Apple Nearing Completion of Snow Leopard?

[atmgr82]

Snow Leopard ETA

Per the Apple press release about its keynote, the conference will allow developers to play with what is assumed to be a nearly complete version of the OS that isn't ready for release just yet:

"“Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final Developer Preview release so they can see the incredible progress we’ve made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release.” "

How's that for fueling rumors?

 

[mogzieee]

What, Grand Central and OpenCL aren't enough? I can't wait for those two features, and for my CPU-hungry apps (especially Logic Pro) to start using them.

seriously?? all you care about is the interface.. just the way it looks, rather than the gr8 way it would feel??

Guys I totally agree there could be some awesome new power upgrades, but really, for the whole £79 (I'm guessing thats the UK price point), is it really worth the upgrade for just a standard, but not professional user like me?

Mind you, I am progressing and enjoying Final Cut loads at the moment, so the chances are I'll be upgrading anyway... but if there's that new slick Marble interface, I'm on the pre-order list.

 

[milo]

Because this isn't supposed to be a big update like Panther and Tiger were. It's just an optimized version of Leopard for Intel machines. Why waste a good single syllable name for something that just barely makes changes or adds features to consumers. Most of the new features are for developers.

If apple is trying to downplay it as not being as big an update, they're going to have to price it accordingly if they want it to sell.

And as I just asked, is it really known for sure that it's intel only?

 

[MikhailT]

seriously?? all you care about is the interface.. just the way it looks, rather than the gr8 way it would feel??

I am not sure if he agrees but I think a lot of people just wants a change in their environment. GUI is the best way to do that. Look at the Stacks, Expose and others that is part of the GUi that changed the way we work with our computers. For a lot of people, working with the same OS all the time, it starts to get boring. Unfortunately Apple does not allow the ability to change themes, even tho there are third party tools, they are often hacks that frequently get invalided by a simple system update.

Now anyway, I seriously am doubting that SL is in GM stage now. That's just too fast in my opinion and would seriously brings up the risk of another 10.5 "public beta" release. Didn't they just finish with the GCD APis or all APIs a month ago?

I think it is more likely Apple is making RC not GM for the Developer Preview for the WWDC.

 

[jholzner]

I still don't know why they recycled the name. it sounds so bad... everything to this point has been mono syllable names, why change it. they might as well as called it long horn. ha ha just kidding... but seriously, why go from leopard to snow leopard? I'm sure there are still a few single named cats out there. What's next Pantera Leo?

Tiger, Leopard, and Panther all have two syllables in them.

 

[Slurpy2k8]

It would be a massive dissapointment if SL didnt have a refreshed UI. Many elements in Leopard look ridiculous and are outdated (ie, neon aqua buttons, etc) and fundamentally not much at all has changed since Tiger. It would be an utter shame if Apple hasnt been doing some work in this regard.

 

[MacDaddy901]

Total newbie question: will the standard aurora desktop be replaced with a new one?

 

[chabig]

Apple will likely detail its launch plans for Snow Leopard at WWDC next week.

Thank you for that tremendous insight!

 

[MikhailT]

If apple is trying to downplay it as not being as big an update, they're going to have to price it accordingly if they want it to sell.

And as I just asked, is it really known for sure that it's intel only?

Nobody knows but there weren't a lot of evidence in the seeds that suggest PPC will be there.

I guess we'll find out next Monday.

 

[kirreip]

"Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final Developer Preview release so they can see the incredible progress we’ve made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release."

Now that sounds great to my ears! I am really looking forward to see what it really is capable of.

 

[Stephen123]

Personally, I'm thrilled that it is not a feature based release. All the big software companies have been adding big features at the expense of fixing and refining all the little things. In theory, Snow Leopard is a ground up scrubbing of Leopard, making it a little better in every way, rather than adding new bells and whistles. I think that's fabulous. If this is really true, we can expect significant improvements in speed, reliability, security, ease of development, consistency and compatibility.

 

[jaw04005]

And as I just asked, is it really known for sure that it's intel only?

It's Intel only. Why would Apple spend time optimizing for a now defunct platform? I actually won't be surprised if some of its features are 64-bit only, leaving out the first generation Intel machines (Core Duo/Solo).

