Well guys, its that time again. Apple has released the latest version of their desktop OS and I've installed it on my primary machine (the one that I use for work and play).
Wise idea, nope! Was there any talking me out of doing it? Absolutely not. With that said, let's go.
First thing: the beachball, really Apple, the beachball, that's the first thing I'm going to see on my first use of your new OS? I didn't know what to make of this since every update or fresh install just works on my system with no slow downs (I'm running a mid 2012 13 inch MBP with 8 gb ram and a 500 gb hdd that might be changed to a SSD as the cash permits. Really, I can't say why this was, but it was what it was. After just sitting there for a few minutes doing its thing, Voice Over asked me for my password and we were in and it's here that my first impression was made-more on that in a second, we're still talking set up process.
Acquiring Mojave was straight forward. Go to the Appstore, click on the Mojave link and vo+cmd+J until you get the install button. VO space on it and follow the prompts that follow. This goes without saying, but back up your Mac. You have Time Machine people, don't be that guy with a messed up system, having no way to get your computer up and running again but to format your drive, (It's not a nice thing... Or so I've heard)..)
If you've set up a Mac before, you've set up Mojave with one little difference-the invitation to use dark mode. I can't see anything, but why not? I enabled it.
is it just me, or does Voice Over feel a little more snappy?
I can't put my finger on it, but anyone who has migrated from Windows and Eloquence knows exactly what I'm talking about. The first time you use a Mac, you feel it. It's a sluggishness that VO has in comparison to Windows' screen readers- NVDA in particular. Calm yourself apple fanboys. VO is great, but the first time you use a Mac, your going to feel it. It's nothing show stopping, your going to get work done, but your definitely going to notice it the first time you use a Mac. Upon firing up VO in Mojave however, it seems to be gone so far.
A bug I've encountered when filling out forms online seems to be gone. When navigating through a page, even if Voice Over is focused on the edit field, I needed to VO+CMD+J to the field to be able to type in the edit field. This Seems to be fixed.
The new apps
The App Store has been redesigned. It feels less like a web page and more like an OS X application. Accessible? Yes, Interface is going to take a little getting use to if your accustom to the old App Store.
The new apps are all useable. The navigation sounds in the new apps are reminiscent of an iPhone.
Overall, it's not looking too bad. Matter of fact, it's looking good.
As the days progress, I'll update my experience with the new OS.
If you want audio demos of the new apps let me know and I'll do some.
Are you all running Mojave, any questions? Let me know what you guys think in the comments.
By Darion, 25 September, 2018
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
Reposting my message from
Reposting my message from AppleVis blog:
I have to say this is quite a good update for me and my Mac, and here's why.
Image recognition by holding VO+Shift+L now works in my native language as good as it does on iOS 12. The only issue here is that some words hasn't been translated from English, but I'm sure this will be solved in future updates.
I am finally getting APFS file system. This is very important and good for me because I use quite a slow Late 2014 Mac mini with base configuration. Now, after iOS and SSD Macs, HDD computers are receiving the new Apple's designed file system too, and I definitely can say it makes my nettop faster. Not so fast as I Thought, but the difference is felt. Also, "kernel_task" process now uses twice and a half times less RAM.
I don't want to be mistaking, but it seems like Apple has finally solved the very frustrating and annoying bug: VoiceOver doesn't stuck anymore. It may sound ridiculous, but I was even able to finish installation process without sighting help. In High Sierra, screen reader used to stuck after almost every update, and, of course, not only after this. I hope I will not need the "killall -9 VoiceOver" Terminal command in my clipboard anymore.
It seems like they've also solved issues with Power Nap feature. Now my Mac can make Time Machine backups while sleeping again, and external drives and other USB devices no longer disconnect after my Mac goes to sleep.
That were my first observations. Hope I'll find more new features and, maybe even more important, new bug fixes.
I Like It So Far...
Subject line pretty much sums it up. Mojave is working pretty well for me thus far on a mid-2013 MacBook Air, although just a bit ago when I tried to post here VoiceOver locked up. I had to close and reopen AppleVis. Perhaps it was just a one-time thing though, as this has never happened to me before in all the years that I've had my Mac. I tried out some of the apps that were moved over here from iOS, and I have to say they're not bad on the Mac. I think I like the new design of the App Store. It'll take some getting used to, but just yesterday I tried updating a 3rd-party app that I have on here. All went well. So Apple deserves high marks yet again from me.
i need a demo of the new os on mac.
Just a couple issues so far
I'm on Mojave with my mid-2012 MBP less than an hour. Just two issues so far.
1. I used to be able to go to the menu bar with control+F2. Now I have to use VO+M. Interestingly, if I go to the dock first with control+F3, then control+F2 works and takes me to the menu bar. It's a head-scratcher.
2. I'm a VO user, but I'm low vision and use invert colors. So, of course, I tried out dark mode. Sadly, it suffers from the same problem any dark mode has experienced since the introduction of the web browser over 20 years ago - web pages don't honor dark mode. So, I turned it off, and immediately went back to invert colors. Why desktop OS developers are unable to get this right, beats me.
Otherwise things are looking good.
Only 1 issue
I only have one issue. It now takes about 7 minutes for VMWare to load. It comes up in a minute or so and NVDA starts speaking but it takes another 5 or 6 minutes before I can access anything with keyboard commands.