OS X.7.3: The Thorn in The Lion's Law

-

If Apple is truly the lion of the computing industry right now, than it seems only fitting that its most recent iteration of OS X is the thorn in its paw. Thanks to less-than-stellar reviews, one going so far as to claim OS X 10.7.3 was "Apple's Vista Moment," I held out as long as I could to upgrade my MacBook Pro. And if it wasn't for new software requiring the operating albatross, our laptop would be roaming the computer jungle issue free as a graceful snow leopard.

Everything I was worried about is true;
  1. Preview windows takes 5+ seconds to buffer files.
  2. Finder searches, formally instantaneous, seem to have been refashioned in an homage to Microsoft.
  3. Pointless screen animations abound for fullscreens
  4. Launchpad and Dashboard continue to be a waste of computing power.
  5. Quicktime video playback is choppy.
  6. Upon upload, Preferences are rewired for no reason what-so-ever.
There's plenty more to list -I could write 500 words on Finder windows alone- but I'd rather not start my week off angry. It seems iPhone has become so successful, Apple has decided to make all their products iPhones. I don't want an iPhone, I want my freaking MacBook Pro. It's hard to decipher in the moment but products do eventually reach their zenith, and Snow Leopard was it. Lion is the equivalent of when Ford decided 5 or 6 years ago to kill the Taurus, at the time its most popular car, and replace it with the Ford 500. Ford customers (who in no way resemble MacBook Pro customers) didn't want the Ford 500, a flashy, European looking car, they wanted their round, comfortable Taurus.

Apple seems to be on this kick where they feel all their products should provide the same user experience. That is complete crap thinking. The iPhone and iPad are designed for morons. Anyone can navigate them. A genuine computer should be a little harder to operate than a touch screen pocket computer with considerably less computing power; but oddly enough, in its attempt to turn their computers into iPhones, Apple overreached and turned them into PCs.

Jobs' tragic death aside, Apple has had a rough year in product land; fools lost their mind over iPhone 4s not being named iPhone 5, the upgraded iPad HD is nice but provides no real reason to make the purchase, simply put: Lion is slow and for my videographer friends out there I think I we all know the raped-and-pillaged "revisioning" that is Final Cut X (I will NEVER make that leap).

Going back to Ford, I think we all know how this is going to end. Just as Ford re-branded the Ford 500 as the Taurus; Mountain Lion, Apple's next OS X, will clear up the issues of Lion. It most definitely wont be Snow Leopard redux, but it will be better than this dirge. Why can't these companies ever come out and say "We screwed up, we now understand none of our customers wanted this. The next version will be more to your liking, we're sorry." If Apple cant say that, hopefully its OS development team can remove the thorn that is Lion from the company's -and its customers- collective paw.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Producing "USS IOWA"

-
Image
It's taken a few months, but I think I've processed the production, release, and reception of the "USS IOWA," a documentary I worked on for four years. I hesitate to call it "my documentary" because I didn't originate the project, and sharing the story of military history and people's personal stories is a bit of sacred task. Discussing the project in reverse, when the documentary was entirely edited and ready for release I felt a shock of concern; would U.S. Navy veterans accept it? the people who run the USS IOWA museum in San Pedro, California? Survivors of the April 19 explosions? Navy historians? Thankfully the answer to all of that was yes.  A packed house at the second screening of USS IOWA, in Johnston at Camp Dodge. In Waterloo, the very first audience for USS IOWA. While the project hit the airwaves on March 1, 2023, the first screening was actually February 18 in Waterloo in front of live audience with hundreds of veterans in attendance an
Read more

I can't go back to being a weatherman

-
Image
There she be, "Wheel of Death" in all her incredible, gory, gnarly, fun, and funny glory. There is nothing like finishing a film and just knowing it is a success. Not perfect, maybe it had perfection programmed into its GPS and along the route saw a tourist trap that was too good to pass by and soon decided that in its heart it needed to stay there for the night. That is what I'm talking about. Wheel of Death is a wonderfully wild tourist trap of horror comedy that actually delivers the good.  There are so many points I want to hit but I'll start with the thing everyone needs to know: Craig Bahnsen's performance as Doug the Demon is so impossibly good. I love so many things in this film and hit so many of my goals in it, but the top of the praise heap is definitely Craig. I didn't know in 2019 when we asked him to slap on some JNCOs that he had this in him, but I am so happy he hung around and delivered a performance that makes this film the most rewatchable
Read more

Filmmaking beats film viewing

-
Image
Making "Elf Off the Shelf," photo by Erin Hogan. I love the experience of watching something great. It could be film, TV, a stage play, live music, and many other arts, that feeling of you and a piece of art meeting for the first time is exquisite. There's only a couple things that top it, one is actually creating that art. When I discovered the real power of movies around 13 or 14, I think I watched my favorites on a loop. I would toss in new discoveries here and there, and it quickly grew into an obsession. But then a funny thing happened, I borrowed a camera from my media production classes in high school and one Sunday afternoon my friends and I made a mockumentary mixing skate culture and free-style walking called " Midwest Money Money. " This rush was similar to watching movies but the intensity was jacked to the nines and I carried that feeling for weeks. I showed our film to everyone and anyone who would sit in front of a screen with me. The filmmaking &
Read more