The latest shot in the longest standing mother-of-all flame-warshas been fired. Mac OS X Lion, the latest version of the Mac operating system,is here. Whether you're a Windows user curious to see what the fuss is allabout or a Mac user hesitant to upgrade, here's a lowdown from the lion's den.Even if you're an early upgrader who has taken the plunge and are looking tomake the most of your Lion experience, we've got you covered!
HEAR THE LION ROAR…
Mission Control: It soundslike something astronauts would need for their orbital flights, but fortunatelyone of Lion's biggest visual enhancements isn't at all rocket science. MissionControl provides a view of everything that is running on your Lion system atthat moment. Instead of spreading all your windows, they are grouped by application,which makes it less overwhelming when you have a lot of apps opensimultaneously. And much like the virtual desktop feature previously calledSpaces, you can drag windows to and from spaces easily from the Mission Controlview as well.
LaunchPad: Heavily iPad inspired, LaunchPad gives youinstant access to your apps without digging into an Applications folder thatsits buried deep on your computer. If you like the iOS method of organisingapps by dragging apps to different screens or folders, you're going to lovethis feature.
Gestures: Apple has really gone to town with gestures builtinto the core of Lion, including the controversial new scrolling technique (seereverse scrolling). So, not only do you get the everyday left/right/up/downgestures, but you can also rotate, pinch, swipe with three fingers upwards tolaunch Mission Control, pinch to launch LaunchPad, Spread to see theDesktop-the list goes on. If you group your work and play into differentvirtual desktops, you're going to love the ability to three-finger swipe leftor right to move between them. No more scrambling to hit the X button when theboss suddenly walks in.
User Interface: While on the face of it, very little seemsto have changed from Mac OS X Snow Leopard, there are plenty of "iPad meets OSX" style tweaks that show the way forward. For example, scroll barsautomatically hide when not in use, and selecting and grouping desktop iconsresult in a number in a red circle, so you know how many you've grabbed. Prettymuch everything now has a rubberband feel to it like the iOS (pull down to thebottom of a page and it will spring back up).
Auto-Save And Version Control: One of the best under-the-hoodenhancements in Lion is the automatic saving of all working documents, completewith built-in version control. What's really cool is that every time Lion savesyour file, it creates a new version of the file so if you make a change youdon't like, you can revert to one of the older saves. All you have to do is hita button and the app will enter a Time-Machine view of the file's history, andyou can pick the version you need. This may the one feature that might saveyour neck one day.
Resume: Lion's also added session saving to all apps on yoursystem-you can choose to save your session when you shut down/restart yourcomputer and when you turn it back on, Lion will restore all your windows,exactly as they were when you shut down. Similarly, when you quit an app, itwill resume at the same state that you had closed it when you restart it, whichis an added convenience.
AirDrop: AirDrop allows you to simplify the transfer offiles between Macs that are near each other. No network configuration, foldersor passwords required- just drag the files onto the computer's icon underAirDrop and AirDrop will create an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network between the twocomputers and transfer the files for you-fantastic for less tech-savvy users.
Pricing: If you compare it to the Windows upgrade pricing,the $29.99 (approx Rs 1,400) that a major OS upgrade like Lion costs is anincredible bargain. Imagine being able to upgrade your entire operating systemfor less than the price of a lot of software titles. Very impressive.
…AND ALSO ITS SNORES
Reverse Scrolling: In Lion, Apple has changed the way youscroll through content to mimic the iPad or iPhone style-you move the content,instead of the scrollbars. This is, of course, different from the way youscroll on any other desktop OS, and as someone who uses both a PC and a Mac,the natural scrolling is incredibly disorienting if you hop back and forthbetween computers. Not that you don't get used to it (it takes a few hours),but it is a needless distraction, which, fortunately, you can turn off.
| VERDICT: Lion is a big leap forward for Mac users, and the new features introduced will likely prove incredibly useful over time. While I expect it will really shine in a span of the next few months and its first couple of updates, there is really no reason to wait unless you depend on a mission critical app which has known issues with Lion. |
Availability: Mac OS X Lion is the first Mac OS to beavailable solely via digital distribution, which means if you're stuck with aslow Internet connection, it's going to take several hours for the download tocomplete. Works both ways really, early adopters in India were able to download andinstall Lion on launch day, but one wishes Apple had provided alternatives tobandwidth-strapped countries as well.
Full-Screen Apps: Lion lets you make nearly all appsfull-screenable, and while it is neat if you want a distraction-freeenvironment, it's one of those features that seems like it is trying to be likethe iOS for no particular justifiable reason.
Mouse Gestures: While we like the feature overall, if you'renot a trackpad-person, you're going to have to turn the gestures off or becareful with your fingers on the trackpad if you don't want to be arbitrarilycalling up desktop views you never asked for.
