Yeah! Take THAT Microsoft!

[mac57]

On Apple's home page this AM, this article appears, introducing the next version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard. I can already tell that Snow Leopard is going to be my favorite release ever. It is doing the one thing that I have wished forever that an OS vendor would do with a new release. It is focusing on smaller, faster and better. Snow Leopard is all about performance, reduced footprint and optimum usage of multiple cores. Finally, a new OS version that focuses not just on new eye candy and new features, but the "meat and potatoes" of computing - performance.

You've never seen THAT from Microsoft, who clearly believes that bigger and slower = better!

In the face of the lumbering behemoth that Microsoft has created with Vista, focusing Snow Leopard on performance will not only benefit all current and new Mac users, but will be an advertising tour de force! An OS release that makes your computer run FASTER? Absolutely brilliant!!

Snow Leopard. Yeah! Take THAT Microsoft!!!

I love Apple!

 

[Kash]

So I'm guessing you're excited about this?

 

[mac57]

Performance freaks everywhere will rejoice - count me in! Yup, I am pretty excited about it!

I am also excited about the advertising possibilities though. I hope that Apple choses to really push this hard. Microsoft has shot itself in the foot with Vista and Apple can really pound them to the floor with a performance focused release. This is exactly the kind of corporate brilliance and marketing savvy that Apple has been SO good at of late. [Repeating myself] Absolutely brilliant!

 

[baggss]

Performance freaks everywhere will rejoice - count me in! Yup, I am pretty excited about it!

I am also excited about the advertising possibilities though. I hope that Apple choses to really push this hard. Microsoft has shot itself in the foot with Vista and Apple can really pound them to the floor with a performance focused release. This is exactly the kind of corporate brilliance and marketing savvy that Apple has been SO good at of late. [Repeating myself] Absolutely brilliant!

This is actually even more interesting since the Vista debacle has lead MS to rethink Windows 7. Since W7 will be a "Start from scratch" project, something like OSX was and will not natively include backward compatibility for older software a good chunk of MS's user base is not going to be happy with running built in emulation (ala Classic mode). Apple will have the chance to have a fast streamlined system fielded when W7 hits and people get really fed up with them. Vista was just the first round.

I can't help but notice that that Apple web page doesn't the the PPC question though.

 

[mac57]

I can't help but notice that that Apple web page doesn't the the PPC question though.

Good point baggss. There is no mention of PPC support in Snow Leopard. We can only hope that it is there. I would expect it to be, but I would also expect that Snow Leopard will be the last OS X release to support PPC.

 

[Soulwar]

Good point baggss. There is no mention of PPC support in Snow Leopard. We can only hope that it is there. I would expect it to be, but I would also expect that Snow Leopard will be the last OS X release to support PPC.

"Grand Central,” a new set of technologies built into Snow Leopard, brings unrivaled support for multicore systems to Mac OS X. More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems."

My take on it, is that it's optimized for Multi-core macs. I think this is a subtle notice that Leopard would be the last PPC OS. It all screams Intel core duo / core 2 duo. Only time will tell, I suppose...

 

[technologist]

It's nice that Apple's taking a good look at the performance and reliability of its OS. While overall responsiveness and stability are still pretty good, there are still too many areas where the system will beachball and leave the user hanging. How many hours has Apple spent coming up with just the right shade of gray for the toolbars in Leopard that could have been spent making file server connections more reliable?

...My take on it, is that it's optimized for Multi-core macs. I think this is a subtle notice that Leopard would be the last PPC OS. It all screams Intel core duo / core 2 duo. Only time will tell, I suppose...

So all the dual G4s, dual G5s, dual-core G5s, and dual-dual-core G5s aren't multicore enough? (Actually, I could see them dropping the G4s, but still. It'd be pretty silly to support a dual-core, 32-bit Core Duo MacBook and not a quad-core, 64-bit G5 Quad.

 

[Juan Largo]

You've never seen THAT from Microsoft, who clearly believes that bigger and slower = better!

It's not so much that Microsoft actually thinks bigger and slower = better; it's the fact that Microsoft designed Vista to devote a lot of CPU cycles checking to make sure that the operator (you) aren't doing something "illegal" like copying a song or a DVD. In fact, Vista checks this 30 times each second. So it's little wonder that Vista is slow and that you need a computer with steroids to run it.

