Mountain Lion requires a Mac with an Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor, although ; 2GB of memory; 8GB of available space; and Lion or Snow Leopard. Users running Snow Leopard must update to OS X 10.6.8, the most-recent version -- released in late June 2011 -- before they can upgrade to Mountain Lion.

Like 2011's Lion, Mountain Lion will be available only via download from the Mac App Store.

, a 33% discount from Lion's price.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at , on or subscribe to . His email address is .

See .