New Desktop Pictures and QuickTime X Icon in Latest Snow Leopard

[iBug2]

I told you already that I think Leopard is buggy... It's just my feeling, didn't have such a feeling so much in Tiger.

Leopard "was" as buggy as any OS, but nowadays I can't find anything to report. Tiger was the same for me.

Well.. duh? I've done that for every bug I encountered and yes they got fixed.. Only not in Leopard but in Snow Leopard. Believe me, these bugs will not be fixed anymore in Leopard.

Well the ones I reported were fixed with Leopard point releases. Like I said, probably the ones you reported were not urgent enough to fix immediately.

That's why I like Snow Leopard, all the animations are just as smooth as in Tiger. In Leopard, Exposé and Dashboard etc are choppy as hell (GMA950). You will probably just say it doesn't count... Well, in my opinion it counts for the overall experience.

If the expose animations are choppy ofc that's disturbing. But they shouldn't be. Are you sure it's not just your macbook? Did you ask around / check other macbooks with GMA950? Because I don't think they actually speeded up GMA graphics on SL.

Maybe yes, maybe not, we can't say that for sure can we?

All the first releases of OS's are much more buggier. So statistically speaking SL will introduce more bugs than it solves yes.

Stop there, who are you to decide these things are totally unimportant? Apple is known for their great interfaces and I don't want to look at those silly errors. You may not notice it, I do, because I care about my interface.

I'm not to decide what's unimportant. But obviously it's unimportant for Apple as well since they didn't fix it over a 2 year period and they fixed tons of other bugs.

That might be true, I can't say yes or no to that because I don't know what Apple has done to optimize Snow Leopard besides removing PPC code.

Considering you can boot your Mac under 3 seconds by using SSD Raid, I'm assuming the boot process speed depends largely on read from HD. If SL boots faster it's reading less, and dropping of PPC code would be largely responsible for that. There can be other stuff too ofc.

 

[G-Force]

I have a MacBook here with GMA X3100 graphics and the animations are not smooth in Leopard. I don't know what they did in Snow Leopard, but in the builds I have used the animations are much, much smoother, just like it was in Tiger.

Exposé is sometimes smooth, sometimes not. Don't know exactly what causes that. Dashboard's "fly in" and ripple effects are not smooth, but when I disable the 3D dock it's very smooth.

My iMac had the same issue though (17-inch Core 2 Duo with X1600). I don't have that machine anymore, but I can remember that animations were not smooth at all on that machine in Leopard.

 

[iBug2]

I have a MacBook here with GMA X3100 graphics and the animations are not smooth in Leopard. I don't know what they did in Snow Leopard, but in the builds I have used the animations are much, much smoother, just like it was in Tiger.

My iMac had the same issue though (17-inch Core 2 Duo with X1600). I don't have that machine anymore, but I can remember that animations were not smooth at all on that machine in Leopard.

Were they not smooth since the first release or 10.5.7 broke the speed?

Also expose/dock animations tend to get broken by some 3rd party apps (Firefox crashes, Plex crash reporter, also some login items), forcequitting the dock speeds them up again in those cases.

I have a X1600 iMac at home as well, and dock/expose animations are not as fast as my 8800GT/9600GT machines but they are not disturbingly slow either. I didn't test SL on that iMac though.

 

[G-Force]

They were choppy since 10.5.0. Exposé has become better over time, but Dashboard and Genie effects only become smooth when I disable the 3D Dock. The nice thing is, Snow Leopard is smooth with the 3D Dock on so there must be a difference (Dock optimizations?).

I know the GMA950 is slow, but it should handle these effects fine. Snow Leopard (and Tiger) are the proof of that.

 

[iBug2]

They were choppy since 10.5.0. Exposé has become better over time, but Dashboard and Genie effects only become smooth when I disable the 3D Dock. The nice thing is, Snow Leopard is smooth with the 3D Dock on so there must be a difference (Dock optimizations?).

I know the GMA950 is slow, but it should handle these effects fine. Snow Leopard (and Tiger) are the proof of that.

Did you test with a fresh install of Leopard without any 3rd party apps?

 

[G-Force]

I noticed it right from the start when I cleanly installed Leopard on my machines.

Check this topic
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/377595/

I see I even posted a comment over there saying the animations were not smooth. Guess there is not much I can do to fix this, I hope Snow Leopard stays as smooth as it is.

Thanks.

