Mac OS to improve with Lion

Mac OS X 10.7 'Lion' is likely to incorporate features found in iOS. Photo / Thinkstock

I talked recently about my concerns that Lion, the forthcoming version of the Mac OS (aka 10.7) may throw the Mac OS X baby out with the bathwater.

Of course, I have far too much faith in Apple to seriously countenance this happening (written with a worried frown), but it's an interesting discussion nonetheless for the large body of Mac users who are used to doing things in certain ways.

With developers testing the latest betas of iOS, features of iOS 4.3 are becoming clearer, and this may inform us as to what to expect, at least to some extent, in Lion.

The Mac OS can be improved. That's for sure. But there's a significant disconnect between the interface and what's going on, especially with newer users or those who have switched. I have noticed new-to-Mac users who have no idea what an application even is, what a file is, or what a hard drive is, does, how to 'open' it and where it's located. Some don't even know in the vaguest possible terms.

And these aren't ignorant people, by any means. Not in the rest of their lives.

Possibly as a result of this, Apple engineers have been further obscuring the workings of Macs, giving users filing structures accessible from inside applications instead of via the Finder. In the name of increased efficiency, perhaps.

I have been dismayed at some of the misconceptions - or pure lack of any kind of conception - some users display. I don't know whether to blame this on the dumbing down of the personal computer-buying market, the fact that so many more people nowadays are expecting to use computers (as they should) or the fact that Microsoft's systems have been so incomprehensible, switchers carry this over to their new Macs.

I also don't know whether Apple should be pandering to this kind of computer use in a new Operating System.

To be fair, the hierarchical folder and menu system that Apple introduced way back in the 1980s has probably become too complex, with too many features simply hidden too far away.

The Chicago Times' Mac pundit Andy Ihnatko recently said that the evolution of full screen apps within Lion underlines a move toward non-hierarchical menu structures, in which user convenience becomes ever more important, and navigation of an application's features becomes ever more transparent.

I guess (hope) that if this is done well, it will help all of us, but I can't say until I see it.

Personally, as a long time user, I would prefer a tutorial on first boot that explains the basics. I find this extremely helpful to pass on to people who I meet in my training work.

But will that happen with the Mac OS? Somehow I doubt a tutorial will be fitted. OS X has an excellent support Help system built in already (if only people knew how to use it) and online video tutorials are accessible from inside many programs like GarageBand. But once again, many people don't look at them.

Of course, there's little doubt that booming iPhone and iPad sales to non-Mac users has been boosting Mac sales. It makes sense to make OS X more iOS like for that reason alone, to unify the experience and ease the transition. Also, to make moving between Apple devices easier - to enable working on an iPad, MacBook and iPhone more seamlessly, one to another, in the same work period without having to shift your mindset too much.

A new report claims tablet sales will more than triple this year, with Apple projected to hold its dominant position with the iPad, jumping from 14 million units in 2010 to 36 million in 2011.

This report was cited by John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal's Digital Daily blog. It was prepared by Caris & Co analyst Robert Cihra.

Hints are being gleaned from the next iOS (the operating system for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone). They include an iPad 2.0 camera app (yes, it's pretty clear the next iPad will have at least one camera), and a video app. It will have Photo Booth for iOS (it's already a part of Mac OS) with new camera effects.

It will have Find My Friends, new multi-touch gestures for iPad, a Personal Hotspot feature for all iPhones, new Message alert settings and there will be an Apple TV update that allows AirPlay video from third party apps - at the moment, it's only supported for AV material in iTunes.

Much about this new iOS is on the 9to5Mac site.

OS features have always been two-way. Right from the start, Contacts on iPhone, for example, looked like Address Book on Mac - and they sync. System Preferences on Mac has the same icon as Settings on iOS, etc. This helped Mac users take to iPhones with ease.

For Lion, the promised Mac App store is already here, of course, as a feature of OS 10.6.6 - but it should be more integrated into the OS 10.7 Lion system.

The current Dock will get LaunchPad, which displays a big graphic list of icons of Apps. Actually, you can do this already, just be dragging the Applications folder to your Dock and opening it there in Grid View, but LaunchPad lets you make folders right in there and do other things.

The point is, you're manipulating the Applications' folder without actually opening and using the Applications' folder, which strengthens my point about the growing disconnect between what your Mac does and how, and how you deploy its capabilities.

The look of LaunchPad is reminiscent of the display of icons in iOS, which on an iDevice you edit by holding your finger on on icon until they all start to jiggle. Then you can move them around and delete them, or pile them on top of each other to create instant folders.

Lion will have a full-screen view for everything, to cut down on screen clutter. This will be gesture-supported. I get the screen clutter concern - I meet users who don't have any idea what app they're in and when.

Boy, does this lead to confusion!

Generally, in Mac interfaces, Johnny Evans on Computerworld notes (and it's pretty clear) that Apple is forcing an evolution of the mouse as an input device. "MultiTouch trackpads, the Magic TrackPad, these all use touch to replicate common mouse gestures while also enabling new ones."

But will Apple's new Mac OS help or hinder the worrying disconnect between user and their hardware/software?

I prefer my clients to be informed users, and I work to inform them.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com