Thoughts on OS X Mountain Lion??

[ryan.stewie]

My thoughts on 10.8...

Seriously, there's not one feature in Mountain Lion that we've seen yet that is remotely convincing for me to purchase it.

 

[Jagardn]

I'm not impressed. The new reminders and notes don't sync with Google, so they are useless to me.

Maybe if you had a better phone, you could sync your reminders and notes.

 

[dethmaShine]

I would like for my iPad to run OSX, not for my MBP to run iOS!

Okay what exactly this gains from iOS?

- Notes app: It's an app, just like other apps.
- Game centre: A social network for games; first in iOS because it made more sense there.
- iMessage: A full featured messaging client.
- Reminders app: Makes much more sense on iOS but good that there's now a mac-client.
- Notification Centre: A terrible implementation but for whatever it is, is a notification centre. What is really the problem here?
- Twitter: Twitter integration? Great.

iOSification of OS X is a bland argument. They're just adding more features to the operating system in a way they are meant to be.

OS X is not being iOSified. It's the same old OS X but now with features that were first introduced in iOS. No big deal.

 

[KnightWRX]

So how do I pay for it - other than the rip-off USB stick?

The rip-off USB stick. The option is there.

As for the sheep, we shall see - as the system becomes ever more locked.

Speculate all you want, it's not even beginning to be "locked" yet. I decided that I would cross that bridge when (if) I get to it. Frankly, I have no issues going back to Slackware or Arch if Apple does blow a computing fuse.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Why are they pushing out a new one before quashing the bugs in the old one?
Is it that the design philosophy behind Lion was found to be flawed, and they started over on a better base, or are they just skipping forward to wallpaper over Lion's problems? Option two seems more likely from what I've read so far.

That was my first thought this week.

Mac OSX releases take about 9 months to become reliable, unless you are just internet dorkin' and doing simple tasks. If they keep rolling out additional OSX versions yearly to sell another $29 OS to Mac users, it means we get a constantly buggy OSX experience.

I've read somewhere something about Carbon being wiped out of ML, and so ML is all Cocoa based. I can't verify anything about that, but it would make sense as to why more Macs can't run ML and why the OSX is being released. Apple has been flopping around with the 64-bit stuff for a long time, when it should have shifted definitively with Lion.

It SEEMS Mt. Lion will be the move to abandon the clunky old programming core and switch decisively to the newer processors. It also allows all these social bits-n-piece to integrate to Mac from iDevices. I think the idea is sound and welcome and awaited... now... I will upgrade in January 2013, or when 10.8.3 comes out.

 

[KnightWRX]

I consider induction charging a cop out. I want to be able to charge my iPhone when it is placed within 5-10 feet of a power source.

Why is it a cop out ? It's really nice just dropping my Touchpad on its slab thingie and the thing charges without having to plug a wire into it. So quick.

And remote charging is a big no. The last time we had the tech for it, Cobra stole it for their Cobra-la organisation so they could hatch spores in space and mutate the whole race into mindless beasts. Really, we're not going to make another B.E.T. soon.

 

[roadbloc]

You never forgot to save things? Congratulations! I know a bunch of people who have been using computer for a couple of years, and still make that stupid beginner's mistake.[/irony]

No offense, but since I started using computers, I was always greeted with a screen such as this if I forgot to save.

As for ML, I'm happy with it in the sense that it looks like what I imagined Lion to be like (include all the iOS features consistently), but unfortunately I do not like most of the iOS features on my desktop OS, so I'm still sticking with Snow Leopard.

 

[KnightWRX]

Mac OSX releases take about 9 months to become reliable, unless you are just internet dorkin' and doing simple tasks. If they keep rolling out additional OSX versions yearly to sell another $29 OS to Mac users, it means we get a constantly buggy OSX experience.

The thing with shortened development cycles is that you introduce less change per release. Less changes per release means getting said changes stable takes less time.

Thus, before we had 3 year release cycles and 6-9 months stabilization periods, now that we have 1 year release cycles, stabilization should be reached without a 2-3 month period.

iOS is a yearly release, we don't have to wait 9 months for it to stabilize.

 

[Lesser Evets]

The thing with shortened development cycles is that you introduce less change per release. Less changes per release means getting said changes stable takes less time.

Thus, before we had 3 year release cycles and 6-9 months stabilization periods, now that we have 1 year release cycles, stabilization should be reached without a 2-3 month period.

iOS is a yearly release, we don't have to wait 9 months for it to stabilize.

Man... you are a professional cheerleader. Get a paycheck for that optimism!

 

[KnightWRX]

No offense, but since I started using computers, I was always greeted

I can't even begin counting the number of times that I never got to that screen before I lost 30 minutes or an hour of work because of a crash, power failure or other problem that caused an application to simply close without running through its proper shutdown routine.

Or how many times I've saved changes only to realise I didn't want them and couldn't revert back.

Versions is great. I don't understand what people don't like about it. It just means you get instant localized snapshotting and can revert any number of changes back.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Why is it a cop out ? It's really nice just dropping my Touchpad on its slab thingie and the thing charges without having to plug a wire into it. So quick.

Well I've just always felt that things like touchstone and powermat more gimmicky than anything else. If it works for you that's great, and I'm not saying it's bad, but I'm just not convinced that it's really much of an improvement, if any improvement at all.

Being able to simply have my iPhone in an area of a 10 foot radius would be pretty great. Ultimately I'd like to be able to have my entire home be within the charge radius. My iPhone starts charging the second I walk in the door.

 

[KnightWRX]

Well I've just always felt that things like touchstone and powermat more gimmicky than anything else. If it works for you that's great, and I'm not saying it's bad, but I'm just not convinced that it's really much of an improvement, if any improvement at all.

