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February 23, 2009 3:07 PM PST

Mac OS X Snow Leopard screenshots leaked

by Tom Krazit

Mac OS X Snow Leopard will let you return files wrongly placed in Trash to their proper home.

(Credit: World of Apple)

A new set of leaked screenshots of Apple's upcoming Mac OS X release, Snow Leopard, appears to confirm that the most sweeping changes to the operating system won't be visible.

World of Apple has screenshots up on its site, along with a video, of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A261, the latest version released for testing. When Apple announced plans for Snow Leopard in June, it said that Mac OS X 10.6 would focus more on improving the performance and stability of the operating system, rather than adding features.

And that seems to be the case, judging by the minor enhancements shown in the latest build. The Stacks interface will now let you navigate through folders within the Stacks view, rather than opening Finder if you selected a folder from that view. And the Trash window now has a "Put Back" feature for returning inadvertently deleted files to the original folder, apparently bringing back a feature that got left behind with the transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X.

More significantly, Apple has reduced the footprint associated with its applications in the early versions of Snow Leopard, which should improve performance. The company is also expected to have come up with new ways to exploit graphics processor technology with the release, although details on that capability were not addressed in the new screenshots.

World of Apple also notes that based on the progress of the build it doesn't think Apple will be able to release Snow Leopard by the end of March, which had been rumored following a presentation by an Apple developer that identified a Q1 release for the operating system. That would have an early release as compared to Apple's official guidance that Snow Leopard would ship "about a year" from last year's early June Worldwide Developers Conference.

Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.
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by mailbox001 February 23, 2009 3:34 PM PST
OS X looks outdated. with all the improvements their doing, can't they update the UI.
Reply to this comment
by applusr February 23, 2009 4:54 PM PST
windows xp? how old is that?
by sanenazok February 23, 2009 6:33 PM PST
XP is eight years old. So it looks dated. OS X.Snow Meow is 0 months old and apparently looks dated. Thanks for playing!
by Norseman February 23, 2009 7:05 PM PST
I give Apple a big "attaboy" for concentrating on the stuff under the hood. It takes 'nads, I'd say, to pass on tweaking the UI with every update and instead working to fine-tune the stuff that really matters.
by random truth February 23, 2009 7:20 PM PST
If they do, the beta testers will not see it before the rest of the world. The same was true with aqua. Their was something going arround that they are changing their display engine to vector based graphics so that would be perfect timing.
by goodspeed8701 February 23, 2009 9:28 PM PST
I agree with you. Ever since xp microsoft always comes with a new ui in there operating system. The osx wont be different from the older one they just want to milk people out of it.
by frankz00 February 24, 2009 2:14 PM PST
Windows XP is light years ahead of Vista because at least I can use it! Vista is an unusable piece of garbage! Mac OSX is a much cleaner OS than Vista will ever be.
by frankz00 February 24, 2009 2:17 PM PST
Why change the UI anyway? I think it's stupid to change what people are used to doing. I downgraded to XP because I don't have the time to relearned where things are that were moved for no practical reason other to sucker people into thinking they're getting something new! Leave the UI alone and improve performance.
by applusr February 24, 2009 8:26 PM PST
@sanenazok
8 yrs and people are downgrading to it hmm. Thank you for playing
by canberra_photographer February 25, 2009 9:58 PM PST
The interface is clean and very intuitive, if you want fancy gimmics all over the desktop, chunky task bars and heaps of gradients slowing down the GPU, get Windows Vista.
by tcr071 February 26, 2009 11:49 PM PST
I'll say this. Apple better not be trying to charge more than $20 for this "upgrade." Apple fans balking at Microsoft claiming Windows 7 is merely "Vista SP2" have absolutely no room to talk. This is a service pack if I have ever seen one. Changes under the hood and minor UI tweaks does not constitute a major release, I am sorry. This should be free in al honesty.

