9 ms·

Makes sense. Realistically the last killer feature in an OS X release was probably spotlight in 10.4. Consumer hardware hasn't gotten much faster since then, an

Makes sense. Realistically the last killer feature in an OS X release was probably spotlight in 10.4. Consumer hardware hasn't gotten much faster since then, and the last six OS X releases have all been pretty much just rearranging furniture. I can't see much innovation happening in the OS space for a few years until we get widespread adoption of memristors, perhaps in 2020 when HP comes out with The Machine.

themoonbus 12y ago
Mission Control and Notifications have made a pretty big difference in my workflow, but yes, I'd agree that the changes are getting smaller over the years.
- ghshephard 12y ago
  It's interesting - I use a lot of features of OS X that I think most people don't touch often (I'm probably one of the only people on HN who frequently launches apps from Launchpad with the four-finger squeeze, for instance) - but notifications bar and mission control are two that I've never found any use for. (I'm an Cmd+Tabber) Indeed, Notifications has an annoying habit of locking up an otherewise solid 10.8.5 so I can't command+tab between apps. It always returns after 45-90 seconds, and I can kill it by bringing up spotlight and launching activity monitor - but that's the only impact that the notification tray has made on me. (Though, notifications themselves, akin to what Growl used to do, are kind of handy - except for the annoying one telling me I have to update my computer that I can't stop from coming back - particularly harsh when you are doing a presentation on a projector)
  - hollerith 12y ago
    I'm with you. I gave Mission Control.app a serious try, but have no use for it. >the annoying one telling me I have to update my computer that I can't stop from coming back That one caused me to disable OS X notifications altogether. If Apple wants to silently upgrade the OS without notifying me, I would be OK with that (though I'd appreciate an email) but interrupting me without giving me any way less drastic than rebooting to turn off the stream of interruptions is just not OK with me. (Yes, I realize that I'm more intolerant of interruptions than most people.)
  - themoonbus 12y ago
    I have 4 spaces (or whatever they are called now) to which I assign various applications, each of which can have several windows open, so that's my use case. I command-tab as well, but I find it useful to have an overview of everything going on, and jump straight to a window (without command-tabbing, then command-tilde'ing depending on the application)
asveikau 12y ago
Are you kidding? No hardware improvement in 10 years? I have a PowerPC machine powered off in a closet that runs 10.4, which somehow I can't move myself to get rid of. Today's smartphones are more powerful. They have more RAM and a better CPU. On the software side, I powered it on a year or so ago. Felt pretty different from recent OS X. I didn't remember it being as different as it was. (If you had said little substantive change since 10.6 I may have agreed more.)
- Alex3917 12y ago
  There's no question smartphones are completely different, I'm talking about laptops and desktops. I'm writing this comment from my late 2008 MBP, which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer. If the new MBPs have Skylake then I'll upgrade because this one is starting to fall apart, but I'm certainly not pretending that it's going to make me more productive or have any tangible benefit.
  - sjtrny 12y ago
    > which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer Yeh that's great if all you are doing is mild web browsing and sending emails. Last year I ditched my late 2008 MBP for a 2014 MBP (both 15") and the difference is astounding. I can play CSGO at 150fps rather than 25. Furthermore it doesn't overheat and shut down while playing CSGO. For work it is also a massive improvement when I run MATLAB scripts that involve huge matrix multiplications, inversions, SVDs etc.
  - asveikau 12y ago
    > There's no question smartphones are completely different, I'm talking about laptops and desktops. My point was that the thing in your pocket runs circles around the 10.4 machine, and the high-end desktop machine runs circles around that. But I agree with sjtrny's comment that you might not notice it if you don't try it with the right workload. (Although, with the way web browsers burn cycles and RAM these days ...)
- gurkendoktor 12y ago
rz2k 12y ago
I think the continuity features like automatically being able to load a Safari tab that I've loaded on any other Apple device is great. I thought Spotlight wasn't very good until I used it with a SSD. Many of the Yosemite features will probably become better over time as they mature, too.
- tjl 12y ago
  I'd checkout Flashlight. http://flashlight.nateparrott.com http://flashlight.nateparrott.com It's a system for Spotlight plugins on Yosemite. It works similar to Alfred, LaunchBar or Quicksilver. It's open source and fairly simple to write your own plugins for the system (in Python or Javascript).
bluthru 12y ago
Computers that update themselves in their sleep, time machine, continuity, notifications, the app store (and gate keeper), high resolution support, and mission control are all pretty huge in my eyes.
- Angostura 12y ago
  Plus all that fantastic stuff under the hood like Fusion Drive support, App nap and allied technology, memory compression etc etc
avn2109 12y ago
Do you call Retina/High DPI support not a killer feature? If you care about typography, the video output of 10.4 feels like the stone age.
- gurkendoktor 12y ago
  However, it also feels more like something that everyone played around with on 10.4, and 10.7 only happened to make it finally work ;) Look for "Scalable User Interface" here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2005/04/macosx-10-4/20/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2005/04/macosx-10-4/20/ (Not entirely serious, I think HiDPI this is the best new thing to happen since 10.5, and I can't wait until I can actually buy HiDPI displays.)
jsz0 12y ago
The changes started in 10.7 to modernize OSX with some iOS inspired features have grown into killer features for me. When you add up everything from the last few years it's an impressive list: * HiDPI support & Retina scaled resolutions * AirPlay video / desktops * Photos / iCloud Photo Library * Notifications * Handoff / Continuity * iMessage / FaceTime (bundled in 10.7) * Voice & SMS relay * Find my Mac / remote lock & erase via iCloud * Automatic cellular data tethering * MailDrop for sending large Mail attachments * AutoSave (app state save/restoration) * 32->64 / ALSR / kext signing / GateKeeper * Rotating TimeMachine backups * EFI OS Recovery
- FireBeyond 12y ago
  Lets be honest though. I am a big fan, a convert even. An impressive list, maybe, but when the parent talks innovation, how many of these fit the bill? These don't, to me: photo library, notifications, iMessage and FaceTime, sms relay, remote lock and erase, cellular tethering, 32>64, next signing, all borrowed HEAVILY from competitors.
  - oldmanjay 12y ago
    I'm not sure what definition of innovation you use but I assure you it does not require invention from first principles.
    - FireBeyond 12y ago
      It also does not mean "feature X, taken (in some cases almost cloned) from somewhere else, is now an 'Apple innovation'." I like all of those features (though AirPlay still is a struggle with HD, though to be expected; and handoff for voice is still very buggy). And others are genuine innovations or things that Apple has polished. But to point to, for an egregious example, "Look, Notifications, how innovative that is" is also disingenuous.
  - kalleboo 12y ago
    If you're going to play that game, there's been no innovation whatsoever since day 1. GP mentions Spotlight but that was just stolen from BeOS, the leaked WinFS plans, etc etc.

