Apple Releases Redesigned iOS-Like Airport Utility 6.0 and an Airport Base Station Bug-Fix

[KPOM]

I just installed the update.

Looks fine to me, but there was a configuration tool for printers in the old application, where did it go, I can't seem to find it anymore!?

Try using 5.6. 6.0 is the "easy-to-use" version with less functionality. It sounds like they are keeping 5.6 around for those who need the original functionality.

Also, you can configure printers connected to an Airport from System Preference>Print and Scan

 

[coolfactor]

SL works just fine, not all of us throw $30 at something that works perfectly as is.

Where I draw the line is when iBooks Author installs perfectly on a SL machine as long as you change a text file in Terminal to say 10.7.2, install the program, then change it back to 10.6.8. That is a Microsoft move through and through.

That version restriction is probably in place to ensure that it's installed on a supported platform going forward. Maybe right now it's not using any APIs specific to Lion (that you'e encountered yet), but as the application is updated, there's no guarantee it will continue to work on Snow Leopard.

The point is that Apple graciously made the upgrade path to Lion brain-dead easy and affordable so people don't have reasons not to upgrade. You're finding reasons for no good reason.

They may look the same on the surface, and function the same, but under the hood, there's a lot of differences and it's only a matter of time before those differences start to show themselves.

 

[haruhiko]

Until they discontinue the 5.x line and 6.x is 10.8 only and Xcode 5.x only runs on 10.8 and I need Xcode 5.x to submit applications to the app store so I can make money. Eventually I'm forced into their new way of thinking regardless. Should I really be expected to keep a machine or even an OS partition around just for configuration utilities in the future?

My point is that they're slowly but surely pressuring people into situations that some of us do not want to be in. I have never felt the way Apple makes me feel right now. It's like they've become all-out hostile to power users and options.

I still use MobileMe (yes, I haven't switched). What happens when that goes away and I'm still on 10.6.8 because I can't stand Mission Control? Well, I lose all that functionality because Apple has refused to release 10.6.9 in an effort to force people onto 10.7.

This is what pisses me off. This lame ass iOS-ification that is spreading around like a goddam cancer. If I'm still using Mac stuff in 5 years when my kid is old enough to comprehend some of this stuff, I can't wait until he asks me "Daddy, were computers ever free? Did you ever use them to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted?".

-SC

The AirPort utility for iOS is very great and very fine. A great make over for a touch interface. But....what? why DIRECTLY port it to the Mac? Do we have touch screens on the Mac? Hell no! We use a mouse or touchpad with a god damn pointer on the screen.

It really doesn't make sense to just copy the iOS version to the Mac and say it's a full blown mac version.

 

[pika2000]

Note of interest, I didn't update one of my Mac to 6.0, and just installed 5.6 instead. Now I have 2 copies of Airport Utility, 5.5.3 and 5.6... This is silly that the 5.6 installation doesn't overwrite the 5.5.3.

 

[tigres]

That version restriction is probably in place to ensure that it's installed on a supported platform going forward. Maybe right now it's not using any APIs specific to Lion (that you'e encountered yet), but as the application is updated, there's no guarantee it will continue to work on Snow Leopard.

The point is that Apple graciously made the upgrade path to Lion brain-dead easy and affordable so people don't have reasons not to upgrade. You're finding reasons for no good reason.

They may look the same on the surface, and function the same, but under the hood, there's a lot of differences and it's only a matter of time before those differences start to show themselves.

Many people cannot use Lion for real reasons. It's not as universally accepted by networks as you may think.

 

[Xtremehkr]

Get off your high horse and stop being such a naive fanboy. Apple is not what it used to be and I'm not saying it in good way. Apple it used to be all about crating content but now its all about selling it to their users. This dumbing down of Airport Utility is just one of the worrying signs of where Apple is heading - just creating consumer toys for imbeciles. I mean seriously, what the **** is an UPGRADE that takes away features? WTF, Apple is pushing me free downgrades...

I've been using Mac since LC and I truly hate to say but the pirate flag is long gone. Oh, the irony of 1984 ad...