 

[MartiNZ]

Well, if you are reporting a bug and it's not getting fixed, it's most likely that they can't reproduce the bug. I've reported around 12 bugs since the release of Leopard and majority of them got fixed over time. But all the ones that got fixed were reproducible 100% and they were reproducible in freshly installed Leopards with no 3rd party software. I suggest you try that approach, keep a clean copy of Leopard in another partition, and only use it to keep track of bugs. And also the bugs I've reported were more important than the graphical inconsistency you pointed out, so it's possible that they go for the more dangerous bugs before they even get to yours.

Well, you can't avoid seeing the iTunes dashboard widget bugs and crashes on any Tiger or Leopard system - it simply isn't compatible with iTunes 8; the shuffle button doesn't work, playlists cannot be selected on the back side, and if you just so much as open and close the widget, and wait around for a while, a dialog will show up saying the dashboard client crashed. Things really don't get more reproducible.

Re dangerous vs aesthetic or just annoying, I don't go along with that after reading some of the point point upgrade notes over the years. Oh there goes the iTunes widget crashing again, just making sure.

Other things like Leopard not loading file type information on SMB shares seem to have been fixed in SL already, but I'm pretty sure my pet bug won't be. Colour calibration reversion on wake from sleep is still rife as well, especially with external displays. I hope they find time to fix things like this while working on things like new desktop pictures and account avatars.

 

[Saladinos]

You said what I wanted to say better than I did.

If I had just one PowerPC Mac and one $129 Leopard purchase, I'd not be mad at dropping PowerPC support. I think Apple is making a mistake though with its best customers as this notion that G5s don't support any of Snow Leopard's features is blatantly false as are the notions that Snow Leopard is a completely new operating system.

It's NOT a new operating system! It's a major bug fix release!​

Think Windows Service pack. That would be a very good description of Snow Leopard.

Why else would it be just $29?​

Even by Apple's own descriptions of Snow Leopard, you'd be hard pressed to state a technical reason why they couldn't just as easily be implemented on a dual processor G5. And some fixes would probably help even on a G4!

Onto my last point... Why do silly Fanboys shout TROLL every time someone criticizes Apple?

I've used Apple computers since before half the people here who shout TROLL were BORN! LOL

It's not a service pack - for some people the entire OS is now 64-bit. No Windows service pack has ever done that. Microsoft released a new OS for that, Windows x64, and IIRC, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows have different keys so you need to buy a new OS to make the switch.

Snow Leopard contains more than any bugfix release on any platform, so there's no reason for it to be free. However, it focuses on developer features. The problem with concentrating on developer features is that developers won't use them unless adoption of the OS is so high that they're not risking compatibility with too many users. However, the OS won't get be adopted unless developers use the features and show people why they should upgrade. Hence SL has such a low price to spur upgrades so developers can make use of the new features in SL sooner.

It's not like a windows service pack. 10.5.7 is a service pack. No windows service pack brings that many under the hood changes.

And no, G5's are 64 bit processors but no G5 equipped machines are capable of running 64 bit kernel and no G5 equipped machines include GPU's which Open CL supports. So no, G5's wouldn't benefit much from SL, only from GCD.

AppleInsider did some great articles about why PPC macs have less to gain from 64-bit support. That's part of the reason. PPC Macs are increasingly uncommon, and Apple have to end support at some point. If Apple had not cut support with this release, they'd be shipping an OS on 3 architectures: PPC, Intel 32-bit, Intel 64-bit. That's incredibly difficult and makes the OS more difficult to maintain. Apple aren't large enough to support that, and it makes no sense for them to hire to support an architecture they've already earmarked for the trash. It had to give so Intel 64-bit could take its place.

Dropping PPC support is also better for developers and gives them more of an incentive to take advantage of SL features: they can drop PPC and the additional testing and development that requires, and since they're now limited to Intel customers, they can take advantage of SL-only features without much fear of alienating customers (Apple are expecting the vast majority of Intel customers to upgrade). It also prevents developers having to ship FAT binaries with 3 architectures.

The decisions Apple made for Snow Leopard simply make sense. Only a handful of PPC customers are complaining, and their reasoning seems to fall along the "its not fair" lines, rather than the "its best for the platform" lines. Apple has always been competitive by trying to make the best platform by making unpopular decisions. This move is not out of character.

 

[diamond.g]

Microsoft released a new OS for that, Windows x64, and IIRC, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows have different keys so you need to buy a new OS to make the switch.

Actually that is only true with XP (and by extension Server 2003) with Vista (Server 2008) and 7 (Server 2008 R2) you can use the same key for either version. Although to move between the versions you will have to do a clean install.

I still don't understand why Apple is only allowing the 64bit kernel on the systems with a 64bit EFI. I don't get what EFI has to do with x64.

 

[ilash]

Would You Upload .icns FIle?

clearly the other poster doesn't know the color red

Personally, I love this red icon! Please upload the .icns file for it! I do not know how to create those files from this .png file.

