I've experienced my own set of issues (oh god the kernel panics), but really, you haven't experienced anything he mentions? You don't feel like Mission control is a pretty big step backwards from even the old spaces UI (on a single monitor, it is)? You really haven't had problems or questions with the new fullscreen behavior? You think Launchpad is not pointless? You've _never_ had action misses on drag-and-drop to the browser?

Sometimes I wonder what people think they could possibly do with legacy configurations to cause problems like the ones described. Is there a com.apple.absurdly-slow-on-3-year-old-hardware.plist you're expecting to find hidden in their ~/Library/Preferences? Pebcac is real, but if the problem exists between the majority of computers and chairs for a given OS release, then maybe it's time to redefine the problem.

"I've experienced my own set of issues (oh god the kernel panics), but really, you haven't experienced anything he mentions?"

I'm in basically the same boat. I have experienced some issues, but none of the ones he mentions. Further, in my experience anyway, this has been the smoothest major OS version upgrade I've experienced. Obviously that won't be true for everyone, but it is for myself.

"You don't feel like Mission control is a pretty big step backwards from even the old spaces UI (on a single monitor, it is)?"

I don't personally, but to each his own. I think it is refreshing that they cleaned things up and consolidated what was once multiple disparate UIs (dashboard, expose, and spaces) into a single UI. Formerly, I didn't even try to explain to my wife how to use Spaces because it was just too confusing for her. Now that it's all basically one UI, it is easier to explain and requires no manual configuration. I am a bit annoyed at some minor quirks, like the inability to manually rearrange desktops, but I don't consider it a step back.

"You think Launchpad is not pointless?"

I just simply don't get this complaint. They added a new feature. If you think it's pointless, ignore it, but what is the point of complaining about a new thing which you are not forced to use which does not deprecate any old feature?

Anyway, everyone is certainly welcome to have their complaints, especially someone who has experienced some poor issues, but I agree with the grandparent comment that often someone's configs can get mangled and they can lash out at, in this case, Apple, as though it is entirely their fault. I would be extremely surprised if all of these complaints were entirely valid and the writer of the article were not tinkering with their system intensely to have all these issues pop up.

Having owned an iPhone before owning a Mac, I appreciate Launchpad. I know there's quicker ways to launch, but it feels familiar to me and I like having it available.

I didn't use Spaces before Lion. It's still not perfect but I like it better now with Mission Control. The full screen behaviour is annoying. What if I want to go full screen on a secondary display? Huge oversight and who knows when they'll fix it. (fwiw The reasoning is that if there's only one app the menu bar should be above it or something so you don't have to move your mouse to the second display to show the menu bar. I think it's a lame reason since people w/ multiple displays are typically not grandma types that get confused about such things.)

Maybe old configurations don't mess things up. I had nothing but great experiences with Migration Assistant and upgrades since I started using Macs in 2005 until Lion, even through the PPC-Intel transition. I had a problem with my upgraded Lion machine though, it no longer connected to my Windows 7 machine's SMB shared volume. After doing a fresh install I was able to connect again and I had tried connecting from 10.6 so I know Lion was at fault. That's the only issue I had but it does lend some credibility to the fact that old configurations can be problematic, in my eyes.

Man, this beggars belief.

I've never had a kernel panic, ever, except when playing with bad kexts, and when everyone was all gung-ho getting XP running on the first Intel Macs.

I used spaces before and prefer mission control. I also have an external monitor so I am not sure what he is talking about it not supporting a second screen.

Pre-Lion, the spaces interaction with second screens was outright bad. It was wrong, it did not work well, it simply wasn't even considered in the design.

Now, each set of spaces is segregated by monitor, instead of every set being paired. If you're actually trying to manage lots of simultaneous tasks on multiple monitors, this state of affairs is radically better (and is the default for many Linux window managers, which have long ago addressed and solved multi-monitor problems because their user constituency is full of people in that space). In this regard, Lion is much better than Snow Leopard.

Yeah I'm not sure I love Mission Control, and full screen mode definitely has its issues, but I used Spaces for years and it insurmountable problems (windows disappearing, difficulty moving windows/apps around). Likewise, Exposé was almost useless to me with the volume of windows I had.