I also have to say this. Running Windows 7 in VMWare and BootCamp I rather like the taskbar. I think the peeking functionality is very useful and something I hope Apple copies in a future update. Spaces is really useful is OS X but with the peeking there is no need for such a program because you can close all your windows by shaking the the active one and just peek at the taskbar and find what you are looking for. Don't deny it Apple fans, you like it and you wish you had, for the first time in a long time.
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by Mr. Dee February 23, 2009 3:38 PM PST
I suspect Apple will release this only brand new Macs and not make this retail upgrade. It sounds more like a driver of sales of new Macs to me. Another reason for this, the out sight availability new updates for the Desktop line of Macs (iMacs, Mac Mini and MacPro).
Reply to this comment
by getwired February 23, 2009 5:51 PM PST
They've never done that before, and I don't think the bad PR it would generate would be worth it. Remember, this isn't Microsoft you're talking about.
by Mr. Dee February 24, 2009 5:53 AM PST
Well, Microsoft has never done any OEM only releases of Windows. Also, has more bad PR in 2008 - Mobile Me, iPhone pricing, defective machines with nVidia Graphics, Carbon Foot Print issues.
by rapier1 February 24, 2009 8:28 AM PST
I don't think this will be the case but it clearly spells the end of the line for the PowerPC models. Which is good - a lot of the bloat came some having to support multiple architectures in a single distribution.
by Penguinisto February 25, 2009 12:33 PM PST
"Well, Microsoft has never done any OEM only releases of Windows. "

...come to think of it, OSX has always been available as retail-bought install media.

Suspect what you want, but the only way I can see Snow Leopard not being sold at retail is if it comes as a free download to existing Leopard owners.
by kcotham February 26, 2009 4:17 PM PST
Mr. Dee is a troll, ignore him.
by DrtyDogg February 27, 2009 3:14 AM PST
@Mr Dee: Actually Windows XP Media Center Edition was an OEM only release.
by ducttape36 February 23, 2009 3:46 PM PST
looks just like the current version. glad they brought back the put back feature in the trash, not sure why they got rid of it anyways. seems like all the changes will be performance related, which is good since my macbook pro is now officially slower than my vista laptop (albiet my vista machine has better specs, 2.4 intel vs 2.0, but still, its vista! the mac used to be faster.)
Reply to this comment
by pentest February 24, 2009 7:27 PM PST
They never removed it, IIRC. It was in OS 9, however, unlike Vista and Win 7, OS X really is a new OS.
by ducttape36 February 25, 2009 10:29 AM PST
im running osx 10.4 right now, its not there.
by crescentdave February 23, 2009 4:14 PM PST
What a beautifully rendered battleship gray. It's interesting just how much upper frame is sheer, wasted space. I don't know. It just doesn't do it for me. Maybe some of the diehards will start extolling how much it looks like cs4 or some such nonsense. Of course apple wouldn't copy anyone. Personally, I'd like to see more depth and a choice of color themes.
Reply to this comment
by jumpjetta February 23, 2009 6:53 PM PST
What you call "wasted space" is part of Apple's aesthetic and makes it easier for users to use. Unlike Windows developers who cram so many buttons in every nook and cranny as to make the software look like it's got barnicles.
by Warhaven February 25, 2009 10:14 AM PST
It's not just for aesthetics, but the tool bar is also customizable. So, like the Windows task bar, there is some "wasted space" for additional buttons and widgets to meet your own preferences and needs.
by eltoro2827 February 23, 2009 4:26 PM PST
horrble.
Reply to this comment
by getwired February 23, 2009 5:53 PM PST
Beauty is in the i of the beholder.
by wjsteele February 23, 2009 4:33 PM PST
Look at those buttons... seems they're randomally placed in the toolbar area. Interesting... um.... feature.
Reply to this comment
by getwired February 23, 2009 5:52 PM PST
Look again - there actually is usability logic to it.
by FellowConspirator February 23, 2009 8:17 PM PST
That's not the standard layout, I don't know why it's like that in the picture.
by open-mind February 23, 2009 8:51 PM PST
It sounds like you're not aware the toolbar is customizable.
by Riquez-001 February 23, 2009 9:03 PM PST
hmm, yeah ...its almost as if the user chooses where they go & what buttons they like to have.
by topgunb2 February 23, 2009 11:20 PM PST
for a fanboy, even if there's no button, it will still have usability logic to it, apple's beauty is in the eye of fanboy only
by kcotham February 23, 2009 4:34 PM PST
Consistency in interface appearance is a good thing people. And just because an interface doesn't change every other year (read Windows) that doesn't mean it's dated. If you want to be able to tinker and undo all the carefully planned UI designs, then use Linux or a BSD variant.

