Review: Snow Leopard

#1 Macworld

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:00 PM

Post your comments for Review: Snow Leopard here.

#2 rab777hp

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:11 PM

I never knew you had to purchase the mac box set to upgrade from tiger, i thought there was different pricing. That just SUCKS, there is no reason why anyone should have to pay extra money to get software they don't want.
I guess the lesson is to keep your OS up-to-date, something I practice duly

#3 Chris Breen

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:15 PM

Quote

The upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard is on the honor system. The Snow Leopard installer doesn't check to see which version of the Mac OS you're running.

#4 Jeter2Fan93

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:19 PM

One thing that I'd like to know is regarding the Services menu. On http://www.apple.com...sx/refinements/ it mentions and even demonstrates that right-clicking (control-clicking) will show a context menu for Services. I've heard rumors this isn't available in the shipping version. Can you comment on that?

#5 rab777hp

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:20 PM

Oh, well that kinda makes no sense. Everyone will just buy the upgrade.

I notice that the dock is 2D in the screen caps- is that how the hack looks in snow leopard? Or did they enable a preference in system preferences?

#6 Urkel

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:21 PM

"in contrast to Microsoft—which offers a confusing array of full and upgrade versions of Windows"

It wouldn't be a Jason Snell review without an unecessary jab at Microsoft. Review the product, not the competition.

-2

#7 Jason Snell

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:25 PM

Urkel, on 26 August 2009 - 05:21 PM, said:

Come on, Urkel, I'm one of the least Microsoft-bashing writers in the Apple-tech press.

Mentioning Microsoft in this case is notable because, as anyone who has ever tried to buy and install a Windows upgrade package knows, it's a complete disaster. You have to have the previous version of the OS available -- and heaven help you if it's not the exact right SKU -- in order to install the upgrade. If anything isn't quite right, it all blows up in your face. And of course you need to make sure you've got not just a serial number, but the right kind of serial number for the exact SKUs you're upgrading over and with.

In contrast: Apple. No serial numbers, full installer, no need to go back to previous versions of the OS in order to install an upgrade.

That was a difference far too stark to mention. In fact, I think I'd be guilty of malpractice if I didn't mention it.

#8 Jason Snell

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:28 PM

Jeter2Fan93, on 26 August 2009 - 05:19 PM, said:

I have contextual menus working on my system now, but it took some foolery. It's buggy. They're in the Application menu, but they come and go from the contextual menus. Hopefully this is something they'll fix in 10.6.1.

I should mention we'll have more about services tomorrow. Stay tuned - Rob G is taking it for a spin.

#9 chiefted

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 05:45 PM

I don't know which has made me happier (since I have been running this for the last couple weeks also).

Out of the box Exchange support, which I love and almost immediately removed Entourage or native VPN (Cisco IPSec) support.

No more clunky Cisco VPN app

#10 Dan Frakes

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 06:04 PM

rab777hp, on 26 August 2009 - 05:11 PM, said:

That just SUCKS, there is no reason why anyone should have to pay extra money to get software they don't want.

I agree. While I can understand why Apple doesn't want to sell the $29 upgrade to Tiger users -- given that they didn't pay for Leopard -- I'd like to see a Tiger upgrade with just the OS.

Dan Frakes / Senior Editor, Macworld

#11 t_slothrop

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 06:10 PM

one thing I have been wondering about is whether there is any change in how Macbook Pros with 2 GPUs manage those GPUs. Is it still necessary to logout to switch which is being used, and can OpenCL use both of them at once?

#12 booishboos

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 06:13 PM

"I'd pay more not to have QuickTime Player X"? This makes no sense. As long as the old version is still included, there is no reason to get upset. Personally, I think the new version looks pretty sweet.

#13 Jeter2Fan93

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 06:25 PM

Jason Snell, on 26 August 2009 - 05:28 PM, said:

Jeter2Fan93, on 26 August 2009 - 05:19 PM, said:

Thanks, Jason. I would LOVE a contextual Services menu but hearing that you had to do something to get it work, if ever, just makes me wonder if this was a rushed released. No worries, I'm still upgrading.

#14 zwei

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Posted 26 August 2009 - 06:30 PM

Apple really hasn't got much to lose by leaving the installer on the "honor system". After all, the majority of the Intel Macs have shipped with Leopard installed on them, and since it doesn't work on PPC Macs at all, there's not really that many people out there that can cheat the system. Just those few people who bought early Intel Macs with Tiger installed AND skipped out on the Leopard upgrade.

Getting everyone on the same OS has its benefits as well. The new versions of Apple's iLife, iWork, and pro apps aren't going to have previous OS support. That will save Apple money while developing the apps, and it will make them leaner too. It'll also get third party developers utilizing Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL because they can code for the latest and greatest and not worry about backward compatibility.

Heck, we may see Apple make all of their updates $29 from now on. (Or at least half the price they have been in the past.) Getting people in the habit of updating their OS like they do their iLife would be a great thing …and developer Nirvana.

This post has been edited by zwei: 26 August 2009 - 06:32 PM

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