Well, I finally upgraded.

I've been using it for a little over an hour now, and so far, it's really nice, minus one annoying con.

First, the upgrade:

It took roughly an hour including the download and the install (it's a 4+ gig download), and my Internet connection isn't blazing fast.

I didn't think the install was as intuitive as OS-X Snow Leapard, but then again, I don't really remember the Snow Leapard install--it was so fast and simple. With Lion, the software asks to reboot, then it jumps into a "utilities" screen that gives you 4 options (the 2 most intuitive are to "Re-install" OS-X Lion (which made no sense), and "Back up your OS").

Anyways, I chose "Re-install" and 30 minutes later, I was up and running in my new OS.

First impressions:

Mission control is really nice:

From mission control you can view al your open files,

running applications, services, and screens, etc.

Using a three-finger swipe upwards gets you in. It's

very fast and responsive and doesn't feel clunky at all.

It feels exactly like using an iPad actually.

Next: Launchpad

Launchpad is when things get REALLY iOS/iPad-ish.

I really REALLY had little interest in this feature and for the love of me cound't figure out

why anybody would want to use it.

But after playing with it and moving icons around into their own 'groupings' just like

in iPhone, I realized I could get to my apps and folders faster than through finder

when the apps aren't aready on the dashboard. However, I think I'll still use spotlight

for other apps since spotlight is still the fastest way for me

MAIL

Mail is really nice, but I'm no sure if I like it. I'm a very basic type of person

when it comes to using email--I don't need to see conversatino chains, etc.

Plus, I like the Microsoft Outlook for Mac mail app better.

Calendar and Address book are goregous and match more closely the

version on iPad. However, aside from a few feature differences

that I've spotted, this looks like a mostly aesthetic change

there are supposedly 250 changes in OS-X Lion, and I'm assuming they

are small changes or under-the-hood changes.

One change that I really REALLY don't like is the dropping of PowerPC application

support.

This means that I can no longer run my favorite game, Ages of Mythology

on my mac unless I use the PC version and boot to a windows system.

I'm all for moving foward, but damn

Anyways, an overall nice OS, with nice touches. I'm not sure if this really

justifies branding it a different version, but for 29 bucks, there's little to

complain about.

Would be interested to see what other mac users think.

Two more things I tested

I tested the auto-save featuer (I forget what Apple calls it).

Essentially, it's when you're in an application and you close out. The next time you open your application, it takes you back to where you were.

I created a dumby word file, then close out of word (word forced me to save it of course). Then I reopned word and OS-X took me to the exact previous file I last edited. A nice time-saver if this is the way you work--though I'm not sure if this wil be a great feature or an annoyance.

Full-Screen apps are really nice. Of course, I'm shocked an innovative company like Apple would boast about this 'feature' when Microsoft's OS's have had this for...well, forever.

Mac's full screen feature is nice though because you can use a three finger swipe sideways to go to other applictations, a three-finger swipe upwards to mission control, or mouse up or down to gain all the regular featurs if you weren't in full screen mode. It feels more orgainc and 'classy' than in Windows. I just don't think it's something worth bragging about considering how behind-the-curb Apple is on this.

So...can I go straight to Lion? Or do I have to do Snow Leopard first?

Genesia said:

So...can I go straight to Lion? Or do I have to do Snow Leopard first?

I believe you can go straight to lion from any version after 10.4, but I'm not 100%

It should tell you in the App store.

Be careful though, it won't run PowerPc applications. So if your'e using any old software

titles (6+ years older) using Universal binaries, they won't work on this version.

imago said:

Genesia said:

So...can I go straight to Lion? Or do I have to do Snow Leopard first?

I believe you can go straight to lion from any version after 10.4, but I'm not 100%

It should tell you in the App store.

Be careful though, it won't run PowerPc applications. So if your'e using any old software

titles (6+ years older) using Universal binaries, they won't work on this version.

I don't even know what that means.

Genesia said:

imago said:

I believe you can go straight to lion from any version after 10.4, but I'm not 100%

It should tell you in the App store.

Be careful though, it won't run PowerPc applications. So if your'e using any old software

titles (6+ years older) using Universal binaries, they won't work on this version.

I don't even know what that means.

Genesia said:

imago said:

I believe you can go straight to lion from any version after 10.4, but I'm not 100%

It should tell you in the App store.

Be careful though, it won't run PowerPc applications. So if your'e using any old software

titles (6+ years older) using Universal binaries, they won't work on this version.

I don't even know what that means.

You need Snow Leopard because the Mac App Store doesn't run in the other versions.

Please tell me that you can disable Launchpad and Mission Control and simply use Exposé.

I've been trying to decide how quickly I want to upgrade to lion.

Thanks for the informative review, imago!!

Do you know if ichat has been replaced with facetime in lion?

CallMeCarrie said:

I've been trying to decide how quickly I want to upgrade to lion.

Thanks for the informative review, imago!!

Do you know if ichat has been replaced with facetime in lion?

Ichat is still here but it's different.

I think it has facetime, but I don't use that feature.

After a few weeks of using it, I can't go back. OS-X Lion is really, REALLY awesome.