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Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#231

Post by Lewisham »

nchlswu wrote: post #225
Lewisham wrote: post #213

I know it's not a popular opinion, but yet again I feel like Apple has decided to simply keep status quo with Mac OS X, which is very much the same Mac OS X we got from about 10.3 onwards (Panther, wasn't it)? Think about how different Ubuntu is now since then. Windows 8 is a real risk-take from a company that does not take risks (whether they were forced to do so or not is another argument). Mac OS X is... Mac OS X…

Mac OS is at a point where they simply can't take these drastic jumps that you may see in the competition. For one, they're now at a yearly cycle. Two, the audience has expanded and continues to expand it's user base. OS X's yearly cycles allows them to take a loyal user base who will upgrade and gradually introduce them to paradigm shifts, like cloud storage. Apple is taking calculated steps to make sure any of thei…

It seems to me that Apple doesn't think that the Mac is a segment it needs at all.

I would place money on Apple killing the Mac within 10 years, moving all consumers to iOS (which, let's face it, they're doing all by themselves), and releasing Xcode onto a Linux distro and wash their hands of desktop computing once and for all.

Apple clearly doesn't see a lot of future in the desktop, and that may well be right.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#232

Post by gizzlon »

rmc wrote: post #131
oinksoft wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a scary preview of Apple's vision of desktop computing (which we all anticipated with the App Store being brought over from the iPhone world to the desktop): The safest place to find apps for your Mac is the Mac App Store. That’s because the developers who create them are known to Apple, and the apps are carefully reviewed before they’re accepted in the store. As I've had no reason to upgrade my home PC from…

the apps are carefully reviewed Carefully reviewed to ensure they don't upload your whole address book.

Don't get why parent was down-voted? Seems like legitimate criticism to me: How can they claim the software is "carefully reviewed" to "protect the user" but still allow seemingly dangerous app?

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#233

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

randomdata wrote: post #176
tristan_louis wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not. The continuing IOSification of OSX is something that has been bugging me too and part of why, to date, I've yet to upgrade to Lion. It looks like Apple wants to create a more iOS-like approach across all its products, which is fine if you buy into the whole ecosystem. It also seems there's a trend here, with Apple bringing iOS increasingly into OSX and Microsoft bringing Windows Phone into Windows 8, the…

I have yet to use Lion, so I cannot comment if the iOS metaphor suits the personal computer, but I am all for the vendors trying something new. The desktop metaphor has been used for multiple decades now, with very little variation. While it has proven to work well, is it the best we can do, or are we stuck with baby duck syndrome?

98% of the time for me at least Lion remains near identical to previous OS X versions from a UI perspective (with the exception of full screen which was just a glaring omission from all previous version IMHO).

The "Back to the Mac" line might be good marketing but massive over sell if viewed as literal truth. What they did was identify a few holes in the UI (for instance that you might not have every application you wanted in your dock but that going through your applications folder was a pain) and fill them with iOS-ish solutions.

But if you don't want them, you don't use them, they've not taken any of the old stuff away.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#235

Post by jpravetz »

mbesto wrote: post #71

The walls are slowly going up around the garden...

I'm most alarmed with this restriction:

iCloud document storage and Notification Center. Both of these are slated only for third-party apps from the Mac App Store. Many developers, though, have been maintaining non-Mac App Store versions of their apps. If this continues, such apps are going to lose feature parity between the App Store and non-App Store versions.

This will affect software from companies such as Adobe where custom installers are necessary and/or the economics of taking a 30% App Store hit is not necessary when they can already reach their customer base. The move strikes me as anti competitive.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#236

Post by pwelch »

ori_b wrote: post #65

" OS X Mountain Lion arrives this summer. With all-new features inspired by iPad, the Mac just keeps getting better and better. " Am I the only person that doesn't want an ipad on the desktop?

No your not. I want my stuff to sync without issues like my notes, contacts, mail but I don't want my laptop/desktop to feel like my phone. Example: Launch pad, is anyone really using this?

