Apple unveils Snow Leopard with all its guts and glory
Always mindful of its competition, Apple comes right out of the gate saying that Windows 7 is just Microsoft’s tool to get them out of a hole — that it’s nothing more than just a new version of Vista. Ouch. Pot shots aside, Snow Leopard is on today’s menu and it doesn’t look to disappoint. For starters, Exchange support can now be found in Mail, iCal and Address Book. The indispensable Finder is still the same, but with slight tweaks for speed and more seamless navigation. Expose is now built right into the dock to help keep you organized and all your windows can be viewed through that single icon on the dock making viewing and navigation a little simpler than before. Application installations are also 45% faster than before — not too shabby for those of us with little to no patience. Snow Leopard will also feature handwriting recognition for the trackpad, which is pretty intense. Hit the jump for more.
Safari 4 is getting a lot of attention is this new OS X build, and Apple claims it’s now 7.8x faster than IE8. The major change comes along with 64-bit JavaScript performance which is 50 percent faster than before. It’s also crash resistant! Apple says that crashes are caused mainly by plugins, but now if a plugin should crash, all your windows remain in tact; all you have to do is refresh the page and all is saved. One of the biggest updates to Safari is history search: If you click on the lower right corner, your entire history is shown as a cover flow of web pages instead of just a boring list. On the Quicktime front, along with a new logo it’s getting an aesthetic upgrade along with a new technology called HTTP streaming.
So how much to upgrade from Leopard? $29 once it becomes available in September. Awesome. There will also a family pack available for $49.
We’ll be at Windows 9 before a companies will even look at Windows 7.
Apple is taking over the world.!!!!
Mac sucks. Way to charge for a service pack for OS X AGAIN. Don’t see Microsoft charging for their service packs.
Uh…to the poster who bragged about Windows being on a Mac…uh…doesn’t that kind of destroy the point of being on a Mac???
And the reason Mac OS X is so “stable and secure”…name one person who would seriously want to hack into an Apple computer.
Like just ONE!
Unlike Windows…who had the market for OS
So yeah, when your OS is the most widely used OS in the world, you can kind of expect to have some people wanting to hack it!
nope…i dont think it does defeat the purpose of having a mac…because…here i am…on my mac os…and if i happen to need to use something that is only windows compatible i click it…and can drag and drop and do whatever…its quite easy…
im not bashing windows…but…i switched to mac…and i wish i did it a long time ago…it is an amazing computing experience
Wow.. all you guys who said Mac OS X will never catch up to Vista or 7 are.. obviously not too savvy with computers. Ill give you a challenge.. get a macbook and install your 64Bit XP or Vista or whatever on it.. Compare it to performance of 10.5 and tell me that 64Bit Windows is better? 64Bit is supposidly a better architecture than 32bit.. yet 32bit XP/Vista have greater compatibility than 64 AND faster loadtimes and better performance… 10.5? No 32 bit editions i can see strictly 64.. (5mins go bye) oh sorry had to jump on my mac cause my windows rig Blue screened.. you think id learn since Macs dont Blue screen.. or Red screen.. or have any kind of associated Color with a shape or object and the word DEATH at the end.. People need to become more educated when it comes to computers. UNIX (macs foundation) is the most stable software you can get for the backbone of your OS.. dont believe it? Download a Linux distro.. they are ALSO UNIX! Altho they dont use the same Kernel.. but thats besides the point. Lets knock out any and all gripes about getting a Mac..
Too Expensive? With the amount of money your gonna spend on security software and management software, over the years your windows rig will cost you more. Mac also takes advantage of Linux Apps since you can compile them and install them on your Mac.. oh and guess what.. THEY ARE FREE!
Software Compatibility? Yet again.. you can run Linux Apps on mac.. most Windows Apps have an Open Source equivalent thats FREE and does the job a whole lot better.. Plus.. there are apps out there that allow you to run windows apps on your mac without windows..
Too Confusing? Ive had my Mac for over a year.. it was my first Apple computer EVER since my Apple 2 C.. I had used windows from Win 98 to Win Vista (ugh).. Mac is NOT COMPLICATED! Infact.. its just AS simple as windows!
And whoever complained about paying the 29 for Snow leopard but doesnt notice any changes.. Are you an idiot? Ill give you some changes added: Grand Central, increased 64Bit implimentation, Quicktime X, decrease in Hard drive space consumed.. do I need to go on?
