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I am not that impressed anymore

petvas

petvas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 20, 2006
5,479
1,808
Munich, Germany
When I initially installed Lion I was very impressed by the new features. Now, and after I have been using it for a week now, I not that impressed anymore. I think there is room for improvements:


* Launchpad: The idea is good but the implementation could be much better. You should make launchpad behave like a computer application and not like an iPad one! Right click should offer context menu to create new folders, rename and delete folders. Right clicking on an app should offer options to move it to an existing folder, or create a new one. Launchpad should also have the option not to run in full screen mode! In its current incarnation I am not going to be using it. I still prefer Spotlight for running apps. For organizing them I still prefer the apps folder on the dock.
* Full screen mode: A good idea that works very well if you have small screens or/and resolution. On my ACD I have so much space that for most apps, full screen mode is an overkill. I don't see me using it a lot. Maybe when Aperture gets it I will use it.
* Mission Control: This one I like. It combines spaces and expose very nice.
* Mail.app: The new layout is nice but I would like to see some new features regarding Exchange Server. More compatibility to Exchange would be nice. Support for Out of Office messages, categories and Exchange tasks are essential.
* Saving the state of apps: It does take a while to get used to the fact that the state of all apps is always being saved on exit. I would prefer to have the option (without using the Alt key) to not save the state of an app by default. There are situations you don't want to have an app resume its state. Imagine showing a video to someone. You close quicktime and then after a while you need quicktime again. You open it and the video resumes...Not very good!
* Finder: I prefer to have the devices on top on the left side of Finder and not on the bottom. There should be an option to change that.
 
You know there's already a couple of threads discussing the features of Lion, why create another?
 
maflynn said:
You know there's already a couple of threads discussing the features of Lion, why create another?
Click to expand...

Because after a while all these threads become so big, it is difficult to keep track of what's going on. You don't have to read the thread if you don't want to.
 
To return to the thread, Lion has been remarkable stable so far. I like it better than Snow Leopard, it is just that most of the new features aren't really cutting it for me. Are there others here who feel the same?
 
one thing in lion that will not get used for me is the launchpad. damn on my 27" ACD it's so big. i remember all of my installed apps and prefer to use spotlight for easy way to launch them.
 
aleni said:
one thing in lion that will not get used for me is the launchpad. damn on my 27" ACD it's so big. i remember all of my installed apps and prefer to use spotlight for easy way to launch them.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. Launchpad should run in a window. Spotlight is still the way to go for power users. Of course,normal people will like the launchpad.
 
Is anyone running Lion on a lower-powered machine? I'd like to hear feedback on those who have tried it on an 11" MBA.
 
jsgreen said:
Is anyone running Lion on a lower-powered machine? I'd like to hear feedback on those who have tried it on an 11" MBA.
Click to expand...

Search this forum, there's some threads about folks running lion on a core duo (not core 2 duo) cpu
 
jsgreen said:
Is anyone running Lion on a lower-powered machine? I'd like to hear feedback on those who have tried it on an 11" MBA.
Click to expand...

tried Lion with my 11" base air but with 4 gig of rams. smooth as butter. i think the air is capable running Lion without any hiccups. make sure the minimum ram is 4GB.
 
honestly, it feels like Lion is more of an experiment then an actual upgrade. Maybe preparing not just for the future of IOS but Mac OS to.
 
Last edited:
petvas said:
* Full screen mode: A good idea that works very well if you have small screens or/and resolution. On my ACD I have so much space that for most apps, full screen mode is an overkill. I don't see me using it a lot. Maybe when Aperture gets it I will use it.
Click to expand...
Are you saying that you are not impressed by this feature just because it doesn't fit YOUR need, even though you emphasize that it works very well if you have a small screen (most Mac users have the laptop)?

jsgreen said:
Is anyone running Lion on a lower-powered machine? I'd like to hear feedback on those who have tried it on an 11" MBA.
Click to expand...
Runs smooth as butter on my 11" 2GB machine.
 
poobear said:
Are you saying that you are not impressed by this feature just because it doesn't fit YOUR need, even though you emphasize that it works very well if you have a small screen (most Mac users have the laptop)?


Runs smooth as butter on my 11" 2GB machine.
Click to expand...

I am saying that this feature isn't very important to me. I know that for people with relative small displays or other needs, that full screen is a good idea (as I said before).
I am still giving Full screen mode a chance. I have been using mail and Safari in full screen the whole day and I am trying to find reasons to use it, but I think it doesn't fit in my workflows.
 
Looking at the GUI aspects, Lion seems to be optimized for small screens and is particularly irritating for using with multiple displays. "Full Screen" blanks any secondary displays! Agree that Launchpad looks ridiculous.

I don't like the change in operation for Spaces, and the change in keyboard assignment seems gratuitous, but at least the assignments can be changed back.

However the changes "under the hood" (particularly resume, version control, and off-line TimeMachine) look good indeed, but most will require updated software. I expect the iWork suite to be updated at the time of Lion's release, which will help. Other Apple-centric developers will certainly play along, but I expect long waits for Microsoft Office and Adobe CS.
 
Is it true you actually have to launch Launchpad first, then find your app and click it open? if so, how is that an improvement? By the time you perform those steps, you could have typed the app name into Spotlight, or opened the app folder in the dock.

Maybe there's a way to have Launchpad open upon startup of your machine by default, then just click open app icons from there, much in the same way Windows users have icons pinned to their desktops?

Looking forward to WWDC in a month when we should get a better idea of what Lion is really going to be like.
 
