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Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

VMware Fusion 3 supercharged for Snow Leopard

by Aron Trimble (RSS feed) on Oct 6th, 2009

The latest release of VMware's top-notch virtualization software "Fusion" has been announced and some of the new features are definitely worth taking a look. For the uninitiated, virtualization is the act of simulating a guest operating system while running a host operating system. Put simply, it allows you to run Windows without having to reboot.

VMware Fusion 3 features highly improved Snow Leopard support. Most notably, Fusion now sports native 64-bit compatibility and support for the 64-bit kernel. What this means for the average user is improved performance for both the host and guest operating systems.

Further, with support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3, gamers will now be able to play more demanding 3D games without the use of Boot Camp. Fusion 3 will also work beautifully with Microsoft's latest operating system by enabling the full Windows 7 experience, side-by-side with your Mac via Unity, complete with Windows Aero and Flip 3D.

VMware Fusion 3 is available for pre-order now and will be on store shelves October 27. Suggested retail price is $79.99US and on the day of launch upgrade pricing of $39.99US will be available for existing customers with previous versions of VMware Fusion.

I use Fusion 2 when I'm at my home office and while the performance has been good, I am really looking forward to Fusion 3's 64-bit support. Any other Fusion users out there, how will you make use of VMware's latest foray into the desktop virtualization game?


Tags: 64-bit, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, virtualization, vmware, vmware fusion, VmwareFusion, windows 7, Windows7

Filed under: OS, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

A roundup of Snow Leopard-related software announcements

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 28th, 2009

As our readers and staff are out buying copies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard today, we thought we'd also start rounding up news about software updates related to the OS update.

We're getting a lot of emails today with news about Snow Leopard compatibility updates for applications, so we'll be listing the updates in this post. Be sure to check back from time to time today, as we'll be changing this post frequently. If you're using the new and free TUAW iPhone App [App Store link] to read this, be sure to tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen to view the entire post.

Continue reading “A roundup of Snow Leopard-related software announcements”

Tags: 64-bit, compatibility, monitor, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, software, update

Filed under: OS, Peripherals, Universal Binary, Snow Leopard

Getting ready for Snow Leopard: Think about your applications

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 27th, 2009

Ahhhh, there's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that tomorrow I will be spending much of the day upgrading the Macs in my house to Snow Leopard. I received an email from Apple this morning telling me that Snow Leopard had shipped, so now I just need to be available to sign for the package tomorrow.

Regardless of how many Mac OS upgrades I've done over the years, there are always one or two drivers, application enhancers, or full applications that just don't run properly on the newly installed OS. With Snow Leopard, these situations should be rare as many developers have already done compatibility checking and worked out the bugs. Before you slip that Snow Leopard DVD into your Mac tomorrow and start doing the upgrade, there are a few things you may want to consider.

Continue reading “Getting ready for Snow Leopard: Think about your applications”

Tags: 32-bit, 64-bit, applications, compatibility, drivers, Intel-only, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, system preferences, SystemPreferences

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

What Snow Leopard feature are you anticipating the most?

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 24th, 2009

Now that we have the actual ship date for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (August 28th for those who haven't yet had a cup of coffee to wake them up), it's time to start thinking about what benefits you can gain from the newest member of Apple's cat family.

Apple has told us from the start that Snow Leopard is predominantly about streamlining both the size and speed of the operating system. Installing Snow Leopard should take about half the time of performing a Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard install, and it's expected that you'll gain about 7 GB of space back on your hard disk.

Snow Leopard is also bringing some new features to the table, including 64-bit support, Grand Central Dispatch's multicore support, and OpenCL, all of which can provide better performance for applications. There are amazing improvements to the Mac OS X Universal Access features, particularly for the vision-impaired. For those who use their Macs in a predominantly Windows office environment, the full built-in support for Exchange should make life much simpler.

TUAW would like to know what Snow Leopard feature you're anticipating the most, so we've come up with a short list for you to choose from in a poll. We'll use these results to provide you with detailed coverage about those features. If your favorite improvement or feature isn't on the list, leave a comment and tell us what you're excited about.

What Snow Leopard feature are you anticipating the most?

Tags: 64-bit, features, grand central dispatch, GrandCentralDispatch, opencl, poll, snow leopard, SnowLeopard

Filed under: OS, Software, Developer

Apple, Adobe, and 64-bit Photoshop

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Apr 3rd, 2008


Adobe's announcement that Photoshop CS4 will be 32-bit only on OS X has the Mac web buzzing today. Accusations of blame are being shot at both Adobe and Apple by various pundits (though notably not by the companies themselves). Fortunately, some of the better Mac pundits are also weighing in with interesting opinions on this development.

Over at Ars, John Siracusa has penned an interesting historical account of the relationship of Adobe and Apple, and the Carbon API which is at the center of the controversy. He somewhat grimly sees this Photoshop development as the furthering of bad blood between the two companies and suggests that "the real storm may be yet to come" as Adobe and Apple clash over Flash and Air, etc. (witness the Flash on iPhone kerfuffle).

Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber takes up the question of CS5 -- i.e. the next version of Photoshop after the aforementioned CS4 -- which will be biggest Cocoa port ever attempted. He points out the interesting difference between Photoshop and Microsoft Office in that the former shares a codebase between Windows and OS X, while the latter represents two completely separate projects on the two platforms. The big question is whether Adobe will even be able to pull off the Cocoa port in time and maintain its cross-platform nature (though as both Johns have pointed out, Lightroom bodes well in this regard).

In any case, this drama is just beginning to play itself out and depending on how you look at it we're in for a good many years of entertainment or frustration as the Cocoa transition of Photoshop progresses (never mind the next version of Office).

Tags: 32-bit, 64-bit, adobe, carbon, cocoa

Filed under: Software

Photoshop CS3 won't be 64-bit

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Dec 28th, 2006

Adobe will be releasing a 64-bit version of Photoshop, at some point. Photoshop CS3 is not going to be 64-bit despite some demand for it (64-bit apps can access more physical memory, amongst other things). Why? Adobe points to the lack of adoption of 64-bit technology by consumers. Tiger has limited support for 64-bit applications, but it isn't complete (Leopard promises more in this area) while 64-bit versions of Windows are available most people don't know about them and wouldn't care if they did.

Patience, Photoshop jockeys, your 64-bit version of PS will come sooner or later.

Tags: 64-bit, photoshop

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