Did Apple release Mac OS X Lion too early?

“I suppose this is the sort of uncertain question that many ask in one form or another whenever Apple or Microsoft releases a major OS upgrade,” Gene Steinberg writes for TechNightOwl. “Early so-called ‘version one-point-zero’ bugs appear, one or two quick updates are released, and you have to wonder whether they might have done better to wait rather than rush the product out.”

“With Lion, Apple has changed the mold. Unlike previous versions of OS X, most Mac users are expected to download their copies from the Mac App Store, for $29.99,” Steinberg writes. “But the methodology of delivering Lion isn’t the problem. It’s the persistent bugs reported in the initial 10.7 release that trouble a number of Mac users.”

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Steinberg writes, “First and foremost, I do not regard OS X Lion is necessarily buggier than other OS X upgrades. They all had early-release flaws of one degree or another. It makes sense there will be problems because of all the serious changes in Lion. At the same time, I have little doubt that Apple is going to straighten out the worst ills in the months to come… Despite some of the complaints, I do not see Lion as being necessarily less stable than other versions of OS X. But there’s nothing wrong with waiting out a few maintenance updates before diving on.”

Read much more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Aside from some funkiness with artifacts on desktops with dual monitor setups (iMacs), we’ve had smooth sailing with Lion. No issues to report at all with Lion on any of our MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros.

Are you experiencing issues with Lion? If so, please describe them below.

 

136 Comments

      1. I think that major problem is a memory leak; for example some 3rd party software like ViewIt can consume 1.7Gb of RAM!!!! Sometimes free RAM space can go below 10 Mb.

        1. I just ordered two 4GB sticks of memory to help this as 4GB is totally insufficient now. I admit I keep a lot of apps and windows open but the memory leakage is horrible and I run few 3rd party apps. 75% of what I do is browser-based – Safari, Chrome, Firefox. I’ll go days without using any 3rd party apps and yet Safari alone will crush my memory usage.

    1. The #1 killer of Safari stability from my experience is crap Safari Extensions. I have had to do ye olde fashioned extensions testing with Safari to discover what is crap and what is not. At the moment I am running 7 specific Safari Extensions that don’t crash the app. I’ve dumped a slew of bad extensions.

  1. As never before, I’m waiting.

    It didn’t help that lack of Rosetta forced me to learn a new web development tool. As it’s critical to my biz, I’m taking a careful approach this time around.

  2. Two frequent problems:
    1. Laptop does not sleep w/ external monitor plugged in when lid is closed. This is new after Lion install. Apple has been totally unresponsive to the 100’s of posts on their support user forum. Fail to sleep also happens without an external monitor sometimes as well, but less predictably.
    2. Artifacting on external monitor (DVI) connected via DVI to mini display port adapter… Has greatly increased for me since install.

  3. Overall, I love it.

    Though I don’t really find Launchpad to be useful. Some things should be set as system prefs, like the checkbox to reopen apps when logging out.

  4. Persistent and reproduceable black screen crashes. Forced to run in integrated video mode only or machine (MacBook Pro, 2.66 i7) WILL crash.

    Over a thousand posts on Apple support forums from others having the exact same issues.

  5. Only trouble I’ve had (still have) is the occasional icon on the desktop hides itself – the filename’s still there, a quick shuffle about brings it back, but it’s annoying. Using an 2008 MBP driving an external monitor.. may be some relationship to the ‘funkiness’ you mention above.. Otherwise very happy. Can even scroll things the new way.

  6. Not too many things. I get the screen artifacts. My issue is more functionality based. Just small things like being able to move around my desktops in MC, rename them etc. Other than that, I love it.

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