Mac OS X Snow Leopard
| File:OSXLeopard.png | |
 Screenshot of Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard" developer preview | |
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| OS family | Mac OS X |
| Source model | Closed source (with open source components) |
| Released to manufacturing | September 2009 |
| Latest preview | 10.6 (Build 10A380) / June 8, 2009[1] |
| Update method | Apple Software Update |
| Platforms | x86, x86-64 |
| Kernel type | 64-bit Hybrid kernel |
| License | APSL and Apple EULA |
| Official website | apple.com/macosx/ |
| Support status | |
| Private Beta for Registered Developers | |
Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" is an Apple operating system being developed to succeed version 10.5 "Leopard". Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Snow Leopard at WWDC on 8 June 2008.[2] Snow Leopard will ship in September 2009 and an upgrade will be available for existing Leopard users for $29. Tiger users may upgrade by purchasing the Mac Box Set, a single package which will include Snow Leopard, iLife '09, and iWork '09.
The update to Mac OS X will focus on improving performance, efficiency and reducing its overall memory footprint, rather than new end-user features. This will also be the first Mac OS release since System 7.1.2 not to support the PowerPC architecture as Apple now intends to focus on its current line of Intel-based products. [2] Developer previews have been seeded to developers.[2]
System requirements
Apple states the following basic Snow Leopard system requirements, although, for some specific applications such as QuickTime H.264 hardware acceleration support and OpenCL, a supported GPU processor is required (Nvidia 8600M GT or greater):[3]
- Mac computer with an Intel processor (IA32 processors such as "Core Solo" and "Core Duo" will be limited to 32-bit; later x86-64 architecture processors will be able to operate in 64-bit mode)
- 1GB of RAM memory
- 5GB of free disk space
- DVD drive for installation
Snow Leopard does not support PowerPC-based Macs (such as Power Macs, PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs and Mac minis made before 2006)
Changes and improvements
Apple has stated that Mac OS X "Snow Leopard" will include the following changes and improvements:
Refinements to the user interface
Without any major overhauls to the existing Leopard interface, Apple has re-written the Finder in Cocoa to take advantage of other new process improvements in Snow Leopard. These include:
- Stacks now allow viewing a subfolder without launching Finder. Stacks have also been modified to include scroll-bars for folders with many files.[4]
- Faster PDF and JPEG Icon refreshes.
- PDF and movie playing in the Finder icon view.
- Selection of columned text in PDF documents by analyzing the page layout.
- Faster startup, shutdown, installation, Time Machine backup and connection establishment.
- Smaller OS footprint on disk.[5]
Support for Microsoft Exchange
Mac OS X Snow Leopard will include out-of-the-box support for connecting to Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers for access through Mail, Address Book, and iCal. This step makes Macs to be the first computers to be bundled with Exchange support.
64-bit Addressing
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and all Mac OS 10.6 built-in applications have been rebuilt to leverage the 64-bit addressing space, since Apple has started shipping each Mac as a 64-bit system. 64-bit systems address the current limitation of 4 GB RAM per application to increase to 16 billion GB or 16 exabytes per application. This[citation needed] speeds up Quicktime, Safari's Javascript engine and PDF viewing by 20-50%.
64-bit applications also increase system security compared to 32-bit systems due to the availability of more advanced security techniques to safeguard against attacks. They use a more secure function-passing mechanism and usage of hardware-based execute disabled for heap memory. The system heap now uses strengthened cryptographic signatures to prevent memory-corrupting attacks.
Grand Central Dispatch
Grand Central Dispatch utilizes multiple processor cores now in every new Macintosh for more efficient performance. Due to the technical difficulties involved in making multi-core-optimized applications, the majority of applications do not effectively utilize multiple processor cores. As a result, processing power is often "wasted". Grand Central Dispatch includes APIs to help programmers efficiently utilize these cores for parallel programming.