I think it's entirely consistent with what Apple has always done, which is to make the end user experience less complicated and less of a hassle. Automating features to make things easier has been something that Apple has done for a long time.

Geeks and tinkerers tend to react to this incredibly negatively, they seem to feel that something is being taken from them. I think more people appreciate ease of use and realize that some of these options can be handled automatically because Apple optimizes their equipment in such a way that it works very well together.

If you read the reviews there isn't much doubt that Apple has the best wireless routing equipment on the market. In testing and in equipment, Apple has the best range and reliability of any wireless routers for the price.

I suppose people may have complained when cars moved from a crank start to a key and electric motor starting system as well, there are luddites in every field.


I imagine some one looked at how few a percentage of people actually used those features and decided they simply weren't worth keeping in lieu of something easier and more reliable.

 

[redmac]

You will have two versions of Airport Utility on your mac. You can use the simplified 6.0 version or the new 5.6 version that has all the same old options as before.

See, we still have choice.

Even more choice than before! When your parents ask for help, you can either help them or tell them to use version 6.0. What's wrong about giving an option to people?

 

[unobtainium]

Back to My Mac

Using Back to My Mac you can access this AirPort base station for services such as file sharing from your other computers that have Back to My Mac enabled.

Does this mean that Time Capsule could be used as a replacement for iDisk? How does this work? I don't see any Back to My Mac stuff on the iCloud website. Maybe I got excited for a second over nothing.

 

[KPOM]

Note of interest, I didn't update one of my Mac to 6.0, and just installed 5.6 instead. Now I have 2 copies of Airport Utility, 5.5.3 and 5.6... This is silly that the 5.6 installation doesn't overwrite the 5.5.3.

My guess is that 5.6 is set not to overwrite anything because it is designed to be a "second" version. If you install 6.0 it will overwrite 5.5.3 but not 5.6.

 

[Alrescha]

now if only they could find a way so we dont have to restart every single time we want to apply one little change.

I can't speak to your devices, but my Airports haven't needed a restart for small updates for a while now.

A.

 

[kako]

I know nerds don't care, but this is actually a big thing.

Modems and routers are a huge black box for the vast majority of the population, which is a shame considering the internet is a big thing for almost everybody. Having the internet is basic, actually setting up the internet and resolving problems is extremely complicated.

Airport base stations, and the Airport utility, brought incredible simplicity to this whole situation. But I can still imagine my grandmother not even being able to describe what she's seeing over the phone to me, should anything go wrong.

With this, literally anybody can see what part of their network is having a problem, take control and fix it without having to know anything.

I know nerds hate control taken away for simplicity, but for most people finding what's wrong with their router isn't a sport, most people don't want to dedicate hours of problem solving for what should be simple things.

 

[k1121j]

Wide Area Bonjour

oops

 

[phoenixFlyer]

Airport 6.0

Printing management deleted under 6.0. This is Apple's dumbing down process.

 

[pika2000]

I know nerds don't care, but this is actually a big thing.

Modems and routers are a huge black box for the vast majority of the population, which is a shame considering the internet is a big thing for almost everybody. Having the internet is basic, actually setting up the internet and resolving problems is extremely complicated.

Airport base stations, and the Airport utility, brought incredible simplicity to this whole situation. But I can still imagine my grandmother not even being able to describe what she's seeing over the phone to me, should anything go wrong.

With this, literally anybody can see what part of their network is having a problem, take control and fix it without having to know anything.

I know nerds hate control taken away for simplicity, but for most people finding what's wrong with their router isn't a sport, most people don't want to dedicate hours of problem solving for what should be simple things.

No. The only thing "easy" with this is to see that you have multiple Airports as it provides a network map. Other than that, troubleshooting is not easier. Heck, it won't even list DHCP clients on ethernet. Let's say you have a computer on the LAN with connectivity problem, this app is useless. At least on the old one, I can see if the router assigned an IP address or not. How would not showing the info make things easier for people to troubleshoot?

 

[manu chao]

SL works just fine, not all of us throw $30 at something that works perfectly as is.

