Mac OS X Snow Leopard Discussion

[offroadaaron]

so its basically a windows Vista (or XP) 64bit.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista 64bit

Windows XP

Windows XP 64bit

Leopard

Snow Leopard

[giga Veteran]

so its basically a windows Vista (or XP) 64bit.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista 64bit

Windows XP

Windows XP 64bit

Leopard

Snow Leopard

What?

[KeR]

They've just announced it, and it already has some new feature.

What makes you think they aren't gonna have larger new features by the time it is released?

The official Apple press release states it will not have significant features besides performance. They are officially calling it a evolution of the OS and not a revolution.

[Cara Veteran]

The official Apple press release states it will not have significant features besides performance. They are officially calling it a evolution of the OS and not a revolution.

I'm hearing jokes already of 'OS X Leopard: Second Edition' out of this.

I have hopes for some feature upgrades, interface unifications, carbon removal...

[giga Veteran]

The official Apple press release states it will not have significant features besides performance. They are officially calling it a evolution of the OS and not a revolution.

I would probably restate that as "end-user" features.

Carbon removal isn't happening unless they plan on updating some major applications by release. (Final Cut) Hell--CS4 is still Carbon.

[Cara Veteran]

I would probably restate that as "end-user" features.

Carbon removal isn't happening unless they plan on updating some major applications by release. (Final Cut) Hell--CS4 is still Carbon.

I'm more referring to removing the Apple coded Carbon from the OS, not the APIs. :)

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Which system do you have if I might ask? :)

Classic was the previous generations environment that was dragged along for quite some time, Apple decided to push the last few people using Classic to adopt OS X Coding and Applications by eliminating the option of using Classic. I have G4's but even I have to admit they are all very old and have had a killer life cycle.

1.25Ghz G4 eMac upgraded to 768MB of ram, it's getting old but works perfectly and still runs Leopard at an excellent speed.

And was there really companies still writing Classic only programs? And how many people at Apple still use Classic?

[Timan Veteran]

Arn't iTunes and QT still carbon? They both still feel like alien apps within osx.

[Cara Veteran]

1.25Ghz G4 eMac upgraded to 768MB of ram, it's getting old but works perfectly and still runs Leopard at an excellent speed.

And was there really companies still writing Classic only programs? And how many people at Apple still use Classic?

The eMac 1.25...

Released April 2004, Retired from Service May 2005.

Retail price $1000USD.

Assuming you got it in 2005... Over 4 years of full service, not a bad run for a $1000 machine. ;)

[Quillz]

The official Apple press release states it will not have significant features besides performance. They are officially calling it a evolution of the OS and not a revolution.

OS X was a revolution. None of the individual releases have been a revolution. All have merely been evolutionary, but that's how it is with operating systems. The next big revolution will likely be a complete move away from the keyboard/mouse paradigm.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

The eMac 1.25...

Released April 2004, Retired from Service May 2005.

Retail price $1000USD.

Assuming you got it in 2005... Over 4 years of full service, not a bad run for a $1000 machine. ;)

Yeah, my mac's old and I can't get support, but the architecture was still being actively sold by Apple into 2006.

Telling somebody who bought a brand new mac less than 2 years ago to buy a brand new mac would hurt.

[ev0|]

Dude finder is still carbon. Carbon isn't going away.

[giga Veteran]

Dude finder is still carbon. Carbon isn't going away.

Not yet--but it's inevitable. A Finder rewrite isn't nearly as hard as Final Cut or Photoshop would be.

[ev0|]

Not yet--but it's inevitable. A Finder rewrite isn't nearly as hard as Final Cut or Photoshop would be.

Fair enough, but it's not going away in 10.6 that's for sure.

[Cara Veteran]

Yeah, my mac's old and I can't get support, but the architecture was still being actively sold by Apple into 2006.

Telling somebody who bought a brand new mac less than 2 years ago to buy a brand new mac would hurt.

The final G4 powered machine was the Mac Mini (Late 2005) also known as PowerMac10,2, released in Sep 2005 and retired Feb 2006... So even the latest generation of the G4's are quite aged. :)

Not yet--but it's inevitable. A Finder rewrite isn't nearly as hard as Final Cut or Photoshop would be.

And wouldn't unifying the OS's core with all the same code be a good step towards optimizations?

[PyX]

Yeah, everything needs to rely on the exact same Codebase. It's also easier to squash the bugs I believe, since you have to update Cocoa frameworks and stuff only and the same problem is fixed in the whole OS. Otherwise you have to play in Carbon frameworks also.

Unifying the OS is good for graphics, but also for programming, what end-users don't see or care.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

The final G4 powered machine was the Mac Mini (Late 2005) also known as PowerMac10,2, released in Sep 2005 and retired Feb 2006... So even the latest generation of the G4's are quite aged. :)

...

You've forgotten the iBooks, they were still G4 when they were replaced in May 2006 (so 2 years and a month ago)

They should still be supported by Apple when "Snow Leopard" ships.

Edit: Yeah, 3 year support, they're supported until May 2009.

[sanctified Veteran]

You've forgotten the iBooks, they were still G4 when they were replaced in May 2006 (so 2 years and a month ago)

They should still be supported by Apple when "Snow Leopard" ships.

Edit: Yeah, 3 year support, they're supported until May 2009.

May 2009... sounds to me that its support will end before they ship snow leopard so... ;)

[Cara Veteran]

You've forgotten the iBooks, they were still G4 when they were replaced in May 2006 (so 2 years and a month ago)

They should still be supported by Apple when "Snow Leopard" ships.

Edit: Yeah, 3 year support, they're supported until May 2009.

Ya, I missed those! Somehow they didn't come up in my search, must not have been including notebooks. :p

If they EOL/EOS by 10.6... : shrugs : It's anyones ballgame.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

May 2009... sounds to me that its support will end before they ship snow leopard so... ;)

The numbers are vague

"about a year" could mean more, could mean less. Even then it's down to double digit days of out of support periods ("Sorry, you're 45 days out of support.")

[Guest jgrodri]

one thing is for sure here.. if apple kills ppc support for 10.6, 10.7 will certainly not support 32-bit intel. My macbook's days are numbered :(

[Rudy]

The numbers are vague

"about a year" could mean more, could mean less. Even then it's down to double digit days of out of support periods ("Sorry, you're 45 days out of support.")

it's not like leopard will stop working on these macs, new apps etc can still be used

[1759]

I'm less than impressed with the info about 10.6, but dropping PPC and 32-bit is fine by me, as those are both old. (I've been running a 64-bit CPU in my desktop for years, thanks AMD), and my Mini is the C2D variety.

The problem I have with 10.6, is the the expanded memory support, updated graphics, QT X (and I hate, hate, hate QT), don't do me any good. The rest about improved stability, speed, etc, just sound like Apple making excuses about Leopard, and wishing for a do over.

[Cara Veteran]

The problem I have with 10.6, is the the expanded memory support, updated graphics, QT X (and I hate, hate, hate QT), don't do me any good. The rest about improved stability, speed, etc, just sound like Apple making excuses about Leopard, and wishing for a do over.

I don't recall Apple making, or needing to make, any excuses for Leopard... It's a rock solid OS with a feature set that exceeds anything previously presented by either Apple or Redmond. :) I suppose Apple has had to make excuses for Leopard making Vista look bad (Yes it's a cheap Dig, I'm entitled to one or two once in a while, I don't go open season on Windows. ;)) but that is about it. ;)

[duritz]

so would mi iBook G4 be considered a PPC? I wanted to maybe get leopard for it, it doesnt have to be snow leopard.