Today, at its WWDC keynote, Apple publicly unveiled the majority of its new operating system, OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for the first time. As promised, the majority of the changes are under the hood, where things are tighter and should purr.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Snow Leopard is that saves 6 GB space versus OS X Leopard. That’s half the footprint, and that’s pretty crazy in a world where updates are typically much larger than their predecessor.
But that’s not to say there isn’t anything new about Snow Leopard. For starters, there are new Expose features built-in to many of the applications. There’s a new version of QuickTime, that is not only faster, but has a new look.
All applications are now running 64 bit in Snow Leopard. There is also a new Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) feature that allows for better performance with multi-core processors. And there’s the new OpenCL, which opens a computer’s graphics power to also be used for regular computing functionality. OpenCL has been made an open standard as well.
One of the biggest new features Snow Leopard is adding, is Microsoft Exchange support built-in to the main three communication applications: Mail, iChat and Address Book. This is available for no extra charge in Snow Leopard, while on Windows, it will cost you.
And alongside the Snow Leopard features, Apple is showing off the new version of its Safari web browser. This will be available starting today for Leopard and Windows as well. It previously was in beta testing.
Apple says Safari is the fastest browser on any platform, and gets 100/100 on the Acid3 rendering test. By comparison, IE8 gets a 21/100 on the same test.
Apple first unveiled Snow Leopard to developers last year at WWDC. Since that time, it has been testing the software with developers.
Snow Leopard will be available for all Intel Macs for $29. That’s a $100 savings over the current version of Leopard. The family pack will be $49. It will be available in September.
[photo: flickr/MacJewel]
I don’t understand right, will it be available as an update for Leopard users for a fee or for free?
for a fee, this is considered a major release.
They picked up this space by making Snow Leopard only run on intel processors and eliminating the need for the old power pc code for Apps.
This applied every where in the OS, from languages to print drivers. Hench 6gb’s coming back to users.
Sounds great! Are there any screenshots of things in snow leopard that you could post?
“Snow Leopard will be available for all Intel Macs for $29″ — is that a misprint? Not $129?
It looks like on Apple Store it is $129. Unless I am missing something.
It is $29 for all Leopard users. For Intel macs running tiger it will come as a combo package with iWork included in it for $169.
snow leopard isn’t even out yet
so how can it be in the apple store?
it is due in september
Snow Leopard is only $29!!!!
Amazing! Can’t wait.
Keep in mind most of the space savings result from simply ditching all the PowerPC binaries and assets.
Still they managed another GB or two on top of that, and that’s great.
Pretty impressive… cut down the OS size in half? The programmers must’ve gotten really efficient.
They reduced images, videos and stuff, you definitely can’t reduce the code size by 50% unless you dramatically reduce the number of features. (But they could have removed PowerPC-support, which probably saved a bit. Still: Not 50%.)
You’re wrong.
They removed PPC code. Images etc are already in PNG & JPGs so you can’t reduce them more unless you want to make it look ugly… and Apple would never do that.
They removed PPC code and compressed localizations.
Snow Leopard for $29, now that’s smart!
I can’t wait to cop mine.
You all realize they are only able to charge $29.00 for this. I’m sure they would love to charge $129.00, but all they did was delete the PowerPC code. Other than that it’s basically Leopard with a few minor updates. Honestly, they should give it away as a service pack. Moreover, it’s been delayed so many times that it will be released now in September instead of this summer. Why isn’t Apple catching any flack for this? People need to wake up and realize Apple has jumped the shark. WWDC ‘09 is the beginning of the end.
Last I checked, the first 21 days of September are in the summer. You may well use a different calendar from those of us in the US, but in the country where Apple is headquartered, September is part of the summer.
J.C. MacClore said:
“but all they did was delete the PowerPC code. Other than that it’s basically Leopard with a few minor updates.”
No, not at all. This is a major change; the OS has been completely reorganized. If you take the excess languages and the PowerPC code out of Leopard 10.5, then Leopard is still 30 percent larger than Snow Leopard will be. So, Snow Leopard has been trimmed down; all the cruft taken out. It should be faster just from that.
Apple has reworked the OS to make it a full 64 bit system. It has a new kernel, Cocoa API’s and a Cocoa finder. All the Apple applications will be 64 bit Cocoa now. This was a lot of work.
What it means is that the compromises that Steve Jobs had to make back in 1997 to shoehorn NeXT Openstep onto the Mac are now over. The Carbon API’s which Apple had to develop to placate the developers can be obsoleted in a few years. The Carbon API’s that Apple will keep around will have Cocao wrappers around them.
What Snow Leopard does is to give us a streamlined system that can be used as a springboard for new developments in Mac OSX 10.7 in 12 to 18 months. Then there is the Zettabyte File System, OpenCL and Grand Central. The 64 bit kernel will be able to use the registers in Intel 64 bit Core 2 processors more effectively, so you can expect 20 to 25% more speed from just that.
You should expect Snow leopard to run 25 to 50% faster on the same system. It will be more so if you have one of the newer computers with the NVEDIA 9400 GPU in it. Then, as applications are recompiled for 64 bit, you can expect a 50 to 1200% speed increase from those applications. Even one year old 24 inch iMac’s like mine will benefit. But, Snow Leopard is really designed for the future.
“Mac OS X is not fully 64-bit. While Windows users get 64-bit versions of Windows, Mac OS X users will, in Snow Leopard, get an OS in which most of the system is 64-bit, but many “non-major system apps” are still 32-bit.”
“Apple needs to tone down the boring stuff. Look guys, here’s another iPhone app. We get it. Move along, please.”
http://communit...lity-check.aspx
Yeah people…$29 for something you should get for free? Or that should have came with Leopard?
