Mac OS X Snow Leopard Discussion

By giga
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Grand Master

Quillz

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No one is being forced into buying anything.

In a way, yes, you are. There is, at the moment, no way to buy a DVD of Snow Leopard that will let you do a full, clean install, as you could with Leopard and every previous release of Mac OS X.

There are only two ways to get Snow Leopard: $29 for an upgrade DVD (meaning you have to have Leopard already installed, which costs $129), or $169 for the Mac Box Set, which, again, is the only way to get a full, clean install of Snow Leopard. (And then you also get iWork and iLife, even if you already have them and thus don't need them.)

I don't know why Apple simply won't offer a $129 version of Snow Leopard like they did with every other previous Mac OS X release, or why the $29 version simply isn't a full DVD. Upgrading your OS is always messier and more risky than doing a clean install.

im not pleased they dropped power pc. when do they stop updates for 10.05 leopard

PowerPC Macintosh computers haven't been sold by Apple since 2006, and it was made quite clear that all future Mac OS X development will focus solely on the Intel processor.

As for when updates stop, well, they basically already have. All Leopard will see from this point onward are critical security updates. All future product development will be focused on Snow Leopard and future Mac OS X releases.

Anyone know if the version of GM doing the rounds on torrent is legit/malware free? I've preordered anyway but don't want to wait for the media to arrive :D

Yeah, it appears fine to me.

Grand Master

Quillz

Posted
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BTW: that Mac Box Set contains iWork 09, iLife 09 and OS X (still is Leopard but that will be Snow Leopard once it's released). The Box set is meant for people who want to upgrade to the newest iWork, iLife and OS X version. The chance of Tiger people wanting to upgrade those 3 pieces of software is a lot bigger than Leopard people wanting to upgrade those 3. Quite obvious why a company would aim for Tiger users and not for Leopard users. If you only want to upgrade to the newest OS X than you don't need the Mac Box Set, just buy Snow Leopard.

This is a good point, but again, the $29 version of Snow Leopard appears to support upgrading only. What happens if I have Snow Leopard installed on my Mac, and then later on encounter issues and would like to do a new, clean install? I can't; I'd have to first install Leopard and then re-upgrade, which is a hassle and messy.

Grand Master

PyX

Posted
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This is a good point, but again, the $29 version of Snow Leopard appears to support upgrading only. What happens if I have Snow Leopard installed on my Mac, and then later on encounter issues and would like to do a new, clean install? I can't; I'd have to first install Leopard and then re-upgrade, which is a hassle and messy.

One of the features of the product is that it installs a lot faster, if you have to install Leopard before and then upgrade, it kind of defeats the purpose, so I think they'll allow it somehow.

At worse they can ask you to just put in the old DVD, but I don't think they'll do that, it's annoying and at some point when you have a brand new OS, you get rid of the old one. I personally usually do that because I hate keeping old stuff and / or duplicated stuff in my house when I have something equal or better already.

Edit : Isn't there afunctionality that is new in Snow Leopard that gives you the option to do a clean install while keeping just the delta / combo updates you installed on it?

Grand Master

PyX

Posted
Posted

If we carefully take a look at the picture I attached here, it says "coming with every Mac in September". Everybody just assumed that the OS would be released in September, but it wouldn't be surprising if the upgrade DVD would be released on the 28th.

An August release kinda surprised me before and I thought it was impossible, but the way they phrased it... we can't assume it's released in September and nothing else.

post-43201-1250392873_thumb.png

Grand Master

Quillz

Posted
Posted
Why isn't 64bit enabled by default ?

Also every box art of Mac OS had X on it then why the sudden change of the boxart ?

I don't know why 64-bit kernels aren't enabled by default on supported Mac hardware. Maybe it causes issue with mostly 32-bit applications.

As to why the "X" isn't present on the Snow Leopard box art, who knows? "Mac OS X" already has pretty strong brand recognition, though, so all you really need to see is the name. The DVD could have a picture of Tux on it, but as long as it said "Mac OS X" somewhere, you'd always know it's Apple software.

