[moep]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay 

Officially from Apple:

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

No mention of Cocoa or Intel only. One new feature mentioned is native Exchange 2007 support within the OS.

looks like the page was pulled already.

To me the name "Snow Leopard" indicates a milestone that's bigger than the usual point-release but not quite as revolutionary as the previous OSX releases. Maybe it really is "only" 10.5.6 packing some extra features.

PS: let's do the time warp again...

[Peter]

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

[Art Vandelay]

Officially from Apple:

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

No mention of Cocoa or Intel only. One new feature mentioned is native Exchange 2007 support within the OS.

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay 

Officially from Apple:

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

No mention of Cocoa or Intel only. One new feature mentioned is native Exchange 2007 support within the OS.

Gone. Anyone got the text stored somewhere?

[Art Vandelay]

MacWorld and MacRumors have snippets and summaries of it.

[moep]

OpenCL = CUDA (see here:MacNN | Apple may adopt, rename Nvidia CUDA technology?)
Quicktime X = Quicktime rewritten in OpenCL
New JS rendering engine = Safari with Squirrelfish (Surfin’ Safari - Blog Archive � Announcing SquirrelFish) — already available in the latest nightly, why would they wait a year to release it?
Grand Central = no idea how that will work.

OpenCL sounds be pretty exciting. There's a ton of untapped potential in current mid- to high-end GPUs and we might even see mac consumer models sporting decent graphic cards in the future!

The update reminds me a bit of 10.1 although I doubt it'll be free. Would be a nice move though.

[Chuckit]

OpenCL on most Macs seems a bit like putting a saddle on a brick.

[moep]

That might be true for now but the future is looking bright.

Snow Leopard + a bunch of next-gen GPUs + Photoshop CS5 + Cocoa + OpenCL =

One thing I didn't consider is the fact that Apple is still very close with Intel. Larrabee (Intel's GPGPU) was originally scheduled for early 2009. That and OpenCL sounds like a perfect match to me, maybe it isn't CUDA after all.

Larrabee will differ from other GPUs currently on the market such as the GeForce 8 Series and the Radeon 2/3000 series in that it will use a derivative of the x86 instruction set for its shader cores instead of a custom graphics-oriented instruction set, and is thus expected to be more flexible. In addition to traditional 3D graphics for games, Larrabee is also being designed explicitly for general purpose GPU (GPGPU) or stream processing tasks: for example, to perform ray tracing or physics processing in real time for games or perhaps offline as a component of a supercomputer.

Link: Larrabee (GPU - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

OpenCL on most Macs seems a bit like putting a saddle on a brick.

[iM@k]

So by show of hands, how many of you are having crow for dinner?

[Gankdawg]

Originally Posted by iM@k 

So by show of hands, how many of you are having crow for dinner?

:raises hand:

At least on the name.

[TheoCryst]

:raises hand:

Which is lame, and means that I have a lot more work to do this summer. Blah, stupid Apple.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

:raises hand:

Which is lame, and means that I have a lot more work to do this summer. Blah, stupid Apple.

Why does the name "Snow Leopard" mean you have to work much more?

Also, I think the name is OK. It does a good job of indicating that it's not a radical leap from Leopard like you might expect a new version to be.

[exca1ibur]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

OpenCL on most Macs seems a bit like putting a saddle on a brick.

So true, so true...

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

OpenCL on most Macs seems a bit like putting a saddle on a brick.

be where the puck will be and not where it has been

[Art Vandelay]

Apple now has a new page up.

Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Snow Leopard

Nothing much different than what was in the PR. One thing new on the site is that it will take up less disk space compared to Leopard.

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Why does the name "Snow Leopard" mean you have to work much more?

Nah, it's not the name. I'm not saying anything official, but *snipped for fear of flying chairs*

But seriously, the name is fine with me. It'll be interesting once we hear some more concrete details about it. Who wants to put some money on whether the Finder will go all-Cocoa this time around?

[peeb]

This looks like housecleaning and a lot of behind the scenes work - exchange will be nice though.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

I dunno seems to me like they rather concentrate on the iPhone and use this time to set up the backbone for OS X for something more special in the future in 10.7. Multi-touch on desktops, laptops are going to be hot **** soon so I hope apple stays on top of that.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Simon 

And to go with 10.6 SL...


Now back to reality.

I don't even understand what I'm not looking at.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay 

Nothing much different than what was in the PR. One thing new on the site is that it will take up less disk space compared to Leopard.

[CYNIC]Sure... remove all the PPC code and you get less disk space.[/CYNIC]

*ducks*

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

[CYNIC]Sure... remove all the PPC code and you get less disk space.[/CYNIC]

*ducks*

I think it is more because they figured out how to get it small and efficient for the iPhone.

[- - e r i k - -]

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-
the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. 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. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory
up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac® 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

[- - e r i k - -]

This is the first time I've seen anyone using the sentence "A Quantum Leap." to mean what it actually does: A miniscule change!!

A Quantum Leap
Since 2001, Mac OS X has delivered more than a thousand innovative new features. With Snow Leopard, the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X changes more than its spots, it changes focus. Taking a break from adding new features, Snow Leopard — scheduled to ship in about a year — builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality. Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.

[- - e r i k - -]

Also, does Open CL stand for Open Computing Language or Open Compute Library? The original PR and the new web page differ.

[Big Mac]

I wonder why ZFS, or failing that, some other new filesystem, is no where to be found in the announcement.

[Big Mac]

Ah, many people missed that - thank you Simon. So I guess it's a primarily going to be a Server feature.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

I wonder why ZFS, or failing that, some other new filesystem, is no where to be found in the announcement.

Huh? Apple explicitly mentions ZFS on the SL Server page.
Apple - Server - Mac OS X Leopard - Snow Leopard

ZFS
For business-critical server deployments, Snow Leopard Server adds read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots.

