“Apple may be the most consistently inventive company in tech, but in its own way, it’s a remarkably single-minded outfit. For all their profound differences, a Macintosh computer from 1984 and a new iPad 2 are soul mates. Each is the coolest, most elegant expression of Steve Jobs’ vision of the ideal computing device that Apple could build with the technologies and resources it had at the time,” Harry Mccracken writes for TIME Magazine.
“Apple also risked baffling Mac veterans by reversing two long-standing OS X gestures to make them more consistent with iOS. In Lion, you swipe up with two fingers to scroll downward, and down to scroll upward. In past versions, it was the opposite,” Mccracken writes. “I was flummoxed by this flip-flop for about half a day — and then forgot that it had ever been different.”
Advertisement: OS X Lion. The world’s most advanced desktop OS advances even further. Just $29.99 at Mac App Store.
Mccracken writes, “Lion feels, to revive an old OS X tagline, like a new Mac for your Mac. At $129, it would have been a meaty good value. At $29.99, it’s a steal — the no-brainer upgrade that defines the notion of a no-brainer upgrade.”
Read the full review here.
Related articles:
The Register reviews Apple’s Mac OS X Lion: A great OS for Macs with trackpads – July 25, 2011
WSJ’s Mossberg reviews Mac OS X Lion: ‘The best computer operating system’ – July 21, 2011
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Mac OS X Lion: Offers the promise of a fast, powerful, virus-free, thoroughly modern OS – July 21, 2011
Researchers: Apple’s Mac OS X Lion is the king of security – July 21, 2011
Gartenberg: Mac OS X Lion will only contribute to Apple’s expanding mind-share – July 20, 2011
MSNBC reviews Mac OS X Lion: ‘Worth the upgrade’ – July 20, 2011
USA Today’s Baig reviews Mac OS X Lion: ‘Truly worth lionizing’ – July 20, 2011
Ars Technica reviews Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: ‘Better technology’ – July 20, 2011
Do versions of Windows ever get this kind of review?
I didn’t think so.
Did he really say “In Lion, you swipe up with two fingers to scroll..” ??
If I really believed I had to swipe with two fingers to scroll I would be turned completely away from Lion, and “flummoxed”, as he said. 2 finger scroll?
If he really said that someone should complain.
Mac notebooks have had 2-finger scrolling for years, Windows sufferer.
One finger is the easiest of all to me.
I scroll with one finger and wouldn’t have it any other way.
[This on an iMac w/latest Snow Leopard and MagicMouse.]
I’d not like two-fingered scrolling very much.
What happens if you drag one finger, then??
Anyway I’m sure it’s all configurable.
One finger scrolling was to move up and down on the screen; two finger scrolling was to move the document up and down.
Same that happens when you move a mouse. You move the cursor. Unless you’re Scotty and plan to talk into the mouse. There has never been one finger scrolling (that didn’t require pressing a hotkey) on any computer.
Read paul’s comment.
When you say “any computer” I presume you mean “any laptop”.
The scroll wheels on mice have used one finger to scroll for the last how many years?
It’s a scroll wheel and you use one finger on it.
With my MagicMouse I scroll windows all day long by stroking the surface with ONE finger.
I think there is confusion going on here. As I said, I’m talking about desktops, not laptops.
I do disagree with Paul: he said “The job done with ONE finger on a trackpad equates to dragging the mouse. ”
AFAIK moving one finger on a trackpad equates to moving the mouse not dragging it. I don’t know what dragging the mouse even is. You move the mouse not drag it.
Magic Mouse only uses a subset of the Lion gestures, since it only recognizes one and two- finger swipes. None of the pinch or spread gestures work- Magic Trackpad recognizes up to 4 fingers, so the options are far more elaborate.
Also- the white MacBooks do not recognize Multitouch gestures at all- they do not have the chip- this is a little-known gotcha. You cannot use ANY of the new gestures.
actually this sounds like my pops. if he’s been holding his axe one way for a few years and our neighbor got a new weighted axe with a different swing, he said he would never “in a thousand years” want an axe like that. never!
he tried it out one afternoon, swiftly demolishing a stack of wood. he now swings a new way (and i will make sure he never sees this post, as it might color his perception of a “new invention”…two finger scrolls (which I’ve been using a while on my mbp.
If you read my posts, you’d know I was referring to desktops (iMac in particular) and MagicMouse. I’ve been using one-finger reverse scrolling for a month or more now and loving it. You didn’t read very carefully.
MagicMouse with iMac (or probably any Mac) is a different scenario from trackpads with/on MacBooks (or probably any Mac). Lion treats them differently.
see dance dance Monkeyboy.
What I have learned from this discussion is that the Time article author was using some form of laptop or trackpad, which explains everything.
Lion is really awesome. I have to confess that Lion makes Windows 7 on my machine look like XP–in other words, dated.
Can’t you two finger scroll with a magic mouse too?
Yes.
Or one finger, as I do.
I always see Windows users using just ONE FINGER,
usually the middle one pointing up at a Blue Screen while swearing…
Think a little.
The job done with ONE finger on a trackpad equates to dragging the mouse. Remember you don’t drag the trackpad about on the table when you want to move the cursor.
It’s all a matter of getting used to NEW technology. Remember how you felt when the FIRST mouse came out (hmm maybe you are too young) ……same thing.
The job done with two fingers on the trackpad then equates to one finger scroll on the mouse. Why, you might ask, does the mouse do a ONE finger scroll? The answer, is to be compatible with the scroll wheel on old mechanical mice of old.
I see the confusion now, and I did think about it before I originally posted.
There seems to be some assumption that we’re talking about laptops, but I said iMac if you read my posts.
I have been referring to desktops, which as you correctly point out have had scroll wheels for years.
AFAIK a MagicMouse, used with Lion on an iMac *desktop* will still scroll with one finger, or can be set to. Correct me if that is not true, I’m not getting Lion for at least a month.
To be more clear, it appears to me it isn’t about desktop versus laptop as I implied, it is a matter of trackpad (builtin or otherwise) versus MagicMouse.
This whole discussion ensued because everybody was assuming trackpads, but I did say in my second post MagicMouse.
what happened to control-scroll to enlarge the complete screen?