The Quick and Clean OS X Lion Review

 Apple's OS X operating system has been defined since its inception by the "Aqua" user interface, which used light, colorful designs to convey a more user-friendly approach to software. Over the years, however, it hasn't aged well. While great on the older MacBooks and iMacs, it was beginning to look cartoonish on Apple's new sleek-and-silver machines.

Aqua is not gone, but it has been brushed up for Lion, resulting in a number of notable changes. Menu buttons have had their corners squared, and the overall look has been given a more mature, grayish appearance instead of the pastel-blue appearance of old.

Scroll bars have been redesigned as well. The bright and cheerful blue bars of old have been replaced by subtle gray bars that are far more reserved and, in addition to that, they disappear completely in certain situations when the user is not scrolling. This frees up a little extra display space when the bars aren't needed and improves the elegance of the interface.

Not all of the changes were great, however. Apple has traditionally shown a love for animation, and this has continued. There is a new, simple animation that occurs when a window opens. The window starts small in the center of the space it will grow to occupy and then expanded. This all occurs in less than a second, but it does add an unnecessary pause to what should occur instantly. Adding an animation to this seems odd considering Apple's focus on solid state drives in the interest of making its computers feel more responsive.

These updates were badly needed. The old appearance was becoming dated even when compared to Windows 7 with its latest implementation of Aero and new taskbar. With this refresh, Macs will have an OS that is appears as modern and refined as the hardware its running on.

Launchpad gained much attention, both positive and negative, from the press. Clearly inspired by iOS, this new feature provides a grid of application icons that makes selection of programs quick and easy. Or at least, that's the theory.

 In practice, Launchpad seems like an odd and perhaps lazy addition to the OS. It's no secret that a computer with a mouse or touchpad has the advantage of far more precise user inputs than a touchscreen device, yet Apple's Launchpad does little to take advantage of it. My MacBook, which has only a handful of software on it, requires three Launchpad pages to show all of the available apps. Why? The icons could have been rendered smaller quite easily, but instead they're large and in-charge, as if Apple expects me to give up on the wonderful touchpad they've provided and start sending my fingers on a stroll across my display.

Another problem with Launchpad is the fact that it doesn't put priority on the user's most important apps. Windows 7's taskbar is a wonderful example of why priority is important. Launchpad simply offers to many options - and with the Dock already available, you may not even find occasion to use it.

Lion's other big new interface feature is Mission Control, and it is excellent. It's long been possible to access a thumbnail view of all running applications on OS X machines, but Mission Control refines the concept and adds to new, static thumbnails of the Dashboard and Desktop at the top of the display. There's also an attractive new linen border that surrounds Mission Control, a small touch that classes up the operating system's appearance.

Unfortunately, despite the improvements, Lion doesn't properly respond to the Windows 7 task bar which remains the best stock app launching solution available on any computer operating system. The Dock remains the same and the Launchpad only serves to add another layer of UI to your computer. Borrowing from iOS isn't going to cut it - unless Apple's way forward is to simply turn OS X into iOS.