I'm also glad to see that they put back the "put back" feature ;-) Now, only if they will put the window buttons in the correct place. CLOSE on left, MINIMIZE and MAXIMIZE on the right. Just like in Mac OS 9 and before.

My question is: how are they trimming the foot print? Are they just getting rid of the PowerPC part of the Universal applications?
Reply to this comment
by Penguinisto February 23, 2009 4:40 PM PST
"how are they trimming the foot print? Are they just getting rid of the PowerPC part of the Universal applications?"

Could be, coupled with refactoring and a more aggressive compiler. The kernel could also have gotten a bit of tweaking, which allows more hooks that would reduce the need for replicating functions in an app, or maybe Core Graphics might have taken a good chunk of size out of things...

Not sure, really.
by FellowConspirator February 23, 2009 8:25 PM PST
You can find quite a bit out there on how it's being made smaller. It's a combination of refactoring, installing certain drivers on-demand (as opposed to installing everything), compiler improvements, removing Universal binaries, going ll 64-bit as opposed to a mix, moving more to Cocoa (and focusing on refactoring that), etc. All pretty straight-forward stuff, but done very methodically and consistently.

Personally, I think it's great, but I can't see how this is going to bring home the bacon. It pretty much rules out PPC support (Apple may not have made PPC Macs for years, but people don't seem to upgrade Macs as often as people upgrade PCs), and the performance may be great, but I don't know if that's going to be so compelling as people's general impression seems to be that OS X performs very well. So, an excellent idea technically, but as a business decision, I don't know that it will be a big money maker.
by open-mind February 23, 2009 8:53 PM PST
Unlikely, since the size of the PowerPC code resource is way tiny compared to the rest of the stuff that makes up an app. My guess is some kind of automatic compression/decompression.
by goodspeed8701 February 23, 2009 9:31 PM PST
You have to realise people get tired of old stuff.
by random truth February 24, 2009 5:46 AM PST
The filesystem is compressed now I believe.
by Penguinisto February 25, 2009 12:35 PM PST
@goodspeed:

You mean like the majority of Windows users being so tired of XP, to the point of ditching vista and installing XP instead?

/P
by karpenterskids February 23, 2009 4:36 PM PST
There's no way I'm paying money to upgrade to this...
Reply to this comment
by Penguinisto February 23, 2009 4:37 PM PST
Tom? Apple itself has said that most of the features will be invisible. Among other things, Snow Leopard represents the final step to full 64-bit, all the way up and down the chain (which means the benchmarks are going to get frickin' incredible...)

OTOH, a snappier OS, more stability (OSX is pretty stable now, but more improvement is not unwelcome).

A look at the referenced site and screenies shows some things that will make a decent amount of difference. Smaller apps with the same featureset means that they will run faster, even on top of the 64-bit speed boost. Quicktime Pro comes standard with it now (without having to upgrade), which is nice. And you can apparently stack the crap out of your icons and folders from the dock.

Not a bad deal overall...

