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Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' to Focus on Performance, Quality

rickster2k said:
They are really going to need to sell this with some kind of feature update or most people aren't going to buy it - how many people are going to hand over $129 for a performance update.

Shouldn't Apple be doing this anyway - it seems like an omission that Leopard isn't great and this is mearly a dare i say "Leopard Service Pack" that you have to pay for.

Not impressed at the moment.
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You haven't even discussed the pertinent features of Snow Leopard other than attempt to cast it off as a Service Pack. Umm let's see

1. Anyone wanting Native support for Exchange and sync to their mac will glady ante up.

2. Anyone with a 4-Core computer on up will gladly enjoy the better Multi Core performance.

3. Got a fast GPU...now you get to take advantage of GPGPU functionality.


Apple's downplaying things a bit. Adding OpenCL, Grand Central and the native Exchange support along with performance and stability tweaks is huge.
 
I hate to say it but doesn't this just sound like a Service Pack like Windows?

Snow Leopard = SP1 :eek:
 
rickster2k said:
They are really going to need to sell this with some kind of feature update or most people aren't going to buy it - how many people are going to hand over $129 for a performance update.
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Has Apple announced they are going to charge for it yet? No! So stup buzzing about the $129 you "may" have to fork out for it, when they haven't even announced there will be a price yet. Maybe Steve and Company have just decided to restabilize and optimize the whole OS so they can continue to stay ahead of the game in the future.
 
shervieux said:
it seems to me the tide is shifting, as I predicted where Apple will make more in roads to the Enterprise level and Apple will be the next main computer platform and totally eclipse MS.
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I think you're kidding yourself. Exchange is tried, tested and works which is why Apple and Nokia have had to licence it.
 
So I guess the RAM limitation increase to 16TB, might be an indication of a new 64-bit kernel compared to Leopard's still 32-bit kernel. So I guess Snow Leopard will be a full 64-bit release. Although that still doesn't answer the question of whether there is a 64-bit kernel for PPC and Intel and whether the 64-bit kernel will be the only kernel in Snow Leopard.
 
seashellz said:
Ha! an admission of poor QC, coding and bloat on Leopard!
I dont want a new feature unless it ESSENTIAL, and not fluff

Make a fast, stable rock solid OS that we can all be proud of as Steve leaves the companyy
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I gather you're running Mac OS 6.0.7 on a Macintosh IIfx, then?

Or, how about an Apple II with ProDOS?

You have to define "essential" before you go throwing it around. I consider Spotlight and Time Machine to be "essential" features for my family. Yeah, I personally may be able to do without them, but my wife uses Spotlight every single time she sits down at the computer; and Time Machine has saved her from her own mistakes multiple times. (Even better than the old .Mac Backup.)
 
I hope QuickTime X natively supports a lot more codecs.
Also, I definitely see this as the base for major (much bigger than anything we've seen so far) updates in the future, they want to make they have OS X as perfect as it can be before moving onto advanced updates... (multitouch OSX most likely)
 
yellow said:
Why oh why.. such a silly name?
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I'm thinking because it's not a release of new features. It's sort of enhancing what Leopard is right now, and therefore it's going to be another edition of Leopard, hence, "Snow Leopard".
 
people shouldn't moan about snow leopard even if it does cost normal price, Apple still has to pay its dev's to work on it, hence it still costs them the same to make etc.

Also, they said they would FOCUS on speed, stability not new features, the keyword being focus that doesn't mean there won't be any new features just that there won't be a slew of 200 odd new features but instead just a few.

I for one think leopard is pretty damn speedy already (my macbook is my first ever mac and it came with leopard got it around xmas so 10.5.1 and on) and hasn't crashed on me once, so any speed improvement will please me massively.

Also has as been duly noted that you don't have to buy the update so please don't moan if they charge full price.
 
Cougarcat said:
But if they're putting a hold on the features, they have nothing for competitors to find out.
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Vastly improving performance on older hardware with a software update IS a feature worth keeping under wraps. It will be exciting to see how they give OS X a turbo boost. We may need to thank the iPhone optimization team for such a revelation worth keeping away from the copy machines in Redmond.
 
Small White Car said:
Are you freak'n kidding? I have a $3,000 Mac Pro whose processors often only works at 50% because the software won't take full advantage of the hardware that's there. (I can trick Compressor into running multiple threads on the same compression and it DOES speed up, but other programs don't have that option.)

If I have a $129 chance to double the speed of my $3,000 investment I'd jump on that in a heartbeat.

