New Snow Leopard Build (10A261) Seeded to Developers

[kaiwai]

No, 10.x.x are not service packs. The simple fact is that OS X has its own release/price structure. Trying to translate it into the way Microsoft does Windows releases is meaningless.

What the hell are you going on about?

10.6.0 = Windows 7 ( Windows 6.1)
10.5.0 = Windows Vista (Windows 6.0)

The .x on the end is the service pack itself, that is no different than Microsoft having 6.0.buildnumber instead of having 6.1.1

Good lord, stop spreading lies - its a pretty easy damn system; Apple has NEVER charged for service packs.

Apple's support policy maybe crap - but they've never charged for them in the literal manner in which the previous poster spoke of.

 

[lftrghtparadigm]

I'd love to get Tiger's spotlight functionality back.
Like the categories and some more view options in the results so I can sort by file size and whatnot.

Right now, spotlight is rather clumsy and there's no way to do detailed searches.

Spotlight is rather clumsy? How do you figure? Searching your entire machine (and external drive) instantly and returning all possible relative results, seperated by kind?

Its the single most powerful desktop search tool I've ever seen.

What the hell are YOU searching for that its so 'clumsy'?

 

[TheSpaz]

Can't be any worse than 10.5.0, which thanks to the once popular Application Ehancer, caused me to lose my entire purchased iTunes library upon install.

That was a bad day I've tried very hard to repress.

Never heard of backups or disabling hacks before updating a major OS revision eh?

I'm sorry, I do not feel bad for you and what happened was not Apple's fault.

 

[tbealmear]

ATI's HD2xxx series already supports GPGPU functionality using their proprietary CTM framework and Brook+ language. ATI has said they are abandoning proprietary methods in favour of standards like OpenCL and DirectX 11 Compute Shaders. Technically the HD2xxx series should be OpenCL capable, it's whether Apple decides to release drivers that support it.

I've actually asked one of ATI's Steam product managers whether the RV5xx series GPUs like the X1600 and X1900 will support OpenCL. They can't confirm anything although they are focusing on recent and future GPUs first, but they would look into it. As a historical point, the X1600, X1800, and X1900 were really the first consumer use of GPGPU since the first Folding@home GPU client was made for the X1xxx series. In comparison, nVidia's 7xxx series was deemed too slow for them to release a client. I could see Apple not releasing OpenCL support for the X1600 and X1900 to avoid nVidia 7300 and 7600 owners complaining.

Cmon Apple! I don't need that functionality for what I do, but it always nice to say that I can use it if I want to! I really wish I could upgrade the card, but there isnt enough room for a 4870 in that case!

 

[TheSpaz]

Spotlight is rather clumsy? How do you figure? Searching your entire machine (and external drive) instantly and returning all possible relative results, seperated by kind?

Its the single most powerful desktop search tool I've ever seen.

What the hell are YOU searching for that its so 'clumsy'?

I miss the categories too.... and what the heck is the deal with showing you the "last opened date"??? As soon as you open the file, it pops to the top of the list... then you lose where you were in the list. Just show us the file modified date... geeze. Leopard spotlight went backwards in my opinion.

 

[Kar98]

I second, there are no Mail.app "bugs". There are plenty of people that cannot for the life of them configure it correctly. That's for sure.

Bullcrap. If it works for 3 years without any changes made by the user, and suddenly it quits working right after an update, what would you call that?


(Don't bother to answer, I know: well obviously I should repair permissions, zap the PRAM, wave a black chicken over my head, and sing chants to praise St. Jobs. But you'd suggest the same if the freaking thing was on fire. Meanwhile I'm using Entourage as e-mail program instead).

 

[xUKHCx]

Spotlight is rather clumsy? How do you figure? Searching your entire machine (and external drive) instantly and returning all possible relative results, seperated by kind?

Its the single most powerful desktop search tool I've ever seen.

What the hell are YOU searching for that its so 'clumsy'?

System files for a start.

Spotlight in Leopard is much quicker than in Tiger but when you go to show all the Tiger way of organizing just seems to be more user friendly and quick once you get to that level.

Leopard did improve spotlight in someways but alsp made it worse in others.

Hopefully with Snow Leopard it will be the best bits from both.

 

[kolax]

The article said Snow Leopard was the code name...

