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Broken apps, Wi-Fi problems and iOS-like features plague some users
To continue reading, Overall, most Mac users upgrading to the new Lion version of Mac OS X seem to be doing so with minimal problems. There's still ongoing debate about whether Lion, which introduces concepts and features from Apple's mobile iOS platform, really roars.
Among the post-installation Lion problems being cited in various online forums are problematic Wi-Fi connections, inability to log in, applications not working or working slowly (one cause may be that some software vendors haven't updated their code for Lion) and some complaints of overall slowness. The slowdown may be more evident for users with older Macs, which are more likely to have less powerful CPUs and the minimum RAM needed by Lion.
IN PICTURES: How to upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion
One experienced Mac user, an Australian who identified himself as an "advanced Windows Server administrator," reported a smooth download, install and reboot. Only one minor glitch: Lion detected his Java version was outdated and started to download the new version, but stalled when it was half done. A second attempt downloaded all the code but didn't install it. Finally, the user quit the "auto detected download prompt," and used the "Software Update" feature to download and install it.
The forums at MacRumors.com ran the gamut of reactions, also.
Headlining his post, "who else hates lion?" whooda4 complained, "Personally I don't like it. It broke xbmc [Xbox Media Center], i can no longer use my Cisco vpn, it changed the settings on pathfinder and now it is all messed up. ... I'm a minimalist when it comes to desktops and this is just fluff that I don't want or need. I wish there was a 10-day money back guarantee."
"'Hate' is pretty strong, but I definitely don't like it," replied CapnJackGig. "There are far too many idiotic design decisions, and a bunch of changes that were made just to say they made more changes, often at the detriment to features that were loved in previous versions."
But Lion is just fine for many others. "I like Lion," replied iBunny. "So far so good. No major issues, minor GUI lagging but I'm sure that will be addressed with future graphics drivers. ... It's not Apple's fault that 3rd party developers did not invest the resources needed to make an early transition from SL [Snow Leopard] to Lion."
At least a couple of users on Apple's own support forums said their Mac had inexplicably slowed down after they installed Lion.
"All indexed & finished settling down but man it's sluggish," posted fatpotanga. He runs it on a 2.4 GHz Mac, with 3GB RAM, and "loads of free disk space." He listed what's sluggish: "In Logic I get constant system overload errors on files I [previously] was working on for a week without problem. In design has almost ground to a halt, photoshop slow, internet slow. Slow to boot, slow to shut down. Time machine again really slow to open." He ran through a list of steps he'd taken to bring it up to speed: "Permissions repaired, caches cleared, prebinding updated. ... I've disabled Restore Windows when quitting etc. Activity monitor shows nothing untoward.
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