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I love Snow Leopard, really love it. Of course there are a few things I want to change in it, but I really enjoy using it and it seems to be the most light weight OS I have used for a long time.

I'm going to hold off on Lion a little. I think it's the iOS marriage that is making me hesitant for now....

And I remember the issues when people jumped from Tiger to Leopard. I don't want to be one of those posters!
 
sanity check

Some of the comments on this board are inane.

1) Launchpad is the selling point...Really? You think Versions, Resume, Mission Control, OS wide Full Screen App support are not selling points?
2) $129 is too much. This one cracks me up. Apple is bundling a $500 product into the OS (and other OS based servers are far more expensive) and people think $129 is too much?
3) When has Apple released an OS, and not shown new features on the final release keynote?


thanks for keeping the inmates sane...... why would Apple let their OS be anything but perfect
 
Good stuff, waiting and ready to pay! :eek:

It's this mentality that makes me smile.

Without knowing any of the details as to what the final shipping version will be, mezmerized (hypnotized ?) by Apple, enthusiasts are ready to pay whatever Apple demands for the product.

I get to sit back without any effort, and watch with delight as they pour the money into Apples coffers. In turn, my vast amount of Apple stock climbs higher & higher as they brag about Apples Billions.

Their blind trust pays me well. Thanks Apple !
 
Here's hoping that Front Row is added for those of us who actually use it.

I'm with you on that. I'm pretty sure Front Row is gone for good. Instead, look for iTunes full screen mode. Alternatively, I could see Lion gaining the ability to run iOS apps in some fashion, with the AppleTV interface being one option.
 
From the developer builds and such, there doesn't appear to be anything compelling or major to warrant anything more than a minor upgrade.

Yeah, disappearing scroll bars. A full size screen. Woo.

The UI and basic functionalities have stayed the same since Leopard, sprinkled with a bit of iOS features. Snow Leopard was a tune up, to establish the Intel line completely and such.

Yet retained most, if not all of the Leopard UI elements.

Personally, it just looks like a rough merge of iOS into the OS X environment without any refinement.

If we have to fork out $120 or something, forget it.

I guess my Leopard PowerPC Macs still look up to date then :)

New window management system, viewing options
New way to download, install and view apps (app store + launchpad)
New touch controls
New way to save and revise files
Various UI improvements
Dead simple wireless file sharing

Honestly, what were you imagining? Is apple not addressing every basic area of personal computing with Lion? Many of the changes are in mundane areas but are radically different...
 
Ignoring all else what I want is the ability to run my IOS applications on Mac OS. :)
You may get your wish soon. It appears that Lion will be Step 1 in the blending of the two OS's. A bridge. Step 2 may very well be the one & only Apple OS - based on iOS.

There's too much money in the volume sales of iPhones & iPads for Apple to focus on anything else. Other than the lip service they give their long standing computer users, the current obsession at Apple is sheer profits & volume sales of phones & pads for bragging rights and the money that goes with it.

The handwriting's been on the wall for years, ever since the company was renamed, and that fact has been underlined by the official words of Steve Jobs when he said "Post PC ERA". He was not talking about a few years from now, but mere months for Apple.

This represents the zenith of Jobs efforts. Perhaps the last item on his bucket list. To morph Apple into a huge, successful consumer electronics & entertainment business, is the goal & it's nearly complete. It wouldn't surprise me if the book is too.
 
Thank you!

I wanted to write every point you just made .. i'm just glad other people are capable of rational thought. It seems as though these people expect that if they don't like something then no one will, as though their uses are the most important and anyone else who disagree's doesn't use their computer for 'real work'.

Every one of the new features in Lion i am really excited about, the integration of server allows me to use my old Mac as a media server, Versions is a killer feature, as a developer i've been using local repo's forever. FDE is epic, anyone who cares about data security and used FileVault understands how much of a pain it is. I use my notebook and plug it into a large screen when i'm at a desk, i'd like fullscreen apps when i'm in notebook mode thanks. I could go on and on ...

I'm running Lion, and personally I hate Mission Control. There is no way to turn it off (there really should be). It's such a pain trying to select the other windows when they are grouped together. Horrendous implementation.

