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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Mac OS X Lion review

As a Mac user (although I hate most everything else from Apple), I've been closely following the development of OS X Lion.  In fact, I've downloaded each and every development preview released by Apple, including the release-to-manufacturing version.  Now that the Lion is finally out of its den, I have been running the official version for about a day now, and I can now review the features in full.  So, without further ado, here are the features I love, hate, and feel ambivalent about:

The first difference I noticed with Lion was the scrolling.  In fact, right after installation, there was a one-page tutorial on scrolling.  The scrolling direction is now reversed; scrolling up now scrolls down, and vice versa.  Basically, Apple has now introduced a metaphor into the system that didn't exist before: the screen is like a piece of paper, so I guess they assumed that scrolling should be just like moving a piece of paper up and down (move your fingers up to move the paper up).  I have four words for this: what the f**k, Apple?!  Sure, it makes sense on a touch-based device like the iPad (which I hate, by the way), but on a computer?!  The worst thing is that this is incredibly disorienting, not to mention annoying: it runs against every other type of computer that I've used, including big IBM mainframes, HP minicomputers, Cray machines, Windows PC's, Linux workstations, and older Macs.


Similarly, I don't like this Launchpad idea.  Basically, the Launchpad is a dumbed-down application launcher. If you don't like cluttering up the Dock with un-necessary icons and don't know how to use a search box, you'll love the Launchpad.  Otherwise said: if you're retarded, you'll love the Launchpad.  Problem is, this encourages computer illiteracy: if one isn't forced to use the Dock, Applications folder, and quick search boxes, he will never learn to use them.  This leads to bad habits; for instance, when one needs to locate and use a system utility.  Other than dumbing down the system, Launchpad is an entirely useless feature: there is zero configurability, no equivalent to Stacks, and no 'lights' like on the Dock to indicate which applications are running.

Out of the box, Mac OS has always been an operating system for idiots; this was true especially in the Dark Ages of Apple history, when Mac OS didn't have an X following its name.  In those days, Mac OS didn't even include a command prompt, and its mice had no right buttons.  Thankfully, those days are over.  What is curious about the idea of the Launchpad, as well as 'natural' scrolling, is that these 'features' appear not to have been included to make the computer easier and simpler to use, but to bring the interface closer to iOS, a mobile 'operating system' which I thoroughly dislike, being a hard-core BlackBerry man.

Apple partially redeems itself for these two 'features'; one can easily go into the System Preferences and disable the relevant options.  To disable 'natural' mouse scrolling, click Mouse > 'Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating'.  To disable the Launchpad, simply remove it from the Dock.  Also, the Launchpad is not a mandatory feature; the Finder has not been replaced by it, and so its icon on the Dock can simply be ignored.

Now, I simply love AirDrop.  It's Apple's equivalent of the Microsoft Windows workgroup, or the Beam function on Palm Pilots.  Those that aren't in a corporate environment will probably have no idea what I'm talking about: if all the computers on a single router (network) also share a workgroup, one can share files between them after some slightly obscure settings have been enabled.  Apple, as always, dumbs this down; in this case, however, it's for the better.  Now, no routers, or settings, are needed: any number of Macs running Lion can participate in AirDrop, as long as they are within about 30 feet of each other, and the AirDrop button in Finder is selected (it looks like a parachute).

I also love the new document control.  In Lion, you no longer need worry about losing an unsaved document; applications automatically save documents at idle times, when requested, and during idle times.  In addition, this saving process is incremental: in case you make a mistake and save, you can get your old version back.  In the few months I have had Lion, I have made use of this feature numerous times.  With typical Apple flair, the restore screen even includes a cool space-themed background and effects.

I like Mission Control.  For me, this feature has special utility, as I have always had the sort of mind that tends to compartmentalise.  For instance, I keep my documents on one screen, my social applications on another, and my Web browsing on a third.  I became used to this feature on my IBM mainframe running AIX (a corporate operating system similar to Linux); on AIX, there is a widget that looks like a window with four panes.  Clicking on pane number one would show, for instance, my documents; pane two would switch to my social life.  If I wanted to transfer an application from desktop one to desktop two, I'd drag it to the right edge of my screen, and the desktops would be switched underneath it.  Such a feature existed in OS X prior to Lion, but it was horrendously inconvenient.  Finally, the feature, called Spaces, has been fixed and renamed to Mission Control.

Ever since the inception of the Mac, there has been no feature to maximise a window; finally, with Lion, windows can take up the entire screen.  Finally.  What the hell, Steve?!  This functionality has been part of Windows ever since its creation.  Now, certain applications---far fewer than half of them---support full-screen mode.  However, they do so in an excellent fashion: to minimise distraction, even the window borders are hidden in full-screen mode.

I like the new eye-candy.  Apple has always taken its look seriously; this stands in stark contrast to Windows XP, where the default theme could only have been designed by the partnership of Herman Fisher and Irving Price.  The colour has been somewhat desaturated here, which is nice; the bright blue, capsule-shaped user-interface elements struck me as somewhat childish.  Functionally, in Apple applications, scroll-bars hide automatically; in addition, all applications can now be re-sized by the edges, which is a relief to me as a Windows/AIX/Linux user.

I don't use Apple-supplied applications.  I find them somehow lacking; I use terminal commands whenever I can (alpine to read my eMail, vim to work on documents), and other applications (Chrome for Web browsing, VLC for audio and video) otherwise.  Therefore, I can't speak as to improvements in iCal and Mail.

I am also ambivalent towards the new multi-touch gestures.  Touchscreens don't belong on computers; I have a hard time accepting that they belong on mobile phones.  Therefore, it's obvious that I wouldn't own a Magic Trackpad or whatever they're calling it; I do, however, use the touch pad on my MacBook Pro (reluctantly, when forced to).  I still don't use the gestures.

What I love most, however, is the price and the associated freedoms.  The price, at $40, is mind-blowing for an operating system; this is cheaper than most application software.  For $40, you get a single application, downloadable over the Internet.  When installing, there is no licence key to enter; after installing, there is no activation.  Apple, unlike certain other large technology firms, has faith in its users, and acknowledges that piracy can and will happen---no sense trying to stop it and alienating legitimate users in the process.

Why are you still reading this?  Get OS X Lion!