 

[Maserati7200]

I'm running the GMA 950 and expose is very smooth.

 

[illegallydead]

They were choppy since 10.5.0. Exposé has become better over time, but Dashboard and Genie effects only become smooth when I disable the 3D Dock. The nice thing is, Snow Leopard is smooth with the 3D Dock on so there must be a difference (Dock optimizations?).

I know the GMA950 is slow, but it should handle these effects fine. Snow Leopard (and Tiger) are the proof of that.

I honestly cannot see what all you old-Macbook-haters are talking about. I have a Mid-'07 Macbook, and can honestly say that I have never had any issue with any of these applications.

Sure, I may not have much to compare it to (only used Tiger for about 2 months before Leopard came out), but I would say that all the animations are spiffy as hell.

Yes, I have upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM HDD, but the fact remains that I still have a "slow" GMA-950. Driving the laptop screen & a 1920x1080 HD monitor all day. The only knock I have on that chip is that it gets pretty hot (~68º C) running HD content. But that is to be expected. (oh that and that OpenCL won't support it. darn )

So please, elaborate on what you have against this "old" machine.

I would love a new uMBP with nVidia chips and DDR3 as much as the next guy, but my old girl continues to wow me Hopefully SL will make her that much better!

 

[MarkCooz]

I'm also running SL with GMA950
it's smooth as crazy!
i like it better than reg. leopard

expose smooth
stacks smoother
minimizing smoothest!

boot is definitely twice as fast.

I'm running dual boot btw.

 

[G-Force]

I honestly cannot see what all you old-Macbook-haters are talking about. I have a Mid-'07 Macbook, and can honestly say that I have never had any issue with any of these applications.

old-Macbook-haters? Where do I say I hate my Mid 2007 MacBook? I only said the effects are choppy on my machines, where in Tiger they smooth as can be. If I "hate" something, it's Leopard and not my MacBook.

Sure, I may not have much to compare it to (only used Tiger for about 2 months before Leopard came out), but I would say that all the animations are spiffy as hell.

Ehm... maybe you haven't used Tiger enough to make a good comparison.....?

Yes, I have upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 7200RPM HDD, but the fact remains that I still have a "slow" GMA-950. Driving the laptop screen & a 1920x1080 HD monitor all day.

What you might find fast, I might find slow. I'm sorry, I don't like the GMA950.

So please, elaborate on what you have against this "old" machine.

Again, where do I say that I don't like "old" machines? Where?

Saying the GMA950 is slow is NOT the same as saying I don't like the 2007 MacBook.

Guess not everyone has slow effects, there are enough topics on the Internet about this issue. My MacBook with GMA950 has it, another MacBook here with GMA X3100 has it, my iMac with X1600 had it, my 24-inch iMac with 8800GS even had choppy Dashboard effects. All with clean installs. The issue exists, but not on every Mac I guess. I'm just glad Apple fixed/optimized it in Snow Leopard.

Hopefully SL will make her that much better!

The day you start using Snow Leopard, you will know what I'm talking about.

I'm also running SL with GMA950
it's smooth as crazy!
i like it better than reg. leopard

expose smooth
stacks smoother
minimizing smoothest!

boot is definitely twice as fast.

I'm running dual boot btw.

I have exactly the same experience. On my MacBook Snow Leopard is faster in every aspect than Leopard and the effects are on the same level again as Tiger's.

 

[illegallydead]

old-Macbook-haters? Where do I say I hate my Mid 2007 MacBook? I only said the effects are choppy on my machines, where in Tiger they smooth as can be. If I "hate" something, it's Leopard and not my MacBook.

OK so maybe I used stronger language than was necessary. Maybe I took dislike for the GMA 950's speed out of context. Not totally what I was getting at, sorry.

Ehm... maybe you haven't used Tiger enough to make a good comparison.....?

Ya that was sort of my point. Maybe I haven't.

What you might find fast, I might find slow. I'm sorry, I don't like the GMA950.
Saying the GMA950 is slow is NOT the same as saying I don't like the 2007 MacBook.
Guess not everyone has slow effects, there are enough topics on the Internet about this issue. My MacBook with GMA950 has it, another MacBook here with GMA X3100 has it, my iMac with X1600 had it, my 24-inch iMac with 8800GS even had choppy Dashboard effects. All with clean installs. The issue exists, but not on every Mac I guess. I'm just glad Apple fixed/optimized it in Snow Leopard.

I am guessing that you have your bar raised awfully high if ALL of those machines, with their respective hardwares, were too "slow" at these effects for you. Maybe this can sum up our little argument:

The day you start using Snow Leopard, you will know what I'm talking about.