themoonbus 12y ago

Mission Control and Notifications have made a pretty big difference in my workflow, but yes, I'd agree that the changes are getting smaller over the years.

ghshephard 12y ago
It's interesting - I use a lot of features of OS X that I think most people don't touch often (I'm probably one of the only people on HN who frequently launches apps from Launchpad with the four-finger squeeze, for instance) - but notifications bar and mission control are two that I've never found any use for. (I'm an Cmd+Tabber) Indeed, Notifications has an annoying habit of locking up an otherewise solid 10.8.5 so I can't command+tab between apps. It always returns after 45-90 seconds, and I can kill it by bringing up spotlight and launching activity monitor - but that's the only impact that the notification tray has made on me. (Though, notifications themselves, akin to what Growl used to do, are kind of handy - except for the annoying one telling me I have to update my computer that I can't stop from coming back - particularly harsh when you are doing a presentation on a projector)
- hollerith 12y ago
  I'm with you. I gave Mission Control.app a serious try, but have no use for it. >the annoying one telling me I have to update my computer that I can't stop from coming back That one caused me to disable OS X notifications altogether. If Apple wants to silently upgrade the OS without notifying me, I would be OK with that (though I'd appreciate an email) but interrupting me without giving me any way less drastic than rebooting to turn off the stream of interruptions is just not OK with me. (Yes, I realize that I'm more intolerant of interruptions than most people.)
- themoonbus 12y ago
  I have 4 spaces (or whatever they are called now) to which I assign various applications, each of which can have several windows open, so that's my use case. I command-tab as well, but I find it useful to have an overview of everything going on, and jump straight to a window (without command-tabbing, then command-tilde'ing depending on the application)

asveikau 12y ago

Are you kidding? No hardware improvement in 10 years? I have a PowerPC machine powered off in a closet that runs 10.4, which somehow I can't move myself to get rid of. Today's smartphones are more powerful. They have more RAM and a better CPU. On the software side, I powered it on a year or so ago. Felt pretty different from recent OS X. I didn't remember it being as different as it was. (If you had said little substantive change since 10.6 I may have agreed more.)

