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MOUNTAIN LION
#22688 07/25/12 02:09 PM
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So . . . has anyone downloaded the latest OS X version (10.8)?

If so, what are the pluses and/or minuses? Specifically: Is there anything (good) from LION that will be lost and missed if I "upgrade" to MOUNTAIN LION?

Thanks for your 2-bits worth. grin


Many thanks,
MG2009
Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22689 07/25/12 02:46 PM
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I suppose this review might give you some idea, but there's much more where that came from.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
alternaut #22690 07/25/12 03:09 PM
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Thanks for the info.

The best I can tell from this review is that MOUNTAIN LION is for those Mac Users who like to use iCloud, Social Networks, and assorted iOS gadgets. For those folks, I suppose 10.8 would be a good thing.

For those of us who do not use iCloud or Facebook, etc., then there doesn't seem to be much point in upgrading . . . especially since the Reviewer in his article did not say that one could "opt out" of iCloud in the way that one can do so in LION.

Does anyone know if linking up with iCloud is mandatory in MOUNTAIN LION, or is there the ability to "opt out?"

Thanks for your input.


Many thanks,
MG2009
Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22696 07/25/12 09:51 PM
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I believe so, although I'm not sure there is a simple all-encompassing answer, since iCloud serves both iCloud-enabled apps (free for users) as well as end users who pay for extra space. See the Finder/iCloud section of this review. You might also want to look at Up close with Mountain Lion: iCloud.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22698 07/25/12 11:18 PM
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I've been looking at Mountain Lion and don't know that I need to upgrade (unless forced to by Apple not supporting Lion stuff). Their policies are becoming disheartening.

This info scared me because it looks like I lose some stuff (RSS feed for one that I use), and I don't understand the info about the recovery HD mentioned, etc. The message that may pop up during the download would probably confuse me. Just looking for a good reason not to download it even though it's free because of my recent purchase of a macbook pro. smile I think I am too untechy to do this for sure.

Installing Mountain Lion

Also, looked at a lot of feedback on MacUpdate and wasn't encouraged.

What do you think about all this? I'd probably just be bugging you guys eternally with questions. I'm getting tired of that, and I am sure you are, too. I do plan on getting a book of some kind for Lion/Mt. Lion. Which ever I end up with.

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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
plantsower #22699 07/26/12 12:12 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Just looking for a good reason not to download it even though it's free because of my recent purchase of a macbook pro.

It's free for 30 days. For those like you who purchased your qualifying Mac before the day Mountain Lion was released, the 30-day countdown starts today, July 25th. You have until Aug 24th to get your free upgrade. After that, it'll cost you $20.

We don't know when Apple will stop maintaining Lion, but that day will come. On that day Mountain Lion will still have about a year of life left in it. Think of getting Mountain Lion now as future-proofing, postponing the date you'll next have to deal with upgrading.

Re: MOUNTAIN LION
ganbustein #22700 07/26/12 01:45 AM
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I'll think about it, but why does it have to be so complicated to download. Why can't I just download it like anything else. There seems to be a lot of ifs, ands or buts to it.

Rita


Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Just looking for a good reason not to download it even though it's free because of my recent purchase of a macbook pro.

It's free for 30 days. For those like you who purchased your qualifying Mac before the day Mountain Lion was released, the 30-day countdown starts today, July 25th. You have until Aug 24th to get your free upgrade. After that, it'll cost you $20.

We don't know when Apple will stop maintaining Lion, but that day will come. On that day Mountain Lion will still have about a year of life left in it. Think of getting Mountain Lion now as future-proofing, postponing the date you'll next have to deal with upgrading.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
plantsower #22701 07/26/12 02:20 AM
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Quote:
I'll think about it, but why does it have to be so complicated to download. Why can't I just download it like anything else. There seems to be a lot of ifs, ands or buts to it.

Complicated to download? confused confused

What is complicated about…
  1. opening App Store,
  2. clicking on Mountain Lion,
  3. clicking on download and entering your App Store password?
The only disconcerting thing to me was not seeing a progress bar or other indication the download was in process until the Mountain Lion installer appeared in the Dock.
  1. Click on that,
  2. enter your Mac password,
  3. wait half an hour for the install to complete and its done.
Total effort to install Mountain Lion: four clicks, two passwords, and two carriage returns. In your case there is probably the added complication of verifying the free upgrade and I don't know what that involves but if it is anything like an App Store gift card correctly entering the too long card serial number is a bit of a pain.

