OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

By Damian
in Apple (macOS)

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Grand Master

BajiRav

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Beyond slapping on Metro, what makes Windows 8 so spectacular? So far there's is little there that's actually of interest to people who use a desktop or notebook PC without touch screen.

Well Metro isn't slapped but is replacing the old UI which is still a much radical change compared to what Apple has said so far (I am sure there are some under the hood changes which may not be glossy enough for PR). There are a bunch of performance and non-metro UI update in Win8 that I am sure you are aware of.

Messages actually replaced iChat but using it together with Facebook chat is a bit awkward. Not a fan of the interface at all... :/

Never mind, figured out you don't have to have the old iChat style buddies window visible to add contacts.

Frankly, I don't know why Apple is even bothering with building its own IM network :/ just open up to everyone use XMPP (i.e. update iChat). Connect to facebook, twitter, gtalk etc.

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Grand Master

Shadrack

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If they keep the price point of the last 2 OS updates, I'll be sold. I really don't mind spending $35 for a handful of new features.

Sucks for the Growl developers that OS X will now include notifications :(. I think Apple shouldn't do this to developers, but it isn't just them, Microsoft does the same thing. Your software becomes obsolete once it is a standard OS feature. Both an honor and a shame.

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Grand Master

BajiRav

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Is this the first time Apple has released info on upcoming OS X release without much fanfare? :/ Not to mention a public "beta/preview". I think both might be a first for Apple.

(not to mention the curious timing :p)

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Grand Master

PyX

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Messages actually replaced iChat but using it together with Facebook chat is a bit awkward. Not a fan of the interface at all... :/

Never mind, figured out you don't have to have the old iChat style buddies window visible to add contacts.

There?s a LOT of annoyances in Messages, but it?s a step forward.

- It doesn?t link my iMessage account to the one on my cellphone. For a moment, I was thinking "if both are related to iCloud, they can be synchronized", but it?s not what?s happening there. My cellphone is linked to my phone number and Messages is linked to my iCloud. So I will appear like a new user to everyone if I use Message.

- Also, since there is no name in the conversation but only bubbles, when copying discussions, the names won?t appear when you paste them. You have to add them manually.

- The app in fullscreen doesn?t take all the width of the screen, and you cannot adjust it like Safari. It reminds me of FaceTime, which had this awkward user interface.

- FaceTime remains installed. Messages should have it integrated completely.

- If they?re serious about Facebook integration, it shouldn?t be a Jabber account anymore. They really need to dumb this down, because most people won?t know they can search for all the settings on the Facebook website to know what to type in the Jabber fields.

- Not possible to filter on only people who have iMessage (I didn?t find out how).

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Grand Master

PyX

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I thought that straight away :p

Yeah, kinda makes me sad for having given them a dollar when I could have stayed perfectly with the old version. The animation for new popups in Mountain Lion is not subtle enough though, it will be extremely annoying over time. And I also preferred the Smoke theme in Growl than this non-subtle gray popup window. Oh well, I may keep Growl for a while in the end :)

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Veteran

protocol7

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Is this the first time Apple has released info on upcoming OS X release without much fanfare? :/ Not to mention a public "beta/preview". I think both might be a first for Apple. (not to mention the curious timing :p)

It's only the second time they've publicly released a beta. OS X originally had one back in 2000 but you had to buy it.

As for the lack of fanfare, there doesn't seem to be anything to get excited about so far.

Actually scratch that first bit. Mountain Lion isn't a public beta. It's only accessible to developers.

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Grand Master

Vice

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Considering that I use iMessages on my iPhone every day this is really neat. I like the notification centre, reminders and calendar integration too.

I wonder if Siri will make it in to the final version as a "one last thing" ?

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Grand Master

.Neo

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I think Apple shouldn't do this to developers, but it isn't just them, Microsoft does the same thing.

Using your logic Apple should have never added Dashboard, FaceTime, Dictionary, DVD Player, Font Book, iCal, iTunes, Mail, Preview, Photo Booth, Safari, Stickies, TextEdit, Time Machine and iCloud to the OS. All of those had existing third-party solutions before they were introduced.

- The app in fullscreen doesn?t take all the width of the screen, and you cannot adjust it like Safari. It reminds me of FaceTime, which had this awkward user interface.

- FaceTime remains installed. Messages should have it integrated completely.

FaceTime and Messages are separate apps on the desktop as well, so I guess that's why. Why would you want this app to take the entire width of the screen?

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Grand Master

PyX

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FaceTime and Messages are separate apps on the desktop as well, so I guess that's why.

You mean on iOS. Yeah, I get what you mean. but since I can video-chat in Messages and video-chat in FaceTime? I don?t know. Having a unified app would really make it better.

