Mac OS question

I'd be happy to take this to PMs or emails.

I was wondering if anyone had upgraded their Mac OS to Yosemite (10.10), and what they thought of it. I just got a notice today and am not sure about upgrading. I probably will but was looking for reactions.

PennLady said:

I'd be happy to take this to PMs or emails.

I was wondering if anyone had upgraded their Mac OS to Yosemite (10.10), and what they thought of it. I just got a notice today and am not sure about upgrading. I probably will but was looking for reactions.

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I like it, but if you use yahoo messenger for anything don't do it. That is the only drawback i have found is there isn't a yahoo messenger that is compatible yet.

beardedmariner said:

I like it, but if you use yahoo messenger for anything don't do it. That is the only drawback i have found is there isn't a yahoo messenger that is compatible yet.

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Thanks. I don't use that, so shouldn't be a problem.

Upgraded a mid 2010 MacBook Pro on the day of the release with no problems. It took a while to install though, so make sure you don't need the computer for an hour or two. The process went smooth, but I am sad that we are losing the skeuomorphic design and instead are getting the so-called "fresh" but ugly and bland iOS-look. Ok, not quite as bad as iOS, but it's clearly where they are heading.

Apart from from that, I have only encountered one program that stopped working: The Xee3 photo viewer. Other than that, everything works as before - including MS Office. It even left my Windows-partition in peace, so I could boot into Windows from Mac OS without a hitch. I can't tell any difference in speed, and, as you'd expect from Apple, everything is stable.

What I think about it?

I hate the way it looks (as you can tell), but I have to run the latest version for work-related reasons. My daughter on the other hand has decided to not update until she is forced to do so, because she has customized her desktop with colored folders and unicorns and stuff to resemble Liberace's nightmare and she is afraid that Apple will reset everything. Whether updating is an immediate advantage for you depends on whether you need any of the new features. If you have an iPhone for instance, you will get a closer integration with shared contacts, AirDrop and a little screen-notification when somebody calls your phone.

Thanks, SL. I don't particularly need to upgrade, but I probably will because I have no real reason not to and I don't want to get caught needing something down the line. I can already tell from reading a review at engadget.com that I'm not going to use a lot of the features, at least not yet. I have an iPad but not an iPhone, for example. I also don't do much with iCloud or Spotlight or AirDrop and what not. This is not to say I wouldn't, just that I haven't had a need.

I actually called my mom earlier to sort of warn her about this. I got a notice on my MacAir from the App Store and thought if she saw it, she might just install it without quite realizing what it was. Mom's reasonably computer savvy but still might have thought it was only a minor upgrade, or only for one app or something. I didn't want her to panic.

She said she was aware but appreciated the thought.

That's one of the advantages with Apple - as family geek you have it a lot easier. They are much harder to screw up compared to Windows machines....

It's pretty fast, integrates functionings of multiple apple products (FINALLY!) But pretty bland looking. Also, try to get a 'clean' upgrade, so all your previous hidden files don't bog down your new(ish) system. Sometimes old baggage makes the upgraded systems so slow you want to shoot yourself in the head. There are articles on 'how to' on the apple forums. I hope you find solutions there

I like it a lot. I use Airdrop a lot to transfer pictures from my iPad to my two computers (don't use the cloud because I'm picky about what photo goes where) and it used to be a pain. Now it's super easy. Likewise sending messages—easier than ever. Not that it was all that hard to message websites and articles to others, but Yosemite excels at making it really effortless. I also like the added extras in Mail that allow you to draw on pictures and such.

And I like that I can make/take phone calls from any of them, my computer included. My computer has been faster, and seems more "clean" in its functionality. I know some people don't like the look, but I haven't the best eyesight and the way icons pop has actually helped me a lot to click on the right thing rather than accidentally clicking on the wrong thing.

So. I'd say go for it. It's not a radically different update, but I think that what it does do is pretty useful.

Thanks, everyone. I have updated. So far so good. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the look, but it works so I won't get too worked up about it. I'm sure I'll stumble over things as i go along but so far mail and browsing seem to work okay. I've never quite understood this move to the flat look, but I never was up on fashion.

Just noticed some privacy issues with Yosemite that you may want to be aware of. By default, when you search (even your own hard drive, not the net) your search terms are sent to Apple. Info on what's changed and how to fix it here:

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/how-to-fix-os-x-yosemite-search/
https://fix-macosx.com/

Bramblethorn said:

Just noticed some privacy issues with Yosemite that you may want to be aware of. By default, when you search (even your own hard drive, not the net) your search terms are sent to Apple. Info on what's changed and how to fix it here:

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/how-to-fix-os-x-yosemite-search/
https://fix-macosx.com/

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Thanks. I'll look into that. Again so far so good on the operational front. Also got an iPhone last week and everything seems to work well with that too.