/P
Reply to this comment
by Vegaman_Dan February 23, 2009 5:58 PM PST
People like eye candy and releasing a new version of the OS that is essentially only improvements under the hood is not going to impress people into buying it. Some will, of course, but unless they can really convince people that this is a revolutionary change that will make their computer experience an all new adventure, then they will have trouble getting people to part with their cash.

Compared to automobiles, it's like having the same body year after year, while cool and sexy when it came out, looking tired and the same now, but with a new engine or transmission option. It's hard to get too excited about that.

Vista had the same problem over XP and people stayed with XP .

I could and am likely wrong though, but nobody will know until after the new OS has been out for six months to a year. Until then, all that anyone c an do is guess.
by goodspeed8701 February 23, 2009 9:35 PM PST
you can always download quicktime for free. so how is it cool that quicktime comes with it.

Quick time is another software that i cant realy find good use of.
by random truth February 24, 2009 5:44 AM PST
@goodspee8701
Quicktime on macintosh does far more on than on windows. It is actually the entire media engine for macosx. Any improvements to it will help all media based apps.
by Penguinisto February 24, 2009 6:33 AM PST
Err, Dan? Vista had big bags of eye candy... it didn't go over so well. And no, it didn't look like XP at all (XP had that 'Fischer-Price' look to it by default, unless you deliberately shoved its UI back to "classic" mode).

Also, in response to your auto analogy, I present the "1/4-ton vehicle, General Purpose" - better known as the Jeep. It has been nearly 60 years after its introduction to the civilian world. Yet, it has the same seven grille slots, the same tiny wheelbase, the same fold-down windshield, the same gangly-but-tough bumper sticking out in front and the lack of one in the back, the same spare-tire mount location, and you can instantly recognize one no matter which year it was built. There have been visual variations, but all of them are minor compared to the basic design.

In spite of all that, they still sell quite nicely.

@goodspeed:

Err, no. Quicktime does a lot more than you realize code-wise inside of OSX.
by Sporlo February 26, 2009 7:14 PM PST
note that Penguinisto said "Quicktime Pro comes standard with it now"

Quicktime Pro, not Quicktime.

I'll assume that that means all the simple video editing tools of QuickTime Pro will now be free, which is really cool. It annoyed me that they stuck those features in the menus with a "Pro" icon next to them. They were mocking me.


As for eye candy, I used to really like all the pretty things to look at in each new update of OS X, but now I'm starting to appreciate a good-looking, yet visually simplistic look. You can easily go overboard with GUIs; at some point, adding eye candy together doesn't equate to better-looking visuals.
by kcotham February 23, 2009 4:38 PM PST
Oh, by the way, what happened to the QuickTime control panel? It seems to be missing from the screen shot on the reference page.
Reply to this comment
by CyStarkman February 23, 2009 5:30 PM PST
@ kcotham

They are mainly stream lining the coding of things to chop out stuff that accumulated over versions. i think international support will be more a 'as user installs', same goes for drivers, which on other sites has been mentioned to use the software update service to fetch drivers. i have also read that they will be dumping bitmaps more and moving to a more complete vector based UI, which it partially is now.
Reply to this comment
by seven7dust February 23, 2009 5:37 PM PST
since they r rewriting everything to 64 bit and cocoa
Hopefully they rewrite itunes too !
the current itunes is a resource hog beyond words
wonder how moving to 64 bit will affect file transfers and finder functions !
Reply to this comment
by kelmon February 24, 2009 4:12 AM PST
Yes, I am rather hoping that iTunes becomes a full Cocoa application in this release. I think this is the only major application, aside from the Finder (which we know is going Cocoa in 10.6) that is still stuck in Carbon.
by Waam February 23, 2009 5:50 PM PST
Looks outdated? There isn't even anything that looks this good out yet.
Reply to this comment
by topgunb2 February 23, 2009 11:31 PM PST
how about this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87149586@N00/3306147082/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87149586@N00/3305317575/
by Sporlo February 26, 2009 7:17 PM PST
what os is that
by swimtiger April 7, 2009 6:46 AM PDT
that is linux.
by sflocal February 23, 2009 6:12 PM PST
Snow Leopard is supposed to be an incremental (albeit a big one) release. No major new modules. Just to strain the fat away from it and make it a leaner OS and get up to full 64-bit processing.

