os x OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

[.Neo]

I wish Apple would update those default widgets for a change. Those things haven't seen any real changes since they were released in 2005. :/

[PyX]

Installed it too on another partition. There are a lot of graphical bugs in the French localization of it, it shows they?re only working on the English version and simply translating the strings to other languages.

If they?re redesigning a lot of things in the System Preferences, what I would love to see redesigned is this because it?s not clear :

I never actually understood how it works. I believe the startup hard drives should be in a drop down menu instead.

[.Neo]

What isn't there to understand about it? :huh: The highlighted folder is your current startup drive, to change to another startup drive simply highlight another folder and hit restart. It says so right there in the window...

[Quillz]

Just wondering what you don't find clear about it? It seems simple enough to understand: the selected icon is the disk that will boot upon a restart. Putting that same information into a drop-down wouldn't really change anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be redesigned, but I don't think it's really necessary.

[protocol7]

I wish Apple would update those default widgets for a change. Those things haven't seen any real changes since they were released in 2005. :/

I wish they'd do something about the Dock. It's the first thing I feel compelled to tweak after a fresh install. Having used the same black skin since I moved from Tiger to Snow I wanted something different for ML so I used Mirage to make the dock invisible:

[Rudy]

Add your hotmail account to OSX mail, and then install Growl. You'll get a badge on mail and a pop up from Growl every time you get new mail.

That would mean using pop3 and that's unacceptable

[.Neo]

I wish they'd do something about the Dock. It's the first thing I feel compelled to tweak after a fresh install. Having used the same black skin since I moved from Tiger to Snow I wanted something different for ML so I used Mirage to make the dock invisible:

I don't have any issues with the Dock itself. I do have an issue with Mission Control not showing the windows that are minimized into the Dock icon.

[Elliott]

I don't have any issues with the Dock itself. I do have an issue with Mission Control not showing the windows that are minimized into the Dock icon.

Yea, Apple might as well remove that feature. They made it practically unusable with Mission Control. If I use it, I end up completely forgetting about windows I've minimized.

[.Neo]

So far OS X Mountain Lion seems pretty uninteresting. It's OS X Lion with a handful of addition and fixes, but then again almost every OS X DP started out that way. Here's hoping much more will be added. Especially Siri would be cool.

[chrispinto]

Thanks for the Mirage suggestions. Been looking for a new dock style for a while. Perfect.

[threetonesun]

That would mean using pop3 and that's unacceptable

Hotmail doesn't support IMAP? :s

If that's true... and I don't think it is, then forward your mail to service that does support IMAP.

[PyX]

Hotmail doesn't support IMAP? :s

If that's true... and I don't think it is, then forward your mail to service that does support IMAP.

It?s true.

Just wondering what you don't find clear about it? It seems simple enough to understand: the selected icon is the disk that will boot upon a restart. Putting that same information into a drop-down wouldn't really change anything. I'm not saying it couldn't be redesigned, but I don't think it's really necessary.

The whole pane is designed wrong. But then again, it hasn?t had a facelift in ages.

The systems should be in a drop down menu to begin with and it should not read "You have selected _______ on the Volume _______" because it?s redundant information if the drop down menu already says so.

Second, they need to remove the "Restart?" button because it?s VERY tempting to click on it after changing the hard drive, but it?s not necessary to do it.

Third, I?m completely clueless about the "Target Disk Mode" option and description.

[Elliott]

The systems should be in a drop down menu to begin with and it should not read "You have selected _______ on the Volume _______" because it?s redundant information if the drop down menu already says so.

A dropdown would save space, but other than that I don't see how the current design is confusing or inferior.

Second, they need to remove the "Restart?" button because it?s VERY tempting to click on it after changing the hard drive, but it?s not necessary to do it.

You're right, it's not necessary, but it's the most common use case. Why not streamline the UI for an action somebody will be doing 95% of the time?

Third, I?m completely clueless about the "Target Disk Mode" option and description.

Then don't use it?

FYI, it allows a Mac with a FireWire or Thunderbolt port to be used as an external hard disk connected to another computer. It's handy for drive cloning and diagnostics.

[PyX]

So far OS X Mountain Lion seems pretty uninteresting. It's OS X Lion with a handful of addition and fixes, but then again almost every OS X DP started out that way. Here's hoping much more will be added. Especially Siri would be cool.

Indeed. It will be a very welcome installation on every Mac computer for its lot of refinements, but nothing to make you jump at the ceiling.

