Mac OS X Lion
Since I have a paid developer membership, I’ve been using Mac OS X Lion (10.7 for those allergic to cats) for a few months now. I did a rather foolish thing and installed it on one of my main work computers when the first beta was released, and have been using it daily ever since.
I love it. Unlike the 10.5 to 10.6 upgrade, there are some significant and very noticeable changes in 10.7. Mail, iCal and Address Book have gotten major facelifts, the new Mission Control combines Exposé and Spaces into a super-charged new interface, and multi touch gestures are amazingly useful once you train yourself to use them.
Speaking of training yourself, Lion reverses the direction scroll wheels and trackpads scroll windows. Think of it this way: the old scroll direction moved the window view up and down over the content, the new scroll direction moves the content within the window. This is VERY hard to get used to for the first couple days, but once you do it makes much more sense and feels more natural than the old way, especially if you are using a trackpad. (But if you try it for a few days and don’t agree with me, you can change the scroll direction back to the old way in System Preferences.)
250+ new features, both big and small, are all listed here.
I’m very positive about Lion, but that doesn’t mean you should immediately upgrade today. If you’re resistant to change or have old PowerPC-based software (which no longer runs in Lion), you should probably wait until you’ve found upgrades or replacements for your old software, and tried out the new features on someone else’s computer. Even if you think all your software is compatible, there’s always something that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, especially on day one. Wait a couple days at least or install it on a spare Mac (or external HD) and play with it there (remember, you only have to buy it once and it’s licensed for all the computers you own). Bottom line: if you use your Mac for work or can’t bear to spend some time tracking down potential incompatibilities, wait a little while.
