os x OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I really just don't see the appeal to a tabbed Finder in my workflow, but maybe I just do things completely differently from most people. Usually Finder actions are very brief for me. I'll either find a file/folder or do some quick operations to manage my files, but after that the windows I opened are immediately closed. I don't ever accrue Finder windows like I accrue tabs in Safari, so there's no reason that I see to save space by adding tabs.

Real men use Terminal.app for all kinds of file management operations anyway. :shifty:

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

do not have a mac anymore to test these things :(

[DeadEndAccount]

I guess I'm not much of a demanding person given that what I really want are under the hood changes such as updating many of the core components such as OpenSSL to at least 1.0 (it is still sitting at 0.9.8r on Mountain Lion (even though the latest, most secure version available is 0.9.8t), address the Cocoa components such as as the built in spellchecker and text technologies so that vendors can use the built in one rather than providing there own because the current implementation doesn't scale very well when dealing with large amounts of text (iWork btw doesn't use the built in spellchecker, it does its own thing), fix up frameworks that have bugs - go to bugzilla on Firefox and comb through the bug reports related to framework bugs and actually spend time fixing them up. Then there are things like OpenGL that should be upgraded to 4.2 and optimise the drivers so that performance is at least comparable to what one observes on Windows etc.

For everything else I'm pretty happy with; Finder does what it needs to do, I avoid SMB like the plague hence I really don't face issues in that area, I no longer use Microsoft Office 2011 which has saved me from the train wreck of its existence and considering I'm not a heavy going Photoshop user I find that Pixelmator does pretty much all I need so I'm pretty happy so far with Lion and previous releases with additions being 'icing on the cake' rather than 'I must really have that feature'.

[.Neo]

I've never had any issues with OS X' build-in spellcheck?

[DeadEndAccount]

I've never had any issues with OS X' build-in spellcheck?

I'm talking about it from a developers perspective with very large and sophisticated documents - well, that was one of the reasons I heard as to why some developers insist on building their own spell checking library rather than using the built in one.

[.Neo]

I'm talking about it from a developers perspective with very large and sophisticated documents - well, that was one of the reasons I heard as to why some developers insist on building their own spell checking library rather than using the built in one.

I'd take this with a grain of salt. Most apps that use their custom spell and grammar check is because they're cross platform and won't tap into the native APIs (Chrome, Firefox, Adobe CS etc.). If anything it sounds more like an excuse than anything else. In fact, iWork's custom spellcheck capabilities are behind OS X Lion's at this point.

Maybe some developer here can confirm whether OS X' build-in spelling actually performs worse than others when it comes to large documents. It's the first time I heard of it.

[Elliott]

(iWork btw doesn't use the built in spellchecker, it does its own thing)

Where'd you hear that? I seem to remember Lion's auto-correct working in Pages during the Lion beta, well before iWork was updated for Lion.

[.Neo]

Where'd you hear that? I seem to remember Lion's auto-correct working in Pages during the Lion beta, well before iWork was updated for Lion.

None of the OS X Snow Leopard and Lion additions are present in iWork, so it's definitely using something non-standard. Below's a comparison between the two. Notice that text transformations and substitutions (auto-correct) aren't present in Pages. Very annoying.

Pages '09 (left) - TextEdit on OS X Lion (right)

[Elliott]

None of the OS X Snow Leopard and Lion additions are present in iWork, so it's definitely using something non-standard. Below's a comparison between the two. Notice that text transformations and substitutions (auto-correct) aren't present in Pages. Very annoying.

Pages '09 (left) - TextEdit on OS X Lion (right)

Ah. I just totally imagined that then. :p Oh well. I don't have Pages installed anymore, so I couldn't check for myself.

[nyolc8]

Here's how the galaxy on the wallpaper really looks like: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100503.html

[FalseAgent]

I guess. But this seems to be happening a lot quicker that the Leopard to Snow Leopard "update". Though I could be wrong as I skipped Leopard. By the time I moved from a G3 to Intel, Snow was at 10.6.2 so I went with that.

