Schiller to Demo Snow Leopard at Macworld?

[MacRumors]

The Guardian claims that Apple and its partners have been privately dropping hints to developers that Mac OS X Snow Leopard will ship earlier than expected and suggests that Phil Schiller will show it off at Macworld.

The article also recaps the advantages of both Grand Central and OpenCL which will be introduced with the new operating system:

The first technology, Grand Central, is designed to make better use of the Intel processors that sit inside the current range of Macs. The other, OpenCL, could have a more dramatic effect on performance for some programs as it will tap into the power of graphics processors (GPUs) that now goes to waste.

Despite the early showing, actual delivery of the software is not expected for at least a couple of months later. This timeframe would still bring it into the 1st Quarter 2009 timeframe that was previously suggested by Apple's Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies.

Article Link: Schiller to Demo Snow Leopard at Macworld?

[Tallest Skil]

Uh... if this WASN'T going to happen, we could safely assume that Apple has completely given up on their computers...

I still say WWDC release, though. I'd rather they not rush the darn thing.

[derek1984]

Hmmm...First revision of Macbook Pro with better processor and now Snow Leopard? It's looking more and more like I'll be purchasing a Macbook Pro this spring!

[Warbrain]

It wouldn't surprise me if this happens. I'd hope for something a bit bigger but it's obvious that it won't be happening now.

[talkingfuture]

Looking forward to the demo, I know I'll want to buy it but I don't know why yet!

[Kilamite]

I assume this'll just be a performance demo then? A whole "look how fast and efficient OS X is".

Looking forward to it though. Like to see the progress.

[balahir]

Willl Safari NOW feel snappier ;-) ?

[zombitronic]

I'm curious about what they'll show off, as well. If it's just Leopard, but faster, I think it'll be hard to demo. "Look, Safari is snappier! See? And look, Activity Monitor!" Regardless, I'll still want it. I just think it might be tough to wow the crowd.

[FJ218700]

maybe they'll release a public beta after the keynote



-right

[iMacmatician]

Originally Posted by derek1984

Hmmm...First revision of Macbook Pro with better processor and now Snow Leopard? It's looking more and more like I'll be purchasing a Macbook Pro this spring!

Same here, although I don't think my iBook can wait any longer than January. I guess a lot of it will have to do with iLife '09, Snow Leopard, and Spring update dates and significances.

Originally Posted by Kilamite

I assume this'll just be a performance demo then? A whole "look how fast and efficient OS X is".

The optimistic side of me has thought for a while that there will be a few end-user features that will be pointed out, primarily to entice users to upgrade. We've already seen one: Icon audio/video play previews. Maybe we will see more.

Originally Posted by ChrisA

The reason you have Snow Leopard is not to do today's jobs faster but to enable other types of applications.
...
The trouble is that you can't demo those new kinds of applications so it might come down to a useless demo where they do video rendering in Final Cut Pro or something like that.

Maybe Apple will add one or two new applications to Snow Leopard that take advantage of its new features. That would also be one or two more reasons to buy it.

And my MWSF predictions? Cinema Displays, Mac mini, iPhone talk, sales talk etc., Snow Leopard talk, maybe iLife/iWork '09 (maybe they'll have Snow Leopard optimizations). iMac update only if it's significant (quad-core desktop CPUs).

[petermcphee]

I hope that Snow Leopard shows the same performance boosts that Leopard showed over Tiger.

[k2spitfire88]

Originally Posted by Amdahl

Which means you are missing the point again. Apple can release all the OS versions they want, and sell them to you as many times as you want to buy. But they should be DEMANDED to support the things for security for five years!
An OS & computer is NOT obsolete in 17 months!

While I agree with the last point, since it is their software, don't they have the right to stop updating it when they want??? I would rather have them look forward as much as possible, then be like Windoze, stuck in legacy code that they can't dump, but that's just my $.02. Feel how you want, but I'm ok with the way they do it.

[macFanDave]

is that Phil Schiller will be making several BIG announcements. I'm giving you all the specificity of a typical TV psychic. There will be "several" and they will be "big."

The last time I saw Jobs speak, he acted more as a master of ceremonies (or emcee or MC, to you youngsters!) than as the one-man show he used to do. He trotted up many others to discuss different things.

Also, there have been many of these big speeches that have been duds, partly because nothing really exciting was revealed and partly because the rumor mill was exactly right and stole Jobs' thunder.

My psychic revelation is based on the idea that if Apple wants to pull off this changing of the guard (at least replacing Jobs as the public face of Apple), they have to give Schiller some killer material to ease the sting of not seeing our hero.

[fastbite]

Originally Posted by macFanDave

is that Phil Schiller will be making several BIG announcements. I'm giving you all the specificity of a typical TV psychic. There will be "several" and they will be "big."

The last time I saw Jobs speak, he acted more as a master of ceremonies (or emcee or MC, to you youngsters!) than as the one-man show he used to do. He trotted up many others to discuss different things.

Also, there have been many of these big speeches that have been duds, partly because nothing really exciting was revealed and partly because the rumor mill was exactly right and stole Jobs' thunder.

