I have to concur here. Leopard had all the shiny new features. Snow Leopard is... underwhelming. Of course, a year from now when all apps start building on top of the APIs that Snow Leopard gives developers, that's when it will really be amazing.
But unlike Microsoft, Apple never staed it would be a massive change. In the case of Microsoft - they claimed Windows would be evolutionary and not a major upgrade, they had several managers go on the record to state that Windows 7 is just a refinement. Then we had another group of managers come out and state that Windows 7 would be an revolution, a massive improvement hence the version jump. Just recently within the last couple of weeks Balmer came out and then clarified by claiming that Windows 7 was an evolution ontop of Windows Vista rather than a revolution.
So lets do a recap - within 18 months, Microsoft has stated two different positions on a product - which one is it? Apple from day one has clearly stated Snow Leopard to be an evolution move forward; a focus on the core technologies with future products being based on those core technologies.
For now, probably the few new noticable features are that the Grid view for Stacks is actually worth using now and Microsoft Exchange support (assuming your Exchange server is Exchange Server 2007 with Update Rollup 4 installed).
And iTunes still isn't 64-bit. =/
iTunes being 64bit doesn't matter one iota in the grand scheme of things; the first thing I'm sure they'll do is announce an iTunes refresh that has been in development for quite some time now that probably first got the code 64bit clean and then just a matter of moving it to Cocoa and taking advantage of Quicktime X framework.
I agree completely. In fact, it's major advantage--speed--is not even noticeable on my MacBook (Core 2 Duo, Early 2007). Snow Leopard, despite all the hype, is a rather boring release for consumers.
Hence the reason they never marketed it as a revolution to consumers. Consumers don't care about revolutions btw, they just want their computer to work and for the operating system to enable them to do things. If the operating system provides the ground layer then it is the application vendors to take advantage of those new features and make the upgrade worthwhile for the end user.
Well then, it must be showing up on the torrents.
Reading through the comments regarding Snow Leopard on the torrents - most people are pretty convinced it is the RTM. I'm 95% confident that it is - and the first update will probably come before October.
Most of the people who say 'this isn't RTM' (for which I am guilty) are using the justification of 'lack of 64bit kernel across the board' when the reality is that only the XServe boot by default with the 64bit kernel due to they being about the only customers who benefit greatly from it. I'd say that 10.7 will be when Apple turns on the 64bit kernel. Get the userland 64bit then move the kernel in the next release - giving third parties a good amount of time to spruce up their kernel extensions.
I'm not really a fan of the new art...
But I'm not really convinced it is real though. I mean, Apple, which puts so much effort into design and making every single detail of every single one of their products as beautiful as possible, comes out with a new operating system called "Snow Leopard". And what do they put on this box? A picture of a snow leopard. Some of you are going "OMG how innovative!?? I LOVE IT!". Relax, it's just a cat with a boring white background. I think Apple can do a little better than this. Don't get me wrong, I like it... a little bit... but I really think the Leopard design was much much more visually appealing.
Also, every version of Mac OS X so far since Cheetah has featured a big "X" on their box with the rest of the design revolving around the X. It was really a signature piece of the design. Now, why would Apple completely overhaul the design on the box when they are making so few changes to the operating system? I understand how much more advanced it is... 64 bit, much faster/improved, yeah yeah.... But for the average user, as many of you are agreeing, will notice very few differences in Snow Leopard. In fact, some people may not notice any differences at all unless you point them out. So why would Apple completely change the box art and give the illusion that this operating system is so different than the last one when most of the improvements were "under the hood"?
And one more question: If this box/DVD is indeed real, why would Apple change the box art to get away from the space theme, but still leave the default background on the computer as it is in beta versions (look at the MacBook Pro on the back of the box)?
Mate, X is so 2001 it isn't even funny. Back in 2001, everyone was using X, X being used to point to eXtreme, eXPerience, eXtra and other nauseating hyperbole ridden rubbish.
I personally love the new icon, love the new box - Apple is maturing as a company, and their products are reflecting that maturity. If you look at the box, it is right in line with the iWork and iLife boxes as well - so it isn't as though Apple is doing something out of character when compared to their other product boxes. White box with simple graphics.
