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San Jose Mercury News, Calif., Troy Wolverton column [San Jose Mercury News, Calif.](San Jose Mercury News (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 01--With the name "Lion," you'd expect the latest version of Apple's (AAPL) Mac OS X to be the king of updates for the company's computer operating system. It's not. But the software has enough neat tweaks and new features to make it well worth its $30 price tag. Lion represents an effort to make Mac computers act more like Apple's iPhone and iPad by bringing to them some of the features popular on those handheld devices. Among the new features are the ability to run applications in full-screen mode, enhanced gesture controls and an application store featuring Mac apps. Some of the iOS-like tweaks and other new features are compelling. For example, Lion includes FaceTime, the video calling software that Apple launched with the iPhone 4 last year that was previously available for Macs only as a beta-software download. Apple has included FaceTime in all of its handheld devices launched over the past year, so you can use it to make video calls to millions of folks now. I've used FaceTime frequently on Macs and other devices, and find it an easy way for my kids to regularly see and connect with their grandparents back in Texas. Lion also includes a link to the Mac App Store. When Apple debuted the iPhone App Store three years ago, it revolutionized the way people find and download software for their phones. Users could finally go directly from their phone to one place to find a universe of applications for them. Because there are other established means of getting software for PCs, the Mac App Store may not have the same effect. But it does make finding software for Macs much easier than before. Lion will install the software automatically -- no having to open up a zipped file or a disc image -- and will automatically notify you when it needs updating. And you can download the same software to other Mac computers you own or, if you decide to delete the program to clear space, you can always download it again at no extra charge. Lion includes a new way to organize, access and launch apps called Launchpad. It presents a screen full of apps that can be rearranged in any order, dragged to new pages and collected into folders of like programs. If you've used an iPhone or an iPad, you'll feel right at home with Launchpad; it works just like the multiple home screens on those devices. But I wish Apple had built into it a search box that would allow you to quickly find a particular program. Other iOS-like features are of mixed benefit. The ability to run apps full-screen -- eliminating OS X's standard menu bar on top -- can be a great way to focus on one particular application or Web page. But you can't use a gesture to make an application go full-screen; instead you have to click a button in an application's title bar or use a complex, three-key keyboard shortcut that isn't consistent from app to app. What's worse is that the full-screen feature can be disorienting with non-Apple programs. With Chrome and Firefox, for instance, both the address bar and the tab bar are hidden when you take them full screen, so you can't immediately tell what other tabs you may have open or see the address of the page you're on. Just as it does on the iPhone, Apple provides an easy way to switch between full-screen applications in Lion. You simply swipe across the trackpad with three fingers. That gesture switches you not just between full-screen applications, but also to the widgets stored on Mac OS's Dashboard screen and to multiple desktop spaces that may have different applications running. The ability to switch between full-screen apps and desktops is useful. But it also can be confusing and as jarring as a mixed metaphor. You almost want the Mac to choose whether it wants apps to be full screen or arrayed across a desktop -- but not offer both. Similarly, I generally favored the new gestures supported by Lion. I loved being able to switch between apps or bring up Launchpad with a swipe. But some gestures aren't always recognized; if you have an app running in full-screen mode, for example, you can't use the gesture recognized elsewhere for clearing away applications to see the desktop. It doesn't work. To use the full range of gestures supported in Lion, you need a trackpad. Even though Apple's Magic Mouse is touch-sensitive, it only recognizes some of the gestures you can perform on a trackpad. That's likely to be unwelcome news to those who prefer to use a mouse. The new features in Lion aren't all derived from iOS. One of my favorite is called Resume. It remembers all the applications, documents and Web pages you had open when you shut down your computer and will restart them all when you boot up your computer again. That's a huge timesaver. Another cool feature, called AirDrop, allows you to directly transfer files, pictures or even applications from one computer to a nearby one wirelessly and without using email. AirDrop automatically finds the other computer and will transfer the data directly to it; the two computers don't have to be on the Internet nor even on the same local network. But AirDrop only works on computers running Lion. You can't use it to transfer data to Windows PCs or Macs running older versions of OS X. All together, the Lion's new features aren't revolutionary. But for $30, you still get your money's worth. Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv. TROY'S RATING 7.5 "?(Out of 10) Mac OS X 10.7 LION Likes: Inexpensive; easy-to-use features such as FaceTime video chat and Mac App Store now built into operating system; wider support for gesture-based commands allows more natural interaction with computer; time-saving Resume feature reopens apps and reloads documents upon restart; innovative AirDrop feature allows direct wireless file transfer to other Lion-based Macs Dislikes: Gesture commands only partially supported on Apple's Magic Mouse; switching between full-screen apps and multiple desktops can be disorienting; AirDrop won't connect with Windows PCs or non-Lion Macs System requirements: Mac computer with Apple's Magic Mouse or more recent chip running the latest version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with at least 2GB of memory and 7GB of storage space. How much: $29.99 Web: www.apple.com MORE NEW FEATURES IN MAC OS 10.7 LION Full-screen applications: Lion allows programs to take over the entire screen, eliminating OS X's traditional menu bar at the top of the screen. Mission Control: Allows users to see at one glance and directly switch between all of their open full-screen applications and desktop spaces and all of the applications running within those desktops. Launchpad: New way to access, organize and launch applications. Works similarly to the homepage on iOS devices. Users can arrange applications in any order they wish and group like applications into folders. Mail: Provides a new interface for OS X's native email client. Mail automatically groups together all email in a threaded conversation. Provides more space for messages by hiding the mailboxes and folders column by default. Offers more robust search tools that allow users to easily search for messages from particular users or pertaining to a particular subject. Source: Mercury News reporting LION'S TOP FIVE NEW FEATURES Resume: Allows users to pick up where they left off within an application or on their entire computer. Within applications, Resume will return users to the place they were at in the document they were working on. After a reboot, Resume will restart all previously open applications and documents. AirDrop: Allows users to easily transfer documents, files or even programs from one computer to another directly over Wi-Fi. The computers don't need to be on a local network or connected to the Internet, but do need to be running Lion. FaceTime: Apple's video chat software. Allows users to connect with other Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. Wider support for gesture commands: Using a touchpad or in some cases a touch-sensitive mouse, users can switch between full-screen apps and multiple desktops; access the Mission Control overview or brush aside applications to see the desktop behind them using particular swipes of their fingers. Mac App Store: Provides a central place for users to discover and download Mac software. Lion automatically installs applications downloaded from the store and alerts users to updates. ___ To see more of the San Jose Mercury News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mercurynews.com. Copyright (c) 2011, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |