Apple rumors are a dime a dozen but every once in a while one crops up that is too intriguing (and plausible) to ignore: Word on the street is that Mac OS X 10.7 will offer a boot to browser function that sends users straight to Safari without loading the desktop or Finder. Lion’s new function is said to work via the lock screen where, assuming that the rumor is true, users will be able to select “Restart in Safari.” There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. It means you can give a guest access to just the browser without having to configure a guest account
2. As pointed out by The Register, it forces thieves onto the Internet, allowing Lion’s Find My Mac anti-theft feature to do its thing.

Not all that long ago, system makers incorporated boot to browser to as a way to bypass operating systems and save on boot time. These days, boot times are short enough that they are hardly worth bypassing – but as an added security feature, this seems to make a lot of sense. Source: The Register