Reeves wrote:
LaunchPad was what I was referring too, don't really see the point either.
LaunchPad is great for neophytes - the kind of person who turns on the computer and wonders how they might "find the button that browses the Internet". But it's designed to be easily tossed aside if you don't want it
Reeves wrote:
But would you recommend me upgrading to Lion then? Have you had any problems with it since it's new? Does it work ok'ish with ArchiCad? Any difference from Snow Leopard?
Yes, I recommend upgrading. ArchiCAD is exactly the same in Lion as it is in SL, but Lion is a good update. Auto-save, Versioning, and Resume greatly simplify document creation and management. You no longer have to worry about saving or making multiple copies of a document in case you might want to revert to earlier content. For example, if you launch several applications, start documents in each, and the power unexpectedly fails before you saved anything, the Mac will relaunch with all the application and documents open just as you left them. No data loss, no time relaunching applications and opening documents!
"Save" is a bit more like "mark a version" now. Applications are linked to Time Machine, so all the versions are recorded. You can step back through different versions of a document right back to its creation, and either restore the whole or selectively copy bits out. Very smart stuff. Unfortunately ArchiCAD doesn't recognise any of these features.
The gestures and scrolling changes are nice too. You can navigate back and forth between pages (or between applications or desktops) with just a flick of the fingers.A different gesture shows Mission Control, with all applications and documents visible and selectable. The change in scrolling took a day to get used to - it's now natural document scrolling, so you gesture up to move the document up (as if the page is an extension of your hand). Feels a bit like the display handling in Minority Report.
Loads of other stuff too - FileVault can now do full-drive encryption without fighting with Time Machine. There is also a hidden recovery partition on the drive, which kicks in if there is a failure in the main partition. Lots of good networking goodies too.
Reeves wrote:
I was right then, ArchiCad just doesn't feel or loog god on a Mac. I'm surprised this is the case! Many people use Mac for 3D modeling, why has this not been a priority from GS?
It looks dated on Windows too, but not so much because Apple moves far faster than MS. The UI is a quandary for all developers. It's a lot of work to overhaul, and comes at the cost of other new features in the main engine. In other words, the application as whole stands still while you work on the UI. But you can't put it off forever either. ArchiCAD has a long legacy now, and has been reworked several times. I think it's time to do it again.
Ralph Wessel BArch
Active Thread Ltd