I installed the purported RTM build on a spare drive to test it out. What I found is that it feels almost the same as 10.5 except there are a few new "features" that I'm not too crazy about:
- Quicksilver doesn't work properly: the prefernces dialog doesn't always show.
How is that the fault of Snow Leopard when it is a third party issue of incompatibility?
- Steermouse doesn't recognize my Bluetooth mouse.
How is that the fault of Snow Leopard when it is a third party issue of incompatibility?
- Little Snitch doesn't work.
How is that the fault of Snow Leopard when it is a third party issue of incompatibility?
- A few graphic glitches when waking up from sleep make the screen illegible until some application repaints the screen.
- Spaces and Exposé don't animate as smoothly as before.
Can easily be addressed with updates, the first being released probably within 2 months of the release.
I wonder how many other apps will also be incompatible. I remember all the glitches and problems with applications (such as numerous CS3 crashes) when Leopard first came out. Only now is 10.5 finally getting as stable as Tiger was near its end. Let's just say, this time I will wait much longer before I install the new OS X on my production system.
Again, How is that the fault of Snow Leopard when it is a third party issue of incompatibility?
So what would be the advantage of having iTunes be 64bit? Is it speed alone?
Handling really big libraries and the security features of 64bit binaries.
its the X that pulls em in!! the X is everything!!!
Yes, if you're living in 2001. 2001 calls and it wants its X back.
Check this out...
No 64-Bit Kernal and Extensions.. what is with that.
I don't believe this is the GM after looking around a little more.
Mate, there is only one supported running a 64bit kernel - that is XServe. There is no benefits to running a 64bit kernel for a desktop - you can still run 64bit binaries, you still have the benefits of addressing large amounts of memory with 64bit binaries, you still get the security of 64bit binaries etc. It isn't like Windows where to get 64bit binary support you have to have a 64bit kernel.
It is a little weird that Apple's Snow Leopard website still says that it's a September release and contains so many pictures of the CD art featured at WWDC, but than again I've seen the installer icon first-hand as well, so who knows. But then again, the website also isn't very reliable in terms of updates to the operating system. For example, they're still using the old QuickTime X logo:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/
How about this - they're a place holder. You know, have you ever worked in a company - putting a place holder on a website until a finalised graphic is created?
Guys, I think it's fake... (looks at pic below found on apple's website)
It's of the server version but I can only expect that the regular version would follow the same artistic concept as well...
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
Based on what evidence - heard of a concept called 'place holders'?
This might also be of interest. At the bottom of the Snow Leopard "New Technology" website, this is written in the footnotes:
All system applications except DVD Player, Front Row, Grapher, and iTunes have been rewritten in 64-bit.
I'm expecting iTunes 9 to be 64-bit and released in early September, along with Front Row. DVD Player and Grapher are applications that I can see being phased out entirely by 10.7, with the release of BluRay and better graphing software from 3rd-party developers.
Source:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple eventually see DVD dying out as bandwidth increases, downloads become more viable and the Apple TV becomes the appliance to have instead of hovering in front of a computer screen. With that being said, are there any benefits with Front Row or DVD Player becoming 64bit?
iTunes has to be moved to Cocoa yet, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up seeing iTunes X or something similar which is based upon QTX and taking advantage of the new, more efficient CODECs.
If this is GM, then I will stick with 10.5 ! I have downloaded the above and updated my system with it, and I can tell you that it is full of bugs, very obvious bugs. But the speed increase is great !
I reckon this is not GM because most OS that Apple ships are stable. This is not, especially if there main feature IS stability.
What obvious bugs? you're talking about a bad experience because your installation is riddled to the gills with hackware? are you blaming third party applications for crashing on the operating system when the responsibility for compatibility lays with the application vendor and not the operating system vendor?
While we're on the topic of off-topic, I think that La Salsa would have been a wiser and healthier choice, there didn't happen to be a La Salsa around did there?
If I was still in Australia I'd prefer to have an Ali Baba Khebab
Apple announced the date Leopard would go on sale on the 16th October, ten days before its launch. So if Snow Leopard is apparently launching on the 28th August, then we should see an announcement about Tuesday. Hopefully.
You do realise that Apple said it would ship in September? I assume you mean 16 September - not October.
That was rather stupid of me, I should have read the original poster before correcting him
