7 ms·

Mac OS X Lion Can Run in Chrome OS-Like Browser Only Mode

97 points by codelion 15y ago

jonknee 15y ago
Seems like they could have at least used the whole screen.
- cmelbye 15y ago
  There's a full screen icon in the top right corner of the Safari window that will put it into full screen mode.
unkoman 15y ago
Probably used for kiosks?
- codelion 15y ago
  I agree, may be there is room for such use cases, large display screens, kiosks etc where it may be configured to be used in an os-like mode.
- originalgeek 15y ago
  Or for when your new girlfriend wants to use your computer and you're not sure you want her looking at your financials, or, ahem, your browsing history.
pornel 15y ago
It could be a "safe mode/single user mode" for mortals — you fix your computer by Googling (or booking appointment with Apple Genius :)
trjordan 15y ago
Huh? I get the appeal of the stripped-down interface (I'm typing this on a cr-48, which I love). But if I have my Mac, with it's reliable suspend/resume and otherwise reasonable battery life, why would I restart it to do something I could do by starting a browser? The trade-off of the Chromebook, or similar, is that you pay less and can carry somewhat thinner/lighter hardware because it's somewhat special purpose. If I've already paid for a MacBook, and I'm already carrying it, what reason would I have not to just use the main OS?
- tmgrhm 15y ago
  It's for people who want to lend their Mac to a friend, but don't want them having access to all their already-signed in accounts, to applications like Mail, and all your files. I suppose places with public-usage Macs could also use this to keep clientele restricted to just using the web. Also, seeing as this boots from the Recovery partition, it means that, should your Lion install go belly-up, you've still got internet access, which I think is brilliant.
  - trjordan 15y ago
    The recovery and kiosk cases make sense to me, but seem pretty special-purpose. The proposal here that doesn't make sense to me is the idea that I'm going to hand my computer to a friend (who I presumably trust with my Mac) and not trust them to sign out of my gmail when they want to check their gmail. Also, the use case of "Can I borrow your computer?" is almost always quick, and, in my experience, rebooting a Mac is not quick enough. I'd much rather give them my laptop with an incognito window open than resign myself to rebooting my laptop after they're done (even if application state saving works perfectly, rebooting is still a 30 second affair). If they can make it quick, then it seems like a great idea, but forcing a reboot to get into this mode seems to relegate it to special cases.
  - protomyth 15y ago
    If you want to lend your Mac to a friend, you setup a new account for them and then use the parental tools and simplified finder to restrict if needed beyond the new account. It is actually pretty easy.
  - onedognight 15y ago
    OS X has guest account that can be enabled. It (can) auto wipe on logout and doesn't require you to logout for the guest to login.
clloyd 15y ago
This will be great if you need to lend your laptop to someone. No need to worry about them seeing your files etc. They can do what they need. Like this idea!
john2x 15y ago
That's pretty clever.
ugh 15y ago
Quite the confused article. I did some digging of my own and here is what I found: In order to use this you need to install iCloud and enable 'Find my Mac' (this allows you to locate and wipe your Mac should it be stolen). The guest account is then repurposed and will only reboot to the recorvery partition (which is also new in Lion) and only allow guests to open up Safari and connect to WLAN networks. As soon as they quit Safari the computer shuts down. If you have secured your Mac with a password, logging into the guest account is the only thing thieves can do. iCloud cleverly uses this to goad thieves into going online and broadcasting their position as well as allowing for remote wipes – it even displays instructions for how to connect to WLAN networks when it boots up – while still not allowing them to access any of your files. This is not supposed to compete with Chrome OS. It doesn't have a password manager and you can't download anything. It also won't remember anything after a reboot. By the way, you can now also sart up Safari when booting into the recovery partition normally. That's also new and it's just useful but nothing else. Apples's answer to Chrome OS is the iPad with iOS, not OS X running only Safari. If you don’t understand that then you have understood nothing about Apple.
- lachlanj 15y ago
  Nice find. Your answer makes much more sense given apples focus on apps. I can't see them trying to compete with chrome, especially after announcing icloud.
- unwantedLetters 15y ago
  I think what you say makes perfect sense, but do you have any information which actually says that "iCloud cleverly uses this to goad thieves into going online"? This is indeed a really great reason to have this feature, but I'm just wondering if this was Apple's intended use of this feature.
  - ugh 15y ago
    When you activate ‘Find my Mac’ a dialog pops up and tells you that anyone logging into the Guest account will now only be able to start Safari. With ‘Find my Mac’ disabled the guest account works like it always has. I think Apple’s intent is pretty obvious ;-) I also can’t really see the appeal of this as a feature. Logging into a normal guest account doesn’t require you to reboot into the recovery partition, for one, and a normal guest account also allows you to use all the apps installed on the Mac additionally to Safari which works just fine. There might be one or two attractive use cases beyond goading thieves into going online but those are to my mind very much edge cases.
rounak 15y ago
This is big!
asadotzler 15y ago
That isn't a Chrome OS-like browsing mode at all. It's just a browser kiosk mode.
chrisjsmith 15y ago
I don't see the point of all the hype here. It's not exactly innovation. You can do that with windows by setting the shell to: "iexplore.exe -k http://startpage/" You have been able to do that since Internet Explorer 2.0 on Windows 95 back in 1995.
- lawnchair_larry 15y ago
  Not quite, because that still gives you full access to the entire machine (especially in Windows 95).
  - chrisjsmith 15y ago
    You wouldn't apply it alone. Group policy (gpedit.msc) which IE only respects will allow you to block access to the remainder of the machine.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
flocial 15y ago
I guess the day when we don't have to restart a Mac everytime they update Safari is a forlorn dream.
scrrr 15y ago
Kiosk-mode? For internet-cafes.

