os x OS X Mountain Lion Discussion

[Quillz]

WTF??

I guess it's the PC equivalent of the many Mac users who claim they "proudly" run OS X ___.

[DeadEndAccount]

I guess it's the PC equivalent of the many Mac users who claim they "proudly" run OS X ___.

I think it has more to do with why they're posting in the Mac section of the forum.

[Quillz]

I think it has more to do with why they're posting in the Mac section of the forum.

OS enthusiasts, I suppose. I "proudly" run Win7 and Mac OS X on many different computers, so I post in both sections.

And to bring this post more on-topic, I do wonder when we might expect DP2. I think with Lion, there was a new build roughly every two weeks or so.

[.Neo]

This is why the Ribbon gets messy easily, but at least it has a lean UI and they didn?t miss any option. Still, it is light-years ahead of menus.

The Ribbon is nothing more than a icon enriched menu, let's not pretend its anything more than that. Because the Ribbon allows for multiple tabs and the overflow of icons both horizontally and vertically it basically defeats its own purpose, which is to give users a quick and clear oversight of actions. Beyond that it's a cluttered mess of different sized and aligned icons. Not to mention you have to click again every time you want to select a new tab or overflow area which becomes tedious fast. With menus you just click once and hovering over a new menu will automatically open the next.

Personally I think Apple is taking a much better approach: You have an automatically adaptive set of toolbar buttons relevant to what content you're handling. Contrary to the Ribbon the user isn't being overwhelmed by tons of actions they won't ever need. For the rest you have the traditional menu bar. Not to mention the fact you can search the menu bar for actions you can't immediately find, an extremely helpful feature the Ribbon lacks completely. Like people said already the Ribbon is a usability nightmare for the average user.

In the light of all this I really don't see how the Ribbon light-years ahead of anything.

[PyX]

In the light of all this I really don't see how the Ribbon light-years ahead of anything.

When you have to re-learn an app completely, it sucks and you?ll find it amazingly hard to find your options and features. When you know both of them perfectly well, options are usually regrouped at correct places.

I have worked with Office 2003 for two summers straight and went back with Office 2010 at school and Office 2011 the rest of the time, and my productivity went up like it?s not possible. The Ribbon does have its problems, like different sized icons everywhere you mentioned. Other than that, every option is two clicks away from each other and they are all represented graphically so you can have an idea of what it does at a glance.

Between Keynote and Powerpoint on the Mac, the interface of Powerpoint makes it much more productive. The options are all at the same place. There is nothing like searching what you want in menus, submenus, toolbars, sub-toolbars, contextual menus and the inspector.

If this is not enough for you, try to use and compare crazy apps like CATIA and Solidworks between themselves, you?ll see that CATIA is doomed to die with Solidworks having the Ribbon.

[.Neo]

Between Keynote and Powerpoint on the Mac, the interface of Powerpoint makes it much more productive. The options are all at the same place. There is nothing like searching what you want in menus, submenus, toolbars, sub-toolbars, contextual menus and the inspector.

Beyond the Ribbon you forgot to mention PowerPoint 2011's Menu Bar, submenus, toolbar, contextual menus and toolbox...

When I'm using Keynote 99,9% of the time I don't have to look further than the toolbar and inspector. It really isn't too different from PowerPoint's Ribbon unlike you try to make it out to be.

When you have to re-learn an app completely, it sucks and you?ll find it amazingly hard to find your options and features. When you know both of them perfectly well, options are usually regrouped at correct places.

That pretty much goes for anything.

[strelok1911]

Just got it installed on my PC. AmA!

[Mateus]

Would love to see the hide toolbar pill button return, or even if they allowed an Option-click/right click on the full screen button to hide the application toolbar.

e.g. Left-click the fullscreen button to see more, right-click to see less. Makes sense, no?

I loved the ablity to make applications less cluttered via a simple button click, now this option is hidden away in a menu. :/

[Rudy]

Would love to see the hide toolbar pill button return, or even if they allowed an Option-click/right click on the full screen button to hide the application toolbar.

e.g. Left-click the fullscreen button to see more, right-click to see less. Makes sense, no?

I loved the ablity to make applications less cluttered via a simple button click, now this option is hidden away in a menu. :/

The pill button looked messy, I didn't like it :/

[.Neo]

The pill button looked messy, I didn't like it :/

Agreed. Never used it.

[Mateus]

Agreed. Never used it.

