You are right, it is very limiting and would be good if they did make it cross platform. However, I find it to be much better than Skype simply because it's more integrated into the OS, seems to crash a lot less and just works. Don't you have to pay to get group video calling on Skype? Group chats could work on FaceTime but Apple probably won't do it as iOS devices probably wouldn't be able to handle it, at least not at the moment (don't think you can do Skype multi calls on iOS). Another reason I hate Skype is the iOS app, it never seems to work because for some reason they force you to wait for your chats to update before you can do anything on it, which usually takes forever.
I'm hoping to gain a bit of performance from it. Snow Leopard added performance on top of Leopard although not many new features. I know Mountain Lion's focus isn't performance in the same way Snow Leopard's was, but even if it only offers a modest bump up, I'll take it. Plus, one way or another, I want it, since in Mountain Lion, there is an option in Mission Control preferences to ungroup windows so they're not all weird hard to use like the current layout of the stacked grouping in Lion.
Don't count on a noticeable performance bump. I do notice scrolling in safari is nicer, but I don't know how much of that is either psychological or the fact that I recently installed the OS. Other than that, it's exactly the same. Startup (on my SSD) does seem faster though. It's as fast as my iPhone.
Never had that happen in the past, and no interest in putting up with the arrogance of autosave on the offchance that it happens one day ... and even if it did, it would probably be in something that didn't support autosave - irony in more ways than one. Instead I've just been using Windows 7 since two weeks after Lion dropped, and it has never done me any wrong.
To completely remove the Notification Center (and the menu bar item), run the following two commands in Terminal: sudo launchctl remove com.apple.notificationcenterui.agent launchctl remove com.apple.notificationcenterui.agent One is likely to produce an error stating "launchctl remove error: No such process", however this can be ignored. :3
OP, you sound like you're stuck in the past. Especially with your version 2 Skype. Why will you even bother upgrading? Do us all a favour and don't bother with it. On the other hand, I think NC is going to be great on the Mac. Certainly a very useful feature.
Awesome! Finally someone posting something helpful and relevant to my question rather than telling me to just adapt to what Apple thinks is best. I had a feeling it would be something loaded into launchd, although I don't have developer access so I couldn't look myself. Thanks a ton for this info! Outstanding. :| I know I'm stuck in the past, that's because I don't like the look of the "future" and where things are going. And yes, I use version 2 Skype. They wrecked the interface in version 5. Not to mention it's much more bloated and uses more resources. The interface alone makes it unusable but I also don't appreciate the performance hit. I'm going to bother upgrading because I heard there's performance boosts. If I verify this after installing ML I'll certainly stick with it for the performance alone. I would revert to Snow Leopard but unfortunately it can't be installed on my computer. And yes, NC does look nice. Unfortunately I can't use it since it won't integrate with Skype 2.8. After taking an in depth look at it, I'd actually prefer it. But where everything I use stands right now is that it supports Growl or doesn't support Growl. It will take a while before things support NC so I'd still need Growl anyways. And Skype 2.8 will never support NC, which would be the main thing preventing me from using it. So if NC is going to be a feature I can't use, I don't want it sitting there taking up resources for no reason. Like Growl I want to be able to turn it off if I don't want it. And I mean completely off. Not just to where I don't see any notifications. Off to the point that it's process is gone and doesn't shop up in top or ps or Activity Monitor. This is the next thing I want as well... Although it'd probably just be easier to install Safari 5 into ML. And yes, before anyone argues with me, this is possible. There's even a project somewhere that allows you to install multiple versions of Safari, even older ones, onto your system.
There are many benefits to using 6. It is also much faster. There has to be a simple hidden preference to turn the big tabs off, I just have not found it yet.
I doubt there's a hidden preference. If there is, that's great. But I doubt it. The direction Apple seems to be going with things is that they think people don't know what they want. They think they know what's best for you. They want to make changes and arbitrary decisions that we all have to deal with. I hope there will be a way to change it back though.
Quite honestly, if Skype decided to disable logins via 2.8 tomorrow, the fact that OP would be SOL would make me laugh just a little bit. Seriously, I laugh at people who are so stuck in the past that they can't even manage small changes. Huge changes are one thing, like Windows 7 > Windows 8 and Metro, but the OP is just being bullheaded.
I just deleted the app out of CoreServices. Been running like that in DP3-4 and now GM. No problems. ---------- I did that, it would still return if I did a permissions fix and rebooted.
Metro sucks worse. The fact the replaced the start menu with it makes practically the whole OS unusable. Either way, I still hate Skype 5. The interface is terrible compared to Skype 2.8. And it's bloated mostly in memory usage but sometime in CPU as well. Skype 2.8 uses around 100 MB and less than 2% CPU when I'm not on a call. Skype 5 uses more than 10% CPU regularly, and close to 300 MB at times.
Metro is actually great on Tablets, but it sucks on anything without a touch screen. I think 99% of customers who upgrade are going to disable it after an hour or two, if they know how.