Thread: OS X Lion

This is what progress does. Wait until the apps you need get up to speed and upgrade then. If we waited for everything to always work there would be no progress. Shit, when we went from AE API to the FXplug API in FCP I had to wait almost a year for my thousands of dollars of plugins to get updated to work. And it wasn't Apples fault, it was the slow adoption of the software manufactures to get their shit fixed.

Regardless, everything will work, but you have to expect any major update will cause glitches in a .0 release. This has been true since I started using computers and it isn't a strictly apple dilema. It may feel more so now than in the past since we rely on computers so much now but in 2002(?) when switching from OS9 to OS X NOTHING WORKED!!!!! I had to run a dual boot machine for over a year until I could get everything I needed updated to work in OS X. I think we got it pretty easy right now.

This is an unbelievably good review of the new OS:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews...-os-x-10-7.ars

Then again, all of Siracusa's articles on OS X have been great. I highly recommend reading that before you upgrade. You can skip the super geeky parts if you like, but his discussion of the GUI tweaks is awesome and full of tips.

Originally Posted by advres

Lion hides the user/library/ directory by default. If you go in there often like I do, open up terminal type "chflags nohidden ~/Library/" without the quotes and hit enter. Now your library directory will show up in your finder.

There's a way to do that without mucking around in the terminal.

"If you hold down the option key when you are on Finder's Go menu, the library icon will show up an you can directly go to it without having to type it in."

It's from this great discussion on Ars about Annoyances and Workarounds in Lion:
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtop...f=19&t=1150879

Originally Posted by oftpiste

Not changing just yet. Frome what I've read Quicken won't work in Lion. iWow won't work in Lion. VMware won't work in 64 bit without a $40 upgrade. God only knows what else will become suddenly and inconveniently useless. Sorry, I love apple but WTF?

I have always hated these major OS upgrades that require spending more money on shit that worked just fine before.

You won't have to spend money to upgrade most of your apps. Most developers should be putting out point releases to address Lion issues. That said, some stuff just won't work. To find out if you have any old Classic or PPC apps before you upgrade, go to the System Profiler and select Software -> Applications. The Kind field lists what type of app it is. Universal and Intel apps should pretty much work. You may have a few Lion specific glitches in them, but those will generally be handles by a minor point release. The apps that won't work though are Classic and PowerPC apps. Those will need to be replaced.

Oh and as for Quicken, that's not true. What won't work is Quicken 2007. Quicken Essentials should work fine. That said, Quicken Essentials sucks compared to Quicken 2007. They basically waited way too long to make Quicken a Universal/Intel app. Instead of starting a ground up rebuild years ago like they should have, they rushed out a new version (Essentials) that lacked many of the features of 2007. Basically, they just wanted to get something out the door. They've promised they will bring it up to speed in the next year or two, but I wouldn't hold my breath. They've been pretty incompetent so far. In no way, shape, or form does Apple bear any responsibility for this. They laid this roadmap out a long time ago and everyone else has jumped on the bandwagon. Hell, even Microsoft got the massively bloated Office codebase up to speed. Intuit is just stupid.

I'm following my normal upgrade habit and holding off for now. You guys can be my guinea pigs. I'll probably jump in once 10.7.1 is out. I will definitely be upgrading though. There's a lot of really cool and important shit under the hood of Lion.

Originally Posted by Arty50

There's a way to do that without mucking around in the terminal.

"If you hold down the option key when you are on Finder's Go menu, the library icon will show up an you can directly go to it without having to type it in."

Umm... typing in one line in terminal is harder than holding option and going to the Go menu anytime I want to access my library? My trick makes it viewable all the time. No need to do any more bullshit after you did that 2 second trick in terminal. I think mine is way easier and more convenient.

Originally Posted by advres

Umm... typing in one line in terminal is harder than holding option and going to the Go menu anytime I want to access my library? My trick makes it viewable all the time. No need to do any more bullshit after you did that 2 second trick in terminal. I think mine is way easier and more convenient.

I didn't say one was harder or easier than the other. I did however provide an alternate option for those who might not be comfortable with playing around in there. Also, maybe not everyone wants the Library to always show. Alternatives are good, no?