Isn't Snow Leopard going to be the release name?

I don't think Apple would choose Snow Leopard as a release name.

Considering that the majority of Macs are aimed at consumers - most of which just want a computer to work - to name it Snow Leopard would confuse people when asked what OS they have.

"Do you have Leopard or Snow Leopard?" Most people would say Leopard, even if they had Snow Leopard because they don't really know or care.

But if it were to be called, say Lion, there is a big difference in the names and people would know whether they had Leopard or Lion, unlike Snow Leopard or Leopard.

 

[tbealmear]

I know: well obviously I should repair permissions, zap the PRAM, wave a black chicken over my head, and sing chants to praise St. Jobs. But you'd suggest the same if the freaking thing was on fire. Meanwhile I'm using Entourage as e-mail program instead).

Haha, wow.

 

[TheSpaz]

I'd love to get Tiger's spotlight functionality back.
Like the categories and some more view options in the results so I can sort by file size and whatnot.

Right now, spotlight is rather clumsy and there's no way to do detailed searches.

Amen brother. That's the one feature in Leopard that got majority downgraded. Not to mention, the search window snaps back to the same size every time. Why can't I customize the results window?

 

[xUKHCx]

I don't think Apple would choose Snow Leopard as a release name.

If that were the case I doubt apple would've used the code name Snow Leopard as it is clearly in line with their naming system. They would've simply called it 10.6. The very fact that the name is a large cat and as such follows the trends of the previous releases is a big indication that it will in fact be the name they go with.

Also Leopard -> Snow Leopard seems to be along the lines of what they are trying to achieve with this update, i.e. not many new features. Where as if it were Leopard -> Lion you would expect new features.

 

[namethisfile]

do you think SL will support powerpc's?

and not just be able to run on powerpc's like leopard can now but also use open-cl so that the OS can utilize the nvidia go5200 gpu that is in my powerbook?

or is that gpu too "old?"

the question is, i guess, can SL teach powerpc's new tricks?

 

[AidenShaw]

And Windows Vista "service packs" are not service packs, they're major security patches.

Actually, Windows Service Packs are a rollup of security and bugfix patches, plus some minor new functional bits. It's rare for a service pack to contain new security patches that are not already distributed through Windows Update. (Sometimes complicated security patches do come in a service pack, when it is considered safer to roll it out in a more tested SP.)

Service packs also include the "optional" updates - minor bugfixes and feature updates that Windows Update does not install by default. If you read that a piece of software "requires SPx", that often means that it depends on one of the optional updates - the vendor can't be sure that the update is there unless the service pack has been installed.

Vista SP1 was only a few tens of megabytes for systems that were running Windows Update. Most of the patches and bugfixes were already there.

What the hell are you going on about?

10.6.0 = Windows 7 ( Windows 6.1)
10.5.0 = Windows Vista (Windows 6.0)

The .x on the end is the service pack itself, that is no different than Microsoft having 6.0.buildnumber instead of having 6.1.1...

A "Service Pack" is somewhat similar to Apple's combo updater.

Microsoft has more frequent and comprehensive online updates, and less frequent "bundles" (service packs).

Apple has fewer online updates, and more frequent "bundles" (10.x.y).

Both approaches seem to work....

 

[lftrghtparadigm]

System files for a start.

Spotlight in Leopard is much quicker than in Tiger but when you go to show all the Tiger way of organizing just seems to be more user friendly and quick once you get to that level.

Leopard did improve spotlight in someways but alsp made it worse in others.

Hopefully with Snow Leopard it will be the best bits from both.

Besides system files?

Considering system files are not typically something you would need or even want to access, the fact that they are conveniently left out of the way of actual content is a blessing, not a curse.

System files would confuse the crap out of the average user, especially the ambiguous names they have compared to other parts of the machine.

Furthermore, its impossible to forget where all of your system files are anyway. Spotlight is nothing but a quick launch at that point, and for system files? totally unnecessary

 

[kolax]

Also Leopard -> Snow Leopard seems to be along the lines of what they are trying to achieve with this update, i.e. not many new features. Where as if it were Leopard -> Lion you would expect new features.

The new (rumoured) UI will be enough to convince Joe Bloggs to update.