People who gripe about computers who DONT KNOW JACK about them.. please… go away and leave it to the people who actualy know what tey are talking about? thanks..
Hmmm, Apple sales failing, MS makes super new OS. Apple sales will clearly fall further. Answer, knock the competition.
Result: existing apple fanboys are convinced. The rest of us use use Windows 7 anyway.
You mean a $29 service pack?
It is quite amusing that Windows users bashing OS X have never used it. While OS X users like myself who have switch over to the Mac from Windows can speak from experience about which OS is trash and which one isn’t.
Can’t say much, but if I had one word. Disappointed.
I have used osX and the first thing I thought was, damn.. This looks like the KDE desktop environment for Linux distros.
OS X is just a prettied up FreeBSD. you can even load it on Dell and other wintel computers.
What? Are you serious? Everyone is using Windows 7 anyway? Okay, it’s not even released yet. And even if it was, most would still be on XP. In fact I just read an article where one branch of the service just okay’d the use of Vista on some systems.
Knock yourself out. Get Winbloze 7, and then find out 1/2 the software won’t run because it’s not compatible. Too funny…
Windows is nothing more than a prettied up version of a very very old version of DEC VMS. If I need to run an old version of DB2, I know where to go…LOL
I’ve had no problems with XP since it was released. True, I wasn’t too thrilled with Vista, but I’ve been running the Win7 RC and it is rock solid, fast, and easy to use.
As for the OS X fan above… guess how much money I’ve spent on security applications for XP? Nothing. Just like OX X, you can find free and good quality security software if you look (I personally use Avast! Home Edition). So please don’t go on crowing about how freeware is strictly the domain of Macs.
Oh, and Quicktime sucks bigtime. Talking about bloatware…
All I have to say is, that I was a dedicated PC user for over 10 years. I hated Mac’s. Until I could literally not take it anymore. Vista’s crashing, the viruses, the slow loads, and cryptographic error messages. I am now proud to say that since making the switch to Mac, my time spent on the computer has never been more efficient. I haven’t had one crash or virus since buying my macbook. Not only that, but it’s a beautiful piece of technology in itself. So honestly, for all of you windows users, you can try and kid yourselves about the facts, but at the end of the day- mac gets it done faster and with alot less worry or hassle. Isnt that what computing is all about?
@ Evilhomer
Really? Because my IT shop runs Server 2008, Office 2007, and Vista. It has been dreamy so far.
But yeah I guess you’re right…every IT shop is “fighting” to keep XP
Big facilities are doing that. If you’re truly IT, then you’d know that by reading the various publications, etc. A good number of large financial systems, CRM, etc. still rely on XP, and do not support Vista. That isn’t to say Vista can’t run them, but when you have 500 plus desktops, and the vendor who maintains/supports the application says it’s not “Vista Appvd” then you do what they say, otherwise you get no support.
For piddley operations of 50 PC’s or less, and only use spreadsheets; yeah I can see using Vista and Office 07. Otherwise, most large companies are still using XP, Office 2003, and IE 6 for compatibility issues.
Heh. My company is still using Windows 3.1 on some computers! (IT guys: “Yeah, we wanna update it, but the beancounters won’t let us. ‘If it’s still working fine, then why spend the money?’ they ask.”)
Yet, oddly enough, not one Mac in the house…
@ Xoxoti
Obviously, there comes a time when you NEED to update. XP is still a solid Business OS [in terms of what it was designed to do], and it’s supported by MS. Running old software, that’s not supported or updated is a HUGE security risk…
Funny; I’m the only person running a Mac in my org [and I'm the IT Manager]. I’ve had NO issues, and enjoy computing again!
Is the Snow Leopard operating system itself 64-bit or does it remain 32-bit?
Maybe you could learn how the spell check feature works on your Mac.
Sweet! Apple ids the greatest thing ever! Windows sucks. I don’t care that Windows comprises almost 90% of the market. You are ALL wrong. 7%-8% are right! Apple is the greatest thing since sliced bread!
hackintosh’s are starting to get better and better, but for now they still can’t compete with my macbook. way too many freezes (especially using garageband.) until then, i’m supporting both corps.
SL is 64 bit only and will only work on Intel based Mac’s
and 2 months ago security researchers found a botnet made up of only Mac’s. around 5 million nodes, which is like half the user base.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=mac+botnet&btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=mac+botn
apparently while half the apple fan boys say Mac’s don’t get viruses, their Mac has one.