An early 2008 MacBook Air and a 2000 something MacBook refused to download the update because they are not compatible with Mountain Lion, but that certainly should not effect your new MacBook. Incompatible applications, such as Parallels Desktop were moved to a folder dedicated to incompatible apps until such time as they are updated by their developers. At least one app. BOINC X, requested that it be reinstalled, but it has done the same thing with at least the last three upgrades of OS X. other than that, no problems so far.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: MOUNTAIN LION
joemikeb #22703 07/26/12 03:27 AM
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I am referring to the link I gave above on "installing Mountain Lion" on the Apple support page. It talked about messages that might pop up about hard drives, etc.

Rita


Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Quote:
I'll think about it, but why does it have to be so complicated to download. Why can't I just download it like anything else. There seems to be a lot of ifs, ands or buts to it.

Complicated to download? confused confused

What is complicated about…
  1. opening App Store,
  2. clicking on Mountain Lion,
  3. clicking on download and entering your App Store password?
The only disconcerting thing to me was not seeing a progress bar or other indication the download was in process until the Mountain Lion installer appeared in the Dock.
  1. Click on that,
  2. enter your Mac password,
  3. wait half an hour for the install to complete and its done.
Total effort to install Mountain Lion: four clicks, two passwords, and two carriage returns. In your case there is probably the added complication of verifying the free upgrade and I don't know what that involves but if it is anything like an App Store gift card correctly entering the too long card serial number is a bit of a pain.

An early 2008 MacBook Air and a 2000 something MacBook refused to download the update because they are not compatible with Mountain Lion, but that certainly should not effect your new MacBook. Incompatible applications, such as Parallels Desktop were moved to a folder dedicated to incompatible apps until such time as they are updated by their developers. At least one app. BOINC X, requested that it be reinstalled, but it has done the same thing with at least the last three upgrades of OS X. other than that, no problems so far.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
alternaut #22704 07/26/12 05:04 AM
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Have I missed something?

I read the three detailed articles provided by a previous poster, but could not see any reference to whether or not one can "opt out" of iCloud in MOUNTAIN LION.

Therefore, the question remains: Does one have to sign up for and use iCloud in order to run MOUNTAIN LION OSX 10.8?

P.S. Apart from privacy/security issues with the concept of iCloud, one would not be able to run MOUNTAIN LION without an internet connection (to iCloud) . . . if the reality is that one is required to use iCloud when the computer is turned on. Of course, that does not make sense to me unless APPLE is designing its software to force users to tap into iCloud as their new way of "doing business."

Note: I do not use iCloud, any social networks or any IOS devices with my computer.


Many thanks,
MG2009
Re: MOUNTAIN LION
plantsower #22705 07/26/12 05:45 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
I've been looking at Mountain Lion and don't know that I need to upgrade (unless forced to by Apple not supporting Lion stuff). Their policies are becoming disheartening.

This info scared me because it looks like I lose some stuff (RSS feed for one that I use), and I don't understand the info about the recovery HD mentioned, etc. The message that may pop up during the download would probably confuse me. Just looking for a good reason not to download it even though it's free because of my recent purchase of a macbook pro. smile I think I am too untechy to do this for sure.

Installing Mountain Lion


RSS in older versions isn't very good. You can continue to use RSS; just use an RSS program like NetNewsWire, which is free. You can download it here.

The warning messages that worry you about installing Mountain Lion only apply if you use Boot Camp. If you don't know what that is, you don't use it. (Boot Camp is a way to erase and set aside part of your hard drive to let your computer run Microsoft Windows if you want it to. It is not the same as running Microsoft Windows using a program like VMWare Fusion or Parallels.)

If you do not have part of your hard drive specially erased and partitioned for Windows, then you do not need to worry about seeing those error messages; they don't apply to you.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22707 07/26/12 09:00 AM
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Bottom line:
If you don't have a lot of or any mobile devices and/or have "doubts" about iCloud (especially in the realm of privacy preservation), then Mountain Lion l0.8 ain't for you, even if the price is right.
I can see no reason (for me) to "upgrade" — for exactly the above reasons.

Re: MOUNTAIN LION
joemikeb #22713 07/26/12 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb

The only disconcerting thing to me was not seeing a progress bar or other indication the download was in process until the Mountain Lion installer appeared in the Dock.


If Launchpad is in your dock, you'd see a progress bar on that icon. Also, for more details, if you switch the App Store to the Purchases section, you should see a progress bar and data transferred sizes there as well.

Regarding iCloud, you can enable / disable a variety of syncing individually. Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Safari, Photo Stream, Documents, Back to My Mac and Find My Mac.

iCloud works off your Apple ID.

