Mac OS X Lion Discussion

[giga Veteran]

Keynote: http://movies.apple.com/datapub/us/podcasts/apple_keynotes/oct2010keynote.m4v

Known features:

- multi-touch gestures

- mac app store

- launchpad

- full-screen apps

- mission control

- apps auto save

- apps resume when launched

The Mac App Store: Introducing the best place to discover and buy new apps made just for Mac, right on a Mac. Just like shopping the App Store on iPad, the Mac App Store offers endless possibilities to browse and purchase apps. And it simplifies the way you install apps on the Mac. Just click once, and your new app is downloaded, installed, and ready to go.

Launchpad: The Launchpad gives you instant access to your apps — iPad style. Just click the Launchpad icon in your Dock. Your open windows fade away, replaced by an elegant, full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac. It takes just a swipe to see multiple pages of apps, and you can arrange apps any way you like by dragging an app icon to a new location or by grouping apps in folders. Downloaded an app from the App Store? Your new app automatically appears on the Launchpad, ready to blast off.

Full-screen apps: On iPad, every app is displayed full screen, with no distractions, and there’s one easy way to get back to all your other apps. Mac OS X Lion does the same for your desktop. You can bring an app to full screen with one click, switch to another full-screen app with a swipe of the trackpad, and swipe back to the desktop to access your multi-window apps. And systemwide support for full-screen apps makes them bigger and more immersive. So you can concentrate on every detail of your work, or play on a grander scale than ever before.

Mission Control: Mission Control is a powerful and handy new feature that provides you with a comprehensive view of what’s running on your Mac. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything — including Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and full-screen apps— all in one place. With a simple swipe gesture, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. There you can see your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full-screen apps, Dashboard, and even other Spaces, arranged in a unified view. And you can get to anything you see on Mission Control with just one click. Making you the master of all you survey.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Can't wait for Launch Pad & Mission Control :D

Not sold on the App Store yet, but it could be really good for a lot of smaller developers.

[what]

I don't think I'll get much use out of Launch Pad and very limited use from Mission Control. The Mac App Store I'm kind of erring on but at least we'll get to try it in Snow Leopard. Like Munky said it will be good for the small developers who might only make one great app, but they don't get any notice because they have no means of advertising themselves. I think a lot of it will depend on what restrictions Apple puts in place. It clearly isn't going to be a free market with apps that will modify system files. It will definitely be nice to have a central hub for app updates, but Sparkle made updating pretty painless anyway (providing developers used it).

On the whole, looking forward to more information. I expect there'll be tonnes more features to talk about.

[protocol7]

App Store isn't exclusive to Lion. So probably should be left out.

[WelshBluebird]

I think the app store is good just because of the updates. Much nicer to have it all in one place.

Although I assume it will have the same rules as the iOS app store.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I think a lot of it will depend on what restrictions Apple puts in place. It clearly isn't going to be a free market with apps that will modify system files. It will definitely be nice to have a central hub for app updates, but Sparkle made updating pretty painless anyway (providing developers used it).

That is the big concern but it's not as much of a problem on OS X because you can use the classic dmg install. Whereas on iPhone etc it's Apple's way or nothing (if you ignore Cydia/want to stay within eula that is).

For your everyday applications it's not going to be a problem though, you'll see a lot of great apps you might never heard of.

I bet Bodega are pretty ****ed off though :laugh:

[KoL Veteran]

Can't wait for Launch Pad & Mission Control :D

Not sold on the App Store yet, but it could be really good for a lot of smaller developers.

Same here I can't wait to try Launch Pad & Mission Control. Love Spaces and Expose and this looks better to me.

[what]

That is the big concern but it's not as much of a problem on OS X because you can use the classic dmg install. Whereas on iPhone etc it's Apple's way or nothing (if you ignore Cydia/want to stay within eula that is).

For your everyday applications it's not going to be a problem though, you'll see a lot of great apps you might never heard of.

I bet Bodega are pretty ****ed off though :laugh:

For now :p I'm waiting for Apple to turn around and say they'll be locking the whole OS down, but then again I can't see them being that dumb.

[strelok1911]

Can't wait for the first Dev Previews to be available so the Hackintosh scene can start working on Chameleon for Lion.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

For now :p I'm waiting for Apple to turn around and say they'll be locking the whole OS down, but then again I can't see them being that dumb.

