• Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the successor to Mac OS X Leopard. The name similarity between the two versions is significant - Leopard was a feature-release, but Snow Leopard is a developer-release. Snow Leopard lays the ground-work for better Mac applications. Snow Leopard was announced at the World Wide Developer's Conference in 2008.

  At WWDC 2009, Apple announced that Snow Leopard will ship at some point during September 2009. On August 24, 2009, Apple began taking pre-orders for Snow Leopard and announced its release date: August 28, 2009.

• Fast Facts

  1. Developed by: Apple, Inc.
  2. Announced: June 9, 2008
  3. Price: $29 for current Leopard owners, $169 for the Mac Box Set (Mac Box Set also includes iLife '09 and iWork '09)
  4. Released: Friday, August 28, 2009
  5. Supports Intel processors only

• History

  Snow Leopard was announced on June 9, 2008 at WWDC '08. Since then, it has been privately tested under an NDA by registered ADC members.

  The final developer build of Snow Leopard is scheduled to be seeded to developers at WWDC 2009 http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/05/13wwdc.html, and the public release was scheduled for September 2009, but was changed to August 28, 2009.

• New Technologies

  1. Grand Central Dispatch: allows developers to make use of multiple processor cores in an efficient way http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/
  2. 64-bit: all key built-in applications are rewritten in 64-bit code. http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/
  3. OpenCL: allows developers to use the graphics processor for computations in any application they build http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/

• Popular Refinements

  • Exposé integrated into Dockhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • Faster shut down and wake up times, faster to connect to wireless networkshttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • Faster installation - up to 45% faster than Leopardhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • Smaller footprint - takes up 6GB less space than Leopardhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • QuickTime redesigned, focuses more on the actual contenthttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • QuickTine includes support for trimming videos, and screen recordinghttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • Simplified Chinese input, using multi-touch trackpadshttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
  • GrandCentral Dispatch allows you to get the most out of your multi-core processor.http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html
  • Safari plugins, like Flash Player, run as seperate processes, causing the browser to crash less oftenhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html
  • Support for Microsoft Exchange in iCal, Mail, and Address Bookhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html
  • Key system applications are all rewritten in 64-bit, allowing you to get the most out of your RAMhttp://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html
  • Want to see more? Apple has a full list of refinements on the Snow Leopard site.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Mac OS X | Mac OS X Leopard | Apple | WWDC 2008 | WWDC | WWDC 2009 | MacBook Pro | Apple | Phil Schiller | Mac | Grand Central Dispatch | Apple Developer Connection | 64-bit | Intel | QuickTime

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