Gee, Geoff, with his load of collective whinging, I thought you must have used Lion for a while and then decided it was beyond you. It's a great shame you have not done so in order to add to our experiences. Lion is different, it has many improved ways of working and a multitude of small improvements. Doug's comments are spot on. A pity you haven't at least tried it. ------------------------ Regards from brianF =============== On 14/08/2011, at 9:09 AM, Geoffrey Heard wrote: > At 9:32 AM +0100 13/8/11, Doug Browne wrote: >> >> I have been using Lion since the day it came out and to start with I >> was confused and appalled! After a lot of experiment and several >> visits to the nearby Apple Store I am getting to know Lion quite >> well. Apart from the beautiful new Mail, there are so many useful >> little features such as being able to change the size/shape of a >> window by dragging any edge our corner. Once you become familiar >> with them, 'Gestures' opens up a whole new way of operating my Mac. > > Huh? Haven't we always been able to do this? Or perhaps I'm thinking > of just the bottom right corner. So now you can do it with any > corner. Wow! And you spent days learning this to save you, what, five > seconds a year? > >> Yes Geoff there is a two finger gesture! > > There doesn't need to be -- I can already do on -- in the direction > of Lion! :) > >> Having used Macs for some twenty years, I was certainly stuck in a >> groove regarding operating them. > > And why not? You're stuck in a groove about how to breathe, walk, > switch on a light, boil water and make a cup of tea. It all works. > Why waste time learning a new way of doing essentially the same thing? > >> Now, with multiple Desktops and not having to find applications in >> a file or the Dock, I love the new OS as it seems so natural. > > Yep -- after you have experimented for days and visited the nearby > Apple store numerous times and overlearned it. Soccer players think > hitting the ball with their head is so natural too. Lucky there was a > nearby Apple store. Most people in the world don't have that luxury. > Here in the prosperous south-eastern and bayside suburbs of > Melbourne, where perhaps 1.5 million people live, we haven't had a > dedicated Apple retailer for 10-15 years (after Apple deliberately > and cold bloodedly send the early retailer broke). > > But just yesterday, I visited the regional shopping centre, > Southland, and was startled to see signs reading "Apple Store now > open on Fashion Bridge, Level 2". Well, I thought, that location > tells me all I need to know about the future of the Mac given that > both Apple and Westfield (the mall owners) are obsessive about > appropriate grouping of shops. > > In Papua New Guinea (and vast swathes of the rest of the world) our > Internet access is limited and there is no Apple Store, although one > retailer in Port Moresby now sells Apple. I know more about Macs than > he does, though. > >> It is informative to see very young kids entering the Apple Store, >> going up to Mac and with hardly any hesitation, performing the task >> they want. They certainly could not do this a month ago. > > They actually did do this a month ago and a year ago and more. > Starting with no preconceptions, they grokked the system. Just like I > did with the little beige box and mouse to the horror of the PC > experts with which Chisholm Institute of Technology (where I worked) > abounded with the time. Also don't forget that the new Mac OS mimics > iPhones which in turn are similar in many respects to other phones. > The current kids enter the store with phone experience. > > In the end, why should I learn a new way of operating a Mac -- which > for me is simply a tool -- when it won't do the work I want it to do? > Your WPing is going to be transformed by the new OS? I don't think > so. And so on. Lion won't run Canvas, ergo a Mac with Lion is no > longer a useful tool for me because Canvas is my tool of choice. > other programs can't do what it does -- if if they can, it is more > difficult. > > Well, wonder of wonders -- the sun has broken through in Melbourne > and is now drying the clothes I put on the line yesterday. it feels > so natural! :) > > Cheers, geoff