Mac OS X.7 "Lion" preview

It's obvious how much the design of the iPad/iPhone OS has informed this. It's very 'app' centric, which is funny to me because the public's perception of what an 'app' is is pretty weird.<p>You'd have a hard time describing what a program or an application is to someone, but if you said the word 'app' they'd immediately know what you are talking about, because apps are these little icons that live on their phone.<p>I wouldn't be surprised if someone looking at Launchpad for the first time would be surprised that their macbook "has apps now", even though they are looking at the same applications that have already been on their mac for months.<p>'App' is definitely a better term than 'application' or 'program' from a UI perspective if more people can so easily understand it, but I don't understand why or how this happened. They're the same thing! It's strange.

I'm seriously underwhelmed here. There's four new features on that page:<p><i></i>The Mac App Store<i></i><p>Maybe this is a naive point of view, but I can't see the value proposition for third-party devs to have their software in this store. Maybe I'm wrong and it'll be huge.<p><i></i>Launchpad<i></i><p>A touch interface for a screen that isn't touchable. Anyone I know that doesn't use Quicksilver or Spotlight uses an application stack in the dock. Nifty eye-candy feature, but I'm not seeing the usability gains.<p><i></i>Full Screen Apps<i></i><p>Not bad, but there are <i>very few</i> applications I want to run fullscreen at all, and even fewer I want to run fullscreen all the time.<p><i></i>Mission Control<i></i><p>Exposé, except there's a spaces overview at the top. A minor feature bump. Oh, and you can access the dashboard with it.<p>I understand this is a preview intended to excite people who aren't geeks, but still, it just seems so anticlimactic.

So they have:<p>1.A control in the lower left corner on the screen that let's you access your apps.<p>2.A screen full of shortcuts.<p>3.A maximize button that works as expected.<p>It's Windows 95!<p>-- wait a minute! where's my task bar?

This looks horrible. I don't want my Macbook to be an ipad. If I wanted an iPad, I'd buy an iPad.<p>(Actually, I do want an iPad, but that still doesn't mean I want anything near a similar UI on my Macbook.)

I really hope that the Launchpad is the only way to access your applications, i.e. that the old Applications folder is hidden and that the OS, not the user or app developer manages its content.<p>I just despise that phony two-level way of organizing your applications that is so prevalent on Windows, i.e. their applications folder(s) and the Start Menu.<p>If the old Applications folder continues to be accessible I really hope that there is, unlike in the Windows Start Menu, a 1:1 mapping, i.e. folders created in the Launchpad are also created in the Applications folder and applications deleted in the Launchpad are also deleted in the Applications folder.

I'm not 100% on board with the direction they're taking this, but at least they're taking it in a direction.

Looking at it, am I wrong in thinking that I should remove all the apps I can from my dock? It seems like launch pad takes over the app selection part and the dock will then have only the running apps.

So that's what the edition is all about? Order software icons and you get a new major version of an operating system?<p>Comparing XP to Windows 7, there are really awesome reasons why I should make the switch. Improved performance, graphics, the pin bar, windows search, easy network management and a plethora of other useless/useful features.

I wonder how this simple interface -- which looks awesome! -- integrates with the complexity of Mac OS X, both the good (unixy bottom layers) and bad (long start-up time, error-prone interactions between drivers, network services, etc.). In other words, is it an iPad with the start-up time of a Mac, that sometimes pegs my CPU collecting file-system metadata? Or a Mac with less BSD and more iOS? Hopefully neither.<p>Another question -- is there a "low end" in Apple's world? Are they building an ecosystem that cheap PCs won't be able to participate in? What about old Macs? It would be ironic if my parents had to buy a fancy new 64-bit Mac in order to have a more iPad-like experience when they share photos with me.

Frankly, I'd be _extremely_ happy if they just changed the damned Finder so that I can right-click a folder and create a new folder within it instead of placing it alphabetically so that I have to go find it and drag the new folder into the folder I want it in.

In every new release I'm still stubbornly hoping for a few new features.<p>1. A new window management model. Cascaded windows don't do it for me.<p>2. 256 colors in Terminal.app.<p>256 colours will never happen. I'm stuck with either urxvt or settling for the SIMBL terminal colours plugin.<p>A new model for managing windows wouldn't be too far fetched though and I was really holding my thumbs during the talk. I shone up when they started talking about full screen applications but it fell kind of flat. Please Apple, if you're going to force me to work in 8 colours, at-least add a means to tile windows and navigate between them with sensible, configurable keyboard shortcuts! :)

Just makes me smile how "Full-screen apps." is a marketing 'feature' in this day and age of supposedly mature OS's.

The Mac App Store - I guess Dashboard apps will be going away?<p>Launchpad - I firmly believe technology is to help save time. Launchpad doesn't do that. There's already an app called Quicksilver that will get your app opened, without you having to move the mouse or even swipe<p>Full-screen apps - Great. But have an option not to go fullscreen as well. Not all apps need 1080p equivalent resolutions to work.<p>Mission Control - Can't say anything much without using this. But meanwhile the CMD+Tab has been serving me very well.<p>----------------------------------<p>Voice recognition/Voice command, that's what I would like to see. The ability to launch apps or menu commands just by saying their name.

Regarding full-screen apps, I'd like to bring this old thread back up <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1721650" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1721650</a>

Lion looks lackluster. As an app developer, I'm excited for the Mac App Store (and eventual Apple TV App Store) but the rest of the OS does not seem like a major leap, as they are claiming it to be.<p>Snow Leopard offered more than this coming from Leopard.

I hope the Mac App Store is not "just like shopping the App Store on iPad", because I've found the organizational approach of the iPad App Store to be very frustrating.

This shows an eventual long term direction of the iOS and OSX desktop/tablet/phone interface and business model merge.

Is anyone else incredibly amused that they are using the old version of the MacBook Air in their promos?

I have no idea if I like this or not. I am guessing it will be a "feel" thing when it comes out.

No ZFS :( This would have made me move.

2011, year of the Linux desktop

Five bucks says Apple moves towards touchscreens on even their mainstream laptops/desktops. The Springboard on OSX, and the completely iOS-esque UI on the new iLife suite... it all sets the stage.