The LION has arrived, and is being installed on millions of devices around the world. Or, so it would seem based on how long it took to download the 3+ Gigabyte latest version of Apple’s OSX operating system. And at the reduced (by $100 from the last update) price of $30, I imagine it’s going to fly off the virtual shelves. I say that because, for the first time, there are NO CD install options (or so said Apple during WWDC 2011). Watch that long but informative video here:
WWDC 2011 – LION, iOS5, iCloud Preview
Before I ramble on about some of my favorite features, it’s important to point out that this upgraded is not for everyone. Slower Code 2 Duo systems will see a little slowdown in how things run. Even on my early Core 2 Duo system with a measly 2GB of memory, it’s not much more than an occasional annoyance when things load. Once everything is up and running, I don’t see any performance hit. The new version is also limited to certain processor classes, so unless you have one of these processors, the installation instructions say you won’t be able to enjoy the latest:
- Supported Processors
- Core 2 Duo
- i3
- i5
- i7
Once you download the software, it took about 40 minutes to complete the installation. It’s a hands-off install (I ran mine overnight) once you have it started. You can walk away, come back about 1 hour later and you are ready to go. No nasty multiple restarts and driver re-installs or trash like that.
By now, you might be wondering, or saying out loud “So what? How do I buy this supposedly great upgrade?!?”. It’s not a single step operation, but overall all it’s pretty simple.
The first thing you will need to do is run the Software Update:
This will upgrade your Apple App Store (seen down there in the taskbar, this is not the same thing as your Apple iTunes App store for handheld devices).
From there, you will easily find the LION product you can purchase.
If you have not yet purchased it under your Apple ID, then you will be offered the product at around $30. Now, here is the part that I really like, if you have already purchased the upgrade (such as me), you don’t have to pay for it again, to install it on another device that you own, and have linked to your Apple ID! This is fantastic! Not only is it very inexpensive, the installation process is designed to work well for families and people with multiple systems. Something a competitor might learn something from…. (although I’m sure they would screw it up 1000-way to Sunday, LOL).
Once installed, you are flooded with 250 NEW features in the latest incarnation of OSX. That’s not 250 enhancements, that 250 NEW Features! Wow. So, what are those features? I’m not going to list all 250. I’m not even going to spend much time trying to describe them myself, so I’ll direct you do the Apple website, and you can pick the ones YOU are interested in:
Now, the ones I’ve really enjoy so far are these:
Launchpad
[details] I like to keep the items I run often in my taskbar, but there is not room to keep everything I might ever run there. When I want to go find some seldom used app, I used to have to use the Finder, open Applications and poke through list. NOT ANY MORE! With a simple 4-finger swipe on the track pad (or clicking that rocket icon you might have noticed in my screen shot above) you are given an iOS (that’s iPhone/iPad/iPod style interface for the techno-neophytes that are now lost). ALL of the apps are there. If you have too many to fit on one page, well, you just swap left and right, find what you want an LAUNCH! It’s a really cool feature!
You can see that Apps in sub-directories are presented in the same method as they are on the iOS OS. When Apple said they took usability lessons from iOS and brought them to LION, it was much more than just some marketing hype. It’s real, and it works.
Mission Control
[details] Spaces has been changed too, and now it’s Mission Control. Like multiple desktops (like me) then you can access, add, remove them with a simple 3-finger up-swipe to see all your desktops:
It’s easy to move running apps from space to space too, and you might notice the dashboard is the first desktop on the right, so you can get there using spaces. So, why is that cool? Well, to shift from space to space it’s a simple matter of a 3-finger swipe left or right to access the space you want. Again, it’s just that simple!
Autosave
[details] This is such an awesome, intelligent, useful feature. Gone are the days of you cursing because you forgot to save a document, and for some reason the application closed, maybe because you restarted and forgot it was open (although the OS will remind you), or the system crashed (I’ve NEVER had my MAC crash.. EVER), or you simple hit the wrong button and didn’t save! OH NO. Well, this has you covered. Gone are the annoying popups (do you want to save?), because it will save it for you, when you need it to. Combined with Versions.. you have a very secure and safe environment in which to create, anything.
Versions
[details] And it will save different versions of your document AS YOU EDIT, so you can revert back to a previous state at any time. If you are familiar with time machine, you’ll understand how it works. I don’t have a demo to show you on my computer (yet) but I’ve tested it on another. This is one you want to read about for sure!
Having used the new OS for only 24 hours how, I’ve just scratched the surface of the new capabilities. I will say with complete confidence, I am glad that I upgraded, I’m using the Launch Pad and Mission Control heavily already.