Being able to simply have my iPhone in an area of a 10 foot radius would be pretty great. Ultimately I'd like to be able to have my entire home be within the charge radius. My iPhone starts charging the second I walk in the door.

Sure, and I'd like my phone to simply charge everywhere I stand and actually, I'd like all my electronics to not be dependant on batteries at all.

But in the interim, we have induction charging. Not fiddling with wires is pretty nice. Apple would definately get to it like HP did with the TouchPad. It's a great feature.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Versions is great. I don't understand what people don't like about it. It just means you get instant localized snapshotting and can revert any number of changes back.

They don't like it because they don't understand what it's doing, don't trust it and/or don't like that Duplicate has no hotkey. What they don't realize is that it adds functionality and takes nothing away.

Also, may I add that you're being extremely positive today.

 

[KnightWRX]

Also, may I add that you're being extremely positive today.

Uh ? I'm the same I always am. Look at the Siri thread or the iPhone 4 antenna one if miss the "negativity". You do realise I hang around here because I actually like some of Apple's stuff right ?

 

[Nishi100]

I'll get 10.8 if they fix mission control, make all of the new apps more consistent (right now it looks like a different team of devs made each app) and make copying (i hate to say it but) more like windows 8.

 

[JohnDoe98]

It is the whole Apple ID and sheep herding regimen that has stopped me from considering Lion - regardless of how good/bad the OS is. However, someone further up the thread mentioned the possibility of losing Finder at some stage - that is a no-no as far as I am concerned.

What's wrong with Apple IDs? Other than their failure to merge multiple accounts?

 

[cocky jeremy]

Love it so far. Few things:

1) Is there a way to set a keyboard shortcut for viewing notification center?
2) Am i the only one that sometimes right-clicks on a website and gets a "Twitter" contextual item sometimes, and sometimes not?

 

[iMacian]

So apparently I had to downgrade yesterday. As with every major OS X upgrade some applications are broken. It has gotten better, Leopard was the worst breaking even trivial apps like Adium but it's always the same story and with the shorter release cycles this is going to suck.

It's about time Apple introduces some sort of compatibility mode.

Autocad would not start (It is still a messy early version)
Parallels would not start (They probably still insist on forcing you to purchase a paid upgrade for each new Windows and OS X release - 2012 is a good year for them)
iStat Pro

The issue I had with dashboard is fixed with an update, now small icons show up in the bottom left.

 

[maflynn]

So apparently I had to downgrade yesterday.

Well I hate to state the obvious but it is a developer preview, who's intended purpose is to provide developers with the product to test their apps on. Given that they just go it, its not surprising apps are not working.

Apple also invites a select number of non-developers to test the OS and shake out any bugs and incompatibilities.

Bottom line is its very early in the the life cycle

 

[DeckMan]

No offense, but since I started using computers, I was always greeted with a screen such as this if I forgot to save.

Oh ok, it was a communication issue. I was talking about the rare case when an app (or the whole computer) crashes or someone plugs the iMac out by accident or there's a power outage and you're not on a portable or... you get the idea.

Nice picture, by the way

 

[DeckMan]

I've read somewhere something about Carbon being wiped out of ML, and so ML is all Cocoa based. I can't verify anything about that, ...

Where did you read that? That would be unfortunate.
All I could find is that they deprecated it, which could be considered a warning that Carbon apps won't be supported in a future OS X, possibly 10.9 in 2013.

I'll get 10.8 if they fix mission control, make all of the new apps more consistent (right now it looks like a different team of devs made each app) and make copying (i hate to say it but) more like windows 8.

If you want them to "fix" Mission Control, you should use their bug report / feature request form to tell them what's broken.

Also, what's copying in Windows 8 like? I'm curious, is it any different than in Windows 7?

 

[dashiel]

No offense, but since I started using computers, I was always greeted with a screen such as this if I forgot to save.

Did you ever accidentally click Yes when you didn’t mean to click No? I have a hard time believing users, no matter how advanced, have never made the wrong decision when saving a document.

Versions isn’t about Save/Don’t Save, it’s about never having to worry about that kind of thing again.

 

[roadbloc]

Did you ever accidentally click Yes when you didn't mean to click No? I have a hard time believing users, no matter how advanced, have never made the wrong decision when saving a document.

I'm the kinda guy who reads everything that pops up on my screen before clicking, so no, I don't think I have ever made that mistake. I do however appreciate that many users tend to click out of sheer terror when a dialogue box appears, so I agree that in rare cases, the mistake can happen.

That unfortunately does not make me like autosave any more than I did before.

 

[Can't Stop]

I'm the kinda guy who reads everything that pops up on my screen before clicking, so no, I don't think I have ever made that mistake. I do however appreciate that many users tend to click out of sheer terror when a dialogue box appears, so I agree that in rare cases, the mistake can happen.

That unfortunately does not make me like autosave any more than I did before.

Honestly i think you are not ok.

 

[dashiel]

Where did you read that? That would be unfortunate.
All I could find is that they deprecated it, which could be considered a warning that Carbon apps won't be supported in a future OS X, possibly 10.9 in 2013.

Apps submitted to App Store must use sandboxing starting soon (next month?), carbon doesn’t support sandboxing so all new apps submitted to the store using Carbon APIs won’t be allowed on the App Store. Carbon Apps from outside the App store will continue to function.

I have no doubt Carbon will be deprecated soon, but Apple made it abundantly clear during the Intel switch, Carbon is a dead end. It’s been 6 years since Apple made that announcement, 5½ years since all shipping Macs were Intel, 2½ years since Apple shipped an Intel only OS. Behemoth apps like Office and Photoshop have been ported to Cocoa, there’s simply no excuse for using Carbon anymore.