10.7 Lion allows multi-user remote computing

iMac screen sharing with MacBook Air on a different account

Yesterday we told you that the popular Back to my Mac feature might go free with 10.7 Lion and we also told you the service received a few tweaks in Lion. Well today, we have discovered a brand-new feature, which we’re calling multi-user remote computing, that allows you to remotely login to any account on another Mac. This best way to explain this is through an example.

You’re on your couch with your MacBook but the presentation file you need is on the home iMac, which someone else is using with their own account. With Snow Leopard, you would only be able to screen share onto that iMac and have access to the other person’s screen, not your account with the presentation file. Now with 10.7 Lion, when you login through the Finder, you are given an option to either view the screen of the other person’s account or access your own account to grab the file.

The best part is that the other person’s account stays untouched and you are accessing your account all in the background, remotely. The other person using the iMac never even needs to know that you grabbed a file off the computer. They won’t be interrupted at all and now now you have your file. If you have MobileMe this can even work completely remotely from anywhere in the world with the Back to my Mac service.

It truly seems like Apple is taking their strides at remote computing to the next level with Lion and it appears they are doing a great job thus far. These remote screen sharing enhancements in Lion seem to be truly beneficial to anyone with multiple Macs, and just makes the whole computing experience more efficient. Lets hope this all comes free this summer. This also reminds us of rumors about the iPhone 5 being remote computing on steroids. (Thanks, Bernard)