Ars Technica has a detailed 19-part review of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
My take: this new version is a big deal and changes some pretty fundamental things both under the hood and in terms of how you actually use your computer. It will break some old software. Don’t upgrade lightly before checking whether the change will break something really important to you.
Also, you may never really have control of your files in the same way again. With the pervasive new autosave system, OS X will have a mysterious new relationship with them.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.
View all posts by Milan
One day after Apple’s Mac OS X Lion was released into the wild, Steve Jobs’ bête noire, Adobe, has released an extensive list of wounds that the big cat has clawed into its products.
The appropriately titled “Known Issues with Adobe products on Mac OS 10.7 Lion” is a 1,500-word litany of woe, listing Lion-caused problems in 19 Adobe apps, and calling out some non-app-specific basics such as the need to install your own Java runtime and how to find your username/Library folder, which Apple has choosen to disappear.
Does anyone like Lion? From the reviews I’ve read, I don’t think I would like the changes. I will wait for the hiccups to be dealt with, and to try it out on some other machines, before I consider taking the plunge myself.
Microsoft spells out Office for Mac bugs in Lion
No word when, or if, Microsoft will support new Lion features, like Auto Save and Versions
By Gregg Keizer
July 25, 2011 06:32 AM ET
Computerworld – Microsoft last week confirmed that customers running Office for Mac will experience problems with the suite on Apple’s new Lion operating system.
The most serious of the bugs crashes Communicator when Office for Mac 2011 users try to send an instant message or start an audio or video call.
Why IT Won’t Like Mac OS X Lion Server
“InfoWorld’s John Rizzo sees Mac OS X Lion Server as a downgrade that may prompt a move to Windows Server. ‘Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server adds innovative features and a new low price tag, but cuts in services and the elimination of advanced GUI administration tools may force some enterprise departments to think twice about the role of Mac servers on their networks,’ Rizzo writes. ‘Looking more deeply inside Lion Server, it’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that Lion Server is not built for those of us in IT. The $50 price tag — down from $500 — is the first clue that Lion Server trying to be a server for the consumer. But the ironic part for IT administrators is that Lion Server actually requires a greater degree of technical knowledge than its predecessors.'”
I cannot afford a copy of Photoshop CS5 right now, and I need Photoshop more than I need this OS upgrade.
Maybe when CS6 comes out – presumably optimized for Lion – I will think about picking up upgrades to both the OS and the graphics software. If I am back in school then, all the better. The student and teacher versions are much more reasonably priced, as a rational response to elasticity of demand.
Lion
I’ve been really busy for the past couple of weeks, so I haven’t had the chance to blog about Lion. I didn’t think I would even have the time to install it, but geeky impatience overcame caution (and sleep) and I took the plunge. I decided to install on my new MacBook Air, as it is the newest Mac I own and closest to the stock configuration, so I thought it would probably be the least troublesome. It’s also not a computer I have to use every day, so if it didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be stuck without a working machine.
Apple’s system upgrades have got progressively easier over time. I remember the days when you had to pile up your stack of floppies (yes, I have been using Macs that long), and set aside hours (or days) to restore all your files and settings afterwards. It was a huge pain. The Migration Assistant has been making upgrades easier for a few iterations now, but I was a bit nervous (as many people were) about the prospect of downloading a major OS update and it installing in place. That just felt weird. Anyway, I’m happy to say it was all a piece of cake. I think the whole thing took about 40 minutes from start to finish, with no intervention required on my part except to demonstrate that I understood the whole reverse, sorry — natural — scrolling thing. I think that the only thing I had to fix afterwards was to install the new XCode 4 so that I could continue to install command line stuff using homebrew. I’ve since also upgraded an old white plastic iMac and a newer iMac, and it has all gone well. Lion seems to run well and swiftly on all of them.
Scrolling down on webpages is the one thing I do the most often on my computer. It’s annoying that Lion swaps a more comfortable gesture – curling down with your index finger on the scroll wheel – with a less comfortable one – pushing the scroll wheel forward with the same finger.
The disappearing scroll bars are also annoying. I want to know how much more of a document I still have to read, partly so I can decide if it is worth reading all the way through.