OS X Lion Review Roundup
Unless you live under a rock, you probably know that OS X Lion is available to download on the Mac App Store. We’ve been covering Lion for a while now (check out all of our posts on OS X Lion for a ton of tips and relevant information) and we think it’s awesome, but if you’re the type to want reviews before diving in yourself, here’s a handful of the best out there:
Jim Darymple @ Loop Insight Four Word Review:
“Get it, Lion rules!”
Lion is an evolution of OS X that’s instantly familiar to anyone coming from a previous version. It’s also well designed to be easy to learn for someone who’s never picked up a Mac before.
Lion is a solid update that brings a lot of new ideas to the desktop from the mobile space. Clearly, Apple is trying to make the Mac more attractive to its legions of iOS customers. … OS X is still OS X. And Lion is the best version yet.
John Siracusa of Ars Technicas exhaustive review:
…better technology has simply reduced the number of things that we need to care about. Lion is better technology. It marks the point where Mac OS X releases stop being defined by what’s been added. From now on, Mac OS X should be judged by what’s been removed.
MG Siegler of TechCrunch seems to be kissing OS X goodbye:
…one can’t help but feel that OS X Lion could be the last of its breed in the OS X family. OS X Lion still feels like OS X, but I’m not sure the Mac OS that comes next will… If that’s the case, OS X Lion is a great send-off for what has been a fantastic OS.
Convinced yet?
Why these people are so keen to drag us out of the PC-age? I just what a PC that is merely a PC, it looks like a PC and works like PC, NOT an iPad with a big keyboard!!
Downloaded lion, installed it, found it working like a charm..
then realized I can’t connect with my android smartphone and no access to my Synology NAS via SMB.
Downgraded to SL again, frustrated I’m waiting now until these issues are hopefully fixed…
[…] via MacRumors，OS X Daily […]
Can anybody confirm that now well be able to close the lid while connected to hdmi, with out turning off. Please somebody confirm.
I’ve got a few old progs. that aren’t compatible with Lion (MS Office 2004 & others). Would I be better off getting rid of these first, performing a backup, and then installing Lion?
Thanks for suggestions.
If they won’t work with Lion, you’ll either need to upgrade the apps or just wait to upgrade in general.
Thanks. I wasn’t clear in my first post. I no longer care to have certain apps which are incompatible with Lion, so my question revolved around the best method to deal with that.
I was thinking of eliminating the unwanted apps, then performing a backup, then installing Lion.
Does this sound sensible?
Yes, that sounds like a good solution. You can read our recommended steps on upgrading to Lion here:
https://osxdaily.com/2011/07/20/upgrading-to-mac-os-x-10-7-lion/
Yes. I got rid of my couple of PowerPC apps before backing up. I recommend using AppCleaner to get rid of all the extra files associated with the apps (plists, etc).
@James, you and I are on the same page. I did just that, as I’ve got AppCleaner. I installed Lion, and everything seems fine.
The reversed mouse scroll wheel thing is driving me nuts though!
The reverse scrolling can be turned off in System Preferences – D’Oh!! 8-) C’mon peeps it’s still OS X!
Not happy about not being able to use MS Office 2004. I’m going to uninstall Lion until this glitch is fixed.
I probably will do the same but could you tell me how to go back to snow leopard from lion? I’m quite disappointed with apple for this. Must be a competition issue between the two – but it sure did take a great toll on the consumers!!!
insert your snow leo bootable DVD then boot from that DVD, go to disk util, delete the Lion partition, make a new partition, then quit disk utility.
you can start snow leo installation now.
Happy (forever) waiting ! and no it’s not a glitch.
Yeah, uh… Office 2004 is way outdated. Both Office 2008 and Office 2011 run fine on Lion. But I’d recommend upgrading to the better and less expensive Apple iWork apps!
It ain’t a glitch. The new system will never work on anything that was designed for PowerPC. I have Nikon software for an expensive camera that is dated late 2009 and that does not work, nor is there an upgrade for it. Filemaker about 3 years old, Photoshop 4 years old, etc etc. None of them will ever work on Lion. To update every programme that I have so that ir works on Lion will cost hundreds of pounds. No thanks.
Android phones aren’t even catered for. More of the recent Apple trend to do everything to cater for iPhones and iPads at the expense of the people who use their machines for a living.
Does anyone know if there is an alternative to the application switcher in Snow Leopard that used to be accessed by swiping four fingers horizontally?
Command + Tab is the keyboard shortcut you are looking for. This existed long before the 4 finger swipe (which I always found awkward to activate the switcher, feels much more natural for switching between spaces).
I have to wait until later to see what all the fuss is about, excited to try it out
For my two pennyworth, it is a disaster. 18 month old Nikon software will not work on it, nor does there appear to be a download that works. Three and four year old versions of expensive software such as Filemaker and Photoshop do not work. Check the web for people asking how to uninstall it: they are there in their droves
Picking the biggest cat makes me think it’s the last one too, but iOS is way too rudimentary to replace OS X anytime soon. I think we will see 10.8 and further to 11 which is going to be the final merging of the two.
I already bought it, and it rocks. Highly recommended.
How long did the download take?
Very fast, about 30 minutes on broadband
> Picking the biggest cat
Uh? The tiger is on average larger than the lion.