 

[baggss]

My take on it, is that it's optimized for Multi-core macs. I think this is a subtle notice that Leopard would be the last PPC OS. It all screams Intel core duo / core 2 duo. Only time will tell, I suppose...

I could see Snow Leopard being the last PPC compatible OS,that would give them what, 4 or 5 years since the Intel transition by the time 10.7 would be Intel only. That allows the G5 owners (like me) to get our moneys worth out of our machines and upgrade to keep up without feeling like we just got screwed.

Dropping support for the 64 bit G5 would be a bit silly, especially if they are still supporting a 32 bit Intel chip. Then again, they could drop all PPC AND the 32 bit Intel chips and screw a large portion of their user base. Wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Avenged Origami]

sounds good..

 

[cwa107]

Performance freaks everywhere will rejoice - count me in! Yup, I am pretty excited about it!

I am also excited about the advertising possibilities though. I hope that Apple choses to really push this hard. Microsoft has shot itself in the foot with Vista and Apple can really pound them to the floor with a performance focused release. This is exactly the kind of corporate brilliance and marketing savvy that Apple has been SO good at of late. [Repeating myself] Absolutely brilliant!

Heck yeah! Ditto. How long have we been talking about how much we hate how the industry has resorted to bloatware to sell newer versions of their OSes. This is a huge step for Apple and for the computing industry in general.

My respect for Apple has just increased by about 500%.

 

[mac57]

My take on it, is that it's optimized for Multi-core macs. I think this is a subtle notice that Leopard would be the last PPC OS. It all screams Intel core duo / core 2 duo. Only time will tell, I suppose...

The last generation G5's were all multi core, from the dual core 2.0 and 2.3 GHz models to the quad core 2.5 GHz model. I bet that they get supported by Snow Leopard. I still have my 2.3 GHz PowerMac G5 but I haven't upgraded it to Leopard - saw no point. I will however, upgrade it to Snow Leopard. Sounds like just the thing to breath new life into this still very capable machine.

 

[Soulwar]

...So all the dual G4s, dual G5s, dual-core G5s, and dual-dual-core G5s aren't multicore enough? (Actually, I could see them dropping the G4s, but still. It'd be pretty silly to support a dual-core, 32-bit Core Duo MacBook and not a quad-core, 64-bit G5 Quad.

Well, I was referring to multi-cores, not dual processors. (Apple keeps referring to multi-cores) That being considered, there are only 3 G5's that are multi-core.
I guess you could look at it both ways. There are only 3 G5's. (multi-core)
So why bother with those 3 G5's or It's only 3 G5's, why not? If they consider dual processors, then there's plenty of Mac's to consider. If they have to consider G4's G5's and Intel, how streamlined will it really be? Intel only, however, makes it easier to build and streamline for maximum performance. (no more Universal apps and installs)

It's all speculation though. It should be an interesting year.

 

[rohan]

its true...apple rocks

 

[shahvikram123]

Here is the official Snow Leopard page from Apple: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

One of the features is 64-bit… Tell me if I'm wrong but wasn't Leopard (10.5) supposed to be 64-bit?

On the Leopard Page (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/300.html) it does say the 64-bit is a feature of Mac OS X Leopard as well. It says it under the Unix section

 

[cwa107]

One of the features is 64-bit… Tell me if I'm wrong but wasn't Leopard (10.5) supposed to be 64-bit?
n

In the caption below the 64-Bit graphic, it says:

64-bit

To accommodate the enormous amounts of memory being added to advanced hardware, Snow Leopard extends the 64-bit technology in Mac OS X to support breakthrough amounts of RAM — up to a theoretical 16TB, or 500 times more than what is possible today. More RAM makes applications run faster, because more of their data can be kept in the very fast physical RAM instead of on the much slower hard disk.

(emphasis added by yours truly)

10.5 did have full 64-bit support, but I take this to mean that 10.6 will have support for even larger quantities of memory, whereas older versions of OS X (10.5 and earlier) were limited to 3GB.

 

[technologist]

Well, I was referring to multi-cores, not dual processors. (Apple keeps referring to multi-cores)

Multi-processor machines are by definition multi-core. From a software standpoint, there's no difference between two cores in one package and two cores in two packages.