Apple, Tech, and Gaming

OS X Lion and the Post-PC Era: Yay or No Way?, Part 2

Yay for Lion and the Next Revolution!

- 2011.07.14 - Tip Jar

LionOS X 10.7 Lion is displacing a lot of stuff we just don't need anymore. PowerPC applications were designed for a time that has come and gone.

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard bridged this gap and made the transition to Intel easier with Rosetta, which has allowed use of PowerPC apps on Intel Macs since 2006. Pre-Lion versions of OS X will continue to allow legacy users to have a great existence with their PowerPC applications on Intel hardware far into the foreseeable future. The Mac App store and 64-bit operation is fully supported in Snow Leopard, so without question, support will continue to exist for both older and newer software under Snow Leopard.

You can get the best of both worlds by backing up your hard drive and partitioning it with separate Lion and Snow Leopard partition on a Core 2 Duo or better machine (Lion does not support Core Solo or Core Duo Macs). After enough time with Lion, you just might find yourself leaving that old world behind the way longtime Mac users did with OS 9 when it was time to move to Mac OS X.

Time for Something Fresh and New

We have been using Intel Macs for over five years, and now it is time for something fresh and new, something that can fully unleash 64-bit computing without anything bogging down system performance - and something that will make iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners feel right at home, especially with the integration of iCloud.

Many iOS device owners don't own a Mac, but something about those iOS devices has captivated them. It's the App Store, the sleek and simple interface, and the natural gestures that have brought them to the iOS platform. It's swiping to turn a page, and pinching and dragging to expand a window. It has become second nature to them, so creating a Mac with the same feel will make purchasing a new Mac and moving to OS X easier than ever for those who are accustomed to iOS but were not accustomed to Mac OS X.

To make things even better, iCloud will ensure that your devices talk to each other, making your entertainment and workflow merge seamlessly between Macs and iOS devices. The Mac itself is hence "just another device", a part of your lineup of Apple gear to make your computing experience simple both at home and on the go. The newest applications designed for Lion will not only save automatically to your hard drive or SSD, they will also save versions of themselves as you work, saving you time and effort. Why bother with mundane tasks such as using the File menu to save a file or pressing Command-S when the Mac can do it for you? And that's just the beginning!

Macs Have Gone Mainstream

The Mac used to be a geeky fringe platform that was scoffed at by the average PC user for being different and incompatible. (With Mac market share over 15% in the US, who's scoffing now?) Those who embraced the Mac often Think Different and always knew that the Mac was simply better engineered and allowed us to do many more tasks more efficiently than a Windows PC.

That's what brought us all together in the first place, and now things have come full circle with iOS and OS X Lion. Lion is going to be a game changer, mark my word. Tens of millions of iOS device owners who don't even have a Mac will want one! Without a doubt, Lion is king of the jungle and the most fearsome of the big cats!

Copycat Microsoft

Windows has undoubtedly followed suit, but this time Microsoft may find itself struggling to catch up due to Windows 7 Mobile coming so late to the game - and with Android capturing a large share of the market.* Nonetheless, Microsoft is going to strive ahead with Windows 8 on traditional desktops and notebooks in an effort to create the same seamless environment that Apple has provided with iOS and Mac OS X (which is being perfected with OS X Lion).

With that said, post-PC era computing is not such a bad thing, since Apple obviously has a leg up on Microsoft in every way possible. With a huge lead-time on an operating system that will make post-PC era computing so simple that you will never go back to the old way, it's going to be better than ever to own a new Mac.

I rest my case. LEM

* One set of recent statistics indicate that Google's Android platform has 36% of the US smartphone market, Apple's iOS has 26%, RIM's BlackBerry has 25.5%, and Microsoft's Windows Phone (including the older Windows Mobile) has 6.7%. Nielsen pegs Android at 36%, iOS at 26%, BlackBerry at 23%, Windows Mobile at 9%, and Windows Phone 7 at 1% for the Feb.-April 2011 period. However you look at it, Windows Phone is a distant 4th place in the mobile market.

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Dan Bashur lives in central Ohio with his wife and children. He uses various PowerPC G3 and G4 Macs running Tiger and Leopard. Besides finding new uses for Macs and other tech, Dan enjoys writing (fantasy novel series in the works), is an avid gamer, and a member of Sony's Gamer Advisor Panel. You can read more of Dan Bashur's work on ProjectGamers.com, where he contributes regular articles about the PSP, classic gaming, and ways you can use Sony gaming hardware with your Mac.

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