I guess I was the only person who liked it! :huh: (or maybe not)

On a low-res MacBook I found it was handy to hide unnecessary toolbars and make better use of screen space.

[.Neo]

On a low-res MacBook I found it was handy to hide unnecessary toolbars and make better use of screen space.

Well you can still do so quickly in OS X Lion: Just can add your own custom keyboard shortcut to hide the toolbar by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. It's one of the great things about OS X. :)

[Mateus]

Just can add your own custom keyboard shortcut to hide the toolbar by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. It's one of the great things about OS X.

Brilliant, thanks! :D

[.Neo]

Glad I could be of service. ;)

[Damian]

Apple today seeded the second preview version of OS X Mountain Lion to developers, building upon the initial developer version released one month ago.

As noted by The Next Web, Apple has also posted an extensive list of known issues alerting developers to various bugs and missing features that have yet to be addressed.

OS X Mountain Lion is Apple's next major operating system version and is scheduled for release in "late summer". The release will offer greater integration with iCloud, as well as a number of new feature including some drawn from iOS.

Article Link: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2 Seeded to Developers

[Rudy]

Can't wait to see what's new. I wish I could install it :/

[PyX]

Can't wait to see what's new. I wish I could install it :/

Same here. Only time will tell I guess. I thought the updates would be done directly and freely via the Mac App Store, but it seems like you need a code or something. In Lion DPs, you could install all those as soon as they hit the net via Software Update.

Don?t get me wrong, I am not criticizing that they regrouped all the updates at one place though. Just that updates should be easier than this for DPs :p

[sila]

I'm really looking forward to this. I think Apple have really got it right - moving forward with ~yearly updates adding a few new user features and associated under the hood updates for ~?10. With that pricing I am certainly happy with the frequency and volume of changes.

Microsoft should take note. Their model is way too outdated,

[Miuku.]

The GPU drivers have been updated for one, I'm seeing considerable speed improvements on my "slightly hacked" 560.

[PyX]

Any words on which version of OpenGL is supported ? They worked a lot on that regarding Lion?s release, because finally Apple understands that gaming is important to gain market share.

[celticpride678]

Just thought I'd note: dev preview 2 seems to be far less stable than the first dev preview (for me, and others). Frequent forced logouts and kernel panics. Typical Apple, though!

[chrispinto]

Just thought I'd note: dev preview 2 seems to be far less stable than the first dev preview (for me, and others). Frequent forced logouts and kernel panics. Typical Apple, though!

Mileage variations again I guess. It's been more stable than DP1 for me by far. And my Airprint printer actually works again (I didn't do anything, just tested a print and it worked. I'd get 'Filter Failed' constantly under DP1 failing to print).

[Quillz]

I'm really looking forward to this. I think Apple have really got it right - moving forward with ~yearly updates adding a few new user features and associated under the hood updates for ~?10. With that pricing I am certainly happy with the frequency and volume of changes.

Microsoft should take note. Their model is way too outdated,

Most people rarely buy a full, boxed version of Windows, though. Most of the time, Windows just comes with their new PC. And even if you do buy a boxed copy, again, it's not hard to find it discounted. Microsoft has lots of promos, and if you're a student, you can usually get a copy free. (I was able to get Win7 Ultimate for $12, for example.)

I do think Windows could be a lot simpler in terms of SKU (I think XP got it right: Home Edition and Professional Edition), but the pricing itself isn't as bad as people sometimes make it out to be.

[+Matthew S. Subscriber²]

Most people rarely buy a full, boxed version of Windows, though. Most of the time, Windows just comes with their new PC. And even if you do buy a boxed copy, again, it's not hard to find it discounted. Microsoft has lots of promos, and if you're a student, you can usually get a copy free. (I was able to get Win7 Ultimate for $12, for example.)

I do think Windows could be a lot simpler in terms of SKU (I think XP got it right: Home Edition and Professional Edition), but the pricing itself isn't as bad as people sometimes make it out to be.

Umm XP had Home Edition, Professional, Professional x64, Media Center, Tablet PC, Embedded, N versions of the former and I'm sure I'm missing one...

[.Neo]

Most people rarely buy a full, boxed version of Windows, though.

I wonder why that is? Even though there are possibilities to get Windows versions cheaper than the regular retail price many just don't know about them and in most cases it's still more expensive than an OS X upgrade. Not to mention with the App Store things really couldn't be easier.