*sigh*
You’re still getting overcharged… O_o
$29 is well worth it, or will be.
GCD combined with OpenCL will be a killer feature. Write functions in OpenCL that can run on available GPU *or* CPU resources.
Someone should be able to use this technology to write higher performing and easier to maintain Photoshop and video filters than ever before.
When someone does, think of the $29 as a small piece of the $300 editing package upgrade.
This has got to be one of the most exciting WWDC launch events ever. This new OS is going to be smoking fast, ditching all the legacy crap is something Microsoft just can’t seem to do which is why some PC’s still come with an ISA slot in them, which is 25 year old technology.
I am very excited about all the enhancements, and native Exchange support will be huge, especially since I can’t stand Entourage (the Mac equivalent of Outlook). Reducing 6 gigs of space for install is awesome, will definitely make the install much faster.
lol i have not seen an isa slot in a desktop pc in over 5 years. But i get your point.
$29 is sooooo cheap. This is incredible!!
Any idea if the content of email attachments will be search-able when it arrives (without manually saving the attachment to an attachment folder)? Lack of this feature has been the one thing that’s kept me from switching from Outlook on XP/Vista.
J.C. MacClore said:
“Mac OS X is not fully 64-bit. While Windows users get 64-bit versions of Windows, Mac OS X users will, in Snow Leopard, get an OS in which most of the system is 64-bit, but many “non-major system apps” are still 32-bit.”
“Apple needs to tone down the boring stuff. Look guys, here’s another iPhone app. We get it. Move along, please.”
I wish you would learn something before you spout off, JC. You are ignorant of the implications. That is only natural as a Windows fan.
Apple has been moving incrementally toward 64 bit processing for many years now, so has Microsoft. Apple had 64 bit processing on the PowerPC’s five years ago, but the software wasn’t ready for it and Apple couldn’t get developers to move off the dime.
Apple used the move to Intel hardware to force developers to adopt Xcode 2.0. This gave Apple the ability to push people into using Intel’s 64 bit hardware. All it takes is a recompile in XCode 3.0 for a 32 bit Cocoa application to become a 64 bit app. It also forces developers to rewrite their apps to take advantage of Snow Leopard’s OpenCL, Grand Central and the Zettabyte file system. We will learn about their advantages over the next year.
Leopard 10.5 could run 64 bit applications as well as 32 bit ones, but its kernel was 32 bit, so it had to use some weird processing and there was a speed loss. That is over now.
Snow Leopard has a 64 bit kernel, which can run 32 bit applications. The developers will recompile to 64 bit, because Apple has made it easier to do so. There are many changes in Snow Leopard that they will want to take advantage of. All the onus is on them, now. If they don’t upgrade to Cocoa then they will lose market share to the developers who do. Adobe, are you listening?
Microsoft had a botched 64 bit OS in XP and Vista, but no one has used it much. You have to choose between running 32 or 64 bit. You had to give up the other. Not so with Apple.
This is the first major migration to 64 bit processing. A year from now, almost every Mac program will be 64 bit. Five years from now, 32 bit Carbon Apps will be history.
Microsoft has had a devil of a time getting anyone interested in 64 bit processing. It might as will not have it, for all the use it is.
“Microsoft had a botched 64 bit OS in XP and Vista, but no one has used it much. You have to choose between running 32 or 64 bit. You had to give up the other.”
Sorry kid, but Vista x64 runs all 32 bit apps just fine.
So please stop your FUD about Windows x64, since you don’t know anything about it.
Exactly, I was going to say the same thing. Besides most of Apple hardware only a year or 2 old won’t be able to run 64 bit kernel anyway. You are in fact still stuck with 32 bit kernel even on the latest 13” Macbook Pro, the most current model, and low end 15” Macbook.
So, it seems to me Apple is the one with false advertising and claims, while competitors have had 64 bit ready OSes almost 10 years ago.
I was watching a clip of WWDC and the guy dragged a photo and dropped it into the mail client and it atached itself……and the were applauses and whistles and showtings of “yeah” in the background. I just want to know, couldn’t this be done on Macs before?
Yes it could be done before. If you look at it again you will see that what he was demoing was not the drag & drop funtion but the “dock expose”. Only the mail windows where opened when he dragged it in there. That’s a new feature.
what? that’s a feature? you’ve got to be kidding me, right?
Dock Expose is a small feature that allows easy workflows when you have a lot of open applications at the same time… just watch the video again, but this time from the begining of the demo of snow leopard so you see the diference.
In leopard you can drag a picture to the mail icon in the dock and it will create a new message with that picture on it. In snow leopard, you can do that, but you can also open iPhoto, select the picture you want to send, drag it over the mail dock icon and it will show in Expose the open mail windows so you can choose wich message you want the picture added…
it is, again, a small part of a bigger feature wich is Dock Expose
According to the Australian Apple Site , Snow Leopard will only be $14.95 , which is great news considering we have always paid a premium for apple products
What?
@ RIchard:
That price has been pulled down now, possibly an error. BTW – we haven’t necessarily payed premium, considering the exchange rate – maybe $10 extra at the very most. However what annoys me is how some software doesn’t drop in price or that the cost of Apple software tends not to change with the exchange rate.
Except Snow Leopard is yet another stop gap update towards 64 bit. Apparently, 64 bit kernel will not be available on all 64 bit CPUs, only the ones that also have 64 bit chipset, and 64 bit EFI. And that excludes all Macbooks, even the 13” Macbook Pro and even the low end 15” Macbook, all Mac Pros before early 2008 version (older than 3.1) etc.
So, if you really want 64 bit OS X you need to buy new hardware with that $30 OS upgrade as well.
Or, you could install Linux or Windows on your Mac, since those had proper 64 bit support almost 10 years ago.