Grand Central Dispatch shifts thread handling focus to itself rather than leaving it to specific applications to distribute jobs evenly across cores and clears up unused memory created by inactive or old threads to achieve maximum performance. Apple is also releasing APIs for Grand Central Dispatch for developers to use in their applications and also to analyze specific blocks of code running on Grand Central Dispatch. [6]
OpenCL
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) addresses the power of Graphical Processing Units to leverage it in any application, and not just for graphics-intensive applications like 3D games. OpenCL automatically optimizes for the kind of graphics processor in the Mac, adjusting itself to the available processing power. OpenCL provides consistent numeric precision and accuracy, fixing a problem that has hampered GPU-based programming in the past.
OpenCL is a C-based programming language with a structure that is already familiar to Mac OS X programmers, who can use Xcode developer tools to adapt their programs to work with OpenCL. Only the most process intensive parts of the application need to be written in OpenCL C without affecting the rest of the code. Apple has released OpenCL as an open standard that has been supported by AMD, Intel and nVidia.[7]
It serves a similar purpose to Nvidia's C for CUDA and Microsoft's Direct3D compute shaders.
QuickTime X
QuickTime X, the next version of QuickTime player, builds on the media technologies in Mac OS X, such as Core Audio, Core Video, and Core Animation, to deliver enhanced playback, greater efficiency, and higher quality. Apple has redesigned the QuickTime user interface to resemble the current QuickTime full-screen view, where the entire window plays only the video and controls fade in and out as needed.
QuickTime X supports HTTP live streaming. Unlike other streaming technologies, HTTP live streaming uses the HTTP protocol. Thus, QuickTime X streams audio and video using any web server instead of a special streaming server, and it works reliably with common firewall and wireless router settings. HTTP live streaming is designed for mobility and can dynamically adjust movie playback quality to match the available speed of wired or wireless networks.
QuickTime X uses Mac OS X technologies such as Cocoa, Grand Central Dispatch, and 64-bit computing to deliver higher performance and enables QuickTime Player to launch up to 2.8x faster than QuickTime. QuickTime X also takes advantage of ColorSync to provide high-quality color reproduction.[7]
Common Unix Printing System
CUPS (the printing system in Mac OS X and Linux) will be updated to version 1.4 which provides improved driver, networking, and Kerberos support along with many performance improvements. CUPS 1.4 is also the first implementation of the Internet Printing Protocol version 2.1.[8]
Current Updates
The next version of Mac OS X Server will include all of these features and other server-related features. Apple previously stated that they would include ZFS write support. However, mention of this feature was removed from Apple's website and it now seems unlikely that it will be included.[9]
Build 10A286, issued 6 March 2009, includes "a completely redesigned QuickTime Player" which is most likely built upon QuickTime X. The new Cocoa-based Finder is also included. There are a few visual tweaks as well.[10] ZFS has also been updated to version 11. Previous builds contained the same ZFS version 8 implementation that can be found at http://zfs.macosforge.org/
A previous build, 10A354, was seeded to developers on Friday, 8 May 2009. On Monday, 11 May 2009, Apple issued a code freeze on Snow Leopard's APIs.[11] Apple's current web site concerning OS X 10.6 is notably lacking any mention of ZFS, coinciding with Apple's June 2009 WWDC conference, leading to questions about whether Apple has delayed or canceled the feature.[12]
The latest build, 10A380, was released to developers after a public keynote preview on Monday, 8 June 2009 at Apple's WWDC conference.
References
- ^ http://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/06/more-rumors-snow-leopard-10a380/
- ^ a b c "Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers" (Press release). Apple Inc. 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ Apple, Inc. "Mac OS X Leopard- Technical Specs". Apple, Inc. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
- ^ Marsal, Katie (2009-03-05). "Apple prepping new Snow Leopard, iWeb, ARD updates". Bits. AppleInsider. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ^ "OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard Preview". testmac.net. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ Markoff, John (2008-06-10). "Apple in Parallel: Turning the PC World Upside Down?". Bits. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Mac OS X Snow Leopard". Apple.com. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ Sweet, Michael (2009-01-09). "IPP/2.1 support now in CUPS 1.4svn!". Bits. PWG. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard". Apple.com. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ "New Snow Leopard Build Packs New QuickTime, Cocoa Finder". Retrieved 3/6/09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Analyst's View: What to Expect in Apple's Snow Leopard". Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ "ZFS support falls off of Snow Leopard Server's feature list?". Retrieved 6/9/09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)
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