Apple unveils Snow Leopard with all its guts and glory

By on Jun 8, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Software June 8, 2009

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.

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  • SlapAFanboy

    If Mac was such hot shit, it would be on more business computers than Vista! Second, all your mac commercials never even show a feature of the Mac OS, they just bash MS. Third, MS is a software company and it dosent matter if you install MS products on a Mac, it just proves that Windows will work on anything. How many other computers could Mac software run on…. oh yeah, none! Microsoft is like the United nations of computers because it works on all the separate and screwed up builds anyone on the planet can think of. Mac is like North Korea!

  • Adam

    I’ve seen the Mac Black Screen of Death a few times (Kernel Panic).

  • Champ513

    If windows is the superior operating system then why are you here bashing Macs? Who are you trying to convince, me or yourselves??

  • AgBand

    I se a mac and run Win 7 and XP on VMWare fusion. I like the setup, and dont really have a preference. I hink that both sides are idiots, but for some reason, I find the Apple fanboys to be a bit more irritating. Macs still have their problems, just like Windows, yet you tout anything created by Apple as the epitome of perfect, when it, in fact, isn’t. Windows has its issues as well and MS is doing a better job of getting those resolved, but the reality is that it will never be perfect. So both sides should STFU and move on. As long as shit can be broken, so asshole will figure out a way to break it, both on Macs and with Windows.

  • Xoxotl

    @SlapAFanboy – I’ve seen OS X running on Dell laptops before. You have to pull some tricks to convince OS X to install and run on the Dell machine, but it IS possible to do.

    The problem isn’t so much that a PC can’t run OS X, it’s more an issue that Apple doesn’t WANT to let PC’s run OS X. If you want to run OS X legally, they require you to buy Mac hardware.

    And if I was pro-Windows, I wouldn’t compare it to the United Nations. The UN is one messed up organization. ;)

  • Daniel

    Mac OS runs in just one platfotm build by Apple. This is a very controller enviroment to develop an OS.

    Windows runs in every PC with thousand of different device drivers, different motherboard brands, etc.

    You can’t compare stabiliy and security in these conditions.

  • D.

    @ Champ513

    Why are you?

  • D.

    I am all about Vista right now and can’t wait for the Windows 7, but I also waiting to see if Apple finally releases a netbook in near future, and I might get that one for internet, movies and iPod/iPhone sinking. I don’t think Mac could ever replace a PC for me though, but could work as a little toy to do simple stuff on and/or a travel companion.

  • Fizzy

    I don’t EVER want OS X to look like Windows. And I sure don’t EVER want it to run like Windows. Complicated. Overpriced. Difficult to use. I can keep going here.

    Yeah I paid a bit extra for my MACBOOK but haven’t had one single problem with the OS in 18 months. Unlike anything I have ever owned that used Windows. AND. Not one extra cent spent on Anti-Virus, ADWARW, MALWARE programs, or the memory sucking scans that go with them.

    I can’t wait for Snow to come out. Make an already great OS even greater. And for $29 upgrade. Wonder what Win7 will cost to upgrade from the massive flop that Vista is. I know many users who have “upgraded” their PC to Win XP after getting Vista. Funny that.

    Call me a fanboy if you like. I am a retard when it comes computers. And for me, like Steve says, “It just works”

  • dude

    Bought an iomega external hd yesterday, plugged it into my mac and nothing. Took it back to the store and they plugged it into a vista machine and bammo it works, any ideas would be a help.

  • little boys.

    We work for a major retailer and have a competition going, spot the mac boy. We are around 90% correct, my secret is to look for the gay bloke and he nearly always is the mac guy.

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