What is Lion's weakest new feature?

[iMikeT]

After installing and using Lion for the past few days, it has many useful strengths but also comes short in many areas. I think the places where Apple "iOSified" Mac OS X is where the weaknesses become the most apparent.

Out of all the new features that Apple boasts about Lion, personally, I think that Launchpad is the weakest and most useless feature in Lion. I can see if someone is new to the Mac that came from an iOS device that seeing your apps in such a way may be useful. However, for long time Mac and desktop computer users, this doesn't translate well. One has to ask themselves, "Why go into this interface when I can simply bring my cursor down to the Dock and launch the same apps from there?"

At this point, I have a growing list of bug and feature fixes/requests that I'll be submitting to Apple in the coming days. What are yours?

 

[PlaceofDis]

i have an issue where WiFi doesn't work after waking from sleep, but other than that i think not being able to re-arrange desktops in Mission Control is the weakest spot imo.

launchpad has allowed me to hide my dock for the first time since i started using OS X back with Jaguar, so i appreciate that aspect of it.

 

[stefan1975]

my personal weakest 'feature' is that apple realized the market of computer illiterate people is larger then the power user market and is gearing their product towards that new area. it was visible with fcpx and now with lion, they are taking the power out of power-user and making an o.s. suitable for the masses. very smart in a business and $$ perspective but it is annoying the heck out of me, i want my library files visible , spaces, expose, save as, scroll bars, fresh restarts ..... not this grama friendly iOS+

 

[kasakka]

Definitely Launchpad. It doesn't relate to the application folder structure in any way, it keeps cramming new apps on a second page on my 30" 2560x1600 display, it takes all my display (requiring mousing from one end to the other), it doesn't let you delete anything but Mac App Store apps, it has silly limitations for folders and clicking anywhere but icons will dismiss it. All in all it's a failure.

I dislike how most of the new features are entirely geared towards laptops rather than desktops. Fullscreen mode is stupid with multiple monitors because it allows only one app no matter how many displays you have. It should leave the other display alone rather than blanking it with a wallpaper.

 

[50548]

Launchpad, especially since it uses a different metaphor when compared with Dock...if you delete anything there, it's not just an alias but the application itself. I hope Apple changes this with the next update.

 

[polbit]

Definitely Launchpad, as mentioned the silly limitations and awkwardness of using it on a big screen make it useless. I wish there was a way to just get rid of it, I don't want to see new apps bought from the App Store install themselves there. It's not an iPhone, it's a computer.

 

[hcho3]

App store on lion is slower than the one I am using it with Snow leopard. I love the new 2011 Macbook air, but I gave it to my dad and I took his macbook pro.

 

[gentlefury]

my personal weakest 'feature' is that apple realized the market of computer illiterate people is larger then the power user market and is gearing their product towards that new area. it was visible with fcpx and now with lion, they are taking the power out of power-user and making an o.s. suitable for the masses. very smart in a business and $$ perspective but it is annoying the heck out of me, i want my library files visible , spaces, expose, save as, scroll bars, fresh restarts ..... not this grama friendly iOS+

God I really HATE this mentality! People have been saying this for YEARS about Mac OS. All the advanced features are still accessible! If you really know what you're doing you can go into a terminal and do ANYTHING. Why do some people consider it a negative that Apple decided that it makes more sense to make a UI user friendly?? I don't see why you should have to fight with a computer to change simple settings. I say, the easier the better! I do very complex things on computers and even program in Unix when I need to and I think Mac OS is the best UI on the market!

And what do you mean you want your library files visible?? They are perfectly visible! If you don't know how to access your root volumes you are NOT a power user!

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Mission control's replacement of spaces preferences. I hate that you can't have multiple rows of desktops and the new way of assigning applications to desktops is awkward. However the ability to give each desktop it's own wallpaper is a very welcome enhancement.