97 points by codelion 15y ago

jonknee 15y ago

Seems like they could have at least used the whole screen.

cmelbye 15y ago
There's a full screen icon in the top right corner of the Safari window that will put it into full screen mode.

unkoman 15y ago

Probably used for kiosks?

codelion 15y ago
I agree, may be there is room for such use cases, large display screens, kiosks etc where it may be configured to be used in an os-like mode.
originalgeek 15y ago
Or for when your new girlfriend wants to use your computer and you're not sure you want her looking at your financials, or, ahem, your browsing history.

pornel 15y ago

It could be a "safe mode/single user mode" for mortals — you fix your computer by Googling (or booking appointment with Apple Genius :)

trjordan 15y ago

Huh? I get the appeal of the stripped-down interface (I'm typing this on a cr-48, which I love). But if I have my Mac, with it's reliable suspend/resume and otherwise reasonable battery life, why would I restart it to do something I could do by starting a browser? The trade-off of the Chromebook, or similar, is that you pay less and can carry somewhat thinner/lighter hardware because it's somewhat special purpose. If I've already paid for a MacBook, and I'm already carrying it, what reason would I have not to just use the main OS?

tmgrhm 15y ago
It's for people who want to lend their Mac to a friend, but don't want them having access to all their already-signed in accounts, to applications like Mail, and all your files. I suppose places with public-usage Macs could also use this to keep clientele restricted to just using the web. Also, seeing as this boots from the Recovery partition, it means that, should your Lion install go belly-up, you've still got internet access, which I think is brilliant.
- trjordan 15y ago
  The recovery and kiosk cases make sense to me, but seem pretty special-purpose. The proposal here that doesn't make sense to me is the idea that I'm going to hand my computer to a friend (who I presumably trust with my Mac) and not trust them to sign out of my gmail when they want to check their gmail. Also, the use case of "Can I borrow your computer?" is almost always quick, and, in my experience, rebooting a Mac is not quick enough. I'd much rather give them my laptop with an incognito window open than resign myself to rebooting my laptop after they're done (even if application state saving works perfectly, rebooting is still a 30 second affair). If they can make it quick, then it seems like a great idea, but forcing a reboot to get into this mode seems to relegate it to special cases.
- protomyth 15y ago
  If you want to lend your Mac to a friend, you setup a new account for them and then use the parental tools and simplified finder to restrict if needed beyond the new account. It is actually pretty easy.
- onedognight 15y ago
  OS X has guest account that can be enabled. It (can) auto wipe on logout and doesn't require you to logout for the guest to login.

clloyd 15y ago

This will be great if you need to lend your laptop to someone. No need to worry about them seeing your files etc. They can do what they need. Like this idea!

john2x 15y ago

That's pretty clever.

ugh 15y ago

Quite the confused article. I did some digging of my own and here is what I found: In order to use this you need to install iCloud and enable 'Find my Mac' (this allows you to locate and wipe your Mac should it be stolen). The guest account is then repurposed and will only reboot to the recorvery partition (which is also new in Lion) and only allow guests to open up Safari and connect to WLAN networks. As soon as they quit Safari the computer shuts down. If you have secured your Mac with a password, logging into the guest account is the only thing thieves can do. iCloud cleverly uses this to goad thieves into going online and broadcasting their position as well as allowing for remote wipes – it even displays instructions for how to connect to WLAN networks when it boots up – while still not allowing them to access any of your files. This is not supposed to compete with Chrome OS. It doesn't have a password manager and you can't download anything. It also won't remember anything after a reboot. By the way, you can now also sart up Safari when booting into the recovery partition normally. That's also new and it's just useful but nothing else. Apples's answer to Chrome OS is the iPad with iOS, not OS X running only Safari. If you don’t understand that then you have understood nothing about Apple.

lachlanj 15y ago
Nice find. Your answer makes much more sense given apples focus on apps. I can't see them trying to compete with chrome, especially after announcing icloud.
unwantedLetters 15y ago
I think what you say makes perfect sense, but do you have any information which actually says that "iCloud cleverly uses this to goad thieves into going online"? This is indeed a really great reason to have this feature, but I'm just wondering if this was Apple's intended use of this feature.
- ugh 15y ago
  When you activate ‘Find my Mac’ a dialog pops up and tells you that anyone logging into the Guest account will now only be able to start Safari. With ‘Find my Mac’ disabled the guest account works like it always has. I think Apple’s intent is pretty obvious ;-) I also can’t really see the appeal of this as a feature. Logging into a normal guest account doesn’t require you to reboot into the recovery partition, for one, and a normal guest account also allows you to use all the apps installed on the Mac additionally to Safari which works just fine. There might be one or two attractive use cases beyond goading thieves into going online but those are to my mind very much edge cases.

rounak 15y ago

This is big!

asadotzler 15y ago

That isn't a Chrome OS-like browsing mode at all. It's just a browser kiosk mode.

chrisjsmith 15y ago

I don't see the point of all the hype here. It's not exactly innovation. You can do that with windows by setting the shell to: "iexplore.exe -k http://startpage/" You have been able to do that since Internet Explorer 2.0 on Windows 95 back in 1995.

lawnchair_larry 15y ago
Not quite, because that still gives you full access to the entire machine (especially in Windows 95).
- chrisjsmith 15y ago
  You wouldn't apply it alone. Group policy (gpedit.msc) which IE only respects will allow you to block access to the remainder of the machine.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

flocial 15y ago

I guess the day when we don't have to restart a Mac everytime they update Safari is a forlorn dream.

scrrr 15y ago

Kiosk-mode? For internet-cafes.