OS X Lion (v10.7) is the latest Apple operating system for Mac computers, but there is some debate over whether there is any pressing need to upgrade right away. Apple says the system boasts 250 improvements, but many are superficial, and other “improvements” may not be viewed as such by owners of older Macs. In addition to just waiting for some bugs to be ironed-out, many users could lose access to favored programs with an upgrade. Below are some reasons folks might want to drag their feet a little before buying into the Lion.
1. He Who Hesitates – In this case, he-or-she who hesitates may not be lost at all. There have been reports of glitches in the system that require updating or work-arounds, problems that may be rectified before patient people purchase. There are several free apps that are still scrambling to deliver upgrades to their software to make it compatible with the Lion.
2. Snow Leopard – Early results do not demonstrate any great advantage to be gained by upgrading the operating system from Snow Leopard to Lion, though there may be tangible improvement in Photo Shop.
3. 30 Bucks is 30 Bucks – Unless you are already in the market for a new Mac, in which case the Lion is free, upgrading will cost $30.
4. Rosetta Stone Dropped – Snow Leopard allowed for a manual installation of Rosetta software, but Lion doesn't support it at all, which means Lion dropped support for all PowerPC apps.
5. If it Ain't Broke. . . – A lot of people have been quite satisfied with their present system, and Lion may not offer enough in the way of technological advances to make it worth getting.
6. Installation Time – If the customer hasn't just purchased a Mac, installation time on older machines can run to two-hours or more.
7. Adobe Flash – In the new operating system, as opposed to Snow Leopard, Adobe Flash Player is no longer a default installation, but needs to be installed manually.
8. Front Row – The Front Row media center software has been dropped, and this will affect older Apple Macs, though there have been reports that the software can be installed on Lion with a bit of hacking.
9. File-Sharing Problems – Networking and file-sharing issues have come up, such as Macs not sharing with Windows,and even with problems involving Macs not sharing with other Macs.
10. Older Hardware – Lion will only support newer Mac hardware, which means that most Intel powered Macs won't work with Lion; there has been grumbling that this was done deliberately to force people to buy new machines.
Eventually, after the entire system is smoothed out and after the glitches have been fixed, there may be enough in those 250 improvements to warrant the upgrade, but
there doesn't appear to be any great call to rush out and get a Lion, unless people just have to be the first one on the block to have the newest toys.