Mentor

StandingInAlley

Posted
Posted

Upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard. It seems a bit more responsive and fast but thats about it for me me. Also some small features like "Set Picture as Wallpaper" on right click menu seems nice but when you compare it to Windows, it seems like a joke since this feature has existed from quite sometime in Windows. I can't classify this as a new OS but more of a Service Pack which should have been free imo. The switch from Vista to Windows 7 was a huge one but this is not the same for OSX because Leopard was already a good upgrade over Tiger.

Grand Master

what

Posted
Posted
Can anyone explain to me how the new installation process works? I hear they dropped Archive and Install, which is what I wanted to do :/

I heard that Archive and Install was the option it chooses when you click Install, so that people don't format their drive accidentally and end up losing everything. I also think that rather than creating a Previous System folder to put the old content of your hard drive in after an Archive, everything is preserved in its original folder, with the System folder being the only one that gets replaced (so essentially it is a normal upgrade, just done differently). Erase and Install is still available via Disk Utility, though.

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/12/os-x-s...nges-described/

Grand Master

Chicane-UK Veteran

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Seems kinda odd for them to put a "big cat" picture on the front of the box, which marries up to the code name.. have they done that for any other OSX release?! I always thought they were just a variation on the 'X' previously?!

Veteran

bob_c_b

Posted
Posted
Upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard. It seems a bit more responsive and fast but thats about it for me me. Also some small features like "Set Picture as Wallpaper" on right click menu seems nice but when you compare it to Windows, it seems like a joke since this feature has existed from quite sometime in Windows. I can't classify this as a new OS but more of a Service Pack which should have been free imo. The switch from Vista to Windows 7 was a huge one but this is not the same for OSX because Leopard was already a good upgrade over Tiger.

Ummm, it's existed in OS X for some time as "Use Image As Desktop Picture" and I think there is a little more to Snow Leopard than just that feature. I'd say it has just as much value as the leap to Windows 7, which is also of the same magnitude, it's just overpriced.

In a way, yes, you are. There is, at the moment, no way to buy a DVD of Snow Leopard that will let you do a full, clean install, as you could with Leopard and every previous release of Mac OS X.

There are only two ways to get Snow Leopard: $29 for an upgrade DVD (meaning you have to have Leopard already installed, which costs $129), or $169 for the Mac Box Set, which, again, is the only way to get a full, clean install of Snow Leopard. (And then you also get iWork and iLife, even if you already have them and thus don't need them.)

I don't know why Apple simply won't offer a $129 version of Snow Leopard like they did with every other previous Mac OS X release, or why the $29 version simply isn't a full DVD. Upgrading your OS is always messier and more risky than doing a clean install.

Supposedly this is the case...

- Options to "Erase and Install" and "Archive and Install" are no longer present in the Mac OS X 10.6 installer. According to those familiar with the software, this was done for convenience, so that users do not accidentally erase and install their Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard partitions. However, "Erase and Install" remains available through Disk Utility, which is also included on the installation DVD.

I personally hope that is true, but I guess we'll know for sure in a couple weeks.

Grand Master

.Neo

Posted
Posted (edited)
Upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard. It seems a bit more responsive and fast but thats about it for me me. Also some small features like "Set Picture as Wallpaper" on right click menu seems nice but when you compare it to Windows, it seems like a joke since this feature has existed from quite sometime in Windows. I can't classify this as a new OS but more of a Service Pack which should have been free imo. The switch from Vista to Windows 7 was a huge one but this is not the same for OSX because Leopard was already a good upgrade over Tiger.

Others might think it's a joke Windows doesn't have a feature like spring-loaded folders, something that has existed in Mac OS for quite some time.

Windows 7 does exactly the same for Windows Vista as what Mac OS X Snow Leopard does for Mac OS X Leopard. It doesn't come with too many major new features, it has a lot of smile refinements to the interface and they optimized it to have a smaller disk footprint and be faster.

Oh and remind me, when was the last time a Service Pack brought things like full 64-bit support and completely rewritten system applications to Windows?

Edited by .Neo
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