Mission Control has its issues, but it already seems much more powerful. Four finger swipe and control arrow integration makes it at least usable. I'm still figuring out how space reorganization works, but I'm at least as productive as I was with SL Spaces.

I wonder if his issues stem from using Lion on older Mac hardware, the same pain point most Vista users had when upgrading on hardware that was clearly not capable of handling it.

With that said, Lion runs sweetly on my MBP without any serious issues to date. I bought it brand new with Lion and there haven't been any weird events aside from WiFi cutting out on wake up. 10.7.1 fixed that for me.

His having had such problems with XP that he was looking forward to Vista [1] certainly supports that idea.

[1] Two assertions I have never, ever heard before.

I have an iMac from 2007. And after upgrading I experienced most of these issues. Even thought I love most of new Lion features.

I am happy to know, it works fine for most people. May I try to make a clean install. But if it doesn't work better, I'll have to downgrade.

I don't think I have a "strange" configuration. I don't remind playing with the kernel or using very specific configuration.

Try a clean install. As always, this is the preferred method for upgrading. (This is because there can be user-installed software that had explicit dependencies on the older environment.)

And just FYI, to do a clean install with only one download of Lion you need to burn a disk or create a USB stick before you install it because it deletes the installer.

See http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-inst...

I never experienced any of the Vista issues either. That doesn't mean the issues didn't exist or that Vista was a good product.

I agree, I haven't had these issues either. Lion has worked very well for me and my old MacBook Pro is actually faster because of it. The one persistent bug I have is opening files/links into full-screened apps. For example, clicking a link in Twitter won't switch the screen to Chrome if it's in full-screen and I've had worse problems on that front.

Me either. He specifically mentions Steam, and I was just playing TF2 last night on my 2008 MBP with no issues.

I have not personally experienced any of the items that that he is reporting on either of my home systems, both of which are running Lion. This article smacks of link bait.

I would have to disagree. Have experienced at least 5 of the things that he mentions on two separate Macs.

Address book, which he doesn't mention, has also been redesigned and had a number of very useful features removed.

Which five things?

Also, did you do a clean install recently, which would indicate that configurations should still be fine, or did you upgrade from a previous OS, which could (but shouldn't) have an unusual/broken configuration?

Sticking to his article:

"Mail crashes all the time." "Fullscreen apps have a habit of just vanishing. They’re running, but they’re not showing." "Finder periodically decides you don’t need to see all your windows any more." "iTunes boot time is measured in aeons." "The “Something has crashed, send a report to Apple” window might as well be your Desktop Picture."

Happen to agree that Launchpad and Mission Control aren't great but that's just my personal opinion.

On both machines I upgraded from the previous OS.

Me either. I've upgraded about half a dozen Macs with Lion at this point with no problems at all. The rating for Lion on the Mac App Store is 4 starts with over 150 reviews so it seems to be working well for most people.

I agree, I haven't had these issues either. Lion has worked very well for me and my old MacBrook Pro is actually faster because of it. The one persistent bug I have is opening files/links into full-screened apps. For example, clicking a link in Twitter won't switch the screen to Chrome if it's in full-screen and I've had worse problems on that front.

I have to agree, I'm not having any issues with Lion. Everyone I know that has a Mac or Macbook has updated to Lion without any issues and I've heard no complaints. The biggest issue I did see was one friend that had problems with plug-ins for Adobe Illustrator (i think it was) which was fixed within days.

Maybe he is having small hardware issues. Sometimes you won't notice them until you upgrade lets say your video driver (or parts of the OS using them different).

I'm guessing he upgraded an older mac. I have a new macbook air and don't have any problem.

I have a 2007 white MacBook. Lion runs just great for me.

Literally the only issue he listed that I've experienced is the super-slow Mission Control opening. But I'm on a 4 year old laptop so I'm not surprised.

> Sometimes I wonder how some people's configurations get so wonky

Warez. Many expensive applications (especially audio/3d editing software) comes with a dongle. To "crack" the apps people write kernel extensions that simulate such dongles.

Mix that with a new kernel and you get the perfect disaster.