Then again, I don?t really know what big feature they could add from now on. What would you guys want in Mountain Lion ?

- I wish they split iTunes into a completely rewritten application to play all your media and a huge store that contains everything Apple sells digitally. But then again, it?s refinement, nothing major.

- I wish we could share iCloud folders and documents with other people, like Dropbox.

- Siri to be able to write all my Word documents with my voice :D

- A completely rewritten Font Book

- A major update to widgets (a bigger bank of widgets to start with + redesigned widgets + fix the bugs in the unit converter + take a better source for the weather)

- Bring back left out Expos? features into Mission Control.

- Resolution independance

- Build it in with a few basic games like Chess, Checkers, Solitaire, Hearts, Backgammon, ? and link them all to Game Center.

- Include the video functionality and ability to send files of Facebook into iChat

All those features are fairly small IMO, once again I would call them refinements. The things I am most looking forward to are not in OS X (iWork, iLife, Final Cut Pro X, Aperture, ?)

A dropdown would save space, but other than that I don't see how the current design is confusing or inferior.

The problem is that nowhere in any OS do you accomplish something simply by selecting an icon.

If I select an icon in the Finder for example, nothing?s accomplished. I need to select an action after that and the Finder will apply the action to the file linked to the icon I selected. This is why the Restart button looks like it?s mandatory, when in reality, it?s not.

FYI, it allows a Mac with a FireWire or Thunderbolt port to be used as an external hard disk connected to another computer. It's handy for drive cloning and diagnostics.

Oh, so you can boot this partition from another computer, so if the hardware fails on the computer containing the hard drive, you can still boot it up ? Very useful feature in fact, but it could be clarified.

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

wow there is so many ppl here with dev account! I'm tempted to pay that damn 99$ as well to install and play with it hehe

[Quillz]

wow there is so many ppl here with dev account! I'm tempted to pay that damn 99$ as well to install and play with it hehe

It's pretty nice if you do any coding at all for the Mac. Not only do you get all the ML builds as soon as they're ready, you also get the GM earlier, access to all the WWDC vids, etc. For $99/year, I think it's pretty reasonable priced for all the available resources.

[PyX]

wow there is so many ppl here with dev account! I'm tempted to pay that damn 99$ as well to install and play with it hehe

If you?re not a developer, don?t pay $99, this is all I have to say :p I bet most of us are only curious about the upcoming features in OS X Mountain Lion.

If you?re a hobbyist dev, you can still do most of your stuff with free Xcode, but as Nidoking mentioned, the benefits from paying $99 are great for all the videos and free builds and finals of OS X you?ll get.

[.Neo]

The problem is that nowhere in any OS do you accomplish something simply by selecting an icon.

Nor here. You still have to perform a second action, which is to restart, just like everywhere else. If your Mac automatically restarted after selecting a startup folder I'd agree, since that isn't the case I don't think you have much of a point here.

I agree hover that there should be a help icon (?) explaining Target Disk Mode.

Beyond that I'm with Nidoking and Elliott: The Startup Disk preference pane doesn't need a redesign.

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

I am not a developer at all, just so damn curious hehe. And there are some specific websites where you can download all the new builds w/o having a dev account. I am actually running Safari 5.2 on Lion and works like a charm

[Quillz]

I am not a developer at all, just so damn curious hehe. And there are some specific websites where you can download all the new builds w/o having a dev account. I am actually running Safari 5.2 on Lion and works like a charm

Yes, all the builds inevitable get leaked onto BitTorrent, Usenet and other such places.

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

Yes, all the builds inevitable get leaked onto BitTorrent, Usenet and other such places.

yeah and with almost everyone saying the preview 1 is already very stable and actually good for a primary OS, this is very tempting hehe

[Quillz]

yeah and with almost everyone saying the preview 1 is already very stable and actually good for a primary OS, this is very tempting hehe

I haven't experienced any major stability issues yet, but there are obviously things that are broken or don't work very well yet. I would not recommend it as your primary OS, but it's certainly worth an install on either another partition or a spare external hard drive.

[AlexMagik]

i'm having 1 issue, NOTES doesn't sync with my exchange.

the rest is great (except safari without RSS)

[Damian]

i'm having 1 issue, NOTES doesn't sync with my exchange.

the rest is great (except safari without RSS)

You can still use RSS in Mail.

[PyX]

Nor here. You still have to perform a second action, which is to restart

No, you don?t need to restart for the change to be applied. You need to restart if you want to go in another OS.

Selecting the icon will apply the change automatically, this is the part that bugs me.