OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review

For the first time in forever, the Mac could be noticed by someone.

Read the whole story

 

[Dr Gitlin]

Unlike previous OS X reviews this one is almost entirely in english! Good work JS.

 

[allanj37]

ranvel[/url]":2nyk0mo6]Spot on, as always !

Yeah...you read the article 1 minute after it was posted.

 

[zephonic]

the Siracusa review! Do not disturb....

 

[OSX@Linux]

Well, time to bookmark this and plunk myself down in front of my computer for hours this evening. Thank you Mr. Siracusa!

 

[Aurich]

For anyone without children who doesn't get the "for the first time in forever" line:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BulXil2ROy4

 

[barlic]

I don't see anything regarding the much improved OpenGLPerformance 10.10 brings. In OpenGL 4 programs is more than doubled performance, especially in games.

 

[countcracula]

Epic review, John! Can't wait to dig into it later. Kudos to you!

 

[Toleraen]

Well there goes my afternoon...

 

[jkayca]

I'll wait for the Coles Notes version of the article.

 

[dlux]

So I guess we've all given up on ZFS or equivalent. With many terabytes of data under my roof this is an ongoing letdown.

So instead I use IntegrityChecker for all my critical file transfers and maintenance, but it's not as convenient as something built into the file system itself.

 

[brian.reiter]

I defy you to tap on the tools menu on an iPad to dowload the ePub.

 

[blue02]

There goes a whole day's worth of productivity. Thanks as always John.

 

[Nate_001]

There seems to be an issue with the mobile version on Safari or my iPhone is acting up.

 

[Kethinov]

For those of you who were a fan of customizing the colors of message bubbles in Messages.app and don't like that Apple removed this ability as part of the iOSification of Yosemite, there's an app for that: https://github.com/kethinov/BubblePainter

I made this during the developer previews because I don't like the default puke green for most of my IM conversations. Hope this helps some people. Source code also available.

 

[The Quick & The Read]

I jumped straight to the conclusion, and it really whet my appetite for the whole thing:

Apple no longer views the Mac in isolation, and neither should you. OS X is finally a full-fledged peer to iOS; all aspects of sibling rivalry have been banished.

The Mac today is just one part of a conceptually, organizationally, and (increasingly) technologically unified platform that spans from wrist to workstation. The hardware-based platforms of the past remain relevant to developers, but Apple seems determined to make them much less important to its customers. With Yosemite, the Mac has taken its first step into a larger world.

 

[raz3000]

The Pièce de résistance for Ars Technica's Apple fans.

 

[The Quick & The Read]

allanj37[/url]":yi45d8uw]

ranvel[/url]":yi45d8uw]Spot on, as always !

Yeah...you read the article 1 minute after it was posted.

...and had time to throw in a ninja edit too...

 

[herozero]

Two pages in, I keep thinking of that Lockheed fusion "discovery" PR release they had and tokamaks every time Siracusa starts talking about an HFS+ replacement . . . just one more OS release, just one more OS release . . .

 

[Snark218]

Welp, I've got my bedtime reading material lined up.

 

[The Quick & The Read]

raz3000[/url]":1ssnluhg]The Pièce de résistance for Ars Technica's Apple fans.

I'd say it's for all Ars Technica's PC enthusiasts.

What's good for one OS usually forwards the science for all of them.

 

[Darter]

John,

As someone who started reading arstechnica because of your Mac OS X DP2 review I just wanted to say awesome work so far as always, you should know that your articles are the reason that I subscribed years ago.

But could you let us know what systems you tested Yosemite on. So I know what perspective that you are making your views from. I know many don't care about that but I am someone who is still curious about those things


Thanks as always

Darter

 

[zephonic]

John Siracusa[/url]":yoz3lmt1]While Mavericks on a Retina display sometimes dipped into the uncanny valley, looking almost—but not quite—photorealistic, Yosemite’s design plays to Retina’s strengths. On non-Retina displays, Yosemite seems uncomfortable, descending into soft-edged blandness.

Not good for MacBookAir owners...

 

[biscuitsandcookies]

Eisenhower[/url]":2yj3sst5]OSX Yosemite - Now with Aqua 2.0

FTFY

 

[kapeka]

allanj37[/url]":3r5oasip]

ranvel[/url]":3r5oasip]Spot on, as always !

Yeah...you read the article 1 minute after it was posted.

Well, I read it 12 hours ago, because the iBook Version was available this morning (central european time). So he could have been trough with it as well and just came here to leave his commentary.

 

[leedo]

Nate_001[/url]":3axt9z91]There seems to be an issue with the mobile version on Safari or my iPhone is acting up.

This should be fixed now. Sorry about that!

