“A new version of Windows is a big, big deal. Big changes, big price, big installation,” David Pogue writes for The New York Times. “Apple takes a different approach with its OS X software for the Mac. It intends to offer a modest new version every year. Installation is a 15-minute, one-click operation, and the price is piddling. For OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion, which came out Wednesday, Apple wants $20 — and you can install one copy on as many Macs as you have, without having to type in serial numbers or deal with copy protection hurdles.”
“If you’re a Mac owner, then, here’s the question: Is Mountain Lion worth $20?” Pogue writes. “There’s only one precise way to answer that, of course: assign a dollar value to each new feature.”
Pogue writes, “So by my highly scientific accounting, Mountain Lion costs $20 but nets $46.90 worth of enhancements. And that’s not even counting the other 170 features…”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
I thought I had heard David Pogue was as June Cleaver said ” a little rough on the Beaver (aka Mountain Lion).”. Guess not.
A non-partial appearing review. However I have to question Pogues deducting money for the trackpad gestures feature. Here is a feature that not everyone will use, but for those that do are very nice additions. Pogue deducts value from mountain lion because most people will not bother to learn the gestures. OK, I say, award no value if you choose, but a deduction is unwarranted.
I do have to disagree with the gesture thing. I never learned any mouse gestures when they were popular; I thought they were useless when I can just click a button. However, trackpad gestures are very useful. Full-screen apps are a good thing if I can swap between them quickly.
I would have gladly paid double for Mountain Lion. It is what Lion should have been. It is fast and the feature set is fantastic.
Looks like a service pack for Lion with some worthless social media integration. $20 is probably high.
I must admit, I’m still with Snow Leopard and my feeling so far is, “Why Bother?” upgrading.
i am still at Tiger no wait I finally upgraded to Leopard. Unless you are using your Mac for some artistic endeavor just FI not upgrade if you do not have too.