I am of course yet to use Snow Leopard, and don't have access to a computer that you deem "fast" enough to drive effects (in Leopard) at the speed you want. I guess to sum everything up: You do not like Leopard. I do. Maybe it is the fact that I am not that anal about the speed of my snazzy effects. Maybe because for me, after transitioning from bogged down XP machines ranging from new to 10 years old, my Macbook is the fastest thing I have experienced on a daily basis, due in part to OS X, in my case, Leopard. At this point I will be happy to agree to disagree. You have a problem with Leopard, I do not; maybe that means that I will be that much more blown away by Snow Leopard. Hardware or software, it sounds like we are both in a pretty happy place right now. Lets leave it at that

 

[G-Force]

I am guessing that you have your bar raised awfully high if ALL of those machines, with their respective hardwares, were too "slow" at these effects for you.

Is it weird to expect this from Leopard when the effects were silky smooth in Tiger? You keep talking about slow and fast machines... This issue has nothing to do with either a slow or fast machine. The MacBook with GMA950 is fast enough to draw the effects smoothly, but Leopard is so un-optimized that the effects are choppy in comparison with Tiger (and Snow Leopard for that matter). Snow Leopard is the proof of that, the effects are on the same level as Tiger again, showing that the GMA950 can handle the effects fine.

So again, all of the mentioned machines are fast enough for me (although I miss playing some games on my MacBook)... But Leopard... well, you get the point.

My comment about the GMA950 being slow was more about it not being a 3D monster, but it should handle these OpenGL effects fine, just like it did in Tiger.

Maybe it is the fact that I am not that anal about the speed of my snazzy effects.

I care about my interface, I look at it all day, does that bother you all or something?

 

[illegallydead]

Is it weird to expect this from Leopard when the effects were silky smooth in Tiger? You keep talking about slow and fast machines... This issue has nothing to do with either a slow or fast machine. The MacBook with GMA950 is fast enough to draw the effects smoothly, but Leopard is so un-optimized that the effects are choppy in comparison with Tiger (and Snow Leopard for that matter). Snow Leopard is the proof of that, the effects are on the same level as Tiger again, showing that the GMA950 can handle the effects fine.

So again, all of the mentioned machines are fast enough for me (although I miss playing some games on my MacBook)... But Leopard... well, you get the point.

My comment about the GMA950 being slow was more about it not being a 3D monster, but it should handle these OpenGL effects fine, just like it did in Tiger.

I care about my interface, I look at it all day, does that bother you all or something?

Well I guess my point is that either I don't have the same issues as you do with "choppiness", or I don't know what I am missing having not played with Tiger enough and obviously not having SL yet. I have a feeling it is the former for me, personally.

I do not have a problem with you having a problem with it, I am just voicing my opinion that I (and most other folks) don't care that much. So long as my computer does what I want it to and runs the apps I need, well, that is all I care about. The UI is already so much better than windows that I guess I am not complaining. Feel free to sweat the small stuff. I won't.

 

[bli625]

I've tried replacing the Quicktime icon with the new one posted earlier in this thread. I replaced the icon file inside the Contents/Resources folder in Quicktime but it is showing up as a blank png icon. Strangely.. when I open Candybar, it shows the new Quicktime icon under the Applications icons. But inside OSX (dock, menus), it shows the blank png icon. Anyone know why?

 

[vohdoun]

I've tried replacing the Quicktime icon with the new one posted earlier in this thread. I replaced the icon file inside the Contents/Resources folder in Quicktime but it is showing up as a blank png icon. Strangely.. when I open Candybar, it shows the new Quicktime icon under the Applications icons. But inside OSX (dock, menus), it shows the blank png icon. Anyone know why?

I guess you never made it a *.ICNS with it's respective size dimensions. 16/32/48/128/256/512

 

[bli625]

I guess you never made it a *.ICNS with it's respective size dimensions. 16/32/48/128/256/512

That could be it. Do you think you could post the original quicktime icon so I could switch it back?

 

[jjweprich]

Looks great in red!

 

[fef714]

Looks great in red!

Although it does, I don't think it fits with the whole Snow Leopard theme very well.

I liked the purple one for SL, and maybe the blue one for Snow Leopard Server.


Or at least thats my opinion

 

[vohdoun]

That could be it. Do you think you could post the original quicktime icon so I could switch it back?

You should really back them up when you're doing this.

 

[Hwoaranga]

Hey guys, I am looking the official .icns files of the Quicktime X's purple icon (like in Snow Leopard's early builds). I would like to use it in Movist. Did someone make a copy/paste ?

 

[jayabaluan]

awesome pictures....... good work.......