2011 at 2:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Renee

This is great. Now Aqua Connect Terminal Server (www.aquaconnect.net) can run on Apple devices at no additional cost.

February 24 2011 at 1:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jerry Adlersfluegel

Will Server still run in VMWare Fusion?

February 24 2011 at 1:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SubGenius

Apple is democratizing the IT department.
Anyone can setup a local server and do geeky stuff.
This also reflects the changing server landscape.

Traditionally there have been two choices:
1) Linux, FREE but complicated
2) Windows, Not cheap but manageable.

Recently the cloud has started to offer a third option:
Gmail is killing the mail server
DropBox is killing the file server

Apple saw there was little future in big expensive servers and so it killed the XServe. Apple's mini server hardware was a big hit and now it's server OS will also be able to find a mainstream audience.

Apple is giving OS X Server away for FREE but what it does is strengthen the larger platform.

February 24 2011 at 1:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to SubGenius's comment
JAQ

Oh, this is *nice*! Charging so much more for the "server" version of OS X, when it was mostly just the desktop version with admin tools added, has always annoyed me. To be honest, the only reason I would have upgraded to Lion was when/if new software started requiring it, but they just made the sale here by adding features I *want*.

February 24 2011 at 12:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rachel

Very good. A few months ago I bought the Mac Mini Server and got to play with OSX Server for the first time. My initial and abiding reaction was, "Oh, hai, *this* is where the rest of the operating system got to!" :-)

But it was terribly overpriced; this is nearly all stuff you can do for free on Linux, and can add as free software to a normal client mac; the OSX Server bonus is how easy it is to set stuff like that up. It's nice, but it's *hard* to justify the cost.

Now I won't have to. :-)

February 24 2011 at 12:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Rachel's comment
numpty

Yes, you can do it for free on Linux, but as usual with Apple it's all about the user experience. The OS X Server GUI tools are streets ahead of any I've used on Linux.

February 24 2011 at 3:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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