[Big Mac]

Ah, thank you Simon - many people missed that. So it seems ZFS won't be directed at the general Mac user any time soon. Perhaps Apple has an in-house upgrade to HFSJ in mind for the rest of us.

[Simon]

I guess they have just come to the conclusion that regular desktop users will be OK with HFS+ while servers/workstations could profit from ZFS.

[Simon]

And here are some pics from the SL Dev Preview handed out at WWDC.

[Randman]

I was hoping for Sabretooth but meh.

[OreoCookie]

Good news everyone, it runs on a Core (1) Duo, hehe

[MacosNerd]

I think the name makes more sense by the fact that his Stevieness alluded to the fact that it will not have a lot of changes, most of the stuff will be under the hood. Given that, it will resemble leopard.

Personally if they make the OS more stable and rock solid. I'll take that over new features. Just look at windows, between the over promising of Vista and the bugginess of all of the other versions. They wanted to keep and new and different stuff. OSX is a stable OS,and if they keep honing it, the OS will be rock solid.

[Simon]

Personally I think SL couldn't happen at a better time. MS is having a hard time forcing people over to Vista. A lot of people are looking around to see if there are better alternatives. At the same time Leopard is very mature feature-wise. We already have a whole bunch of fancy gadgets and nifty doohickeys. What we need now is a focus on making it rock solid, streamline it, boost performance, enhance/fix the underlying frameworks, and increase the incentive for developers to create great apps for OS X. And judging by what I hear from Apple, this is exactly where SL is headed.

[MacosNerd]

I think Apple's timing on snow leopard is to compete with vista. Windows 7 is a few years (2?) off and vista sales are flagging. I wouldn't be surprised if apple jettisoned some features on snow leopard just to get it out the door sooner. That way the subsequent version of OSX would have that much more features.

[Todd Madson]

Since the Snow Leopard release is ostensibly at least partially to keep things in the
64-bit sphere, think about what Mac hardware platforms were running in the 64-bit
mode: G5 machines (certain ones) and the higher intel ones.

Anyone try the SL preview on a G5?

[Don Pickett]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson 

Anyone try the SL preview on a G5?

Failing that, does anyone know if Apple has released a set of preliminary system requirements?

[-Q-]

Interesting.

I wonder if they'll charge the full upgrade price (or, as someone made the analogy to 10.1, charge anything at all) for what seems to be a very consumer-unfriendly (my wife couldn't possibly care less about OpenCL, for example) update? It sounds like it's building a foundation for cool things to come, but I don't know that consumers would pay $129 for improvements they don't 'see.'

[Art Vandelay]

Apple could be following the same pattern that they used with JHFS+. They released it as a feature available in the GUI in OS X Server before they did on OS X. But it was still available on the client via only the CLI until the next version.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by -Q- 

I wonder if they'll charge the full upgrade price (or, as someone made the analogy to 10.1, charge anything at all) for what seems to be a very consumer-unfriendly (my wife couldn't possibly care less about OpenCL, for example) update? It sounds like it's building a foundation for cool things to come, but I don't know that consumers would pay $129 for improvements they don't 'see.'

Some people will argue that if you "could care less about Open CL" and don't want to pay for improvements you "don't see", then you should just not buy SL.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay 

Apple could be following the same pattern that they used with JHFS+. They released it as a feature available in the GUI in OS X Server before they did on OS X. But it was still available on the client via only the CLI until the next version.

I suppose that's possible, but the move to ZFS would be far *far* more substantial than simply supplementing HFS+ with a journal.

[-Q-]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Some people will argue that if you "could care less about Open CL" and don't want to pay for improvements you "don't see", then you should just not buy SL.

That was my point.

I'm wondering how they would convince the average consumer to purchase this upgrade? With the currently announced features, it's a tough sell.

[analogika]

I assume the bigger focus will be on future systems.

Much reduced footprint, extremely streamlined performance - that sounds like prerequisite for other ultra-mobile systems somewhere between iPhone and MacBook Air.

Though if it makes my MacBook significantly faster, I'm not going to complain.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

[CYNIC]Sure... remove all the PPC code and you get less disk space.[/CYNIC]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I think it is more because they figured out how to get it small and efficient for the iPhone.

Perhaps they're going back to optimize for size like they did for the G5s.

Originally Posted by Simon 

I guess they have just come to the conclusion that regular desktop users will be OK with HFS+ while servers/workstations could profit from ZFS.

Does that imply you expect the Mac Pros to ship with and OS that supports ZFS support?

[olePigeon]

I'd upgrade to 10.6 if it made 10.5 Snappy™.

[Chuckit]

[Debug Code joke here]

[Krusty]

Originally Posted by Don Pickett 

Failing that, does anyone know if Apple has released a set of preliminary system requirements?

I haven't seen any. But, if this is supposed to streamline and optimize applications and performance, It'd be awfully nice if they had the same requirements as for 10.5. I currently have two G4 machines in the stable that run 10.5 just fine. I'd love to get a couple more years of life out of them running the latest OS (10.6 Family Pack, I would expect to buy).

[Don Pickett]

Originally Posted by Krusty 

I haven't seen any. But, if this is supposed to streamline and optimize applications and performance, It'd be awfully nice if they had the same requirements as for 10.5. I currently have two G4 machines in the stable that run 10.5 just fine. I'd love to get a couple more years of life out of them running the latest OS (10.6 Family Pack, I would expect to buy).

My last Mac lasted six years, and I'd like this one to last as long.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson 

Since the Snow Leopard release is ostensibly at least partially to keep things in the 64-bit sphere, think about what Mac hardware platforms were running in the 64-bit mode: G5 machines (certain ones) and the higher intel ones.

All G5s are 64-bit.