ATTENDING: Tom B, Jack H,
Gene N, Bob G, Bob S, Jerry L, Dottie E.
TOPIC: Lion
Jerry and Gene shared their
insights, likes and dislikes about OSX 10.7 (Lion),
the latest operating system from Apple. You can buy ($29.99) and download
this version from the Mac App Store directly to your computer here.
To run Lion, your Mac must have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Snow Leopard 10.6.8
and a minimum of 2GB RAM.
Some of the new
features that Jerry liked best about Lion were:
-----iCloud
(allows easy Synching of multiple macs, devices and apps such as iPads,
iPods, iCal, Address Book)
-----LaunchPad
(see all your Apps in a single click, sort of like Dashboard revealed
widgets)
-----Facetime
(Apple's answer to Skype)
-----AirDrop
(Cool and easy way to transfer files between Macs in close proximity
via BlueTooth)
-----Scrolling
Direction (two fingers on trackpad moves background rather than cursor)
One feature new to Lion that
Jerry really doesn't like:
-----Resume
– starts all the apps upon starting that were running when the
Mac was shut down. Unless you tell it not to, EVERY TIME!
Some features Jerry liked
better in Snow Leopard:
-----
Finder – find it frustrating. The Library disappeared! Can get
to it but it’s not obvious. Wants to be in column display, I
like the list display and have to constantly fight to get it.
-----
Gestures – WAY too many for my old brain and my fumbling fingers.
Like it better with it is dumbed down a bit, which is easy to do.
-----Mail
– very confusing with the “Organize by Conversation” unless
you make it more like Snow Leopard
-----Address
book – find it confusing. Sometimes works great but find it very
awkward switching between people and groups with some actions.
Gene thought the following things about Lion were really good:
-----iCloud:
5 Gb free storage. Syncing iCal, Contacts with iOS 5 devices (& Lion
computers?) just works.
-----iOS
5 devices sync wirelessly.
-----Launchpad: All applications
as icons
-----Resume
as in 'pick up where you left off' for compatible applications
-----Auto
Save: every 5 minutes or during inactivity; saves modifications, not
complete file
-----Transfer
file to another Lion computer with AirDrop
-----iTunes
Match via iCloud $25/yr as a backup
25,000 songs max, not counted against storage limits
Only matches songs in its data base
Replaces songs <200 Mb with 256 Kbps AAC format
Except music originally encoded as AAC or MP3 at less than 96 Kbps
Might replace vinyl digitized recordings w/click free music
Excludes songs purchased before 2008
ISP data rates may apply for downloaded material
Some of Gene's frustrations with Lion:
-----MobileMe:
syncing no longer work!
-----Mouse
over & hesitate will execute the underlying action (i.e. inadvertent
opening of links when viewing a web page).
-----Mail:
Cmd 1, 2, 3 different views w/o mail folders. It’s a tiny icon
on the upper left.
-----iCal:
No calendar list on left side. It is a drop down window.
-----Address
Book: Two columns (as book) rather than the more useful 3 columns.
------Screen:
up/down moves in reverse direction from past usage.
-----10.7
breaks third-party NAS compatibility
Macworld -
has some excellent articles on installing Lion
Things
to consider before upgrading from Snow Leopard to Mountatin Lion
(lack of Rosetta, reverse scrolling and hidden Save As)
HARDWARE
AAXA
M2 Micro Projector - Gene brought a neat little projector (5"x5")
to share his presentation with the group - it sells for $330 and
uses an LCD light source.
FIXIT
TIP - if the CD/DVD player on your mac seems to get tempermental loading
or playing a disc, try running a CD
Lens cleaning disc in it for 30 seconds. The small brushes may
clean off built-up dust or gunk on your device's reading lens to make
it work like new.
CROSS-PLATFORM
TIP - Do you need to make a document readable for someone using Windows?
Most Mac word processors (such as Pages or AppleWorks) allow you to
convert an Apple document to Word by using Save-As or Export as Word
Document. Also any document can be converted to a PDF format (via File>Print>PDF)
which can be used cross-platform. A third option is to use a 3rd party
app such as Open
Office.
NEWS
What
is China building in the desert?
Hammondsport Mac Users Group - Hammondsport, NY 14840
- www.hportmug.com
-----iCloud
(allows easy Synching of multiple macs, devices and apps such as iPads,
iPods, iCal, Address Book)
-----Resume
– starts all the apps upon starting that were running when the
Mac was shut down. Unless you tell it not to, EVERY TIME!
FIXIT
TIP - if the CD/DVD player on your mac seems to get tempermental loading
or playing a disc, try running a 
CROSS-PLATFORM
TIP - Do you need to make a document readable for someone using Windows?
Most Mac word processors (such as Pages or AppleWorks) allow you to
convert an Apple document to Word by using Save-As or Export as Word
Document. Also any document can be converted to a PDF format (via File>Print>PDF)
which can be used cross-platform. A third option is to use a 3rd party
app such as 