Computer Support Network

Apple released its much-anticipated MAC OS X Lion operating system back in July with over a million downloads in the first day.  Lion is an electronic download only, available for $30.00 from the online App Store.  This new operating system touts many new features and designs which Apple claims will make the user experience simpler.

Now that some of the new release hype has worn off let’s see how the OS stacks up.

Preparation

Prior to downloading Lion I performed a full Time Machine Backup of my MacBookPro and also created a bootable image using Carbon Copy Cloner in case I needed to revert back.  Once this house cleaning was complete I downloaded Apple OS X Lion from the App Store.  Since it was about 3.75GB in size this took about 45 minutes to download using my home ISP connection.  Prior to going through with the installation I copied the Lion installation file to a bootable DVD in case I ever need to reinstall.

Installation

Installation was a breeze and it took about 45 minutes to complete.  All my data and settings remained in tact with no issues.

First Impressions

When the computer rebooted I was greeted by a new and sleeker looking login screen, which immediately removes any doubt that this is a new operating system.

One of the top new features introduced is Gestures which allows a user to use the trackpad for zooming, swiping pages and various shortcuts.  Upon first login you are introduced with a quick tutorial on the Gestures feature.  After testing this for a few minutes it was easy to see how this can become quite handy but will take some getting used to.

With Lion Apple has reversed the traditional way of scrolling calling it ‘Natural Scrolling’.  This scrolling feature now mimics the iPad scroll on a touchscreen, so when you want to move up on a page you need to scroll down on your mouse and vice-versa.  For Apple Mac/iPad users this can be annoying but acceptable, for users that switch between PC and Mac this reverse scrolling feature can be a deal breaker since it changes the way we’ve used this feature since we learned computers.  Fortunately ‘Natural Scrolling’ can be disabled in the System Preferences returning the scrolling action back to default.

Full Screen mode for applications has been highlighted in Lion, basically it allows any application to go into full screen mode with a click of a mouse.  What makes this feature beneficial is that it allows the application to take up the entire screen(even hiding the operating system toolbar) so you can concentrate on the task at hand.

The Mail, Calendar and Contacts applications have been completely revamped and now look/feel like the versions on the iPad.  The Mail application is especially refreshing since its simplified interface and new look make it easy to work with email.  Conversations view has been added to allow for easier email management and a connection to Exchange Servers 2010 is supported.  Since we use Exchange 2010 at work I’ve been battling with finding an acceptable email client since moving to the Mac platform.  I tried Outlook 2011 and the old Mac Mail programs but these would perform sluggishly and didn’t offer the true Outlook experience you get with the PC version so I used Outlook Web Access instead.  Now with the new Mail program I will attempt to finally use a true email client but the verdict is still out.

Autosaving and Versions has been introduced with Lion, which allows you to revert back to a document draft like you can with TimeMachine.  The operating system automatically saves a version of the document in the background.  The concept is good but it only seems to work with Apple applications, I tried with MS Office and the Versions option was not available.

I tested all my daily applications and they all worked except for Java which I had to download from Apple.  To my relief BootCamp(Windows XP dual boot partition) also worked flawlessly.

Verdict

It’s clear with the release of Lion that Apple is pushing the look and feel of its iPad IOS unto the Mac operating system.  Features such as Gestures, Natural Scrolling and LaunchPad is evidence of the direction Apple is heading into with its operating systems.

The fact that I was able to perform this major operating system upgrade with no issues, my data/applications intact and my XP dual boot partition in working order makes this a success.  I would never have thought to perform a similar upgrade going to from XP to Vista or Windows 7, always opting to perform a clean installation instead to avoid compatibility issues.

Lion offers no noticeable advantage in performance over its predecessor but its 250 new features and upgraded Mail application should provide users with plenty of reasons to upgrade.  It will take months to truly evaluate Lion and discover all the new features but in the meantime there’s plenty to keep us busy.

