The Apple OS X, 10.7, Lion system upgrade is getting a lot of press. Darrel Etherington says
Lion is a significant change for OS X, both from a development back-end perspective, and for end-users, too. In fact, it may represent the most significant update of any point release since the introduction of Mac OS 10.0. And as the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.
That gets my interest because that is what Canonical did with Natty. Those with older computers, especially those without 3D GPU capabilities have problems running Canonical’s Unity interface. While the Mac isn’t faced with that compatibility problem, issues of RAM, processor speed, peripherals, and hardware interfaces will make a difference.
I’m glad Apple is taking a bold step forward with Lion, since hopefully it means big changes are in store for how we approach personal computing, even if it means some of my Macs won’t be able to come along for the ride.
Darrel notes that the optical drive is fading as online application distribution methods become integrated with the system – this is something that Canonical has been refining in Ubuntu for quite a while now and Apple has used to control software on its mobile devices. The rise of the SSD, cloud apps, and suspend to resume facilitations are also in the mix.
I was thinking things have been rather stable for the last ten years as the hardware improvements have been incremental and system configurations being such that a ten year old computer isn’t often a software burden. That seems to be changing and the software is starting to catch up with faster systems, especially in graphics, as well as multi-media needs and wide screen high definition monitors and broadband always on I’net and new ideas in user interfaces and who knows what else.
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