I can see no reason why anyone with a Snow Leopard-based Mac wouldn’t upgrade to Lion. This upgrade features a ton of new features and is priced to sell. It’s a no brainer.
For Microsoft and, to a lesser degree, Windows users, Lion represents Apple throwing down the gauntlet. The company already dominates the mobile space with its iPhones, iPods, and iPads, and by taking the best and most appropriate ideas from iOS and applying them to the Mac, the company is announcing its intention to continue this success in Microsoft’s core market of PCs.
Those iOS-to-OS X changes are a mixed bag, of course. Some are very well intentioned–all the apps improvements, the quick resume and so on–while others, especially Launchpad, are misguided because they’re not necessarily efficient, even on iOS. But I think Apple’s doing the right thing by bringing the two product lines together where it makes sense, at least from a user experience standpoint. I may not agree with each design decision, but Apple will tinker with this and get it right over time, as they always do.
But Lion, overall, is in great shape. Where I’ve generally derided Apple for overpimping its largely evolutionary OS X updates over the years, Lion shows that there’s some life left yet in the Mac OS X side of the house. This isn’t just a collection of minor updates and refinishes. It’s a step away from the norm, finally, after a decade of steady and largely boring minor revisions. I’m excited to see where they take OS X next.
This blows my mind for a few reasons. (A) Lion isn’t out yet and (B) Paul Thurrott wrote something about Apple that wasn’t unabashed fanboyism for Microsoft.