OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard' Seeded to WWDC Developers

[iMacmatician]

Will Snow Leopard look like iTunes 7? That is the question.

Aqua should just go in Snow Leopard.

Completely agreed. It should have gone in Leopard.

It's coming with QT X, and presumably iTunes 8 or above.

Really?

On question: does this have a depreciated effect for users with less overall power? Say, I would have much less speed increase from my 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo than a user would from a quad-core processor?

I think so. The improvements affect many-core systems more than few-cored systems because multithreading is more important as the number of cores increases, but there will still be speed increases regardless of the number (>1) of cores.

 

[kolax]

Really?

Really to QuickTime X? See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

 

[t0mat0]

Really to QuickTime X? See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

Media and Internet

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, a streamlined, next-generation platform that advances modern media and Internet standards. QuickTime X features optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback, making it ideal for any application that needs to play media content.

Because Snow Leopard delivers the fastest implementation of JavaScript to date, web applications are more responsive. Safari runs JavaScript up to 53 percent faster with Snow Leopard.*

It's a strange jump, but then there maybe logic behind it. itunes/QT jumped through the version numbers early on in their lives. QuickTime X might just be a specific name for something, rather than version number, which might be us getting the wrong end of the stick. QT with "Quicktime X" is a bit of a mouthful...
H.265 isn't out officialy till ~2010 afaik.

 

[munson]

I think so. The improvements affect many-core systems more than few-cored systems because multithreading is more important as the number of cores increases, but there will still be speed increases regardless of the number (>1) of cores.

That's about what I was thinking, but was looking for someone to confirm. I might spring for it, we'll see. I don't see much use in having it, though.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

It's a strange jump, but then there maybe logic behind it. itunes/QT jumped through the version numbers early on in their lives. QuickTime X might just be a specific name for something, rather than version number, which might be us getting the wrong end of the stick. QT with "Quicktime X" is a bit of a mouthful...
H.265 isn't out officialy till ~2010 afaik.

I suspect Apple's modernizing the API for the core functions of QuickTime in the forthcoming QuickTime X, in order to make it perform better, while maintaining compatibility with all the legacy QuickTime formats and plugins. That said, I would not be surprised if Apple introduced a new, QuickTime X plugin format, that doesn't replace the current one, but instead enhances it to benefit from the optimized architecture Apple's put in place.

 

[iMacmatician]

Really to QuickTime X? See for yourself: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

I know it's called QuickTime X. I've seen the Snow Leopard page. My question, if you had looked at the post I quoted, was confirmation on the GUI type in QuickTime X and iTunes 8.

Will Snow Leopard look like iTunes 7? That is the question.

Aqua should just go in Snow Leopard.

Why would it? It's coming with QT X, and presumably iTunes 8 or above.

So are QTX and iTunes 8 going to have the Aqua UI? Or the iTunes 7 UI?

 

[t0mat0]

I know it's called QuickTime X. I've seen the Snow Leopard page. My question, if you had looked at the post I quoted, was confirmation on the GUI type in QuickTime X and iTunes 8.

So are QTX and iTunes 8 going to have the Aqua UI? Or the iTunes 7 UI?

Sorry - misread - didn't mean to offend you iMacmatician.

Is http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/12/aqua-is-dead-long-live-aqua/
right in saying that iTunes 7 led in UI look bringing in changes not seen in the OS UI until Leopard's Aqua UI? It would be interesting if they did change iTunes prior to this, as it could hint to an indication of things to come?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(user_interface)

 

[iMacmatician]

Sorry - misread - didn't mean to offend you iMacmatician.

No hard feelings.

Is http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/12/aqua-is-dead-long-live-aqua/
right in saying that iTunes 7 led in UI look bringing in changes not seen in the OS UI until Leopard's Aqua UI? It would be interesting if they did change iTunes prior to this, as it could hint to an indication of things to come?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(user_interface)

Leopard went about halfway there, with a GUI similar to the iTunes 5/6 GUI. I'd assume that if Snow Leopard has GUI changes, they would be iTunes 7 GUI ("Aqua Pro"). I really doubt that Apple would switch back to regular Aqua.

I'm wondering if the dark grey look of iMovie '08 is an indication of future GUI changes in iTunes, QuickTime (X?) and Mac OS X.

 

[kabunaru]

I'm wondering if the dark grey look of iMovie '08 is an indication of future GUI changes in iTunes, QuickTime (X?) and Mac OS X.

Maybe.
Aqua was great back in the day but we need a fresh new look now.

 

[t0mat0]

ANyone got pictures to hand of what the 2 different UI look currently like in Snow Leopard seeds?

 

[Quillz]

ANyone got pictures to hand of what the 2 different UI look currently like in Snow Leopard seeds?

Doesn't Snow Leopard have the same UI as Leopard?

