Hi, just wondering if anyone has upgraded yet to OSX Lion (as opposed to buying a Mac with Lion pre-installed.)  I was gonna get it last night in preparation for iCloud launching this week, but started reading reviews about it. There have been a LOT of problems with the upgrade, ranging from system crashes, to MS Office for Mac not running, among others.

There were enough problems to stop me from upgrading.  I'm a big fan of Apple and I find this kind of thing very-unApple-like.  What has your experience been like?

I'll be doing the iOS 5 download on my aging iPhone 3GS on Wednesday, but not sure if iCloud will work without Lion on my Mac.  I'm really looking forward to wireless sync between my Apple devices.

I upgraded all my Macs to Lion when it released. So far, no real issues with it from my end; although the multi-touch mouse pad on my MBP have changed a bit and take some getting used to. Microsoft Office still works as it's supposed to for me, as well as Parallels and my Windows 7 (not that I ever really use Windows these days.)

I have noticed a bit of a lag in the startup though. I think that Lion requires a little more RAM to run than Snow Leopard did. My family has 3 Mac Book Pros and a Mac Mini that all have Lion on them.

I upgraded to Lion on my desktop, not my macbook. I have MS word, but have not really used it since I upgraded (taking a break from classes). Other than that, I have not really noticed any real issues with Lion. I don't really like that when I move finger a random way on my magic mouse it sends me to screen with all windows open or whatever, but I'm sure that's something in my settings I can change, and I'm just too lazy to go look. All in all, I'd say it's pretty nice. I haven't really noticed a super huge difference other than the launch pad feature, so maybe I'm just not taking advantage of all that Lion has to offer yet.... :/

Navywife, do you have MS Word for Windows (with Parallels) or Word/Office for Mac? I've been hearing Office for Mac crashes in Lion. Could you try launching the software & see if it works ok?

I have office. It opens and operates. I installed it after I got lion, not sure if that makes a difference or not...

I haven't had my Office for Mac Crash on Lion any more than it did on Snow Leopard. But I wouldn't call it a crash per se... my Office would just not close when I told it to and would often stay in the bottom task bar until force quitted.

ThaiGuy, I was really excited to get Lion too - but I'm still holding off. I did get the latest version of MS Office 2011 - the military appreciation version comes w/ 1 license, 2 users for $119 at the NEX. I was still on Quicken 2007 which is a PPC program running thru the rosetta translator on Snow Leopard. Lion did not support rosetta, so I had to wait to get an alternate program that was Intel only. Unfortunately I have a bunch of educational games for my daughter on Mac, that I'm not sure run on Lion. We have a new MBP 13" with Lion pre-installed, and MS Office 2011 has run pretty well so far. I don't think we push the limits on PowerPoint like I do at work, so I haven't noticed any issues. Are you going to just do the download or get the USB key? I know it's a $40 difference.

On a side note - Thanks for all your sage advice I've been reading on the posts over all the areas - esp. reporting to Japan. I'm in San Diego now and have to watch other people get the 4S. I hope to get it ASAP in Japan. We fly in to Yokota on the 9th of November. I'll be on C7F staff in a month.

No prob, Julito. You'll be able to get the 4S when you get here, but it won't have Siri. I've got another discussion going about that.

I'll get the downloadable version of Lion; no need to go with the USB. I have heard the problems with Rosetta (which I don't use). Other people have said if Office for Mac doesn't work with Lion, then uninstall & reinstall Office & it will work. Sounds like few problems from people on JB.com. If you read Apples support site, a LOT of people are having problems with Lion.

BTW, I did a tour on Blue Ridge (ship's company, not staff). Many, many years ago. You'll see a lot of WESTPAC!

My husband installed Lion on both our Macbook Pro's a few weeks ago. We're not having any problems with Microsoft Office or really any thing other than starting back up from sleep or going to sleep sometimes. I researched it and the simple fix was to make sure the Mac power cord WAS unplugged from the Mac (not the wall) when you closed the lid/put it to sleep, watch for the sleep light to start pulsating then plug it back in. After reading and doing that we've had no issues at all.

