OpenCL is rumored to speed things up by as much as 100%... I think there'll be plenty of visual running demos for us. Also, there may be plenty of visible upgrades that we don't know about, there have been rumors of a 3D finder, which could very well happen with such a dramatically faster leopard.
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OpenCL is rumored to speed things up by as much as 100%... I think there'll be plenty of visual running demos for us. Also, there may be plenty of visible upgrades that we don't know about, there have been rumors of a 3D finder, which could very well happen with such a dramatically faster leopard.
Your foolish if you think an OS can be perfect. You can always improve on your OS, and its the marketing teams job to tell you its perfect. Even an marketing exec from Microsoft will tell you Vista is perfect. Wanting to improve the behind the scene components of an OS shouldn't be argued about. The real question here is of course the price tag.
Whoopie! Just give me the money for this upgrade than I'll be glad to upgrade.
Until then don't criticize anyone who thinks that every “major” upgrade that Apple throws out there just isn't worth the money.
They don't have to.
The games that use OpenCL will.
The apps that make use of GrandCentral for vastly improved performance will.
The apps that are built as 64-bit only will.
Etc.
If you're a gamer....
Although most of the important video/audio/imaging apps already use existing threading frameworks to exploit multi-core systems....
...when they arrive in 2011, after 10.7 is out and all of the 10.5, PPC and Core 32-bit systems are dead.
Not that many mainstream apps will immediately abandon the 32-bit customer base to jump on 10.6-only applications.
(Don't get me wrong, the new parallel programing frameworks are a good idea - but don't expect great things within days of the 10.6 release. It will be a couple of years before they hit the mainstream.)
Hopefully we will learn a lot more about Grand Central at MWSF. So far Apple's descriptions of it have been pretty vague, but it seems to have two aspects. The first is to make it easier for programmers to develop multithreaded apps, which I think is what you are referring to. But Apple has also promised that Grand Central will improve overall performance by making better use of multiple cores for all OS operations. That is what I mean when I say we won't really see the performance benefit until we get multicore systems.
What I'm thinking is this will give apple a HUGE boost in the gaming market, which stands to gain alot out of this upgrade. I can't wait to see what happens.
Oh and don't forget that when microsoft finally gets this out as well, Apple will convince us that as soon as they found out apple had "invented" this new technology, they scrambled to clone it.
Oh and don't forget that when microsoft finally gets this out as well, Apple will convince us that as soon as they found out apple had "invented" this new technology, they scrambled to clone it.
Maybe. But it's not worth the effort of native game developers like Blizzard, because they can't use it in the Windows versions yet. Maybe Aspyr might see some use from it in their ports, but they may not be around long enough to actually use it.
They may still though, because then at least some of their users are having a much improved experience. And then as their pc counterparts get jealous, the mac gaming community grows. All it'll take is one decently well-known game to kick things off, because no one will want to be left behind.
Oh and don't forget that when microsoft finally gets this out as well, Apple will convince us that as soon as they found out apple had "invented" this new technology, they scrambled to clone it.
CUDA and ATI Stream are already available on Windows and Linux. Shipping. In use.
Who is doing the copying?
And, by the way, isn't the point of "open" software (as in OpenCL) so that all systems can have the same APIs?
And yes, improvements in multi-core threading frameworks have been on the Windows timeline for a long time. Some of them are in the Windows7 alpha kits that tens of thousands of people have.
Sorry don't know what CUDA or ATI are... guess it's time for the wiki. I was referring specifically to OpenCL, which btw I'm too stupid to realize is open source.
CUDA is Nvidia's GPGPU set of APIs. "ATI Stream" is ATI's GPGPU set of APIs.
OpenCL is basically a single API, which an implementation can call CUDA if running on Nvidia GPGPUs, or Stream if running on ATI.
OpenCL is good in that a program doesn't have to know which brand of graphics card is in the system, or its exact capabilities.
Microsoft is building a similar GPGPU abstraction into DirectX - so that DirectX programs can use GPGPUs without needing to know the details.
Hopefully, we'll see an OpenCL library for Windows and Linux as well.
I'm pretty sure it's Intel only.
Totally agree! I wished and waited so long for Leopard to have the black UI of various HUDs, Time Machine, and the iPhone. Imagine my disappointment at WWDC 2007 when Leopard's UI went only a half step forward.
I too think 10.7 will give a bunch of visual changes. The black UI (or something like it) and many cool but subtle animation effects are what I'm wishing for. Hopefully I won't be disappointed this time.
Looks like Grapher is finally getting a UI update. Hopefully it gets a functionality upgrade and several bug fixes, too.
Exactly! Anyone expecting Apple to pull some rabbits out of their hat with 10.6 are going to be disappointed, I suspect. It seems to me Apple is laying the groundwork for the future with 10.6, which is very cool when you stop and think about it. The last time they laid groundwork like this was 10.0. That didn't immediately yield results but look where it has gone.
roamy said:
I've had more problems with Leopard than I had with Vista.
Oh wait, I didn't have any with Vista. Guess I'm lucky.
Any with Vista? Stop the BS. First it's impossible, second everybody had or still have poblems with Vista and third Leopard is way better than Vista i'm a switcher so i know exactly
I have MacBook with Tiger, i never reinstalled the system for two years. I have iMac which came with Leopard and it's also running from that day without reinstall. I never installed Mac OS X from those DVDs. I had problems, but not like with vista. In my opinion Vista is a problem and lots of people say the same.
Get ready to be disappointed then, because Snow Leopard is Leopard, with some new OS technologies added. If you're expecting the UI to be much different than Leopard it won't be, and if you're expecting SL to be more stable it won't be either, at least initially.
I'm also a switcher and I'd like to cut through your BS and introduce you to the concept of "different users, different experiences." Maybe you've had some problems with Vista, but I, and many others, haven't. It's amazing that you can make a wholly wrong blanket statement such as "second everybody had or still have poblems (sic) with Vista." It's quite clear you're nothing more than a blind Apple fanboy who doesn't know very much about the two operating systems.Any with Vista? Stop the BS. First it's impossible, second everybody had or still have poblems with Vista and third Leopard is way better than Vista i'm a switcher so i know exactly
People bag on Windows Vista because it's different from Windows XP, which worked well.
People bag on Mac OS X Leopard because it's different from Mac OS X Tiger, which worked well.
See the trend here? Neither Vista or Leopard are "bad," in fact they work fine. But, people hate change and don't want to lose what they are comfortable using. Windows XP and Tiger both had their share of problems, but people have short memories. They never seemed as drastic as the "problems" that face Vista and Leopard.
The good news is both companies are working on "new" hopefully fixed versions of their respective products. Can't remember what the vista replacement is called right now... though as far as I know snow leopard is the one with all the dramatic upgrades, not sure what the new vista has.