Ok, just got Lion.
Overall I like it. The new GUI looks good.
Unfortunately, almost all the new "features" are really bad and had to be turned off. Once that was done, it was fine...which means I basically use it just like snow leopard. The problem is, most of the new "features" are little things one might think they can't change, not big things that you obviously can.
-Mission control works fine, but I never use widgets or spaces, so I have low needs there. It is annoying when windows from the same app stack...Its hard to see whats going on in the other windows.
-Launchpad is silly because it shows EVERY SINGLE APP. Its ridiculous. Removed that app. Novice users will love it though.
-Why is the HD hidden now? Turned that back on.
-The new scrolling direction is not intuitive to me. I enjoy the option, but IMO this should NOT have been the default, since novice users who may not like it won't be able to change it.
-Why did apple take away my "clear desktop" gesture and make it into this weird slow hand spread thing?
-The new scroll bars are very hard to see on dark grey windows and are quite ugly. Fortunately, I can turn them back on permanently. I don't like it when my UI changes depending on where my mouse is...it hides information.
-Airport is now called Wi-fi? Why?
-Airdrop is pretty cool.
-Oh my god. iCal and Address book now have a turd brown theme. What the hell...they spend all this time making OSX look good and they choose an ugly brown for ical, and change the useful three pane address book into a PITA two pane? WHY? I can at least fix the colors here:
http://macnix.blogspot.com/2011/07/change-mac-os-x-107-lion-ical-skin-to.html
By the way I donated that guy almost the cost of SL. I was hoping Steve would leave Apple on a high note (make things look good, unified UI, clear buttons) but if he leaves and they are still trending towards making major apps look stupid...I don't what I am going to do. Keep hacking my mac I guess.
And for everyone that thinks I am hating...overall, I like Lion, because I CAN changes all these things. I think its BS that I have to change all the new features in order to make it usable though. And if I didn't know how to change them...I would be VERY unhappy. I am not recc'ing Lion to my dad...it'll confuse the ever loving ***** out of him. Upside down scrolling, disappearing scroll bars, new gestures...