Apple announces Mavericks successor - Yosemite

[Dan Worley]

Nice job, Apple!

Yeah, I have to say that I'm looking forward to the new features and design changes in Yosemite and iOS8. It looks promising, some of it incredible.

[Shooshie]

My son was at the keynote yesterday. He sent me some pictures from the Moscone Center. I thought that was cool, but I wasn't all that impressed with the announcements. I'm fine with their switching their code-names away from California beaches and going to California National Parks. Yosemite seems like a fitting name for 10.10. It's sort of the king of national parks if you disregard the pyrotechnics of Yellowstone or the umm... "depth" of the Grand Canyon, or... oh, never mind.

The one thing that really made it sound cool was the idea of being able to start a project on one device, continue it on another device, and finish it even on a 3rd. Seamlessly. I've seen that ability in Messages, email (sort of), Notepad, Contacts, Calendar, and maybe a couple other Apple-centric apps, and I totally welcome it on a broad scale. I wonder, though, whether it will catch on. Obviously you have to rewrite your apps to do that. I don't expect to see an iPad version of DP any time soon (though they could be surprising us). I just don't see pulling 13 GB of audio off the cloud without some kind of consequences. (money, that is, followed soon by realizations that the cloud has limits)

The thing that bothers me is this: Mavericks broke a lot of stuff, some of which has yet to be fixed. Yosemite scares me. It's going to change the way things look. I did NOT LIKE the change in appearance in iOS a version or so ago. It's left me wishing I could go back to the old look. Some things were just easier to see then. Skinny fonts, lack of shadows and other graphic elements which have long been used to ease the eyes, do not make for greater productivity or even better looks. It just establishes that a certain group of people are in charge at Apple, and now that Steve is out of the way, they can have their day. That's what I see every time I look at my iPhone or iPad.

Are they going to do the same to the Mac? Will they leave our customizations alone? I don't want to have to relearn everything because they choose to get rid of Mission Control, or customized icons, or custom background views, etc. This bunch of yahoos in charge make me nervous.

Shoosh

[David Polich]

Announcements of a new Apple OS always fill me with dread. First of all, you know that the list of machines it can't be installed on is going to grow. Second, you know that a lot of your apps
won't work with the initial release. Third, you know there will be changes to workflow that make no sense whatsoever.

Perhaps Yosemite will fix the gimmicky mess that is Mavericks, just as Snow Leopard fixed
Leopard and Mountain Lion fixed Lion.

I'll be waiting the usual months before making the move to it, if indeed I make the move at
all. I bypassed Mavericks completely and I'm glad I did.

[frankf]

I bypassed Mavericks as well on my music Mac Pro, but I'm going to have to install it on my Macbook pro this week for 1 reason. The iWork apps in iOS7 do not open with the current versions for Mountain Lion. If I start or edit a numbers doc on iPad, for example, I can no longer open it on the MacBook Pro. This is one of the features that Shooshie mentioned and is very usefull, but I need Mavericks and/or Yosemite in the fall to make if work. I'm not a big fan of cloud apps which are being introduced by apple with great fanfare, as often find myself without an Internet connection when I travel. More decisions. I hate to move from ML and DP8 configuration on my Mac Pro as it is so solid.


Frank Ferrucci

[billf]

The thing that bothers me is this: Mavericks broke a lot of stuff, some of which has yet to be fixed. Yosemite scares me. It's going to change the way things look. I did NOT LIKE the change in appearance in iOS a version or so ago. It's left me wishing I could go back to the old look. Some things were just easier to see then. Skinny fonts, lack of shadows and other graphic elements which have long been used to ease the eyes, do not make for greater productivity or even better looks. It just establishes that a certain group of people are in charge at Apple, and now that Steve is out of the way, they can have their day. That's what I see every time I look at my iPhone or iPad.

Are they going to do the same to the Mac? Will they leave our customizations alone? I don't want to have to relearn everything because they choose to get rid of Mission Control, or customized icons, or custom background views, etc. This bunch of yahoos in charge make me nervous.

Shoosh

You're in good company Shoosh.

I agree with everything you've said here, and it articulates perfectly what I've been feeling about Apple's direction (and Microsoft too for that matter, e.g. Metro). One area of concern is that the needs of users of high end software, whether it be audio, video, 3d, etc. diverge at some point from the needs to consumer users of software. This isn't a trade show like CES, it is WWDC, the Apple developers conference, which means it shows developers where Apple's focus is going to be. At the moment that focus appears to be mainly on consumer devices, which makes me nervous as well.

[billf]

One thing for sure is that Linux will never take off. I use it every day, of course, but the average person unlikely ever will. There's too many reasons for that to go into here, even with KDE and other rich user desktops. Maybe something will come along like the Amiga did and clear the air, but I think it's more likely the PC has seen its day and the technical change will be driven by consumers and mobile devices almost exclusively. And that means ever-faster change and also less emphasis on longevity and reliability. That in turn hurts developers and small companies.