Alex3917 12y ago
There's no question smartphones are completely different, I'm talking about laptops and desktops. I'm writing this comment from my late 2008 MBP, which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer. If the new MBPs have Skylake then I'll upgrade because this one is starting to fall apart, but I'm certainly not pretending that it's going to make me more productive or have any tangible benefit.
- sjtrny 12y ago
  > which in terms of perceived speed is identical to my 2014 MBP work computer Yeh that's great if all you are doing is mild web browsing and sending emails. Last year I ditched my late 2008 MBP for a 2014 MBP (both 15") and the difference is astounding. I can play CSGO at 150fps rather than 25. Furthermore it doesn't overheat and shut down while playing CSGO. For work it is also a massive improvement when I run MATLAB scripts that involve huge matrix multiplications, inversions, SVDs etc.
- asveikau 12y ago
  > There's no question smartphones are completely different, I'm talking about laptops and desktops. My point was that the thing in your pocket runs circles around the 10.4 machine, and the high-end desktop machine runs circles around that. But I agree with sjtrny's comment that you might not notice it if you don't try it with the right workload. (Although, with the way web browsers burn cycles and RAM these days ...)
gurkendoktor 12y ago

rz2k 12y ago

I think the continuity features like automatically being able to load a Safari tab that I've loaded on any other Apple device is great. I thought Spotlight wasn't very good until I used it with a SSD. Many of the Yosemite features will probably become better over time as they mature, too.

tjl 12y ago
I'd checkout Flashlight. http://flashlight.nateparrott.com http://flashlight.nateparrott.com It's a system for Spotlight plugins on Yosemite. It works similar to Alfred, LaunchBar or Quicksilver. It's open source and fairly simple to write your own plugins for the system (in Python or Javascript).

bluthru 12y ago

Computers that update themselves in their sleep, time machine, continuity, notifications, the app store (and gate keeper), high resolution support, and mission control are all pretty huge in my eyes.

Angostura 12y ago
Plus all that fantastic stuff under the hood like Fusion Drive support, App nap and allied technology, memory compression etc etc

avn2109 12y ago

Do you call Retina/High DPI support not a killer feature? If you care about typography, the video output of 10.4 feels like the stone age.

gurkendoktor 12y ago
However, it also feels more like something that everyone played around with on 10.4, and 10.7 only happened to make it finally work ;) Look for "Scalable User Interface" here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2005/04/macosx-10-4/20/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2005/04/macosx-10-4/20/ (Not entirely serious, I think HiDPI this is the best new thing to happen since 10.5, and I can't wait until I can actually buy HiDPI displays.)

jsz0 12y ago

The changes started in 10.7 to modernize OSX with some iOS inspired features have grown into killer features for me. When you add up everything from the last few years it's an impressive list: * HiDPI support & Retina scaled resolutions * AirPlay video / desktops * Photos / iCloud Photo Library * Notifications * Handoff / Continuity * iMessage / FaceTime (bundled in 10.7) * Voice & SMS relay * Find my Mac / remote lock & erase via iCloud * Automatic cellular data tethering * MailDrop for sending large Mail attachments * AutoSave (app state save/restoration) * 32->64 / ALSR / kext signing / GateKeeper * Rotating TimeMachine backups * EFI OS Recovery

FireBeyond 12y ago
Lets be honest though. I am a big fan, a convert even. An impressive list, maybe, but when the parent talks innovation, how many of these fit the bill? These don't, to me: photo library, notifications, iMessage and FaceTime, sms relay, remote lock and erase, cellular tethering, 32>64, next signing, all borrowed HEAVILY from competitors.
- oldmanjay 12y ago
  I'm not sure what definition of innovation you use but I assure you it does not require invention from first principles.
  - FireBeyond 12y ago
    It also does not mean "feature X, taken (in some cases almost cloned) from somewhere else, is now an 'Apple innovation'." I like all of those features (though AirPlay still is a struggle with HD, though to be expected; and handoff for voice is still very buggy). And others are genuine innovations or things that Apple has polished. But to point to, for an egregious example, "Look, Notifications, how innovative that is" is also disingenuous.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  If you're going to play that game, there's been no innovation whatsoever since day 1. GP mentions Spotlight but that was just stolen from BeOS, the leaked WinFS plans, etc etc.