Filed under: OS, WWDC, Apple, Developer, Snow Leopard
Apple posts details about Snow Leopard
TUAW broke the Snow Leopard story and boy were we right. Apple has just posted the details on the next version of Mac OS X -- Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will not bring any major new features to the Mac platform, instead, Apple will be focusing on the quality of the OS.
According to the details, Snow Leopard will be optimized for multi-core processors, be able to take advantage of even more RAM (up to 16TB, theoretically), and include out-of-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007. A new technology in the OS, named "Grand Central" will allow developers to better take advantage of Macs with more than one processing core.
In addition, Safari will be revved with Snow Leopard. Safari will utilize a new JavaScript engine ( SquirrelFish, no doubt) to make it even faster.
Apple did not supply any details about price, but expects the OS to be shipping in "1 year."
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ramin said 4:06PM on 6-09-2008
SNOW!
It better be a free upgrade!
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Ramin said 4:06PM on 6-09-2008
SNOW!
It better be a free upgrade!
Reply
Ramin said 4:07PM on 6-09-2008
Sorry for the double post. :(
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frogbat said 4:07PM on 6-09-2008
if this is indeed just a tune up i don't know how willing i'll be to part cash for an upgrade for older hardware.
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Rob Rix said 4:14PM on 6-09-2008
There is, fortunately, no talk about it being i386-only in the post. I’m hoping that’s not just an omission—I hope they really aren’t planning that.
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Petre said 4:17PM on 6-09-2008
It's going to happen sometime. It might as well be when they are revamping the system for added performance and to take advantage of the newest, mor powerful chips. There is absolutely no doubt that the software will be lighter and more stable if it doesn't have to support the PowerPC line anymore.
Rob Rix said 4:21PM on 6-09-2008
If they aren’t adding any features, then what exactly is going to need to take advantage of newer hardware?
Yes, it has to happen sometime; that’s fine. But twelve months from now is still too soon. 10.7, I could accept. 10.6? No.
kylindell said 4:15PM on 6-09-2008
i this just an update type thing or will it actually be 10.6?
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conner_bw said 4:17PM on 6-09-2008
Taking a chill pill and making things better, this I applaud, bravo Apple.
/clap on, clap off
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Jon Niola said 4:19PM on 6-09-2008
Did Apple's marketing people all quit? Snow Leopard? If I did not see that in the official release I would have assumed it to be a joke lol.
One nice feature not mentioned here, but in the official release is the addition of OCL - to allow applications to tap into the power of the GPU in addition to the CPU.
Any app written to take advantage of th GPU in that way would see a huge boost in performance.
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Mark Bowman said 4:20PM on 6-09-2008
"Apple will be focusing on the quality of the OS. "
So this is like an official admission that Leopard was buggy as heck? Maybe Snow whatever will get Bluetooth working on my Macbook. Not occasionally crashing when it sleeps would be great too.
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Thayne said 5:10PM on 6-09-2008
Take that bad boy in to the apple store. They are aware of those problems and it's covered under applecare.
Pascal said 4:20PM on 6-09-2008
You forgot one important new feature! Appartently, applications under 10.6 can tap the GPU for huge processing power. Think encoding video, zipping files, audio filters, encryption (filevault) etc!
"Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications."
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Brandon Martinez said 4:28PM on 6-09-2008
So it's like having another processor, right? Awesome! That is, if the developer chooses to use it...
Snewt said 4:27PM on 6-09-2008
This is the best thing! I have often wished for a software maker to take a breather, and concentrate on adding depth, quality, refinement and optimization to their existing package before rushing off to the next version.
Since most organizations are marketing driven, the deck is stacked against a new release that does not include "NEW FEATURES!!!"
With most every device now (including future versions of the ATOM chip which will likely run the iPhone) being multi-core, it is high time that OS and major app developers take the time to figure out how to make the most of this, IMHO.
Hats off to Apple!
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Brandon Martinez said 4:29PM on 6-09-2008
And with it having no new features, being free is going to be the only way to sell it.
People don't want to say, "well, what does it have?"
"more stability"
"That's it? Why didn't you just fix the one I have?"
Though I am totally for optimizing and speeding up, don't get me wrong - I just don't want to pay $129. I'd pay $20-$40 for it, though.
scott Newton said 4:40PM on 6-09-2008
Brandon - it seems to me that the pricing is a minor issue - most people will get their 'Snow' for free when they buy a new Mac.
Apple may well decide that this upgrade may deserve a lower price.
But from a user's point of veiw, if the features and performance gains are truly compelling, why not pay whatever the price that Apple is asking? Or not?
With the possibility of big performance gains for everyday tasks and perhaps resolution independence to be completed, it may be worthwhile, esp. for those who use their Mac everyday for work.
Zimmie said 4:48PM on 6-09-2008
Why on earth does everyone seem to think iPhone is going to use the Atom chip? That would be stupid. The current iPhone processor uses on the order of 150 mW. Intel's Atom uses more like 2W.
So yes. iPhone can use the Atom if you're willing to live with less than an hour of battery life. Intel simply does not make low-power parts. For that matter, Atom's performance is nowhere near that of the latest ARM cores. At this point, the only reason to use Atom is if you want your device to run Windows.
Alva said 4:31PM on 6-09-2008
Uhhh ... 'Grand Central' ... doesn't someone else have that name already?
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caleb said 7:11PM on 6-09-2008
I think Grand Central is an open source Telephony software solution for routing calls all over gods creation. I think I heard Google bought them.
I doubt the name would be an issue since they're different markets, but I'm no lawyer.