I've been waiting forever for spaces to act like it now does - for me they finally fixed multiple displays! Not sure why the old behavior would be better?

Well, I for one tried the new way for a couple of weeks, but had to switch back. I generally work with my external monitor above my laptop, which essentially makes for a double-height desktop. And find it much more convenient to have a row of double-height workspaces that I can swipe between (i.e. the old way), than have to swipe the top and bottom halves separately.

And a BIG loss with the new way is that you can no longer drag windows between spaces on the same display, without using Exposé. You can only directly drag them between different displays, now, which is a total pain.

Overall, I just find it a bit weird how they've implemented the new mode. I suppose I expected display-specific spaces to disappear when you disconnected that display, and to re-appear when you re-connected it -- much as per-display backgrounds do now. But instead they persist, so when you disconnect a display from your laptop, you end up with a long row of spaces on your laptop display that you usually have to rearrange again to be useful. But if you start moving windows around at that point, of course, nothing goes back to the right display when you re-connect the external one again.

Just doesn't suit my way of working or thinking at all, I'm afraid.

I have a couple of complicated processing things I do that require both my screens, and 3 or 4 applications in at least one of the cases. Having the screens travel together as in former versions is an advantage for me. But the new functionality looks attractive for general use. Wish I could link some pairs together and leave others independent. Oh, well, if wishes were mavericks...

It's MUCH better now that we can control spaces individually on each display. The downside is that we can't park a window in between displays, but that characteristic wasn't all that useful anyway.

I really can't think of a single time where I'd prefer the old way.
Mavericks finally has it right.

Too bad about the new iWork!

I quite like the new spaces/multiple displays except that it breaks Adobe Lightroom's multiple display feature quite badly. Currently stuck with choosing between using Lightroom with one display or returning to the previous Spaces setup and losing some of the nifty full screen abilities.

Hmmm, Lightroom is working fine for me with menu bars in both screens (the new Maverick "way"). When in Lightroom, I type shift-G and the grid goes to my secondary monitor while Loupe view or Develop remains in the main one.

I too wanted the "old" behavior back because I usually think of my screens as functioning together. FYI, I have 12 spaces setup, of which I regularly have apps running or windows set in 8 of them. To have to switch both monitors when I jump spaces was a burden.

I was pleased, however, to note that the "old" way is still improved. My biggest complaint about pre-Mavericks life was that when in Mission Control, you couldn't drag a window from one display onto a space on a different display. But now you can! In my opinion, that was the only change that really needed to happen.

I do, though, like the idea of deciding on an individual basis whether spaces are "paired" across displays or act singly.

I'll add a tip about switching spaces with Control-[number]

In the old Spaces, I liked being able to shift the my four Desktops with the Control key. Control 1 shifted my pair of monitors to Desktop 1 etc.

In the new Spaces, I kept first four Desktops for my left display and added two (5&6) for the right one. Unfortunately, while Control 1-4 worked for the left display, Control 5 & 6 didn't change the right display.

Poking around, I discovered that in Preferences-Keyboard-Shortcuts under Mission Control, all six Desktops were listed, but only my old configuration, Switch to Desktop 1-4 were checked. I checked the options for Desktop 5 & 6 and now all work properly.

Using the Control keys makes the new Spaces really shine, since it provides a quick way to change what's displayed on either screen independent of the other. It just may require a little configuration.

To me, the new spaces behavior is no better than just opening all of your applications in a single space and then switching between them with command-tab or mission control. What's better about the new behavior except for the extra menu bar? The real benefit to spaces for me is that I can put applications into sets and switch between the sets quickly. If I could somehow switch both monitors at once I'd love to have the menu bar on the second monitor, but since it's not an option it's a really productivity killer for me.

Quote: If I could somehow switch both monitors at once I'd love to have the menu bar on the second monitor, but since it's not an option it's a really productivity killer for me.

It's not a perfect solution, since it does require two keystrokes, but the Command-[number] shortcut I describe above does let you do that. For instance if you had four sets on the left monitor and four on the right, pressing Command-2 & Command-7 would give you the Desktop 2 and 7 combination. It's actually more powerful, since it lets you jump to any combination you'd like.

My main complaint is that the new features are so powerful, I find myself getting lost and not knowing which desktops I'm on. As a result, I end up with almost every app on one screen. It'd be great if there were some command, perhaps one of the Function key combinations, that's pop up a little window (like the volume setting) on each display, telling me which it is. Even better, would be a way to rename these desktops to something more useful, so the unhelpful Desktop 5 would become 5—Email & Calendar.

And yes, I've got one of the extra buttons on my mouse set up to display all the Mission Control desktops, but nothing is labeled so it still takes time to find what I'm looking for.

And I also know that the ability to set different desktops pictures for each desktop means I could put that labeling onto the picture itself. But that'd take time, wouldn't be that easy to change, and it isn't visible when a desktop is covered with windows.

I imagine most of our concerns will be addressed in time. Apple employees use their OS, so they've got as much reason to see it improved as we do. What we have now is far better than the original Spaces of several versions back.

Not only does this feature break other programs it breaks Time Machine. If you have "Mission Control" with a check mark in "Displays have separate Spaces" when Time Machine is envoked the windows start to stack and then a large Black rectangle covers the stacked windows making time machine useless. If unchecked and rebooted Time Machine works fine. Also if you unplug your second LED display it also will work again. This is a major screw up in programing.