Full screen apps...If I wanted to run and see only one app at a time....I'd use my iPad!! Fullscreen apps are just gimmicky.

Resume...crappy, especially if you're not on a $$$$ SSD. It loads every program that you were using before reboot, good idea, but it just takes forever to use my computer after rebooting since it's loading 10+ apps!
 
It must be conspiracy right. Right.
It couldn't just be an honest mistake as a result of a stretched development team.

No. It must be the same guys who shot Kennedy messing up all our tech. It's probably something to do with the Chinese.

With all the cash Apple sit's their butts on, there is NO EXCUSE for their development teams, or any team to be stretched thin. Back in the day when Apple was still the little engine that could and trying to avoid that second foot falling in the grave, ok. Yes, they needed to stretch themselves, innovate with little expense, but not today.

Some will argue Apple is slow with development because they want to get it right. Though history in the past 5 years shows us consistency with hardware issues in just about every thing they have released, and software bugs to match on the other end. We've seen delays in OS releases the past few times, and still buggy when they do come out. Leopard was released with an installer that failed and forced tons of people mass headaches, even the tech savvy. The bloody installer was buggy! I expect the darn thing to at least install before glitches tick me off.

Hire some damned people already. The money you spend denying things are buggy or denying the existence of hardware issues (that magically a month or 2 later you fix even though you denied it was a problem in the first place) could easily expand your teams.

And while I don't subscribe to the original posters conspiracy theory, I think he's half right. THey just don't care. iPhone 3G users anyway? They bricked everyone's phones with a bad update, and then acted like everyone was crazy, then admitted it was slow (no, unusable) gave a shoddy fix that made it usable but so bad you had to either hack your phone to put an old version of IOS on it, or you were running to upgrade. Wait, maybe I do buy into his theory. It's one thing to not support old technologies, it's another to leave them crippled and not look back.
 
You may get your wish soon. It appears that Lion will be Step 1 in the blending of the two OS's. A bridge. Step 2 may very well be the one & only Apple OS - based on iOS.

There's too much money in the volume sales of iPhones & iPads for Apple to focus on anything else.

Ridiculous. Mac OS X and iOS can never merge because their UI paradigms are completely different. Why don't people understand this?

And on what computers would iOS apps be developed on of Apple were to can the Mac? iOS may be much more popular, but the Mac is more popular now than it ever has been and still makes then plenty of money.
 
I'm with you on that. I'm pretty sure Front Row is gone for good. Instead, look for iTunes full screen mode. Alternatively, I could see Lion gaining the ability to run iOS apps in some fashion, with the AppleTV interface being one option.

I hope it's not killed. It's a neglected feature with so much potential, and it would be nice to see Apple do something with it. I was hoping they'd port the Apple TV interface into it. Plex and the other similar things just aren't quite right and lack the simplicity of front row. And iTunes is already a bloated slow piece of crap that needs a full re-write and a healthy diet. I get that it's the gateway app for Apple into Windows for their echo system, but the Windows version is worse than the Mac version. There has to be a way to clean it's gutters, but don't put anything more in there.
 
So is there real resolution independence or just a x2 mode?

Resolution independence requires lots of work from third party app developers. I wish Apple pushed them along earlier, but I don't think they have, so we're going to have to wait.
 
Some evolutionary changes that will loom large

There will be some GUI changes. No big deal.

OS X Lion will merge client and server versions.
iOS will run under OS X with separate A5 emulator
New cloud/MobileMe/iTunes support and software refactoring
Java will still be included by default
Cellular hardware support in OS X
Support for untethered sync between computer and iPad/iPhone
OS X will better support headless operation and strong connectivity between OS X and iOS devices.
 
I tested Lion, and removed it after a month. Not buying it. I'll use Snow Leopard, it's the best OS so far. I'll see the one after Lion, maybe there will be something interesting.

This is the problem of non-developers getting access to software that is not intended for the public. People install it, expecting it to have all the stability and features of the final version and get disappointed when it doesn't. And people wonder why Apple is all about secrecy and NDAs.

You shouldn't have installed it in the first place. Look at it when it is released and make your decision.
 
