Hum drum, bum drum, OS X Lion...

[Prime Mover]

Wow... I'm usually an upgrade addict, especially for an OS overhaul at $30. But this is... BORING! I really can't find a single feature I'm excited about. Couple that with fears of software crashes, and the fact that I JUST TODAY upgraded Max/MSP to vers 5 because of incompatibilities with OS 10.5... I'm happy to say I'm in no hurry to update, at all. I'm guessing most of you wont be either.

Is this REALLY 10.7? It seems less than a 10.65 to me. I was far more excited about Snow Leopard, and that had no new features!

[Kaczinski]

Agreed! Doesn't have anything that would get me interested - its only the last couple of month, that I feel everything has settled in with SnowLeopard
So I stay put.

[philbrown]

Apple has answered the question "How can we make OSX more iPad-like?"
Unfortunately, most of us weren't asking that question.

[kassonica]

Apple has answered the question "How can we make OSX more iPad-like?"
Unfortunately, most of us weren't asking that question.

ods
But the kids were, you know the ones, that have bought iPhones and Ipads and ipods and iSouls, they're the future of mac...............

Ps there is some new features I quite like the look of, Mission Control, resume, Auto Save, AirDrop, Versions.

[Shooshie]

The thread in the off-topic forum is a little more optimistic. I see a number of things that look pretty interesting. Did you watch the keynote? More of it came to light for me when I watched them demonstrating things in the contexts within which they were created. As for the changes to be more like iOS, we'll have to wait and see how they are implemented, with what limitations and options, before we can see whether these changes benefit us, hinder us, or leave us without any real net change. I've seen a number of potentially great features. Their implementation of "Full Screen," which is sort of an a-la-carte version of Spaces, looks very interesting to me. Coupled with it is "Resume" (as in "continue," not as in a misspelled curriculum vitae), which could have significant implications for working with DP in Spaces. It could make it much easier, remembering where we left all our windows, or it could be a mess. We just won't know the answer until MOTU releases their Lion-enhanced update to DP, and we get to kick the tires a little. I'm optimistic for now.

With 250 new features, there is much to like. There is almost certainly something (or many things) that will generate indifference or outright dislike. That happens. But overall I'm seeing much to be happy about. It's when you take how far we've come in the 10 years since OSX was released that the full extent of our progress becomes evident. Or if you want to, then take it all the way back to 1984 when the Mac was released, or to whatever date suits you on the timeline of progress. Lion OS definitely moves us ahead on that timeline. The iCloud definitely helps move us into that computing nirvana we have dreamed about over the years. Still no talking computer assistant that knows all knowledge and completes our terribly compromised existence with all our human foibles and limitations, but eliminating the need to sync each device to our main Mac via direct connection is definitely a step toward that Sci-Fi dream, too.

• "Hal, open the pod bay door."
  "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."

Shooshie

[Luke]

"My god.....it's full of stars."

[Prime Mover]

Well, as long as they don't overhaul the MIDI framework like they did between 10.4 and 10.5, I'm sure I won't have anything to complain about. But it just seems uncanny, because I JUST LAST NIGHT got Max/MSP 5 up and running, after 3 years of inoperability since Leopard's release. I'll have to check with Cycling 74 and see whether it won't work... if not, I may request a free upgrade, because that would be too wrong for words.

[mikehalloran]

I don't know that I will be an early adopter but I will go there eventually. For a handicapped person, having a trackpad behave like an iPad makes a lot of sense.

Yea, let's see what happens to MIDI.

DP 5.1.3 and 6.0.3 should work as they are Universal applications. Am now going through my plugins and VIs to check for compatibility.

I watched the Keynote. Steve J and crew want to change how the world works. Again. The idea that everyone wants to work in this new fashion is over optimistic but I like the basic idea. I do not want to be connected to that world to the degree he envisions. Yes... I sound like an old fart in the sticks but he and I are the same age and my kids went to his high school.

[toodamnhip]

I like the auto save feature and how it provides a little graphic side bar of past versions..
If this really makes losing data upon crashing a thing of the past, that will be HUGE

[billf]

Apple has answered the question "How can we make OSX more iPad-like?"
Unfortunately, most of us weren't asking that question.

True. Unfortunately, now this is the question being asked:

Is Apple planning to kill off Mac OS X?