Why would you want this app to take the entire width of the screen?

I will go for a rhetorical question : why would I not ? I have paid for a 27-inch screen because I want apps to be big like that. Apps like these that won?t scale up to full-screen completely are only a few. It could have my list of friends to fill the blank linen space for example, instead of appearing as a popup menu.

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Grand Master

.Neo

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You mean on iOS. Yeah, I get what you mean. but since I can video-chat in Messages and video-chat in FaceTime? I don?t know. Having a unified app would really make it better.

Yeah on iOS, sorry. I think it wouldn't. From the old iChat perspective yes it would be better. But IM is basically dying out. From a unified working with iOS it really isn't. My main problem with these services is that every company is reinventing the wheel on their own.

I will go for a rhetorical question : why would I not ? I have paid for a 27-inch screen because I want apps to be big like that. Apps like these that won?t scale up to full-screen completely are only a few. It could have my list of friends to fill the blank linen space for example, instead of appearing as a popup menu.

That would just add a third row. It wouldn't fill up the space offered by an 27-inch iMac either.

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Grand Master

Shadrack

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There?s a LOT of annoyances in Messages, but it?s a step forward.

- It doesn?t link my iMessage account to the one on my cellphone. For a moment, I was thinking "if both are related to iCloud, they can be synchronized", but it?s not what?s happening there. My cellphone is linked to my phone number and Messages is linked to my iCloud. So I will appear like a new user to everyone if I use Message.

I'm not sure I exactly follow what your problem is so forgive me if my solution is not what you were looking for.

I think your problem is that your phone is sending your phone number as your "Caller ID" when sending an iMessage and your Mac can't receive and send messages from your phone number (I wish it could). On your iPhone, goto Settings->Messages->Receive At->Caller ID and select your email address. That way when you send an iMessage to someone they will receive it from your email address and when they reply they will be replying to your email address (iCloud ID or whatever). This will keep the messages in-sync between your iPhone and your Mac (and ipad/ipod...).

Using your logic Apple should have never added Dashboard, FaceTime, Dictionary, DVD Player, Font Book, iCal, iTunes, Mail, Preview, Photo Booth, Safari, Stickies, TextEdit, Time Machine and iCloud to the OS. All of those had existing third-party solutions before they were introduced.

Logic had nothing to do with my post, it was purely an emotional response as a fellow developer.

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Grand Master

Alladaskill17

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Probably will have to downgrade my (future) Ivy Bridge'd MBP to 10.6.8, unless there is a way to completely turn off all of these 10.7+ additions (and it seems to be getting worse as they release later versions)

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Grand Master

.Neo

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Probably will have to downgrade my (future) Ivy Bridge'd MBP to 10.6.8, unless there is a way to completely turn off all of these 10.7+ additions (and it seems to be getting worse as they release later versions)

Guess you won't be buying a new Mac then because there's no way in hell you'll be able to run OS X Snow Leopard on it. Beyond Mission Control you can pretty much revert everything back to pre-OS X Lion to begin with.

Logic had nothing to do with my post, it was purely an emotional response as a fellow developer.

I'm glad you're saying that yourself.

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Grand Master

Shadrack

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I'm glad you're saying that yourself.

Truth of the matter is, if you have a good idea for improving an OS and provide a solution you would do yourself a big favor by patenting the crap out of that idea.

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Grand Master

.Neo

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Truth of the matter is, if you have a good idea for improving an OS and provide a solution you would do yourself a big favor by patenting the crap out of that idea.

Truth of the matter is, Growl didn't invent notifications. Not even the way of delivering them. So there's nothing to patent really.

Apple did buy unique ideas in the past. Remember Cover Flow?

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Grand Master

Shadrack

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Truth of the matter is, Growl didn't invent notifications. Not even the way of delivering them. So there's nothing to patent really.

Apple did buy unique ideas in the past. Remember Cover Flow?

Well, Growl was the first notification client that I had ever come across that provided a unified approach to notifications that other developers could tap into via an API. Not sure if that existed before Growl. It might of. You seem hell bent on arguing with people so I'll humor you.

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Grand Master

PyX

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I think your problem is that your phone is sending your phone number as your "Caller ID" when sending an iMessage and your Mac can't receive and send messages from your phone number (I wish it could). On your iPhone, goto Settings->Messages->Receive At->Caller ID and select your email address. That way when you send an iMessage to someone they will receive it from your email address and when they reply they will be replying to your email address (iCloud ID or whatever). This will keep the messages in-sync between your iPhone and your Mac (and ipad/ipod...).

Thanks, by reading it, it looks like it?s a solution to what I want. I will try that.

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