os x OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

[.Neo]

Would be nice if they added some actual new features though.

[Jub]

Would be nice if they added some actual new features though.

I agree. It's slightly disappointing so far. I don't know much of the development cycle of OS X, but isn't it quite unlikely that they'll throw in something major at this point?

Also, they need to improve the new address bar graphics in Safari. The idea and effect is great but the actual graphic looks very Windows XP.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

despite the large known bugs list, it's getting there. It's definitely a lot more stable than DP2.

[.Neo]

I agree. It's slightly disappointing so far. I don't know much of the development cycle of OS X, but isn't it quite unlikely that they'll throw in something major at this point?

It's 50-50 situation really. OS X Lion was pretty much feature complete since DP1, others like OS X Leopard weren't.

[PyX]

It's 50-50 situation really. OS X Lion was pretty much feature complete since DP1, others like OS X Leopard weren't.

The difference is that Mountain Lion hasn?t been presented yet in a Keynote. If it ever gets presented in keynote from Tim Cook, they don?t have the choice to add actual features to it. Otherwise, the guy will look like an ass repeating what is already on their website and what we all know already. But then again, they kind of did that when they released Lion ? The second time they presented it in the Keynote, it was ridiculous.

If they don?t add anything to it and don?t announce it in a keynote, I?d expect a DP4 in end of May and a final release at the end of June, beginning of July. They don?t have much to do at this point.

[.Neo]

But then again, they kind of did that when they released Lion ?

So what is your point then?

[PyX]

So what is your point then?

Choose the one you prefer :

1. Mountain Lion hasn't been presented in a Keynote yet. They'll need to market it a lot more than Lion because the release is meant to coincide with Windows 8's.

2. They looked ridiculous when they copy-pasted the part of the 1st keynote about Lion into another keynote event. Are they willing to do it again ?

[PyX]

By the way they have done great work on localization as opposed to DP2 and DP1. At least this is true about French. DP3 is very close to a release. :)

If there is ONE thing that needs refinement since a long time ago in Mac OS X, it's the color picker and font picker tools :

[.Neo]

Choose the one you prefer :

1. Mountain Lion hasn't been presented in a Keynote yet. They'll need to market it a lot more than Lion because the release is meant to coincide with Windows 8's.

You think the average user watches those keynotes and base their decision to buy the next major OS X version on that? Unlikely. Also, if both companies stick to their original plan Windows 8 is being released after OS X Mountain Lion.

2. They looked ridiculous when they copy-pasted the part of the 1st keynote about Lion into another keynote event. Are they willing to do it again ?

See the above. In the end it doesn't matter.

[Jub]

I must say, my mid-2010 MBP runs really well with DP3. I haven't used this laptop much since I got it, because it's been so incredibly slow with both Snow Leopard and Lion (and no, I am not exaggerating). However, for some reason, with DP3 (not with the earlier builds) it puts my Sandy Bridge-E desktop to shame. :s

[Jub]

If there is ONE thing that needs refinement since a long time ago in Mac OS X, it's the color picker and font picker tools :

I agree completely. It's one of the few things that nag me when I work with OS X.

[Quillz]

Other than adding hex code values to the Color Picker, I don't think it really needs to be changed all that much. I think it works quite well.

[.Neo]

Other than adding hex code values to the Color Picker, I don't think it really needs to be changed all that much. I think it works quite well.

Agreed. At least OS X has a universal color picker compared to Windows.

[-KJ]

One thing I find annoying when transitioning from Windows to Mac is that I can't right-click and install fonts through the context menu. I have to open up the Font Book app just to have the install dialog to appear and with the large collection I have it's just a hassle.

There's plenty of things they can do better. Add in an Aero snap-like feature and a rearrangeable menubar, for instance.

[cooky560 Veteran]

The Finder has been playing a lesser and lesser role with every OS X release. I don't see it disappearing entirely for a while though.

If the finder is removed at any date in the future, how are we doing file management?

[.Neo]

If the finder is removed at any date in the future, how are we doing file management?

You won't, that's the whole point. However, like I said I don't see it happening anytime soon. If only because of cross-compatibility with other operating systems within a network.

[PyX]

I think File management doesn?t have the choice but to stay.

It?s cool that we can have all our music in iTunes, all our pictures in iPhoto and Aperture, all our movie shots in Final Cut Pro X and iMovie, etc. But we cannot manage files by kind only. If I have a project with a song, a picture, a written scenario in PDF, Word or Text, and a couple of movie shots, right now it?s 80% there, but I don?t think it can reach a higher level, because I don?t see how they can fix that to include files from each and every application. Right now iCloud works by file kind only, not by project.

[Aaron Olive]

Some DP3 visual issues

[protocol7]

DP3 caused a lot of graphical glitches like this with my GTX460 (hackintosh). Back on DP2 now.

[Elliott]

I think File management doesn?t have the choice but to stay.

It?s cool that we can have all our music in iTunes, all our pictures in iPhoto and Aperture, all our movie shots in Final Cut Pro X and iMovie, etc. But we cannot manage files by kind only. If I have a project with a song, a picture, a written scenario in PDF, Word or Text, and a couple of movie shots, right now it?s 80% there, but I don?t think it can reach a higher level, because I don?t see how they can fix that to include files from each and every application. Right now iCloud works by file kind only, not by project.

I feel the same way. Apple is really trying hard to reinvent file management, but I don't see what's really broken about it in the first place. It works, and it works well. The iOS/iCloud file management model doesn't. I end up with a lot of file duplication when I try and share files across apps.

[Depicus]

DP3 caused a lot of graphical glitches like this with my GTX460 (hackintosh). Back on DP2 now.

I have a lot of graphic issues with images in Aperture and connecting to an AppleTV so guess the graphics have taken a step back on 3 - I also get ghosting in mail which only disappears when you scroll.

[protocol7]

I'm guessing they've made changes to the OpenGL subsystem, seeing as there are reports from others that the graphics feel much smoother now. In my case anything that invokes a sheet (like adding a volume to Spotlight's ignore list) is almost guaranteed to render incorrectly.

[Quillz]

There's plenty of things they can do better. Add in an Aero snap-like feature and a rearrangeable menubar, for instance.

I would like to see an Aero Snap feature, too. I recall there being a third-party app that replicates it, and it's the kind of thing I wish was just built into the OS. Installing fonts through the context menu would be nice to have, but not an essential for me.

[.Neo]

There's plenty of things they can do better. Add in an Aero snap-like feature and a rearrangeable menubar, for instance.

The Menu Extras in the Menu Bar are in fact rearrangeable and have been for around a decade now? Hold down command while dragging items around.

The thing is though - and something many fail to realize - that the Menu Extras area ≠ Windows notification area. Third-party applications aren't officially allowed to be there. However, some third-party developers "hack" their own app icon on the Menu Bar which isn't an actual Menu Extras item and as such can't be moved.

One thing I find annoying when transitioning from Windows to Mac is that I can't right-click and install fonts through the context menu. I have to open up the Font Book app just to have the install dialog to appear and with the large collection I have it's just a hassle.

Why don't you just drag and drop everything in the Fonts folder in ~/Library or /Library?

[Hurmoth]

This may have already been stated, but I don't have the patients to read 30 pages. So...

One thing I hope Apple has done with the Server-side of things is consolidate some of the apps. There's, what four different apps to manage the server stuff. That's crazy! Some of them even overlap in different functions. One app to rule them all :p