If they do, I will literally cry :(

[Ci7]

win8 store and now .......oh great more app store! :/

look like the trend of 2011/12

[Elliott]

Loving the idea of the App Store. Move over Sparkle.framework.

As for features of Lion, I love Launchpad and Mission Control, but I'm really looking forward to auto-saving and apps that auto-resume their states (like in iOS). Those are some awesome innovations for a desktop OS.

[tomjol]

To be honest..."meh" :(

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I really hope that it doesn't require an upgrade to track pads for these new gestures they have planned either.

Also, it begs the question why so many patents were made for the touch screen iMac if they never went ahead and used any of them.

[Elliott]

I just noticed on those Lion screenshots (at http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/) that the Dock no longer distinguishes between open and closed apps (i.e. the blue dots are gone). I guess they're blurring that line because apps will just resume state.

It seems like Lion is poising itself to be the biggest paradigm shift in OS X since they moved from Mac OS 9 to OS X.

I really hope that it doesn't require an upgrade to track pads for these new gestures they have planned either.

Not sure about the old MacBooks (with the dedicated button), but any of the new unibody designs certainly have large enough trackpads for it.

[Brad.]

Can't wait for Launch Pad & Mission Control :D

Not sold on the App Store yet, but it could be really good for a lot of smaller developers.

I'm loving the idea of App Store for Mac. When I want programs/apps I'm used to googling what I want, browsing through loads of links then maybe even more links to get reviews.. The App Store seems to bring this all together which is great IMO!

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I'm loving the idea of App Store for Mac. When I want programs/apps I'm used to googling what I want, browsing through loads of links then maybe even more links to get reviews.. The App Store seems to bring this all together which is great IMO!

Well if you want something in the mean time, use...

http://appbodega.com/

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

We don't know enough about 10.7 yet.

AppStore - it was inevitable. Should be opt-in.

Launchpad - doesn't appeal to me at all.

Mission Control - Expos? on steroids. I'm going to have to try it out before passing judgement; guessing from the demo it is an improvement.

Fullscreen mode - meh. I don't maximise apps; OS X 10.7 isn't going to change that.

The UI will definitely see more refinements between now and summer, so speculations about the final UI elements are futile at this point.

[Brad.]

Well if you want something in the mean time, use...

http://appbodega.com/

Nice, I don't use OS X at all as I don't have a MacBook yet so yeah.. Still sounds good to me.

[game_over]

don't forget this isn't the full announcement.. only some updates. lots more will be in osx lion

[EmpyreanUK]

Once you've accounted for the fact that Launchpad isn't a new feature ? just create a 'Stack' for your Applications folder ??Lion amounts to nothing more than an update to Expos?. I'm obviously reserving serious judgment until after all of the new features have been announced, but as it stands I'm not overly excited about this.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Nice, I don't use OS X at all as I don't have a MacBook yet so yeah.. Still sounds good to me.

Yeah hurry up with that :p

How's the MacBook situation coming along?

don't forget this isn't the full announcement.. only some updates. lots more will be in osx lion

Yup, no doubt in January we'll see some bigger changes. Hopefully a new marble UI ala QuickTime X :D

[Elliott]

Fullscreen mode - meh. I don't maximise apps; OS X 10.7 isn't going to change that.

This is what I was thinking, but while I don't maximize apps, I do full screen them, and I do think there's a distinction.

For instance, iPhoto maximized is a very different thing than iPhoto full screen. Same with Preview. I also see this being very handy for games. Traditionally, maximizing a game means you're removed from the rest of your OS (you can generally Command+Tab out, but that's not a very pretty procedure most of the time). Being able to swipe out of a game space and back into your desktop for a quick moment is a killer feature to me.

[.Neo]

I just noticed on those Lion screenshots (at http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/) that the Dock no longer distinguishes between open and closed apps (i.e. the blue dots are gone). I guess they're blurring that line because apps will just resume state.

During the keynote it looked like they were still there but stripes instead of round lights.

I'm glad they're finally getting rid of those old style red badges in the Dock and replaced them with iOS styled ones. I expected them to do that with Leopard really.

[Brad.]

Yeah hurry up with that :p

How's the MacBook situation coming along?

Brilliantly, have the option of buying on a card then paying off monthly or waiting 2 months and buying one full out.. So stoked.