 

[richard.mac]

Doesn't Snow Leopard have the same UI as Leopard?

its getting some metal influences from iTunes' UI like the dropdown bars. i hope Snow Leopard finally gets iTunes and iPhoto's theme.

 

[CWallace]

Appleinsider has the second part of their Snow Leopard series. This one talks about memory. Interesting read, especially for those wondering why pre-SP1 Vista is only showing ~2GB of RAM available when they have 4GB installed.

 

[t0mat0]

Appleinsider has the second part of their Snow Leopard series. This one talks about memory. Interesting read, especially for those wondering why pre-SP1 Vista is only showing ~2GB of RAM available when they have 4GB installed.

Dan is on fire - he's pumping out an article a day pretty much. It's a bit more explanation from his previous series. Going by the pen name of Prince McLean.

 

[jbrenn]

snow leopard

I have obtained the developer preview not saying how. It is intel only. It frees up about 4 gigs of space.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

There will be a 32-bit version of the system for 32-bit Macs.


.

This is confirmed? I have a core 2 duo, and I would like to use 10.6

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

This is confirmed? I have a core 2 duo, and I would like to use 10.6

Right now the requirements for Snow Leopard are an intel 64 bit chip. So no core duos or PPC machines. It is unknown whether or not Apple will support PPC or how Apple will have snow leopard run on the 32 bit core duo machines.

 

[CWallace]

I imagine Snow Leopard will not support the Core or PowerPC architectures.

If nothing else, Snow Leopard might be the shove that gets all those using Core Duo/Solo-based and PowerPC-based Macs to buy new product.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I imagine Snow Leopard will not support the Core or PowerPC architectures.

If nothing else, Snow Leopard might be the shove that gets all those using Core Duo/Solo-based and PowerPC-based Macs to buy new product.

uhhh that'd be a dumb move. Seriously you think they'd get rid of Core Duos? The Mac Mini with a core duo processor is only like a year or two old. And the core architecture is still used (core 2 duo) no way they're getting rid of it.

 

[jbrenn]

core duo and core 2 duo are not the same thing. the core duo was repaced in aug 2007 and the mac mini was the last to use it. so apple will force the users of the mac mini purchased before aug 07 to buy a new computer if they want to use snow leopard. It is also not expected to come out till june so computers that do not have core 2 duo will be near 3 years old with the exception of mini

 

[CWallace]

uhhh that'd be a dumb move. Seriously you think they'd get rid of Core Duos? The Mac Mini with a core duo processor is only like a year or two old. And the core architecture is still used (core 2 duo) no way they're getting rid of it.

Well it looks like Snow Leopard will ship in a 32-bit edition, though it's not going to be nearly as slick or as powerful/capable as the 64-bit edition will be. So those folks with Core Duo Macs will still be able to run it.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Well it looks like Snow Leopard will ship in a 32-bit edition, though it's not going to be nearly as slick or as powerful/capable as the 64-bit edition will be. So those folks with Core Duo Macs will still be able to run it.

Really? Where did you hear that? Right now Snow Leopard is so far off that this is just blind guessing. I bet that Apple will want to stick to its one disk policy, or maybe ship both editions in one box on separate disks or something...

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

core duo and core 2 duo are not the same thing. the core duo was repaced in aug 2007 and the mac mini was the last to use it. so apple will force the users of the mac mini purchased before aug 07 to buy a new computer if they want to use snow leopard. It is also not expected to come out till june so computers that do not have core 2 duo will be near 3 years old with the exception of mini

I didn't say they were. However they both have similar structures, hence why their names are similar. It was stated that the 'core' architecture would be dropped which I assume would encompass all those in the 'core' family. As for the age of the computers a selling point Apple has been using lately is that most computers made in the last 7 years can run the latest OS, as opposed to Windows where you usually need to get a whole new computer with each OS upgrade, if it's more than 3 years old. It'd be very unlikely that Apple would turn their back on this.

 

[CWallace]

Really? Where did you hear that?

AppleInsider.

Snow Leopard will also require developers who write any plugins for Mac OS X apps to recompile their code to 64-bit. This includes everything from System Preferences panes to web plugins. The reason for the massive upgrade will be that Apple will also deliver the entire system compiled as both 32- and 64-bit, from the Finder to iTunes to Safari. On 32-bit Macs, Snow Leopard will run normally, but on x64 Macs, everything will get a significant boost as every app on the system will benefit from the advantages of x64, particularly the extra registers supplied by x64 and missing from the 32-bit PC.

I bet that Apple will want to stick to its one disk policy, or maybe ship both editions in one box on separate disks or something...

Agreed. It will identify your processor class and install the appropriate version.

 

[Catfish_Man]

Agreed. It will identify your processor class and install the appropriate version.

Why bother? OSX's binary format handles quad binaries just fine (ppc32/ppc64/x86/x86-64).