Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

[Kenshin]

@Kenshin

I accept that a small amount of ASM is required in device programming (not for the scenario you said though). When you write device controllers, you target a very specific hardware platform so it shouldn't be a major issue. If generic system kernels as huge as Linux, BSD and Solaris can be written with very very little ASM in them, any other program can be written so too.

Re-Writing this very small amount of ASM code for different platforms, is not a Herculean task even if it is a RISC CPU. Also, any good programmer in 2008 should have very very little hardware dependent assembly code as C compilers (and cross-compilers) have been ported to almost all available architectures and the need for ASM is very very rare.

So I really see no point in dropping support for a good architecture like PPC in future versions of Mac OS X. But who am I to comment?? Apple and Steve Jobs want to be DIFFERENT.

Point noted. Also the compilers now are made efficient.I think the only reason apple changed to intel was to increase its sales.

 

[aryayush]

Snow Leopard Putting OS X On a Diet, Applications to Shrink Dramatically

Snow Leopard Putting OS X On a Diet, Applications to Shrink Dramatically

*gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/06/SnowLeopard3_01.jpg

There might be more to Snow Leopard than meets the eye, as rumors have emerged outlining tremendous cuts in application size for 10.6. Mail.app will drop from 287MB to 91MB, iChat from 111MB to 52MB, and iCal from 89MB to 48MB. Cuts are practically universal, with already small apps like the 13MB Calculator, 15MB Image Capture and 22MB TextEdit each to be recoded to a svelte 2MB or less. As a whole, the Snow Leopard's Utilities folder will take up just 25% of the space that it does in 10.5.

AppleInsider chalks the size decreases up to wider use of vector graphics and a centralized localization scheme, so as to prevent redundant language installations. More likely, however, is that the exclusion of PowerPC support has allowed for some serious pruning, allowing Apple to shed years of IBM residue from each app. Read more…

[Via Gizmodo]


Awesome! Again, sure it’s early but there is no doubt that dropping PowerPC support is great for the long term prospect of Mac OS X’s development and evolution. Immediately evident improvements like this one are just a small sampling of what’s to come. I just can’t wait for Snow Leopard to be launched.

 

[cooldudie3]

I don't understand what this snow leopard is! Is it another system? Isn't there leopard already?

 

[iMav]

Another OS, after leopard, there is snow leopard. As gx said rightly, no new eye candy or user features just a core over haul.

 

[cooldudie3]

why called snow leopard or not lion or something?

 

[aryayush]

I don't understand what this snow leopard is! Is it another system? Isn't there leopard already?

It’s an upgrade to Mac OS X. It’s what Leopard is to Tiger and Feisty Fawn is to Dancing Demon (or whatever its name was) in Ubuntu-land. What’s there not to understand?

They’re calling it Snow Leopard because it doesn’t really have any consumer level amazing new features. It’s more of a core overhaul, fine tuning the performance and stability of the system, reducing its footprint and bringing in major new developer level features. Therefore, they wanted to keep the branding similar to Leopard, to signify that it’s not much different from Leopard on the outside but a lot has changed under the covers.

 

[chandru.in]

You corrected too fast.

 

[aryayush]

WOW! You were quick.

 

[iMav]

why called snow leopard or not lion or something?

They were out of cool cat names

 

[aryayush]

Hey, I like Snow Leopard. It’s much better than, say, Lion or something.

 

[goobimama]

Snow Leopard is the perfect name for this release. The name says it all.

Although I'm sure Lion (10.7) will sound just as good as Leopard after hearing about all the stuff its gonna bring to the table.

 

[gxsaurav]

Is Apple running out of hard disk space? Centralised Scheme sounds like registry. Langauage is a welcome edition to Mac OS, it's been quite long that it is exclusive to Vista only

 

[FilledVoid]

Is Apple running out of hard disk space? Centralised Scheme sounds like registry. Langauage is a welcome edition to Mac OS, it's been quite long that it is exclusive to Vista only

Is your sole purpose on this forum inserting random comments about Vista in every other thread you see? Because frankly the act is getting quite boring.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

It’s an upgrade to Mac OS X. It’s what Leopard is to Tiger and Feisty Fawn is to Dancing Demon (or whatever its name was) in Ubuntu-land. What’s there not to understand?