Where I draw the line is when iBooks Author installs perfectly on a SL machine as long as you change a text file in Terminal to say 10.7.2, install the program, then change it back to 10.6.8. That is a Microsoft move through and through.

You are right that Apple wants you on Lion (though not sure whether the iBooks Author things is only or even just partly motivated by this). But Apple does not want you on Lion for the 29 bucks. There is an installed base of maybe 30 million Macs, if everyone upgraded to Lion (and subsequent OS versions) that would 900 million for Apple, every two years. Apple currently makes 40 billion in profit per year. Do you really think those 900 million are really important for Apple?

No, they are not. Apple does want you on Lion so it can focus all its resources on one OS, so that it can say, we support one OS version but we support that really well and don't make much compromises to keep all our applications running on lots of different OS versions. That allows them to be better than MS, and that is what draws in the customers.

 

[KPOM]

All Apple need to do is provide an expert mode for people who want more config options. Likewise with most of the software they've produced recently.

I'm not against simplifying things for people who want to keep it simple but tweakers, admins and geeks want options.

There is an "Expert Mode." It's called Airport Utility 5.6, which was also released today.

 

[justinfreid]

Cool. I'd hoped they'd allow disk access via iCloud as they did via MobileMe.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Wow, a lot of overblown commentary on what is pretty much a non-event here.

Takeaway points here:
1. You don't have to update!
2. You don't have to use 6.0!
3. If this is the kind of thing that makes you freak out on a public forum, seek professional help!

 

[Bear]

I just installed the new Airport Utility version 5.6 along side the dumbed down version and I can say both work fine.

So. No reason to get upset kids.

Some may choose to use the IOS type interface and some may choose to use the original.

Either way they are both new.

The problem is, what happens when 5.x is no longer an option to use? WIll they have added those missing features back in to 6.x (or 7.x)? (I expect 5.x to not be available/useable on whatever cat is after Lion.)

And a better question. When will an OS X upgrade force me to replace my perfectly fine 802.11g AirPort hardware?

6.0 should have an advanced mode which allows access to the settings that previous versions of the Airport Utility allows access to.

 

[KPOM]

Printing management deleted under 6.0. This is Apple's dumbing down process.

For the most part, people can set up printers connected to an Airport from within System Preferences (Print and Scan). For those who want the old tools, that's what 5.6 is for.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

The problem is, what happens when 5.x is no longer an option to use? WIll they have added those missing features back in to 6.x (or 7.x)? (I expect 5.x to not be available/useable on whatever cat is after Lion.)

No one knows! And it's clearly not something to be concerned about, since they have made 5.6 for Lion!

Let's move on.

 

[chrono1081]

As of tomorrow morning I am selling all of my airports and time capsule and buying some real hardware. I'm done with this company.

A bit dramatic don't you think considering two versions of the utility were released?

You can choose between the normal version, or the easier to use version, or both. I don't understand why this is a bad thing.

 

[Slovak]

Whaaa?

It looks like the ability to update my IP address from the router is gone, it used to be called "Dynamic Global Hostname" but it appears to have been removed from the network config.

I used to use DynDNS for this, but not using their scripts run on a PC, but updated directly from the AX

http://dyn.com/support/airport-time-capsule-with-dynamic-dns/

Boo for removing features

Did you have the DynDNS Free or one of their paid services?

 

[parapup]

Awful UI and looks like some features are gone. Damn.

Edit: Thankfully there is still 5.6 version of the utility.

 

[KPOM]

Apple just keeps coming up with reasons not to buy another Mac.

I disagree. They came out with 2 versions. One has the same functionality that it always did. The other is a lot simpler and easier to understand. Consider that half of the Macs sold last quarter (and for several previous quarters) were to people new to the Mac. Apple is developing their OS for the new users, which sounds like a sound policy to me.

----------

A bit dramatic don't you think considering two versions of the utility were released?

You can choose between the normal version, or the easier to use version, or both. I don't understand why this is a bad thing.

True, but why let facts get in the way? It's easier to declare that "Apple is dead, and all this 'dumbing down' is killing the company."