Mac Performance Guide:

If one edits a document, then chooses Save As, then BOTH the edited original document and the copy are saved, thus not only saving a new copy, but silently saving the original with the same changes, thus overwriting the original. If you notice this auto-whack, you can “Revert To” the older version (manually), but if you don’t notice, then at some later date you’ll be in for a confusing surprise. And maybe an OMG-what-happened (consider a customer invoice that was overwritten).

Matt Neuburg points out this change in his aforelinked examination of document-model changes in Mountain Lion, but it deserves attention in and of itself. I’m hoping this is a bug or oversight in 10.8.0, because I honestly can’t see why anyone would want Save As to work this way.

With nearly all of these changes in 10.7 and 10.8 regarding documents and saving, it’s easy to see the tradeoffs involved. Maybe you prefer the old way, but you can see how other users (especially new Mac users) might benefit from the new way. But with this change to Save As, I can’t see how anyone benefits.

★ Tuesday, 7 August 2012