Snow Leopard

From Mac Guides

Snow Leopard is the codename for Mac OS X 10.6, the next major revision of Mac OS X. Rather than focusing on new features, the release will primarily be a performance and quality release. First announced at WWDC 2008, Apple is aiming to release it at around June 2009. It is reported to be an Intel only release.

Contents 1 Changes and New Features 1.1 Grand Central 1.2 OpenCL 1.3 Smaller Footprint 1.4 Quicktime X 2 Links

Changes and New Features

Grand Central

Grand Central is a technology which will allow developers to better take advantage of multicore processors such as those based on the Core architecture and the upcoming Nehalem architecture. Using the same principle as data transfer in networks, processes are split into "packets" and are then assigned to any available processing core. This would be quite complicated for smaller developers to integrate themselves so it allows developers to easily gain access to the full potential of a processor.

OpenCL

Based on the C programming language, OpenCL is an open standard for allowing applications to access the processing power in graphics processors which have mainly used for graphics drawing only. This therefore increases the total potential power of many (if not all) systems in common tasks. This will also be managed by Grand Central.

Smaller Footprint

Apple claims that Snow Leopard has a dramatically reduced footprint so it will therefore use less Hard Drive storage space. The extent of this reduction is not yet fully known.

Quicktime X

Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which features optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback.

Links

• Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' to Focus on Performance, Quality