Hi All
it's not often that I feel strongly enough to put those feelings in writing, but since having installed Lion a week ago, I have been struggling with the question of whether or not to revert to SL, knowing that if I do, it is unlikely to be any time soon that I install Lion again. The last time Apple annoyed me this much was when they first introduced OS X and trashed overnight the knowledge and experience I had gathered with Systems 6 through 9.
After an unenjoyable and ill-advised excursion with Windows, I came back into the fold with Leopard, and duly came to the conclusion that FOR ME and my choices about how I like to work, Snow Leopard is well nigh an ideal OS.
Conscious that the last thing I want is to end up frozen in an unsupported and futureless Snow Leopard time-warp, it is still very difficult to decide to persist with Lion, when so far I have found almost nothing positive in the changes implemented - especially when every day of carrying out work in Lion makes it more difficult to go back to SL if that does really end up being my decision.
I have sent Apple the following feedback which summarises my overall issues with Lion, but reading this string has made me wonder whether I should go back to SL right now before too many of my documents and image files end up being irretrievably damaged by Lion's automation to make it possible?
Nanny State Software
As a committed Mac user since the 1980's I am very used to change and understand Apple's culture of driving new ideas forward.
However, I have been a committed Mac user for all these years because, whatever the changes Apple has introduced, there have always been sufficient options in the OS to allow me to configure my Mac the way I want it to be.
For the first time, OS X Lion does not allow me the options to do this. Consequently I no longer feel that it is MY Mac - it's APPLE's Mac, and the problem is that that's not the Mac I want!
I don't mind that things like Launchpad have been added because for everyone (like me) who finds it entirely useless, there will be someone who uses it constantly. The point is I have the choice whether or not to use it (I have have chosen to delete it entirely from my system).
HOWEVER I do NOT appear to have a similar choice with many other aspects of Lion.
I can think of no circumstances in which I would ever want to use Autosave & Versions and yet there is apparently no way to switch them off. Autosave just annoys me by stopping me from typing whilst it decides to do something I neither want nor need it to in a distressingly Windows-like way.
What is required is a preference option set (ideally for every application) that gives the user the choices 'Always Autosave', 'Never Autosave' or 'Ask when creating New Document'. By all means have it set to 'Always' by default for the inexperienced and the lazy, but give the rest of us the choice.
I do not want my system to resume the previous state when I reboot, but now I have to perform an extra task every time I shut down to make that choice (it already takes much longer to boot and shutdown than SL) - please give me a toggle that means I only have to tick it if I DO want it to resume/restore - again, give me the CHOICE!
Mission Control is OK - but it's a pale & limited approximation of Spaces. Why can't I drag windows in BOTH directions to and FROM desktops as I could in Spaces??
Preview now makes decisions about my files that I do not want it to, and editing PDF's together which used to be simple and straightforward, is now a marathon exercise in confusion, locked files, unwanted versions and confusing duplicates.
In short you have turned the best OS on the planet into Nanny State Software that makes decisions about how I must use my machine by assuming incorrectly that Apple Knows What's Best For Me.
I don't doubt that there will be those who love that they no longer have to take responsibility for their own workflow and data, but please give those of us who prefer to have control of our own lives and work the option to switch all this stuff off if we wish to.
I have resisted the very powerful temptation to upgrade back to Snow Leopard simply because that had none of these problems. However, there is no doubt that that will only ever be a temporary solution, and that eventually the only choice will be between Lion or stagnation.
Take a look at the product ranges of Canon & Nikon - two companies who really understand this. At the 'entry' level of their DSLR ranges, their relatively cheap cameras bristle with auto modes and 'scene settings' for just about everything that really do mean that the camera does everything for the user (note 'user' not 'photographer').
Their mid-range products have the semi-automatic and full manual modes that competent photographers demand and far fewer or no amateurish programme & 'scenes' modes and the like.
The top-end pro models have only the controls necessary to give the decision-making photographer full and flexible control over incredibly powerful machines.
All have superb auto-focus facilities - BUT without exception this can be turned OFF if the photographer decides it is appropriate.
So PLEASE don't turn the Mac into some feeble HappySnaps auto-only machine (save that for iPhones & iPads) and put some "OFF" switches into Lion 10.7.1 very quickly. Please don't leave those of us who prefer to have independent choices and control in our lives reminiscing about the days when Apple used to make software for grown-ups.