Yet another unimpressive "major" update to an O/S that's showing it's age and irrelevance. (Hell it's already to most consumers nothing more than "That thing you gotta hook your iPad up to to make it work.) Compared to the iDevice world, the computer side of Apple has ground to a halt. Is it intentional I wonder...? ;)

Enough!! Combine MacOS and iOS already!!! The transition is so painfully slow, would someone else in tech get off their lazy ass and prod these guys to move a LITTLE quicker?!?

Consumers don't care about the OS at all, on a desktop or on an iOS device. They care about using their computer to do tasks. The more the OS becomes invisible to the user, the better.

I also have to laugh at the people complaining that Lion has nothing to offer at the same time they are complaining that it's turning into iOS. Do you want the OS to progress or stay the same? Make up your minds. What do these people want Lion to have. I'm guessing they can't imagine anything beyond including some third party utilities that they already use.
 
Initial release is buggy, and I've turned off most of the new features that have been hyped. My hope is, as always, speed improvements across the board, as the desktop/windows/pointer metaphor (in my opinion) has run its course.
 
Ridiculous. Mac OS X and iOS can never merge because their UI paradigms are completely different. Why don't people understand this?

And on what computers would iOS apps be developed on of Apple were to can the Mac? iOS may be much more popular, but the Mac is more popular now than it ever has been and still makes then plenty of money.

You're too lost in a programing manual to see the point people are making. Blending is taking 2 things and mixing them together, or parts of things. Merging would be taking 2 things to make 1 new thing. Don't be so literal.

A more unified experience is definitley in Apple's plans for the future of both OS-es. Not my opinion. They've said so. That does not say, however, having one OS to rule them all. Lion takes a lot of cues from IOS (have you looked at it? Watched the Back To The Mac keynote and listened to Steve Jobs talk about this strategy?) The Mac OS will get more IOS like over time. And that might not be a bad thing. Jobs claims they don't want a touch screen Macintosh, yet they've patented the hell out of them and have bought components and things (obviously they've got something in the labs). When that day does come, and it most likely will be sooner than later... a blending of the two OS-es makes a lot of sense. The way people want to interact with technology is changing. Your operating system has to change too. To something more exciting that what we've had since the 1980's. Apple holds a patent on a sensor that works something like the Kinect does. This is where things are going. In a few years you'll swipe i the air without the need to a track pad. A mix of touch, sight, and gestures and perhaps voice. All this tech is here and has been for awhile. Time for the software to hit puberty, and this is the right track to go.

Personally, I'm bored with IOS and Mac OSX on an aesthetic level. I don't want the ugly IOS folders for my Apps anywhere, but I don't want the same old finder either.
 
My bet is on distribution on custom design USB drives, like this one.

Great for now, but Apple wants to keep going green by slowly eliminating DVD/physical media as done with CD's. ISP's are improving bandwidth (slowly), companies are decreasing the size of their software (some like Adobe and Apple breaking Suites for individual applications) so wireless downloading may prevail.

I do not have any installation DVD's aide from the two which came with my 2010 Mac Pro.

1. All my applications are on another hard drive (3rd SATA bay on my 6-Core Pro, but can easily use an external drive).

2. "Time Machine" backs up all the applications

3. Purchased software almost always emails you a receipt with download links in case you need to re-download an application (plus allowed updates)

4. Instead of installing from a DVD, mount the .dmg and install, much faster.

5. I replace applications with their online updates in lieu of adding another DVD

I've got 150+ applications (Mac and Windows) totaling 187 GB. As with a media library, images are shrinking, downloads are faster (if you can download a 1.5+ movie through Netflix or iTunes, you can easily download software, OS X updates are large sizes as well).

In short, DVD's and USB drives for application installations will eventually fade out. If you need to install an OS from scratch, I'm certain Apple will still package the original DVD's with your computer (or in this case a thumb drive). I'm interested in learning what Apple intends to do with that new server farm in N.C. Storage of applications and/or the rumored storing of your media for access anywhere with an iDevice or Mac/OC.
 
I would love to see Lion come as a Flash Drive instead of a Disc based media.

Install would be much faster than it would be from a disc. Flash memory costs are very cheap.

I am looking forward to Lion in general and will be happy to pay for the software instead of just a download via Torrent. I don't mind supporting Apple unlike I did with Windows.
 
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