My psychic revelation is based on the idea that if Apple wants to pull off this changing of the guard (at least replacing Jobs as the public face of Apple), they have to give Schiller some killer material to ease the sting of not seeing our hero.

I think you make 100% sense. I'm with you.

[flottenheimer]

Originally Posted by macFanDave

My prediction is that Phil Schiller will be making several BIG announcements. I'm giving you all the specificity of a typical TV psychic. There will be "several" and they will be "big."

The last time I saw Jobs speak, he acted more as a master of ceremonies (or emcee or MC, to you youngsters!) than as the one-man show he used to do. He trotted up many others to discuss different things.

Also, there have been many of these big speeches that have been duds, partly because nothing really exciting was revealed and partly because the rumor mill was exactly right and stole Jobs' thunder.

My psychic revelation is based on the idea that if Apple wants to pull off this changing of the guard (at least replacing Jobs as the public face of Apple), they have to give Schiller some killer material to ease the sting of not seeing our hero.

My prediction as well.

[flottenheimer]

Referring to this article. It's incredible that an app as simple iCal has a file size of 89 megabytes! My first harddisk (Amiga) had a total capacity of 20 mb. On it, I had an entire OS, DTP WYSIWYG software, WordProcessor, DeluxePaint, lotsa fonts, several utilities, pictures, music etc. etc. oh, and several megabytes of free space as well.
I know everything was way simpler and smaller back then, but, iCal 89 mb...

No wonder why modern computers, despite their "supercomputer-class"-processors, ultra-fast gigabytes of RAM and super-speedy harddrives have longer boot times than my 20 years old Amiga system had. Kinda sad, really.

I think Apples "clean-up/optimization"-Snow Leopard-mission is going to make a huge difference.
Never have I looked more forward to a new version of OS X than this time.



Update: I just realised that the current version of TextEdit would not have fit on my entire Amiga HD. TextEdit! 22 mb! Sad. Sloppy.

[Cinch]

@ flottenheimer

I'm will you all the way here!

a rough calculation says that you'll save 505 MB of disk space. Of course application start time will be much better!

Now, can we get Snow Leopard down below 700 MB? I doubt it, but I think it is worth a try albeit and expensive endeavor.

I think parsimonious code is stronger and more robust.

Cinch

[freddiecable]

exactly what i was/am thinking!

Originally Posted by macFanDave

is that Phil Schiller will be making several BIG announcements. I'm giving you all the specificity of a typical TV psychic. There will be "several" and they will be "big."

The last time I saw Jobs speak, he acted more as a master of ceremonies (or emcee or MC, to you youngsters!) than as the one-man show he used to do. He trotted up many others to discuss different things.

Also, there have been many of these big speeches that have been duds, partly because nothing really exciting was revealed and partly because the rumor mill was exactly right and stole Jobs' thunder.

My psychic revelation is based on the idea that if Apple wants to pull off this changing of the guard (at least replacing Jobs as the public face of Apple), they have to give Schiller some killer material to ease the sting of not seeing our hero.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Uh... if this WASN'T going to happen, we could safely assume that Apple has completely given up on their computers...

Umm, why? Apple wasn't originally planning (publicly) to have Snow Leopard until June, since they announced last June it'd be about a year. This is ahead of schedule, which is a bonus. I wouldn't be surprised if there was little more to say about Snow Leopard at MacWorld.

Of course, with rumor it's now likely there will be a good bit of presentation on it (and Phil's a good guy to do it, he seems more technical than Jobs, who's more than willing to say "I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a good thing").

jW

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by Mal

Umm, why? Apple wasn't originally planning (publicly) to have Snow Leopard until June, since they announced last June it'd be about a year. This is ahead of schedule, which is a bonus. I wouldn't be surprised if there was little more to say about Snow Leopard at MacWorld.

Since Snow Leopard is a rewrite of the OS itself and not the addition of new features, I'd much rather they take the extra months and make sure it works.

I can deal with a new aspect of the GUI being buggy or a new app that doesn't work. I don't want to have to sit for a week without a computer because when I installed 10.6, I installed a broken Finder and a Grand Central station with a cross-wired switchboard.

[Sky Blue]

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Since Snow Leopard is a rewrite of the OS itself and not the addition of new features, I'd much rather they take the extra months and make sure it works.

If you suffered through Entourage, you'd want it out asap.

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by Sky Blue

If you suffered through Entourage, you'd want it out asap.

I refuse to use anything that Microsoft makes. Why would I have had to suffer through Entourage, anyway?

[137489]

Originally Posted by Sky Blue

If you suffered through Entourage, you'd want it out asap.

What is your problem with Entourage. I have been using it for a couple of weeks. Not as slick as outlook, but it is functional.

[capoditutti]

Is OpenCL written to harness the extra GPU grunt of the first-gen Ati cards or only the more recent ones?



CaPo

[funkyp56]

Originally Posted by capoditutti

Is OpenCL written to harness the extra GPU grunt of the first-gen Ati cards or only the more recent ones?



CaPo

OpenCL and Grand Central better support every Intel Mac with a discrete video car or else I will be really really pissed!!!