I have a big issue to use the share internet sending from my imac to my Ipad and I phone. It got very slow wireless connection after i upgrade to Lion and sometimes i lost the connection or just don't connect. This problem wasn't fixed by apple yet.
Anyone having the same problem?

Based on everything I've heard, I think I'll wait for the first Lion patch. They certainly got their work cut out with bug fixes. As I said at the beginning, this is very very-unApple-like. One reason I like Apple & their products is because they only distribute stuff that is ready for prime-time. Looks like a big fail this time, Microsoft-style.

Well, today is supposed the be the Day That iOS 5 Becomes Available. So far, no luck trying to download it through iTunes. I've heard their downloading iOS5 in Australia so maybe we'll get it later today. However, iTunes itself updated to the new iCloud-compatible version. This version will let you store all your music in the Cloud, PLUS get high-quality, legit versions of any pirated music you happen to have on your device. I know, no one on JB has unauthorized music but I'm just saying...

BTW, they say there's an annual fee to get high-quality, authorized versions your unlicensed music but the reality is, if you pay the fee once and then cancel your annual subscription, you will keep the licensed music at least one year or until you get a new iPhone/iPod/iPad. It's a pretty good business model if you think about it, and Apple is the only one who has figured out a way to make money from pirated music. Good on them!

Oh, and there WILL be a new version of Lion on Friday, 10.7.2, which is the other piece of iCloud. It will also have many much-needed bug fixes. I'll check the Apple blogs over the weekend and if they fix the problems discussed above I'll probably download it. yamma yamma!!

As long as we're discussing All Things Apple, I will also add... the Japanese iPhone with iOS 5 (which can be installed on the iPhone 3GS or later) will include an early warning app for earthquakes in Japan. It ties directly into Japan's tectonic sensor system, and pushes notification to your iPhone instantly. It can give you up to 60 seconds of advance warning, depending on your location & dynamics of the earthquake. Enough time to put on your hardhat, and get your goldfish bowl to safety. :-)

Read about it here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/22/...ke-alarms/

You have to turn on this feature in the new Notification Center on your iOS 5 device.

Got iOS 5 on my iPhone!! Even though it's not in iTunes yet, I found a "workaround."

Better yet, I think this workaround will allow me to install Siri (which won't be installed in Japanese phones) once I get my 4S on Friday. Woo-hoo!

PM me for details if interested.

Got my iPhone yesterday and kept thinking I'd wait on downloading Lion but... the temptation was too great!! Got Lion around midnight & activated iCloud this morning.

For the record, I had NO install problems at all. I have a very new Macbook Pro (the one with Thunderbolt port). Also have MS Office for Mac, and it seems to work just fine (I had read of problems with this). The only glitch I've found so far is that the 3-finger swipe to move forward/backward in web surfing doesn't work in Firefox. After researching, this seems to be a Firefox issue that will be fixed in a few weeks.

Just now learning the new features in Lion; there are a few new gestures that are very cool. Turned on iCloud today with my iPhone & MBP. I took a picture with my iPhone & 53 seconds later it was on my puter (yes, I timed it. I AM A GEEK!) On my iPhone, I've been playing around with Siri which I'll discuss in the iPhone discussion.

*** Lion update *** Hey, the 3-finger forward/backward gesture works today in Firefox. Go figure. I didn't download any patches, but it works & I'm a happy camper. I love that feature of multi-touch. :-)

Found some more changes in Lion. Although these have been published in OSX reviews, it's different when you actually stumble upon them yourself. First, you can resize windows at any of the 4 corners now, now just the bottom right corner. A small thing that is sometimes helpful.

Secondly, I just made a change in a Numbers spreadsheet (Apple's equivalent to Excel). I exit Numbers, which should result in a prompt "Do you want to save your changes?" But, no such prompt! The file & app close. This is a little disconcerting, so I reopen and look; my changes are there. I've heard about this feature, but it takes some getting used to. First, on the "File" menu is a "Revert" command, so I could go back to the previous version of my file if I want (like, I meant to close & abandon my changes on purpose.)

