“Apple pegs Lion at 250+ new features, which doesn’t quite match the 300 touted for Leopard, but I guess it all depends on what you consider a ‘feature’ (and what that ‘+’ is supposed to mean),” John Siracusa writes for Ars Technica. “Still, this is the most significant release of Mac OS X in many years—perhaps the most significant release ever. Though the number of new APIs introduced in Lion may fall short of the landmark Tiger and Leopard releases, the most important changes in Lion are radical accelerations of past trends. Apple appears tired of dragging people kicking and screaming into the future; with Lion, it has simply decided to leave without us.”
“Though the Lion name suggests the end of something, the content of the operating system itself clearly marks the start of a new journey. Seemingly emboldened by the success of iOS, Apple has taken a hatchet to decades of conventional wisdom about desktop operating systems,” Siracusa writes. “The same thing happened ten years ago in an even more dramatic fashion when Apple replaced classic Mac OS with Mac OS X. The new operating system changed the rules on the desktop, wedding composited graphics, smooth animation, and photorealistic artwork to a solid Unix foundation. Apple tried to leave all vestiges of its old operating system behind—the platinum appearance, the Apple menu, even the desktop itself—but eventually bowed to some demands of long-time Mac users. Lion’s changes will no doubt meet with similar resistance from experienced Mac users, but I suspect Apple will remain unmoved this time around.”
Advertisement: OS X Lion. The world’s most advanced desktop OS advances even further. Just $29.99 at Mac App Store.
“In the same way that Mac OS X so clearly showed the rest of the industry what user interfaces would look like in the years to come, Apple’s own iOS has now done the same for its decade-old desktop operating system,” Siracusa writes. “Over the past decade, better technology has simply reduced the number of things that we need to care about. Lion is better technology. It marks the point where Mac OS X releases stop being defined by what’s been added. From now on, Mac OS X should be judged by what’s been removed.”
Much, much more in the extensive-as-always full review – very highly recommended, as usual – here.
Apple didn’t leave me behind. We’ve made progress together !
Like it!!!
John Siracusa is the man!
(And if you love his review of Lion, be sure to check out his podcast!)
The 18 month wait between these reviews is agonizing! I’ll be savoring this for the next few days like a fine wine. Or a smoking hot chick.
John Siracusa may have indulged in a tiny bit of hyperbole, but the following quote demonstrates that he really “gets” Apple’s approach to developing new products – the ability to say ‘no’ to good ideas to focus on the great ones.
I am very much looking forward to working with Lion after the early adopters test it out for me!
I understand what he means but you have to admit that Lion has a whole shitload of new features!
So far I love Lion! It’s the same enough to not get disoriented while learning the new stuff. Helps if one has used an iPad.
The fact is, there are many new features in Lion (to take the willing “forward”), but most things work as they did before, for those resistant to change. If you choose to ignore the new stuff, it’s not very different from using Snow Leopard. If you choose to embrace the new stuff, the changes are quite significant and meaningful. Apple somehow managed “the best of both worlds.”
I think the most visible change (that can’t be avoided) is the melding of Exposé and Spaces into the new Mission Control. It is much more useful than the sum of Exposé and Spaces as two separate features in Snow Leopard.
The new gestures are different, but again, people who prefer use an “old school” USB mouse with two buttons and a scroll wheel will be fine with Lion. I can’t think of anything that does not work like it did with Snow Leopard, when using a generic mouse. It’s still my preferred input device, but my Magic Trackpad is seeing more use with Lion (compared to Snow Leopard).
So, I don’t think anyone will be “kicking and screaming” with Lion, regarding changes to the GUI.
I’ll judge it by what’s left behind – Rosetta. Fail.