from one user to another, is mac os x lion worth it?
as the title suggests is lion a good upgrade?
the one gripe i have is this whole autosaving thing and acting like time machine. sure it seems like a good idea, but in some retrospect it seem a bad one, taking the user away from using a program how it should be.
i do like that whole thing of save as... and then making copies of changes.
anyhow, this is a question out to the community that have lion and the impression they have of it. obviously it would help if you were previous users of snow leopard and have a view on the good, the bad and the ugly
cheers
lewis edwards
------
smokingbunny.co.uk
I have to say I like it. The autosave thing only works on newer/apple apps, so I only really notice it in textedit and iwork stuff. With that in mind, I like it. I thought I was going to hate it, but it means I don't have to worry about saving/creating files every time I do something.
I use textedit for taking notes a lot, and now I just have one open/working, and I can quit the app without worrying "where did I save it?!".
The interface is overall nicer (to me), and on my old (2007) iMac it runs nicely.
If you use expose/spaces a ton, it will require some rejigging of your workflow, however. I did use expose/spaces a bunch and I'm still not comfortable with mission control, especially using a mouse where you don't have the super intuitive gestures.
so no autosaving in any other application? so none for max or ableton?
i do like the thought of autosaving, but more when you have a crash and it saves where it was last, much like abletons view on it, its perfect.
as for apple software, its logic, texedit, and xcode. i would liek to try the new xcode mind, and thats only for lion.
so does thins mean [sorry to be a bit of a 'tard asking, but need to be 100%], that i can do save as... with max6 and/or ableton? or any, non-apple made application?
I think it's a new api that you have to code around. Max6 doesn't have the auto save (or full screen) nor does Logic 9.1.5 (not updated to 9.1.6 yet).
I can't comment on ableton/live as I don't have it.
More applications have it (than apple ones). It's just very new/updated apps that have it.
To join the convergence of other Manchester, users I thought I'd drop in:
I nearly upgraded recently to get into iCloud, as iOS devices will only sync with each other or Lion, which is irritating. First issue I'd raise: check compatibility. Logic 8 doesn't work on Lion and I don't fancy paying for an upgrade. After all it works just how I want it to, I'm not paying to potentially stop that. Additionally, you've got no Rosetta, which shouldn't be a problem (I've still got a G5 kicking about) but for the times I want to run those apps I really don't to have to plug in a whole extra computer.
Features wise? Full screen apps don't appeal to me personally, neither does auto saving feel like something I'd ever really use. Launchpad doesn't really seem like something I'd use that often over Spotlight but, like the rest of my views, it's down to personal taste (I know people that hate Spotlight too).
Ask yourself, above everything else, do you need to upgrade yet if what you have works for you?
I upgraded and had major problems with coreaudio. Had to go back to 10.68. Didn't think any of the new features were that exciting. Sticking with 10.6 until I have to upgrade
Complete opposite experience to Oli. I purchased a new iMac as my main studio machine recently, specified a Snow Leopard machine but much to my dismay it was delivered a Lion one. My supplier agreed to swap the machine if I had problems but seeing as I didn't want any further delay on number of projects I had to finish, I decided to stick with the Lion machine and rebuild my DAW from the ground up (I would usually make a clone of my previous machine and then update the operating system).
The only problems I had were that a couple of my plugins wouldn't install because the installers required Rosetta to work (things like Altiverb) but even those have since been remedied by updates.
As with most Apple operating system upgrades it's the little things that creep up on you that make you appreciate the upgrade. Now when I use my laptop, which is still using 10.6.8 I'm constantly missing those little tweaks that I've become accustomed to in Lion.
Most importantly, Core Audio & Midi has never been so problem free (although I put that down to the number of system hacks I've had running on previous machines!).
The biggest warning area for installing Lion is that current installer of Soundflower doesn't work and if you do install it, the process of trying to uninstall it can really screw with Core Audio. I followed the instructions as detailed by the Cybero @ http://kineme.net/forum/General/soundflowerforlion#comment-21568 and have both 2 & 16 channel versions of Soundflower working perfectly on Lion with zero distortion or timing issues. Soundflower is pretty essential to my workflow and I would have downgraded to 10.6.8 if I hadn't been able to get it to work.
JM
------------
http://soundcloud.com/leftside-wobble
i only just upgraded to Lion and haven't done any real development work on it yet but one thing which is instantly noticeable is the snappiness of OSX's UI. It's clearly faster than SL.
Yeah rosetta is gone, but other than a few apps here or there I'm not missing it at all.
I made a conscious decision a while back that I would always try to adapt to programs/updates/technology rather than keeping a stable workflow. It's a bit problematic around updates and such, but it means I can use any computer/setup, rather than needing the right OS version, right app version, my custom hotkeys, etc....
Shit will keep changing, so you'll eventually have to update the way you work anyways.
At the same time, I haven't been using a laptop live or in critical situations, so perhaps I'd be singing a different tune if Lion crashed while I was on stage.....
wow, plenty of banter on this subject.
what i have decided to stick with snow leopard for the time being until i upgrade computers. the setup i have is really nice right now. though compatibility with programs i use would be fine. but at the moment i have no real need, maybe xcode 4? other than that, im cool.
plus myself and a fellow maxer are gigging and we use max for live and both have snow leopard and everything works flawlessly [knock on digital wood]. so for the time being i think i will stay.