 

[*LTD*]

my personal weakest 'feature' is that apple realized the market of computer illiterate people is larger then the power user market and is gearing their product towards that new area. it was visible with fcpx and now with lion, they are taking the power out of power-user and making an o.s. suitable for the masses. very smart in a business and $$ perspective but it is annoying the heck out of me, i want my library files visible , spaces, expose, save as, scroll bars, fresh restarts ..... not this grama friendly iOS+

Stick with the "grandma-friendly iOS+."

You're not a power user by the looks of it.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Stick with the "grandma-friendly iOS+."

You're not a power user by the looks of it.

One misinformed post and he can't be a power user? Some people don't obsessively stay up to date with the current minor features and inner workings of OS X. Some people use their computers to get things done. And SOME people aren't rabid fanboys who attack anyone who says anything moderately critical of Apple.

I take it back. Why in the world would I even think of replying to LTD?

 

[kopite19]

The inability to rearrange desktops and applications forgetting desktops they've been set to.

It would have been LaunchPad but I gave it a bit more time and now I use it more than Spotlight or the dock (which I always have hidden anyway).

 

[gentlefury]

One misinformed post and he can't be a power user? Some people don't obsessively stay up to date with the current minor features and inner workings of OS X. Some people use their computers to get things done. And SOME people aren't rabid fanboys who attack anyone who says anything moderately critical of Apple.

I take it back. Why in the world would I even think of replying to LTD?

Accessing root file systems in Mac is NOT a new feature in any way! If you have scratched an inch beneath the surface you would know a number of ways to access library files. Not knowing this means the OP is not a power user in any way!

 

[scottperezfox]

For me, Launchpad simply doesn't work. It's beyond buggy to the point where I will call it broken. So I guess that's number one.

But the numerous UI "improvements" have me grumbling constantly. The new thin scrollbars are harder to grab, and this combined with the ability to resize a window from every edge has me constantly moving or resizing a window when all I want to do is scroll! Plus there are no arrows, and I never realised how frequently I actually use these arrows! Maybe a few times a day, but still, it's hard to un-learn. I hope someone will create a fix for this.

The monochrome icons in Finder, iTunes, iPhoto, etc. have me frustrated. I managed a workaround for iTunes, but not the others (yet).

Safari was a mess, especially with the Tabs, but I installed LinkThing. Still don't like the downloads window behaviour. AutoFill is not quite automatic any longer, and strangely, TextExpander doesn't work properly with some web form fields.

I also never realised how much I would miss the ability to run PowerPC applications through Rosetta. Already I've run into half a dozen "little" apps that don't work in 10.7. Annoying.

 

[benhollberg]

Launchpad. I bet I'll never use it.

 

[roadbloc]

Launchpad is useless.

 

[MartiNZ]

My only issue with Launchpad is its randomly rearranging the icons on restart. Other than that I really like it is a quick way of accessing a list of games especially, but really anything not docked, or even things docked given it can be inconsistently difficult to get to the dock from fullscreen apps. I also really like the gesture for invoking LP, just wish magic mouse could handle it.

Weakest in terms of implementation I would have to say autosave/versions. I've already argued it to death so will save you all the upset .

 

[nuckinfutz]

I'm going to actually say the new colorless sidebar. While the monochromatic look cleans things up a bit it prevents me from targeting some icons via their color. With Snow Leopard I could instinctively cursor over to the purple Desktop icon or the Downloads folder with the green

Now I'm confronted with a sea of gray and I must pay more attention to the icon rather than looking for icon + color.

 

[Patrick J]

Launchpad is useless.

For you.

When I’m surfing on snappy Safari 5.1 in bed, I only have one hand on the computer trackpad. The other hand is nice and snug around my mug of coffee. When I want to launch an app that isn’t on the dock, it’s so, so, so easy just to gently pinch and click on my app.