How can that not impress you?

EDIT: And let me be clear that while I WOULD pay $129 for this I'm betting it won't cost that much. For the full version, sure, but I'm sure there will be an "upgrade from Leopard" price, which is unique for OSX, yes, but this is a unique update.
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Yeah I see your point. I just think for the average person it's going to need a selling point aside from speed increase.

Realistically thou it's far to early, I'd be more than happy to pay a cut down price for it and as Peace says realistically it will have a lot more than performance and stability for the average user. Will be an interesting year of so.
 
nuckinfutz said:
Apple's downplaying things a bit. Adding OpenCL, Grand Central and the native Exchange support along with performance and stability tweaks is huge.
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Agreed. These are hardly "fixes" for things that are broken.

These are features just as big as Time Machine, they just can't sell it in a cute way to the masses since it's more 'techy.'

So they down-play it to lower expectations. But really, this is sounding like another big update. It just won't be sold as such.
 
autrefois said:
Now, if they expect $129 for a what appears to be in essence a maintenance release, they have another thing coming...
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I suspect 10.6 will be a free upgrade from 10.5, as was done from 10.0 to 10.1. If it lays the groundwork for additional features and better support for developers, then revenue will come from other avenues.
 
Stike said:
That must mean, Snow Leopard is Apple´s epic mount.

...

yeah, way too much. Sorry. :p
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DING!

But back on topic - I just need much more details than what is given in the press release. Specifically, I want to hear what the hardware requirements are going to be for this release to make a difference, and reports from people actually running it. That's going to be a while, I expect, unless a beta is released to developers during this event (which is when we'll really lament the loss of ThinkSecret and their galleries). So, for the moment, there's not much to say until those blanks start to be filled in a bit.
 
This is one of the better, more level headed press releases to come out of Cupertino in a while. This stuff isn't marketable or particularly exciting but it is vital for enterprises.

No software is perfect and Snow Leopard won't be any different. I wouldn't assume Apple will charge $129.

I think Apple is deliberately dampening expectations with the hope they can actually surprise people for once. Snow Leopard may go down in History as the most strategically important release of OS X ever.
 
Peace said:
Apple is showing Snow after the keynote for a reason. Developers are supposed to be under strict NDA for this.
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Yeah and Apple themselves violated their NDA LOL. They since taken it down but

http://www.apple.com/ca/press/2008_06/snow_leopard.html

used to have this on it

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”
Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.
Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*
For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.
Click to expand...


Ooops hahahahaha
 
bobertoq said:
Will this preview be in the Keynote that will be on Apple's site? I'd really like to see the preview.

Anyways, I think it's a great idea. Really, think about it. For the past 7 years, Apple has just focused on features and eye candy, features and eye candy, etc. and if they continue to do so, OS X will become sluggish, bloated, slow, and large. Just like Vista. It's time Apple does a bit of clean up so that never happens :D
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Like Vista it has a lot of legacy hardware. Unlike Vista, that legacy hardware uses a completely difference CPU architecture.
 
1. How about out of the box working Active Directory support?
2. The only group with 4+ cores is Mac Pro users. Granted its a huge thing, but they're also probably going to have to buy all their software against since it'll be an upgrade to support GrandCentral.
3. Most of Apple's products don't have a "real gpu" in the context of unified shaders and the ability to do GPGPU type work. The Mac Pros have some nice cards, and even the new MBPs with the 8600 mobile are good, but thats about it. Everything else isn't worth much in terms of accelerating work like video encoding.

And most of what Apple sells (iMacs, MacBooks) have weak or integrated GPUs.
 
Cache of PR?

Did anyone get a copy of the linked press release? It appears to be nonexistent right now. It links to a Canada PR site, but I've tried variations for the US PR site, to no avail.
 
Ade-iMac-177 said:
is this going to be $129/£85 ?
it's fine to improve the performance and all that but they need to include new functions and bits so that it seems to basic users to not be a waste of time. Apple can't just make the equivalent of a large service pack and charge us for it.
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I think the new features will BE performance. If they tie their hands to new marketable features (there will for sure be a few), then that's like a self-imposed hurdle for them to pass with how great they improve the product.

In order to make it sell, they will HAVE to improve it to the point they can list the features like this:

Snow Leopard features:

1/2x startup time
2x Quicktime encoding
400% CPU optimization
etc...

By not adding features, it keeps them from falling back on gimmicks to sell it. Keeps the coding honest.
 
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