But also, I've heard that Lion now saves all previous versions of your files, so there is no need to save. Your changes are kept, and you can also go back in time to re-open any previous version. It's an innovative concept and I do something similar with Time Capsule (my Apple back-up device) where I can go back in time & see any previous version of my Mac and resuscitate changed or deleted files. I haven't figured out yet how Lion does this; where & how can I file old file versions, but I think they are somewhere in there. Also, I don't know if this works with MS Office files, or just with Apple office stuff like Numbers & Pages. Naturally, I will continue to investigate.

Yeah, I think I'm moving to Lion soon and move from MobileMe to the iCloud. I like that photostream deal, too.

Alright - Moved my MBP to Lion. Running great! No PowerPC apps left on my machine. The move from MobileMe to iCloud was pretty easy. I had to move my wife's account first (as the sub-account) and then mine as the master account. Kept our same e-mail addresses and got photostream working. Sweet!

Since we've been talking about iOS 5 & iCloud, I've found a great use for your old iPhone 4 or 3GS when you upgrade to the 4s. Even without an active cellular account, these old phones have a lot of capability. I gave my old 3GS to my wife & synch it to the same iCloud account that my 4s is on. She works at home so the 3GS is always on our wifi net. If I take a photo with my 4s, it pops on her phone via PhotoStream. She can make a calendar entry and it shows up on my phone (I have separate calendars for personal & work events; her event won't mess up my work calendar.) Since I do the shopping on base, she can write a reminder on her phone like a shopping list, and it will alert me at the appropriate time. Finally, any music I buy either on my Mac or my iPhone shows up on her phone automatically. This is a great way for a couple to stay in sync! We'll find more & more ways to do the Vulcan mind meld via our 2 iPhones.

Getting more & more into iCloud. Of course, it keeps all our iDevices synched but today my wife & I got to see a whole new capability. We were in Hiroshima last week & got some pix of the Atomic Dome (on our camera, not the iPhone).  Now I'm at a cafe & I upload the photos from my camera to my Macbook. Wait a few minutes & call home, the wife picks up our retired iPhone 3GS she keeps on her desk, and all our Hiroshima pix are there in PhotoStream.The photos got  all the way from our non-internet enabled camera to her non-working iPhone (meaning, it has no phone account anymore). Now that I think about it, I could give that old iPhone to my mom in California and she'd be fed a steady stream of our Japan photos for free without have to go online. She's not too much into internet stuff so this would make it real easy for her.

I've just discovered an amazing feature of OS X Lion that will make my life SOOOOO much easier. I get a .pdf form from my employer each month; I have to print it, sign it, scan it, and email it back with my signature. I inherently hate printing & scanning if I can find a way around it. Apple has created a way...

Sign your name on a blank sheet of white paper. Open up the .pdf form in Preview; go the the View menu & click "Show Annotations Toolbar." Find the little signature icon, click it and select "Create Signature from Built-In Camera." Now hold up your blank sheet with signature in front of your Mac camera, line it up with the blue line, and click. This imports your signature on a transparent background; you can drop it onto your .pdf, slide it around and resize it as necessary. All the underlying stuff in the pdf is visible cuz your signature is on a transparent background (unlike a scan) and doesn't block the underlying text on the form. Now, my signature becomes part of the document and I can just email it back. No more "Print - Sign - Scan" routine!

The signature is retained in the Annotations menu for future use, so you only have to do this camera thing once. I love Mac!

Thanks for the heads up TG. I will try that sometime.

I upgraded my 2008 iMac 24" from Snow Leopard to Lion and encountered pinwheeling issues. My iMac came with 2GB of Ram. After talking with Apple, I added 1GB more of RAM which has helped a bunch. I like to use Photoshop a lot (big surprise) along with iPhoto. May need to increase to 4GB total. Now I hear 'Mountain Lion" will release soon. The photo stream thing is very nice. I take a shot on my iPhone and as soon as I look at my iPad or iMac, its there.