 

[paulsalter]

Colour Scheme

Many of the other new features can be ignored/turned off, would like the same option to get rid of the grey

 

[416049]

Colour Scheme or Time Machine Snapshots, they take a lot of space but I see no use

 

[AppliedMicro]

Most annoying: Rubber-band scrolling.
2nd most annoying: "New look" for Address Book & iCal
3rd most annoying: scale-up zoom in Safari

Least useful*: Launchpad
I mean... I find Apple's own description baffling:

"Launchpad gives you instant access to all the apps on your Mac."
So does Spotlight!
Or the dock.
"Just click the Launchpad icon in your Dock."
I could just as well click on the Applications folder in my dock.
Or even faster, I could just click on the Application icon in my dock.
"Your open windows fade away,..."
Wait, who said I actually wanted my windows to fade away?
"...replaced by a display of all your apps."
Why should I want to display ALL of my Apps?
I have lots (!) of Apps.
"Arrange your apps any way you want, group them together in folders, or delete them from your Mac with ease."
Do you know, how long this could take me?
And it's not like I couldn't do any of this before.
Arrange app icons in my dock - done.
Make a few aliases, put them in a folder - done.
"And when you download an app from the Mac App Store, it automatically appears in Launchpad, ready to blast off"
So I "just click the Launchpad icon in my Dock" to open Launch Pad and then open that app?
If you put the app icon right into the dock itself, I'd be even readier to blast off!

In a nutshell: There's now a new app (Launchpad) that sits right next to a list of my most frequently used apps (in the dock). I can launch it to launch other apps.

Previously, Mac OS X used to have two "places containing" applications that you could launch:

1. The Dock (selected apps sorted manually)
2. The Applications folder, whether accessed from Finder or the dock (all of your apps sorted automatically, usually alphabetically)

Launchpad is a third - with yet another grouping mechanism and sort order. I think that's too many competing solutions just to launch apps to be included in a default OS install. And we still have Spotlight on top of that, too.

However, it might just be the start of a transition that will make the Applications folder inaccessible to the user in some future OS X release. Similar to how the Library folder is now hidden. You could probably unhide it, but it would not be intended to be user-accessible and launch applications from. Newly installed apps are added to Launchpad. Which is, by the way, not too unlike like Microsoft Windows.

Also, Launchpad in concept quite reminds me of the Windows "Start" menu from ten years ago:

"Traditionally, the Start Menu provided a customizable nested list of programs for the user to launch" (Wikipedia)

One accesses it by clicking on a button/icon called "Launch..." err, I mean "Start", which is (by default) always visible on the bottom left of your screen. See the similarity?





* Limiting my choice here to the dozen or so features which Apple most prominently advertise. Strictly speaking, things like...

1. "the Nanum font family for Korean language support"
2. "vertical text display for the Japanese dictionary"
3. "new fonts and keyboards with support for Bengali, Kannada, Khmer, Lao, Malayalam, Myanmar, Oriya, Sinhala, Telugu, and Urdu"

... seem even less useful to me personally.
But I'd guess, they might be an absolute boon for somebody else.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Accessing root file systems in Mac is NOT a new feature in any way! If you have scratched an inch beneath the surface you would know a number of ways to access library files. Not knowing this means the OP is not a power user in any way!

How exactly did the poster suggest he hadn't scratched an inch beneath the surface? All he asked for was for the library folder to be visible. Sure there are ways to access the folder even when it's invisible, but they aren't as obvious as the default Finder.

And just because you know how to copy and paste some commands to the Terminal doesn't make you a power user. Some of us actually know how to program and how to use OS X's UNIX underpinnings.

 

[bittyme]

And just because you know how to copy and paste some commands to the Terminal doesn't make you a power user. Some of us actually know how to program and how to use OS X's UNIX underpinnings.

Maybe your definition of power user is different than mine, but you don't need to know how to program to be a power user. After all, a power user is a user, not a coder.

 

[baryon]

Mission control's replacement of spaces preferences. I hate that you can't have multiple rows of desktops and the new way of assigning applications to desktops is awkward. However the ability to give each desktop it's own wallpaper is a very welcome enhancement.

Yes. I hate Mission Control. It's crap. I think this is where Lion fails the most, and this cannot be "turned off" in any way.

You can choose not to use Launchpad, you can turn off resume and you can stop using full screen apps. But you can't run from freaking Mission Control.