I don't think this requires anything more than Lion did.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
tacit #22715 07/26/12 03:01 PM
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Thank you, Tacit, for that clear post. Eased my mind. Now I just need to decide if I want to use it. I guess I'd better hurry up and order my external drive because I should probably backup Lion into Time Machine before I do this, right. I am assuming I would have an unadulterated Lion that way should I decide to go back.

Rita


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22719 07/26/12 05:28 PM
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Check out David Pogue's assessment of Mountain Lion: The Payout in an Apple Upgrade

Re: MOUNTAIN LION
grelber #22722 07/26/12 10:45 PM
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Thank you. That put it in perspective.

Rita


Originally Posted By: grelber
Check out David Pogue's assessment of Mountain Lion: The Payout in an Apple Upgrade


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
Kevin M. Dean #22728 07/26/12 11:34 PM
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Quote:
If Launchpad is in your dock, you'd see a progress bar on that icon. Also, for more details, if you switch the App Store to the Purchases section, you should see a progress bar and data transferred sizes there as well.

That is what I expected but while I did not get a progress bar in either place on my iMac the download did take place. confused

By-the-way I really like the new all purpose search and link bar in Safari 6.0 as well as the progress bar that appears at its right end. Much more visible than the tiny progress bar in Safari 5.x.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
plantsower #22756 07/27/12 07:12 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Thank you, Tacit, for that clear post. Eased my mind. Now I just need to decide if I want to use it. I guess I'd better hurry up and order my external drive because I should probably backup Lion into Time Machine before I do this, right. I am assuming I would have an unadulterated Lion that way should I decide to go back.

Rita


I'd actually suggest that rather than using Time Machine, you download the free program Carbon Copy Cloner. It will make an exact copy of your hard drive onto the external, so if you decide you don't like Mountain Lion, you can boot from the external and be instantly back in Lion without faffing about with Time Machine.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
tacit #22757 07/27/12 07:56 PM
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I must surmise that it's more complicated getting Lion back off of Time Machine. So, I will download Carbon Copy. Thanks.

Rita


Originally Posted By: tacit
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Thank you, Tacit, for that clear post. Eased my mind. Now I just need to decide if I want to use it. I guess I'd better hurry up and order my external drive because I should probably backup Lion into Time Machine before I do this, right. I am assuming I would have an unadulterated Lion that way should I decide to go back.

Rita


I'd actually suggest that rather than using Time Machine, you download the free program Carbon Copy Cloner. It will make an exact copy of your hard drive onto the external, so if you decide you don't like Mountain Lion, you can boot from the external and be instantly back in Lion without faffing about with Time Machine.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
tacit #22759 07/27/12 08:21 PM
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Carbon Copy Cloner is no longer free. According to the developer's web site, "CCC is now a commercial product".


Jon

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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
jchuzi #22760 07/27/12 08:39 PM
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Boo!! mad

Rita



mad
Originally Posted By: jchuzi
Carbon Copy Cloner is no longer free. According to the developer's web site, "CCC is now a commercial product".


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
plantsower #22761 07/27/12 09:18 PM
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IMHO, it's worth the price. If you buy before August 12, there's a promotional price of $29.96. Personally, I use SuperDuper,which is only $1.01 more. I have nothing against CCC, but I have used SD for years and find it to be user friendly and reliable. The developer's tech support is outstanding.

Either one is a fine choice and will cost you less than having dinner out.


Jon

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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
MG2009 #22762 07/27/12 09:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: MG2009
Does one have to sign up for and use iCloud in order to run MOUNTAIN LION OSX 10.8?

You do have to have an Apple account in order to use the App Store, which is the only way to get the Mountain Lion upgrade. While that will give you an automatic and FREE iCloud account. However there is no compulsion for you to either activate or use it,


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: MOUNTAIN LION
jchuzi #22763 07/27/12 09:38 PM
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I can second Jon's recommendation of SuperDuper!, even though CCC would work as well. SD, however is free, albeit without some features like scheduling, for which the shareware fee is necessary. But you don't need those paid features in normal use.


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Re: MOUNTAIN LION
alternaut #22764 07/27/12 11:20 PM
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OK, I downloaded Super Duper. When I back stuff up, is it a good idea to use Super Duper and Time Machine just to make sure, or is that overkill?

Rita


Originally Posted By: alternaut
I can second Jon's recommendation of SuperDuper!, even though CCC would work as well. SD, however is free, albeit without some features like scheduling, for which the shareware fee is necessary. But you don't need those paid features in normal use.


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