I'm enjoying Lion. Mission Control is great. I already had a bunch more trackpad gestures using BetterTouchTool (which I continue to use and have overridden some of the regular Lion gestures).

I do have a couple complaints. As mentioned earlier, re-arranging the menu bar in Finder isn't great, nor is the all grey colour scheme. I miss the colour you use to have (be able to add). My biggest complaint is the notification number for Mail and others (NetNewsWire and Transmission for me). I like having a very small dock (that magnifies when you roll the cursor over it) and now I can't discern different number unless I roll my cursor over it. There is probably a way to fix it, just haven't had time to look into it yet.

All in all though, Lion is pretty good. Haven't used AirDrop yet but that feature alone was almost enough to sell me on Lion.

I am kinda surprised that there hasn't been a software upgrade since the release. If this was a microsoft OS there would have been more than a few. Well, maybe I am not surprised...LOL.

If anyone is thinking about using Lion on a MBP, the two finger scrolling is now backwards as a default, to make it like the touch screens of the iPhone/ipad. So you can't swipe down to make the page go down, you have to swipe up. This actually feels like Apple is forcing you to walk on your hands.

Originally Posted by ml242

If anyone is thinking about using Lion on a MBP, the two finger scrolling is now backwards as a default, to make it like the touch screens of the iPhone/ipad. So you can't swipe down to make the page go down, you have to swipe up. This actually feels like Apple is forcing you to walk on your hands.

They're not forcing you to do that; they're merely making a suggestion. You can go into System Preferences and change that.

Originally Posted by Arty50

They're not forcing you to do that; they're merely making a suggestion. You can go into System Preferences and change that.

Nah, that's not really true. With a mac book pro you have a choice only if you want to turn it off. If you have an external mouse/trackpad etc then some other screens with options appear in the trackpad section of system preferences. I'm getting used to it, I'm sure it'll be fine after a week or so - I just don't see the reason to change something that wasn't broken.

Other grievances:

Mail 5.0 still sucks
You must use command-I to see free space etc of a drive whereas it used to show some of that on the bottom of the windows that you double clicked.

Otherwise, it's basically the same so far.

Sorry, you just don't know how to use it obviously. The bottom of my finder windows show the path of the folder and current space.

Oh, cool. So it does have it - but why not leave the preferences similar to how it was set up before the upgrade?

If anyone else misses it:

Finder > View > Show status Bar.

^Because Steve Jobs is a cock sucker. He needlessly thinks things that SEEM simpler to simple minded idiots make it easier for us all who have been using his OS for years. It's stupid shit like this and the upside-down finder sidebar that really pisses me off about Apple.

Quicktime 7 = fuxored.

before Advres tries to call me out for Jonging up my mac, I did get this working.

I downloaded the 7.6.6 package again, even though I already had it.

Purged all libraries of previous downloads.

Reinstalled.

Restarted a few times.

Finally worked.

YAY. I can finally use a program that was supposed to be completely compatible. What an unspeakable joy.

OK, soooo... I'm old school... I'm stuck at 10.5.8

I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook with 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
I need to get snow leopard to upgrade to lion...
I plan on keeping this around for a while.. may not be my primary in 6-12 months, but it's competing with skis and new glass for the camera on the replacement list right now...

Anywho, should I do the double upgrade?
Anything I should know?
Do I have to wait to get a disc to do the Snow Leopard?


Word

Thanks for any advice

You can now buy a thumb drive with the OS installed for $69 and have it forever. My question is why are you upgrading? Do you need it or do you just want it? I'm using it on my 2.4 C2D (non unibody) MBP and like it for what it is. But I wouldn't spend a dime on it personally.

Here's to hoping that chrome fixes the two finger left swipe to go back a page. It sort of works in 14 beta, but not nearly as well as in safari.

Originally Posted by grskier

Anywho, should I do the double upgrade?
Anything I should know?
Do I have to wait to get a disc to do the Snow Leopard?

Are there any features in Lion that you need?

Do you have any software that won't work under 10.5.8?

No? Then leave it be. It's not like you get all new iLife software with the upgrade or something. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that Apple changed around a bunch of cosmetic stuff, broke some user preferences, and added a few features that nothing will depend on for years.

Awesome, I'm going to just do an iLife upgrade and thats it then...