They’re calling it Snow Leopard because it doesn’t really have any consumer level amazing new features. It’s more of a core overhaul, fine tuning the performance and stability of the system, reducing its footprint and bringing in major new developer level features. Therefore, they wanted to keep the branding similar to Leopard, to signify that it’s not much different from Leopard on the outside but a lot has changed under the covers.

Hey, I like Snow Leopard. It’s much better than, say, Lion or something.

Snow Leopard is the perfect name for this release. The name says it all.

Although I'm sure Lion (10.7) will sound just as good as Leopard after hearing about all the stuff its gonna bring to the table.

Yup. the king of cats, Lion, has an uncool name.

As for the remaining, as far as a true geek is concerned, it matters little whats outside. Its the INSIDE that matters the most.

I still think some of the sizes for the software is unusually large, but

[sarcasm]
since Mac Mini comes with a WHOPPING 80 GB OF DISC SPACE, I doubt it would make a difference.
[/sarcasm]

Is Apple running out of hard disk space? Centralised Scheme sounds like registry. Langauage is a welcome edition to Mac OS, it's been quite long that it is exclusive to Vista only

1. Apple can NEVER run out of HDD space. Their systems are for the guys who care little bout money, and shrinking software is a GOOD thing.

Language ? Ever heard of the OS family with support in almost every single language in the world ? *cough* distro *cough*

Why do you need to bring vista into places where it is NOT WELCOME ?

Is your sole purpose on this forum inserting random comments about Vista in every other thread you see? Because frankly the act is getting quite boring.

+1

 

[aryayush]

[sarcasm]
since Mac Mini comes with a WHOPPING 80 GB OF DISC SPACE, I doubt it would make a difference.
[/sarcasm]

[sarcasm]
since Mac Pro comes with a DERISORY 4096 GB OF DISC SPACE, I doubt it would make any sense to mention it instead.
[/sarcasm]

 

[mail2and]

Their systems are for the guys who care little bout money,

I care a lot about my money, and I own a Macintosh. I'd say a lot of my friends here - some of whom will become heads of states, leading researches and professors, CEOs, CFOs etc. - also do care a lot about their money.

So, please stop the stereotyping. It will help you a lot.

 

[W i d e S c r e e N]

Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

somebody plz explain this

 

[chandru.in]

For me too the word "theoretical" is confusing.

In pure theory, a full-fledged 64-bit system should support 16 Exabytes of RAM. But AMD and Intel CPUs allow 256 TB due to their 48-bit addressing.

Where does this 16 TB come from? It is mostly due to restrictions in other chipsets on our mobo. If an Apple system supports only 16TB of RAM, I guess it is the practical amount and not just theoretical. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

 

[Kenshin]

Even the 32 bit ones support 48-bit addressing.48-bit addressing uses the 16-bit segment selector, and a 32-bit offset to access memory. 16TB does seem low.

 

[chesss]

There might be more to Snow Leopard than meets the eye, as rumors have emerged outlining tremendous cuts in application size for 10.6. Mail.app will drop from 287MB to 91MB, iChat from 111MB to 52MB, and iCal from 89MB to 48MB. Cuts are practically universal, with already small apps like the 13MB Calculator, 15MB Image Capture and 22MB TextEdit each to be recoded to a svelte 2MB or less. As a whole, the Snow Leopard's Utilities folder will take up just 25% of the space that it does in 10.5.

287mb mail app!!
:O baap re! how?

Do I have to remind again that somehow I was able to use Windows Vista better then XP on my old P4 Machine with right deployment, I wonder how I did that & wrote a guide to help everyone

give the link plz..