On Wednesday, Apple released its new version of OS X, namely Lion. By now, there are plenty of websites to read what is new in Lion so I won’t be covering that here. Instead, there are a few things that I find particularly interesting about Lion.
iOS-ification
Many refer to Lion as the iOS-ification of the Mac. While this certainly is true for quite a few parts of Lion, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Setting aside the computer geek side of me, I think Lion is certainly more polished in the areas of the consumer market, with some of the features that are truly popular on the iOS devices.
Going back to being a computer geek, these changes are not necessarily bad either, they are just a bit different. However, development in operating systems have come to the point where it is a requirement to do things differently. the iOS devices have certainly managed to show quite a lot of new ideas that could successfully be implemented into a desktop OS.
Interface Tweaks All Over
Interestingly enough, I find that most of the new features in Lion deals just with the interface. Sure, there is built in versioning control and other, more developer and power user friendly features, but what Apple is touting happens to be the interface for Lion.
While the new Launchpad is nice, it isn’t the most wonderful feature (dropping the Applications folder in the dock works much faster). Mission Control is nice, but not that nice.
It is interesting to note that what Apple is releasing, based on the marketing, is the iOS-ification of the desktop, laying the foundation for years to come. However, looking at the upgrade from a neutral perspective of the computer geek, you are left wondering why the upgrade is truly necessary (apart from the bug fixes).
Should you upgrade?
Heck yes! There is no reason not to upgrade, apart from applications not being fully supported at the moment. There is no reason to be afraid of the interface tweaks that are so different to what we are used to. In my eyes, it is better to adapt early than being forced into it late. Given that the upgrade is also cheap, it should be a no-brainer to get a piece of new technology now.