Thunderbird said:
Is it true you actually have to launch Launchpad first, then find your app and click it open? if so, how is that an improvement? By the time you perform those steps, you could have typed the app name into Spotlight, or opened the app folder in the dock.

Maybe there's a way to have Launchpad open upon startup of your machine by default, then just click open app icons from there, much in the same way Windows users have icons pinned to their desktops?

Looking forward to WWDC in a month when we should get a better idea of what Lion is really going to be like.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is true. Launchpad is actually useful for people that come from an iPad to a Mac. They would find something familiar to work with.
In its current incarnation this is really for beginners. If Apple adds more organization features, this could become a really nice way to organize apps.
 


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
mac-osx-lion-launch%20pad_101020-02.jpg


How far we've come.
 
bedifferent said:
Exactly. Fine tuned for the new Joe-sumer iOS market, but nothing mind blowing for us Prosumers.
Click to expand...

From all the new features in Lion I am pretty sure I won't be using one: The Launchpad. It is crippled and acts as an iOS app. What happened to right clicking? Context Menus? Why do I need to drag an app over another in order to create a folder? Why can't I just right click and create an empty folder? When Apple makes the Launchpad a Desktop OS app, I might use it.
 
petvas said:
I totally agree. Launchpad should run in a window. Spotlight is still the way to go for power users. Of course,normal people will like the launchpad.
Click to expand...

I used to use Spotlight on Snowleopard for launching any apps as it was really very snappy, but in Lion Spotlight is nearly unusable: it takes ages to deliver its results and now launchpad is the only way.
Do you too find Spotlight slow and sluggish in Lion or am I the only one?
BTW i am running Lion on both a iMac and MBP 17 and spotlight speed is nearly the same!
 
Lukeit said:
I used to use Spotlight on Snowleopard for launching any apps as it was really very snappy, but in Lion Spotlight is nearly unusable: it takes ages to deliver its results and now launchpad is the only way.
Do you too find Spotlight slow and sluggish in Lion or am I the only one?
BTW i am running Lion on both a iMac and MBP 17 and spotlight speed is nearly the same!
Click to expand...

At first Spotlight was not functioning properly, so I disabled it for the boot volume and reenable it. After that everything worked great. No differences to Snow Leopard apart from the nice previews on the results.
 
Why doesn't Apple just put all the apps on the desktop, and allow people to just swipe through them? Basically this would be exactly like iOS then: the desktop (home screen) would act as the launchpad. You could just have an empty page in the beginning so you could have a clean desktop, and then just swipe left and have all your apps come up.

I just find it very fragmented to have the following:
  1. A desktop where you don't really have anything except removable drives
  2. The Finder where you have everything
  3. The dock where you have some apps you use often + ones you're using now
  4. The launchpad where you have part of what you already have in the finder, just displayed differently

So there are 4 different places you could place your apps, how is this consistent?
 
baryon said:
Why doesn't Apple just put all the apps on the desktop, and allow people to just swipe through them? Basically this would be exactly like iOS then: the desktop (home screen) would act as the launchpad. You could just have an empty page in the beginning so you could have a clean desktop, and then just swipe left and have all your apps come up.

I just find it very fragmented to have the following:
  1. A desktop where you don't really have anything except removable drives
  2. The Finder where you have everything
  3. The dock where you have some apps you use often + ones you're using now
  4. The launchpad where you have part of what you already have in the finder, just displayed differently

So there are 4 different places you could place your apps, how is this consistent?
Click to expand...

There are different uses to all of the above features. The Desktop is the place you put temp stuff you need to access fast or you want to think about them later. The Finder is not only for launching apps, it is a file manager.
The Dock is an app launcher and app manager.
The Launchpad is the first feature from Apple that tries to create a unified way of finding, managing and launching apps. I don't like it as it is now, but it could really become something great.
 
baryon said:
Why doesn't Apple just put all the apps on the desktop, and allow people to just swipe through them? Basically this would be exactly like iOS then: the desktop (home screen) would act as the launchpad. You could just have an empty page in the beginning so you could have a clean desktop, and then just swipe left and have all your apps come up.

I just find it very fragmented to have the following:
  1. A desktop where you don't really have anything except removable drives
  2. The Finder where you have everything
  3. The dock where you have some apps you use often + ones you're using now
  4. The launchpad where you have part of what you already have in the finder, just displayed differently

So there are 4 different places you could place your apps, how is this consistent?
Click to expand...

Interesting. This would be similar to the Dashboard "Dev" mode, in that you can drag a widget to your desktop. I'm certain that once the OS is released someone will find a way to drag folders/icons onto the desktop. My only issue it that it seems to be a flawed concept for a desktop OS. The dock or Spotlight seems to be the best way in accessing applications, at least for me. Arranging icons one at a time into folders, then accessing those folders to open an app is a step or so more than simply clicking on an app in the dock.

That's just my take, doesn't mean I'm right. My only major disappointment is in Apple's continued work to focus on iDevices and the iOS market, now bridging them together. I'd rather them be separate, work well together but not blur the lines. Focus on making OS X and professional systems for those who need it, and yes I know it may be a niche market for some. However, keep this in mind, many businesses invested in PowerMac's and ACD's and Proapps when Apple focused on that market. It may be a small market, but the mass amount that businesses invested in the Professional market for Apple was enough to carry it through before the advent of the iPod and further devices. Many are leaving as we make our living from computers and given the current situation it would seem anti-thetical to invest thousands in Apple products if they do not wish to invest in us.
 
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