Anyway, I took a look at my iPod so I can how reveal (exclusively!) the exciting new features coming in OS X 10.9 Cougar:

Camera

Maps

Stocks

Weather

And maybe, if you're lucky, iBooks.

hahahahaha this made my day

[.Neo]

hahahahaha this made my day

Don't laugh too hard because it's the same you'll be getting in Windows 8. :p I swear both companies have come to the point where they just keep repackaging the same **** over and over again.

[fakpuppet]

Looks pretty iPhony to me...

[FalseAgent]

Don't laugh too hard because it's the same you'll be getting in Windows 8. :p I swear both companies have come to the point where they just keep repackaging the same **** over and over again.

I know, but the thing is, Windows 8 is the first time that Windows actually gets a decent calender app. Mac always had a decent iCal since....forever.

I know it's the same **** over again, but I think, to Windows, it is new.

[.Neo]

This is a pretty big change I haven't seen discussed before. Interesting read:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/02/24/inside_os_x_108_mountain_lion_a_preview_of_how_apple_plans_to_revamp_the_menubar.html

[protocol7]

Is there any way to get TextEdit to revert back to opening a new document when launched? Launching to an Open dialog is a bit annoying as I often launch it to paste in some text.

[Quillz]

You could always just copy the text to the Desktop and use a Clipping, which I believe opens in TextEdit or you can drag it into another app.

[Glassed Silver]

Is there any way to get TextEdit to revert back to opening a new document when launched? Launching to an Open dialog is a bit annoying as I often launch it to paste in some text.

Interested in this, too!

Glassed Silver:ios

[PyX]

This is a pretty big change I haven't seen discussed before. Interesting read:

http://www.appleinsi...he_menubar.html

Not bad, I like what they?re doing. This is nowhere as powerful as the Ribbon interface, but it?s way leaner.

Small apps with nearly no control/functionality are best with the upcoming Apple toolbars, but I think every developer on Windows will understand that the Ribbon interface is the most superior interface we have ever seen so far, it?s perfectly adapted for big applications (Office, 2D and 3D CAD Drawing, Simulation software, Image and video editing), and they will all choose this path. It?s just a question of time. iWork next to Office has proven itself being inefficient with all its different GUI elements. People who can work faster in iWork, it?s just because Office 2011 lags and it?s poorly optimized.

Nevertheless, I?m happy with the change.

[.Neo]

In my opinion the Ribbon is as powerful as spreading out all of the system's toolbar buttons onto the desktop. Whether they're actually relevant for what you're doing right now isn't even being asked.

[PyX]

In my opinion the Ribbon is as powerful as spreading out all of the system's toolbar buttons onto the desktop. Whether they're actually relevant for what you're doing right now isn't even being asked.

This is why the Ribbon gets messy easily, but at least it has a lean UI and they didn?t miss any option. Still, it is light-years ahead of menus.

Fine-tuning contextual Ribbons could fix this problem though.

The Ribbon gets bad when they include it in small apps. It actually makes them look like they?re for Pro users, when really, they?re not (like the new Explorer, ugh? !!!)

In CAD drawing and Simulation software though, just to name an example, nothing beats the Ribbon, because there is no way possible you can predict what the user will need. Even if there are billions of things in the toolbar, you actually need them all.

[threetonesun]

The Ribbon, for the average user, is absolutely terrible. I'm sure any IT people here can tell many stories of people wanting their copies of Office 2003 back. I think it has improved since it was introduced, but it's still too much information on a lot of applications.

IMO, something along the lines of Spotlight for an application (basically what help is on most Mac apps these days) combined with menus works best. I can type faster than I can click, if I can open a menu with my keyboard and search for any command I could want, it would absolutely be the fastest for power users.

[jesseinsf]

Talking about OS's running out of ideas. They are not running out of ideas. The PC desktop is coming out of its infancy. the basic Human needs for the computer have been reached. Companies can only improve upon those needs until new useful technologies have been discovered. We might need another Einstein to discover these technologies. And "NO" another Steve Jobs won't cut it this time.

[Rudy]

The day the ribbon comes to OSX is the day I'll seriously consider switching to Linux full time

[offroadaaron]

Just wondering why I don't get the airplay option in the display system settings? Does any one else have this problem?

Running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit proudly

WTF??