 

[The Quick & The Read]

steve23063[/url]":q0ylxcs9]The editors here need to work on writing better reviews. I get the feeling they think having 25 pages of text means a review is automatically great because there are lots of words and sections. The review is almost entire about UI. What about under the hood things? How has battery life improved/degraded on a laptop running Yosemite? System memory usage compared to previous versions? How about file system performance? I could go on for an hour listing many more useful things you could have included instead of tons of padding/filler like information about screensaver changes.

Its probaly better to send an email to the editorial staff about concerns like that. The comment thread is usually for the readers to talk about the article.

 

[rustyjaw]

I swear the image of the Yosemite landmark with the clouds is El Capitan not Half Dome...am I wrong?

 

[Alex Enders]

For me, the throwback to the old Mac OS7 extensions was precious. Conflict Catcher! Sticky menus! Oh, the memories ... and the angst.

As usual, the Siracusa review does a fantastic job of setting my expectations - both what to look for and what to overlook - when I upgrade my machine. They used to be even more valuable when the upgrade cost $129 and we had to determine if it was worth it, but they're still a fantastic read.

 

[redtomato]

The Quick & The Read[/url]":3jchp0d1]Article: Apple no longer views the Mac in isolation, and neither should you. OS X is finally a full-fledged peer to iOS; all aspects of sibling rivalry have been banished.

The Mac today is just one part of a conceptually, organizationally, and (increasingly) technologically unified platform that spans from wrist to workstation. The hardware-based platforms of the past remain relevant to developers, but Apple seems determined to make them much less important to its customers. With Yosemite, the Mac has taken its first step into a larger world.

Not read the review yet, but this is largely why I upgraded my whitebook to a MBAir and brought an Air iPad this past summer (I was offered a very good deal). I want my electronic devices to work together perfectly without babysitting. With a laptop and a phone and a tablet, there's just too much pain to deal with if they're all from different suppliers. Apple is a long way from perfect but with Yosemite and 8.1 they look to be making good progress.

I just want the same emails, the same notifications, the same calls, the same files & documents & photos, the same Skype calls / messages, the same Facebook, the same whatsapp, etc to show up on all my devices, using a reasonably similar interface (with allowances for differing devices) and for them all to update each other automatically in the background so that each device is always up to date in terms of files and notifications.

Is that so much for me to ask? We're nearly there, especially with google services, but there's always something like whatsapp that comes along and upsets the applecart of personal interdevice operability.

 

[racca]

steve23063[/url]":15eszsqp]The editors here need to work on writing better reviews. I get the feeling they think having 25 pages of text means a review is automatically great because there are lots of words and sections. The review is almost entire about UI. What about under the hood things? How has battery life improved/degraded on a laptop running Yosemite? System memory usage compared to previous versions? How about file system performance? I could go on for an hour listing many more useful things you could have included instead of tons of padding/filler like information about screensaver changes.

I guess you skipped the page about the Swift compiler?

 

[steve23063]

The Quick & The Read[/url]":1niec8kc]

steve23063[/url]":1niec8kc]The editors here need to work on writing better reviews. I get the feeling they think having 25 pages of text means a review is automatically great because there are lots of words and sections. The review is almost entire about UI. What about under the hood things? How has battery life improved/degraded on a laptop running Yosemite? System memory usage compared to previous versions? How about file system performance? I could go on for an hour listing many more useful things you could have included instead of tons of padding/filler like information about screensaver changes.

Its probaly better to send an email to the editorial staff about concerns like that. The comment thread is usually for the readers to talk about the article.

I see various people praising the editor for the article. I don't see a problem with providing constructive criticism. If lots of people up-vote a comment, the editor's more likely to take notice of it than if a single person emails them.

Lots of things can improve/degrade under the hood from from one version of an OS to another with regards to performance, memory usage, etc. This extremely verbose article hardly touches on anything but UI. Sadly, based on the number of down-votes I've already gotten, it seems most Ars readers disagree with me. Luckily, the internet is a large place with lots of alternatives..

 

[Deleted member 1]

The Quick & The Read[/url]":ethsdrnt]

raz3000[/url]":ethsdrnt]The Pièce de résistance for Ars Technica's Apple fans.

I'd say it's for all Ars Technica's PC enthusiasts.

What's good for one OS usually forwards the science for all of them.

In that case I hope Yosemite has my Amazon product search results in the file explorer just like my Ubuntu machine AND no virtual desktops just like my Windows 8.1 machine at work.

I kid.

I skipped to page 25 too because I couldn't wait to get to the millions of troll bait comments that will surely ensue. Now I have to go back and read the rest of the review.

 

[tipoo]

I'm curious to see if there's a regression in performance on older systems. Does all that transparency hurt GPUs like the 320M, or the 9400M before it? How about older Core 2 Duo CPUs?