It's been leaked that the file size of most built-in applications in Snow Leopard have been dramatically reduced. There are only so many ways to accomplish that. A relatively easy way would be to remove PPC code.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Total newbie question: will the standard aurora desktop be replaced with a new one?

It may or may not be. I'll bet it isn't.

You know, Cheetah through Tiger barley had any UI changes. I really don't care about the UI too much, but I'd like to see some more customization like OS 9 had.

 

[crees!]

Please be bug-free, although at this point, I'll take anything over Leopard Server.

Please be bug-free, and not the public Beta that was Leopard at launch.

Please be bug-free, and demonstrate that Apple has paid as much attention to its OS as it has the iPhone.

Software is never bug-free. If it was, then it would never be released. Just something you'll have to come to grips with.

 

[naman34]

to all those people wanting the 'marble' interface, basically u want a new theme though i cant understand y its so important... they've already added more functionality. multilevel stacks n stuff, more quicklook, high q icons... i doubt they'll change the ui much more. maybe just a new wallpaper would b all the changes the bring, or i think they'll also make the dock look slightly better. ad please to ppl who think marble can delay things. cmon its just something so cosmetic. apple doesnt even take it seriously (hence no themes!)

 

[Ironduke]

I want it now.

Yeah boy!

I would love to see that bite Steve Balmers ass off

 

[Schizoid]

Tuesday, September 1st 2009

 

[nuckinfutz]

Wrap this baby up with Snow Leopard iWork and Snow Leopard iLife in a new Mac Bundle Box and I'm in it to win it.

 

[Hattig]

I still don't know why they recycled the name. it sounds so bad... everything to this point has been mono syllable names, why change it.

Ko-di-ac (public beta of 10.0)
Cheet-ah (10.0)
Pu-ma
Jag-u-ar
Panth-er
Ti - ger
Leop - ard

You said what?

 

[EarthDawn]

I would honestly rather have SL come out now then a new iPhone ....

 

[armoguy94]

I don't like the marble look anyways! It's way too simple and plain.. especially the scroll bar.. it's just a blue gradient.

I can wait for Snow Leopard personally and I hope they release it in a very stable state. I'm curious to see if it works on hackintosh systems! If so, I'm getting a Hackintosh as my next computer.

 

[Mal]

It may or may not be. I'll bet it isn't.

You know, Cheetah through Tiger barley had any UI changes. I really don't care about the UI too much, but I'd like to see some more customization like OS 9 had.

Virtually 100% guarantee they'll change the desktop, but it may not be a major change. Every release has a new desktop background standard, but it's not always a major change.

As for Cheetah through Tiger having barely any UI changes, what? I look at even Panther and shudder at the missing UI elements, but go back one more to Jaguar and it looks completely different. Aqua is essentially gone, the traffic lights and the blue scrollbars being the major remnants, but you must not really remember the white windows with the pinstrips. Huge changes visually, at least to someone who spends a lot of time on the computer. Huge usability improvements between Jaguar and Panther especially, btw, and then continuing to Tiger. Leopard actually didn't make much in the way of big UI changes, just unified the appearance a lot more.

jW

 

[ozyr]

Bring it on! I truly hope it beats #7 (from you-know-who) to being released. Then again, I don't want to see a rushed system, which I think the current 10.5 was - to a point.

 

[Peace]

I don't like the marble look anyways! It's way too simple and plain.. especially the scroll bar.. it's just a blue gradient.

I can wait for Snow Leopard personally and I hope they release it in a very stable state. I'm curious to see if it works on hackintosh systems! If so, I'm getting a Hackintosh as my next computer.

nothing personal but you haven't seen the marble interface.

 

[RMo]

I still don't know why they recycled the name. it sounds so bad... everything to this point has been mono syllable names, why change it. they might as well as called it long horn. ha ha just kidding... but seriously, why go from leopard to snow leopard? I'm sure there are still a few single named cats out there. What's next Pantera Leo?

Monosyllable names? Cheeta, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Leopard? They all sound like two syllables to me.

Perhaps you meant "one word," but, in any case, I don't think it's a big deal. I think they chose a similar name because of the incremental, rather than revolutionary, changes they are anticipating for this release.