Linux on the desktop has had its share of false starts, so it's difficult to place optimism in it. But that said, timing is everything, and the tech industry is one where disruption of established players is sought after by VC's. Disruption forces the big players to readjust or lose market share. If current trends continue (such as curated App Stores for both OSX and Windows, sandboxing, and walled gardens), Linux may end up being viable by an enterprising start up bent on disrupting those established models.

[James Steele]

I watched the keynote and I like to see these things for myself before I get concerned. It seems to me much of it seems cosmetic and personally I like that aspect of it. The main thing we worry about is whether it will break existing software and not really easy to tell about that one.

I am happy that my MacPro4,1 apparently will be approved to run it as well as my mid 2010 13" MacBook. I wonder if any machines that were previously approved for Mavericks will be downgraded? Otherwise not too much to be upset about there.

When looking at the new interface enhancements and transparency, I'm more concerned about if there will be some increased CPU hit and whether it will still feel responsive? Will the quality of your graphics card play a bigger role in this? It just seems to me that a lot of energy was spent on the "cool factor" (do we really need translucent title bars and to see a blurry version of what was previously just scrolled out of view at the top of the window?) and so it's placing an increasing demand on the system to do very basic things.

Heck... I don't know. If it doesn't run any worse than Mavericks and nothing breaks, I'm okay with it. Look at the bright side: if it gets really out of hand, at least MOTU had the good sense to start moving DP over to Windows "just in case."

[mikehalloran]

First of all, you know that the list of machines it can't be installed on is going to grow.

Except, of course, when it doesn't.

[stubbsonic]

The two things that trouble me are: 1. Making my computer experience more like iOS/iPhone, integrating them, and 2. Apple further sucking us into a relationship where they will hold our data.

With #1, some of what comes with that is the dismissal of the concept of the power user. Not that I am one (anymore), but I appreciate being able to customize my experience, have tons of preferences and tweak things for my needs. The iOS ethos is to reduce clutter (read: reduce configurability).

With #2, I do take my privacy and security seriously, which I think is somewhat compromised when a HUGE corporation maintains access to our data. But beyond that, like Google, Apple will have its hands in all pies, and takes a cut of all music sold, all data exchanged, etc. It's just icky.

I don't need anyone to talk me down. I'm just seeing it happen and it bugs me.

I guess the good news is that I could go back to Snow Leopard and DP 7.24 and be ok. Not sure how security is with 10.6.8 these days.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Well, here's my take as a long time resistance fighter against the iOS look...

In the end, it's about what we are familiar with and fed loosing. The iOS look has really grown on me and not having to change mindsets between devices is now quite appealing. It hasn't "dumbed down" the ability to perform advanced tasks, just made it a lot easier to keep those tasks organized.

I'm not trying to change your mind or talk you down (or more accurately, "up") just offering one converts view of the Apple OS from a practical standpoint.

[James Steele]

First of all, you know that the list of machines it can't be installed on is going to grow.

Except, of course, when it doesn't.

Right. Hence I mentioned earlier, has ANY machine that currently is approved for Mavericks been announced as not compatible with Yosemite (at this point)? I can't think of any, but if so it's relatively few. I'm writing this on my MacPro1,1 which I demoted to office duty a while back and have installed Lion on it which is the end of the line for it. I *do* wish I could get it to Mountain Lion and have the ability to message with people on iPhones, but alas.

[stubbsonic]

In the end, it's about what we are familiar with and fed loosing. The iOS look has really grown on me and not having to change mindsets between devices is now quite appealing. It hasn't "dumbed down" the ability to perform advanced tasks, just made it a lot easier to keep those tasks organized.

I'm not trying to change your mind or talk you down (or more accurately, "up") just offering one converts view of the Apple OS from a practical standpoint.

That was pretty reassuring at least for my #1 issue. I don't love my iOS device, and have not 'become one' with it-- as I have with my laptop. But if they don't cause me to have to lose too many features I use, then I can roll with it. It's just we've seen that some things just break and stay broken. I send my feedbacks to The Apple, so far I'm batting 0 with that. In some cases, I can find a software solution.

For example, somewhere between 10.6 and 10.8, QuickLook became unable to play very short audio files. I used this feature to preview short samples (hi-hats, click sounds, etc.). Now I have to use AudioFinder. It's an extra step, but works ok.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Snapper is a great app.

http://www.audioease.com/Pages/Snapper/SnapperMain.html

[stubbsonic]

What a great tip!! I hadn't heard of it before. That is EXACTLY what I need.

Recently I was using Fission (Rogue Amoeba) as a general MP3 editor, batch converter, and playback. I like using it to practice with long rehearsal recordings. It looks like Snapper might do more things that will be super handy. Though $80 is a lot for a utility like that, (especially when I have other tools that work)-- I can see that this one really would pay for itself in time saved.

Thank you, Mr. MLC.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

The only sucky part is you can't spot to DP. You can spot to PT and some other DAWs. I love being able to see and select a section of a file. You'll love it.