Related Articles:

Get your Mac ready for Lion

Burning a Lion Boot Disc

Apple OS X Lion 250 Features

Earlier this week Apple released a massive update for its OS X operating system that addressed 54 security vulnerabilities. Among the most serious vulnerabilities are as follows:

AppleScript: A format string issue existed in AppleScript Studio’s generic dialog commands (”display dialog” and “display alert”). Running an AppleScript Studio-based application that allows untrusted input to be passed to a dialog may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.
ATS: A heap buffer overflow issue existed in the handling of OpenType fonts. Viewing or downloading a document containing a maliciously crafted embedded font may lead to arbitrary code execution; Multiple buffer overflow issues existed in the handling of TrueType fonts. Viewing or downloading a document containing a maliciously crafted embedded font may lead to arbitrary code execution.
CoreText: A memory corruption issue existed in CoreText’s handling of font files. Viewing or downloading a document containing a maliciously crafted embedded font may lead to arbitrary code execution.
ImageIO: A heap buffer overflow issue existed in ImageIO’s handling of JPEG images. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution; An integer overflow issue existed in ImageIO’s handling of XBM images. Viewing a maliciously crafted XBM image may result in an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution; A buffer overflow existed in libTIFF’s handling of JPEG encoded TIFF images. Viewing a maliciously crafted TIFF image may result in an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.
Installer: A URL processing issue in Install Helper may lead to the installation of an agent that contacts an arbitrary server when the user logs in. The dialog resulting from a connection failure may lead the user to believe that the connection was attempted with Apple.
QuickLook: A memory corruption issue existed in QuickLook’s handling of Excel files. Downloading a maliciously crafted Excel file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.6.
QuickTime: Multiple memory corruption issues existed in QuickTime’s handling of JPEG2000 images. Viewing a maliciously crafted JPEG2000 image with QuickTime may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution; An integer overflow existed in QuickTime’s handling of movie files. Viewing a maliciously crafted movie file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution; A memory corruption issue existed in QuickTime’s handling of FlashPix images. Viewing a maliciously crafted FlashPix image may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

With the growth in popularity of MACs in recent years the OS has now come under attack from a greater number of threats from viruses and hack attempts. While the worry free days of Mac users seem to have come to an end it’s still unlikely the number of attacks will grow to the scale that plagues PC users.

Apple has long positioned itself for the casual audience. Design firms aside, Macs are very rarely used as a corporate platform. Ultimately, this brings into question the return on investment for virus and malware distributers. Most Trojans target big business for the amount of information that can be attained and for the amount of damage that can be done. Neither of which has much value from targeting home users and their iTunes libraries.

Regardless, this week’s update shows that there is the potential for a greater attack and that means that it is time for Mac users to be prepared. Back up your data and keep a watchful eye.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

In the last two weeks there have been outbreaks of two Mac Trojans. That might seem fairly common place in the Windows world but Mac has a long history of being relatively immune to virus threats. This actually brings up an interesting issue as well. Apple has been trying to position themselves as a direct competitor to Microsoft for years and the tools they have marketed themselves on are ease of use and security. Now that they finally built a strong niche it looks like their increased user base could damage one of their largest selling points.

This is of course speculative giving the nature of the Trojans distribution. The two most recent attacks have been spread primarily through file sharing networks such as Limewire and Torrents. Neither of which should be used without extreme care given vulnerability as well as legality issues. Despite this, if one group of distributers found it worthwhile to propagate malware it is very likely that they will again in the future. As with all escalation the attacks will become more sophisticated and attempt to target a larger user base.

Does this mean the end of the worry free days of Mac users? Possibly; but it’s unlikely to happen at the scale that plagues PC users. Apple has positioned itself for the casual audience. Design firms aside, Macs are very rarely used as a corporate platform. Ultimately, this brings into question the return on investment for virus and malware distributers. Most Trojans target big business for the amount of information that can be attained and for the amount of damage that can be done. Neither of which has much value from targeting home users and their iTunes libraries.

Regardless, there has been threats and whether they continue or not there is no better time to learn from your PC counterparts. Back up your data and keep a watchful eye.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department