If Snow Leopard drops PPC support, I think naming it almost the same as 10.5 would be a big mistake and cause confusion among technologically illiterate users. After all, the Mac way is meant to be the simple way

I'm sure 10.6 will have new features - nothing as big as Time Machine or the new Dock (Stacks etc), but a few enhanced bits and bobs and maybe the odd new feature.

I know everyone here will know Snow Leopard from Leopard like an apple from an orange, but look how many people own an iPod. When you start asking them, is it an iPod Classic or the old 30GB iPod, they'll not have a clue. I can see the same happening with asking people, "Are you on Leopard or Snow Leopard?".

I mean Leopard inherited from Tiger - and Snow Leopard will inherit from Leopard, so regardless of whether there is new features or a lot of under the hood revamping, a clear and distinct name is a must.

Something that Snow Leopard just isn't..

 

[lftrghtparadigm]

do you think SL will support powerpc's?

and not just be able to run on powerpc's like leopard can now but also use open-cl so that the OS can utilize the nvidia go5200 gpu that is in my powerbook?

or is that gpu too "old?"

the question is, i guess, can SL teach powerpc's new tricks?

Not to burst your bubble but I don't even want Snow Leopard to support PPC.

They are constraining themselves BIG TIME by making it so far backward compatible.

its been long enough. PPC knew it was over when Intel was announced, and IMO, Apple gave PPC owners longer then they had to.

 

[50548]

It's getting closer ....

Anyone has an idea about when it's being launched as a definitive release? At least a more precise estimate?

 

[lftrghtparadigm]

Anyone has an idea about when it's being launched as a definitive release? At least a more precise estimate?

June

 

[50548]

Bullcrap. If it works for 3 years without any changes made by the user, and suddenly it quits working right after an update, what would you call that?

I've never had a single problem with Mail, which is probably one of the most reliable pieces of Apple software installed on my iMac...I really don't understand why some people complain about it; is it about 3rd party plugins or what?

 

[twoodcc]

well i'm glad to finally see another seed of snow leopard. nothing new in this one, but glad it's more reliable. can't wait to see more future seeds

 

[nuckinfutz]

Tru dat

Not to burst your bubble but I don't even want Snow Leopard to support PPC.

They are constraining themselves BIG TIME by making it so far backward compatible.

its been long enough. PPC knew it was over when Intel was announced, and IMO, Apple gave PPC owners longer then they had to.

What's the fastest PPC what a dual core G5 in a Mac Pro. So thats 4 cores in a SMP config. Your avg computer by years end will have a lynnfield 4 core-8 thread CPU and many will have an OpenCL capable GPU.

I don't see any reason why Apple should extend the programming effort for a platform that will barely be able to handle the new core functionality in Snow Leopard.

 

[wonderbread57]

The new (rumoured) UI will be enough to convince Joe Bloggs to update

What's this new (rumored) UI you speak of? If there is no macrumors news story link it doesn't exist.

 

[namethisfile]

Not to burst your bubble but I don't even want Snow Leopard to support PPC.

They are constraining themselves BIG TIME by making it so far backward compatible.

its been long enough. PPC knew it was over when Intel was announced, and IMO, Apple gave PPC owners longer then they had to.

you didn't really burst my bubble. i would not want SL on my ppc either if it has those contraints you alluded to. i was just merely curious if SL will support ppc and if so, will ppc's also benefit from open-cl w/ its older gpu's? especially, those with powerbooks that have non-upgradeable gpu's. open-cl would bring those gpu's new life in my opnion. but, of course, i don't know this for sure since i am not an engineer. so, my bubble is unburst in this regard since i know it's a looong, long shot.

still, it would be 'nice' if apple continue to support ppc with this upcoming release. as someone else in this thread already mentioned - SL still bears the leopard name. and this fact alone gives ppc users some hope that apple will not drop them just yet. or maybe they will. it is irelevant to ppc users anyway as you have already hinted. but, it wouldn't be, irrelevant to apple if they want ppc users to upgrade. just my .02 cents.

 

[drlunanerd]

What's this new (rumored) UI you speak of? If there is no macrumors news story link it doesn't exist.

Apple has been rumored to be tweaking the user interface in Snow Leopard prior to its public release

Do keep up old chap

 

[namethisfile]

OpenCL capable GPU

How do you know this? what makes a GPU OpenCl capable?