People on this thread complaining about cosmetics just don't get it. You're just a bunch of whiners and trolls wanting new stuff only to be bored after five minutes. Get over yourself.

I look forward to leaner and meaner tweaks. I'm not looking for any eye-opening features. If they're included, great. If not, no love lost. I'm happy with the slow and methodical changes Apple is making.

To the children on this forum complaining, go back down to your parents' basement and lock the door. No one will miss you.
Reply to this comment
by homercles82 February 24, 2009 5:41 AM PST
"Mac OS X Snow Leopard will let you return files wrongly placed in Trash to their proper home."

THAT'S IT I AM DROPPING $3,000 TO GET THIS ****

If you appleheads had seen a MS guy post something like sflocal just did people would be all over it but no one is screaming at this guy.
by Penguinisto February 24, 2009 6:35 AM PST
"THAT'S IT I AM DROPPING $3,000 TO GET THIS ****"

...now what if you could run time-intensive apps twice as fast?

As someone who dings around with 3D/CG apps, cutting render times in half (or close to that) is damned sure worth the dough.
by homercles82 February 24, 2009 7:06 AM PST
So being able to do something in 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds is like changing? As long as it is pretty.

"How I learned to stop worrying and love Apple" will be the title of my new book.
by xcal78 February 24, 2009 7:38 AM PST
"...now what if you could run time-intensive apps twice as fast?

As someone who dings around with 3D/CG apps, cutting render times in half (or close to that) is damned sure worth the dough. "

If you want to do that kind of stuff buy a Silicon Graphics not a Mac. Why buy a lower quality system if your going to spend the dough?
by rapier1 February 24, 2009 8:34 AM PST
If you are doing 3D rendering and you really cared about the render times (as a professional) you'd use a render farm. If you are a hobbyist then it may be a big deal but there are a lot of choices available that allow you to offload rendering onto a dedicated machine that can be purpose built and dedicated to the process.

And really, what makes you think this will cut your rendering times in half? That seems highly optimistic.
by Penguinisto February 25, 2009 12:57 PM PST
"If you are doing 3D rendering and you really cared about the render times (as a professional) you'd use a render farm"

So in other words you've just amplified my argument. In a still image, let's say that the render takes 5 minutes for the frame in Linux. with Vista's hit, you can in most cases increase that to 5:30 minutes. Doesn't sound too awful bad now, does it? 30 seconds? Why so impatient?

Well... let's say you want to render a 30-minute animation (exact 30:00 time) @ 24 frames per second with the same settings as the still frame we just mentioned earlier. That performance hit in Vista only compounds itself with each frame. Using the same numbers (call it 5 minutes per frame in Linux vs. 5.5 on Vista), you have (give or take) 43,200 frames to render. Instead of 216,000 aggregate minutes on Linux time (spread over the farm, naturally), you now have to pay for 237,600 minutes of aggregate render time to do it in Vista. That's a diff of 360 hours, or 15 days' difference. 'course, unless you're a movie studio you're obviously not going to pack in enough scene complexity, though for 1080p resolution with heavily involved scenes and pure CGI that looks about right for an average with a moderately industrial render engine.

Render farms are good for animations, but unless you own one, you get to pay for time on an existing one. A 15-day aggregate diff would mean a mofo of a difference to your budget... even if you were building your own farm.

/P
by tcr071 February 26, 2009 11:59 PM PST
See, I don't understand this mentality. Snow Leopard is an "incremental" release with little to not changes visible to the user. Apple faithful are claiming this to be a major release because of work done under the hood.