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#237

Post by gurkendoktor »

batista wrote: post #117
ed209 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since os 8.something I've always felt that my mac is a workhorse. It's like I've had to have a mac, I a professional designer damnit. But this update feels like it's creeping towards a heavily consumer facing product. My workhorse is being swapped for a show pony... (no doubt it'll still do the job, it just a totally unfounded feeling I have)

But this update feels like it's creeping towards a heavily consumer facing product. Two questions: 1) you think you are different than a consumer how? 2) what exactly do you see this update taking away from you?

> 1) you think you are different than a consumer how?

For me the distinction is this. If a feature is being taken from a consumer (e.g., me as a consumer), I say bummer and find a new hobby. No Apple remote and Front Row anymore? Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

If I use a feature in a professional workflow and it disappears, then I want at the very least a big fat warning before upgrading, but it'd be better if nothing disappeared altogether; or alternatively, if I could stay on the older version.

The current trend with Apple is to radically drop features that are only used by and to always require the latest OS for everything. You cannot sync contacts off a 32-bit Mac anymore because MobileMe is running out and Lion/iCloud is 64-bit only. And on my 64-bit machine, I only found out that iSync was gone after I upgraded and held a (replacement) dumbphone in my hand.

Or look at OS X server, which I am happy I didn't buy. The reviews on the MAS are devastating and I was wondering if it would ever rise from beta software quality. If you relied on OS X server, well joke's on you.

That said, I think 10.8 in particular is only 10.7 with lipstick to directly compete against Windows 8. (Notice even the version numbers?) But 10.7 did cause lots of damage.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#238

Post by k-mcgrady »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #220
k-mcgrady wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but Apple doesn't want to allow people to pay to get into a Beta. They want only devs taking part. A fee to enter the dev program seems like the best solution to me. Honestly they should increase it to $199 to help weed out the app spammers.

There's enough money in app spamming that it would have to be a lot higher than that to put them off. As a rule the people who act like arseholes have at least as much money as those who don't, I don't think it's going to put them off. I agree a nominal fee is reasonable as it puts another barrier in their way (you can check for duplicate memberships off the same card for instance so they have to get multiple cards)…

That's a good point. It would help get the beta testers out of the forums though :) Every time a new iOS version starts testing the forums are overrun with people who have x bug and don't understand what beta means. I wish there was a way for Apple to prevent a lot of the App Store spam. I wouldn't be against them becoming more curated (i.e. only apps they deem useful and quality get it). Or have a special section in the store labeled 'crap'.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#239

Post by freehunter »

ed209 wrote: post #99
ori_b wrote: post #65

" OS X Mountain Lion arrives this summer. With all-new features inspired by iPad, the Mac just keeps getting better and better. " Am I the only person that doesn't want an ipad on the desktop?

Since os 8.something I've always felt that my mac is a workhorse. It's like I've had to have a mac, I a professional designer damnit. But this update feels like it's creeping towards a heavily consumer facing product. My workhorse is being swapped for a show pony... (no doubt it'll still do the job, it just a totally unfounded feeling I have)

As a non-Mac-user, I've always had the impression (from Apple and the general public) that Macs are consumer-oriented devices (or at least non-corporate machines). The only significant impact they've had in business in my view is for creative professionals like yourself, and only because for a while Adobe tools worked better on Mac (which may or may not be the case anymore).

Schools used Macs because they were cheap (for the schools). Creatives used Macs because the tools were better. 99% of the other Mac users used Macs because it was more consumer friendly than the business-oriented Windows. Apple has never been in the business of catering to business.

Re: Apple announces Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

#240

Post by pwelch »

Aloisius wrote: post #229
2mur wrote: post #152

The only thing that I really dislike about iCloud is sharing a computer (with your wife/family). Our family room computer is a mac mini that is logged into one user account all of the time. It is shared by myself, my wife and my kids. The iPhoto on that account is set up to use my iCloud account. If my wife wants to get her photos (iPhone) downloaded from iCloud she has to log over to an account that only exists for…

Why don't you use multiple user accounts on your Mac Mini? That's pretty much what it is designed for.

I agree. For those who want one account for everyone then just register all your devices. If you want everyone in your household to have separate accounts then just have different logins...
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