Does anyone recommend OS X Lion?

woodmeister50 wrote:

A long time ago, I can remember people saying how a graphical user interface

was silly and a waste of time and how it kills how people

did their work and that it was for the ignorant. How many

people today even know what a "command line interface"

is.

I had exactly the same thought. I still remember the dumb at University saying: MS DOS is much more powerful because it uses the command line!! WIndows and scroll bars are for kids! Dejà vù, ah? 🙂

PS: Obviously I am not saying that who doesn't like the iPads or Lion is dumb. You know, it is always better to specify. Sometime people get too sensitive!

Many years ago the members of the Vienna Philharmonic threatened a strike because the upstart composer Ludwig Van Beethoven introduced the Trombone, they lost.

It's the Luddites moment of glory, they get one every new OS, thankfully it will not last.

Michael Ruiz2 wrote:

Apple seems to have forgetten it's failed tile arrangement to simplify app launching that was present in a pre-OS X version for the Finder. I can't remember the name, but I believe it was tied to parental control, and was meant to allow for children and non-savvy people to easily launch programs. Launchpad is the exact same thing with a facelift. It didn't work on the desktop then, and it doesn't work now.

I seem to recall it was called "Launcher". And yeah, it was pretty useless! 😝

I wonder whether you would feel the same if the story revolved around Beethoven removing the ability of the trombone to play certain notes? Your analogy is flawed - the musicians did not loose functionality.

You can get XMenu free from the App Store: Mac App Store - XMenu

or directly from: http://www.devontechnologies.com/products/freeware/

XMenu puts a small icon in your Finder menu which drops down an organized list of apps.

Much easier than Launchpad.

Hardware issues aside, I agree there are many, the dumbing

down issue sounds oh so familiar. A long time ago, I can

remember people saying how a graphical user interface

was silly and a waste of time and how it kills how people

did their work and that it was for the ignorant. How many

people today even know what a "command line interface"

is.

Evolution will be painful for some, but will go on.

Some years from now, Snow Leopard will be looked upon

as "bear skins and stone knives". Face it, it will happen!

Methinks you forget the quality of graphical user interfaces when they were first introduced. Real junky. Unreliable and often hard to fathom. Then they got better and we all love them. Or many of us, at least.

Right now Lion and iOS generally are the 21st-Century equivalents of those early graphical interfaces.

Evolution works because 85 percent of species don't survive environmental changes; 15 percent do and they are the next generation of living things. Snow Leopard will grow long in tooth and die of old age, Lion will die with the next better thing.

Darwin was right. Some people will never understand his theories.

You know, the big flaw in the analogy is that no operating system has removed the command line. People who still need and want that tool (and they exist) still have it. The problem here is not the introduction of new tools, it is the removal of old ones.

I agree, some of these changes make no sense at all. If it's not broke, why “fix” it?

BTW, Apple recently passed Exxon and is now the biggest.

Good thing its free because I did essentially the same thing using the Dock, a few folders, and changing a few setting from their default.

Oh, you must be talking about Windows version 1.0-3.11. Because what I recall is that Mac OS 1.0 took about 5 seconds to learn once I realized that the little box attached to the computer moved the little arrow. I learned how to launch an application before the salesperson could complete the sentence telling me how. I learned how to pick the tool I wanted from the palette and then erase mistakes without the salesman saying a word. So, no not all GUIs were crap in their first iteration. I will agree that they've been refined and improved upon though.

Actual events that took place in 1984 in a little computer store in San Jose/Santa Clara between my father and the salesman:

Salesman (S) to my Father: "Yes, that's the new Apple Macintosh."

(I sit down in front of it, look at the mouse.)

S to me: "That's called a mouse. you move it to move the pointer on screen."

(move the pointer to a picture of something labeled "MacPaint." and click on it. The picture inverts.)

S tome: "Oh to start the progrma you cli-"

(I double click and MacPaint Launches.)

"ck the button twice..."

(I start drawing...)

S: "Oh, I see he's got it."

(He shuts up while I play with the new toy, and then after a few minutes he and my father start talking price.)

Michelasso wrote

”Really, this idea about OS X being dumbed down to please the iDevices users is just a myth.“

“Also let's not forget that byt the time OS X 10.8 (or 11.0?) will be out, iOS will have reached version 6 or 7. Maybe even 8. With much better hardware. I think it's safe to think that it will be iOS moving more in the OS X direction, not the opposite.”

Yes, iOS will likely move into the OS, where it does not belong, is not welcome and is not useful for some users. When you have to work harder rather than smarter it is a dumbing down. Apple is doing the same thing with the Mac that they did with the iPad. iPad had millions of iPod and iPhone users who could pick up an iPad and know immediately how to use it. Apple is now trying to make the Mac iOS friendly so those users can pick up a Macbook and know how to use it -- a smart marketing ploy by Apple. Meanwhile, traditional OS users are forced to use a less productive, time consuming iOS laden Mac. Apple ought to provide options or controls to customize or a “Pro” version of the OS for those who don’t want or need the slick, useless iOS features.

Bob Jacobson wrote:

Methinks you forget the quality of graphical user interfaces when they were first introduced. Real junky. Unreliable and often hard to fathom. Then they got better and we all love them. Or many of us, at least.

Right now Lion and iOS generally are the 21st-Century equivalents of those early graphical interfaces.

Evolution works because 85 percent of species don't survive environmental changes; 15 percent do and they are the next generation of living things. Snow Leopard will grow long in tooth and die of old age, Lion will die with the next better thing.

Darwin was right. Some people will never understand his theories.

Why in every line of this post I smell the stink of Microsoft? 😝

The MacIntosh, Amiga and Atari 2600 had perfectly intuitive user interfaces. You must be referring to Windows pre 95 (well.. and beyond).

The junkiest, totally user unfriendly, short on memory, viruses plagued Operative System, MS DOS, became (and somehow still is) the king.

Where was Darwin there? The only right Darwin in the IT arena is the Darwin kernel. If Darwin was to meet Bill Gates, he would have died Catholic. 😀

“Darwin was right. Some people will never understand his theories.”

The theory that Lion will evolve into something better because of it’s iOS features is flawed. Lion may be on the bleeding edge, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better than the cutting edge preceding it. If 85% of Mac users don’t survive, Apple will go the way of the Edsel. Some things change and some things improve. Lion is a change, not necessarily an improvement.

If Darwin was to meet Bill Gates, he would have died Catholic. 😀

Instead of Church of England? what's the difference (other than the fancier real estate owned by our Roman friends)

Csound1 wrote:

If Darwin was to meet Bill Gates, he would have died Catholic. 😀

Instead of Church of England? what's the difference (other than the fancier real estate owned by our Roman friends)

Once one knows that MS DOS has nearly killed all desktop OSes in the world one can believe in anything. Even that Saint Mary died as a virgin.

But then.. You're not comparing the Church were the Supreme Head must be the King or Queen of England with the Roman Catholic Church I hope. At least the Catholics hold an election!! And sure. The cardinals are only the hands of the Holy Spirit on choosing the new Pope.

Anyway, didn't Darwin die agnostic or something similar?