As Gerald Ratner will testify, standing on stage and panning your own products isn’t a particularly effective sales strategy. Yet when Steve Jobs announced last night that he was “going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device”, it wasn’t a million miles away from the “total crap” quip that cost Ratner his job and, very nearly, his company.

[Shooshie]

Unfortunately, now this is the question being asked:

Is Apple planning to kill off Mac OS X?

As Gerald Ratner will testify, standing on stage and panning your own products isn’t a particularly effective sales strategy. Yet when Steve Jobs announced last night that he was “going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device”, it wasn’t a million miles away from the “total crap” quip that cost Ratner his job and, very nearly, his company.

First of all, the article is in a Mac-hostile publication.
Secondly, the author ignores (or perhaps did not absorb) key things about the keynote.
Thirdly, though Xserve is technically ended, there is a new set of tools for the same purpose, called… get this… Lion Server. In case you missed it, note the word "Server." That tends to imply certain expected uses. The basic OS behind OSX and OSX Server were always the same. Just differently purposed. Why sell it as a different beast? Just give OSX users access to the server tools they need, and you've got a server OS.

When Jobs said he was making the Mac "just a device," he meant that it held no particular rank against the iPad, iPhone, and iPod, so that it wasn't the crucial centerpiece required for using these devices. That liberates the devices; it doesn't mean he's phasing out the Macs. They still sell them by the millions, and that is crucial revenue for Apple whether the Mac is a centerpiece or not. The end of the Mac is not near. Beware of false preachers.

Shoosh

[billf]

Unfortunately, now this is the question being asked:

Is Apple planning to kill off Mac OS X?

As Gerald Ratner will testify, standing on stage and panning your own products isn’t a particularly effective sales strategy. Yet when Steve Jobs announced last night that he was “going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device”, it wasn’t a million miles away from the “total crap” quip that cost Ratner his job and, very nearly, his company.

First of all, the article is in a Mac-hostile publication.
Secondly, the author ignores (or perhaps did not absorb) key things about the keynote.
Thirdly, though Xserve is technically ended, there is a new set of tools for the same purpose, called… get this… Lion Server. In case you missed it, note the word "Server." That tends to imply certain expected uses. The basic OS behind OSX and OSX Server were always the same. Just differently purposed. Why sell it as a different beast? Just give OSX users access to the server tools they need, and you've got a server OS.

When Jobs said he was making the Mac "just a device," he meant that it held no particular rank against the iPad, iPhone, and iPod, so that it wasn't the crucial centerpiece required for using these devices. That liberates the devices; it doesn't mean he's phasing out the Macs. They still sell them by the millions, and that is crucial revenue for Apple whether the Mac is a centerpiece or not. The end of the Mac is not near. Beware of false preachers.

Shoosh

True, and it ignores a fundamental reality, which is that developers need Macs to create iOS apps. That said, it does seem that Apple is in danger of developing a perception problem due to false preachers.

[Shooshie]

[That said, it does seem that Apple is in danger of developing a perception problem due to false preachers.

And THAT has been the story of the Mac from Day-1. It reached a peak in the 1990's before Steve returned to Apple, and those false preachers literally threatened Apple's survival. That was when I learned to speak out and not assume that others knew or understood what was obvious to me. Facts trump innuendo 100% of the time. It's just a matter of reaching the gullible who are repeating false claims, like many of the commenters on that article.

Guess I'd better go reply to it.

Shooshie

[billf]

[That said, it does seem that Apple is in danger of developing a perception problem due to false preachers.

And THAT has been the story of the Mac from Day-1. It reached a peak in the 1990's before Steve returned to Apple, and those false preachers literally threatened Apple's survival. That was when I learned to speak out and not assume that others knew or understood what was obvious to me. Facts trump innuendo 100% of the time. It's just a matter of reaching the gullible who are repeating false claims, like many of the commenters on that article.

Guess I'd better go reply to it.

Shooshie

The worst part is that these articles are coming from technology sites, places where one would expect the readership to have some level of technical understanding. Yet, they just parrot innuendo, which makes me wonder if any of them have ever developed anything in their lives for the computer, otherwise they would understand the difference between a mobile application device OS versus a development OS.

[mikehalloran]

The ideal OS has always been none at all. Just applications that did what you want in a way that you expect. This is where Steve Jobs has always been heading. It is the future and many of us know it. The Darwin over UNIX core is making this possible. Not here yet but, someday...