So, Ben Brooks’s review of Mountain Lion came through the paywall (I know, just subscribe already). Right off the bat, I have to disagree.
Brooks on Notification Center:
The biggest change though: the completely useless Notification Center. So let’s talk about that.
I had to smile at this because while Brooks finds Notification Center to be largely (if not altogether) negative, I think it’s one of the best things about Mountain Lion. Let’s look at Brooks’s use-case:
The reason I find it unnecessary: there aren’t any notifications I get on my Mac that I would need to look at some point later in time, which is not the case on iOS.
I can see upcoming events in the Notification Center, but Fantastical serves that role, and does a better job.
I don’t use Fantastical, and I think that is probably the case for many Mac users. He also mentions Growl later in the review and with that I have the same problem. I didn’t like Growl when I tried it awhile back. So for me, Growl is irrelevant.
My tasks and notifications are spread across several input sources, as are most people’s. I have several calendars synced for home, work, my wife’s business and her supplemental second-job. Notification Center allows me to see changes in those calendars as notifications that don’t take over my whole screen, as iCal did prior to Mountain Lion. Not to mention, I have reminders, emails (of which I get far fewer than seemingly everyone on the Internet), tweets, etc. to deal with.
On Brooks’s first point, I find myself checking Notification Center exponentially more than I ever did on iOS—where I often forget that the “Center” part of the feature even exists. When I’m using my Mac, tasks and alerts commonly get put-off for later, while on the iPhone or iPad, I tend to deal with them immediately (by either completing the task, going to the appointment, or time shifting it to remind me later). Notification Center on Mountain Lion lets me, with a quick swipe of the trackpad, see what I’ve missed, need to remember, or simply didn’t have time for when it came in (Twitter DM’s or Replies, for instance).
To be honest, and I know this could be controversial, Mountain Lion’s Notification Center feels more native to me than it does on iOS, more comfortable, and natural. To me it’s the evolution of iOS’s rough first try.
And Ben, Bartender can help with that menubar icon.