These same people are claiming Windows 7 is merely Vista SP2 despite having significant changes under the hood and a completely redesigned user interface.

If Snow Leopard is qualified as being a full release then Windows 7 sure as hell qualifies as being a full release even more so. If anything is a mere update it is most definitely snow leopard.
by darthstupid February 23, 2009 6:22 PM PST
That window looks to be customized. Normal Finder windows don't have button placement like that. It's easy to modify.
Reply to this comment
by gigo1000 February 24, 2009 3:08 AM PST
If you are commenting about the picture above the button placement appears to be the same but my "trash" finder window doesn't have the button labels underneath. Personally, I hope the final version drops the labels.
by gigo1000 February 23, 2009 6:35 PM PST
Apple has a good attitude towards OS development. An operating system should do what it is supposed to do and stay out of the way of applications. By reducing the size of OSX and optimizing it for speed and stability they are making it the perfect platform for applications.
Reply to this comment
by sanenazok February 23, 2009 6:38 PM PST
Wow so intuitive. Let's see, to "put back" something from the trash, I have to click on the gear thing-y. That's just like in real life! When I need something I threw out by accident I always look for my handy "restoration gear." What possible purpose could the "eye" icon have? I'm already "looking" at the files in the trash. Will this open them in a 3-d view so as to cause me eye-strain? Is it for looking into my soul to see if I'm worthy of having my files restored?

I'm the happiest that I could assign files in the garbage colors. I guess most Apple people want to color code their trash.
Reply to this comment
by seven7dust February 24, 2009 2:21 AM PST
color coding helps with sorting different projects etc., you need to use it to understand i
it's a great time saver ! and it's not just for trash but for the entire file system !
by sanenazok February 24, 2009 5:47 AM PST
Yes, I always color code THE TRASH. Yes, to help keep track of projects. Very haaaandddeeeyyy.
by random truth February 24, 2009 5:52 AM PST
The eye is quicklook. It allows you to see the contents of any file without actually opening it.
The way it is intuitive because the gear in every application means operations. However you can always do the same by right clicking.
by seven7dust February 24, 2009 5:58 AM PST
apparently you can't read
I said it's for the entire file system not trash
by sanenazok February 24, 2009 6:41 AM PST
@seven: yes yes color coding for the system. But why is there for the trash as well? It's the reason why the interface is so strange...because ALL options are being used just for the trash box. Does anyone need to color code trash? From the trash menu, only options relevant to trash folder should apply...apprently color coding is one of them. Not very good UI design at all.

In any event color coding is a pretty mediocre way of managing a project. It's fine if you're working at two or three projects at once, but what if it's 20? Let's see, project red, green, aquamarine, cyan, navy blue. How about if you have one file that's applicable to two projects...color it purple if it applies to projects red and blue? This doesn't scale for anything other than a home-office artist studio type of environment. That's where OS X is going to stay...
by seven7dust February 24, 2009 2:51 PM PST
"only options relevant to trash folder should apply"
oh please ! A windows user talking about only relevant options in the UI ? lol !

Color coding the trash may help some people out . who knows ?
You and I won't be using it, but others might !
MAC OSX is known for consistency of interface across the board !
So that could also be the reason also

"In any event color coding is a pretty mediocre way of managing a project. It's fine if you're working at two or three projects at once, but what if it's 20? Let's see, project red, green, aquamarine, cyan, navy blue. "

Well atleast OSX is giving you a option,
BTW you can add more colors but it requires a bit of hacking !

From your statements
it appears that you haven't really used a MAC before
Try using one before whining and complaining !
by Warhaven February 25, 2009 10:29 AM PST
@sanenazok

How dense are you? Seriously. Someone deletes their the color-coded files, and your first thought is, "What a dolt! They color coded the files in their trash!"
by Sporlo February 26, 2009 7:27 PM PST
it's very interesting that despite the fact that the CNET authors get flamed constantly for bad content, commenters tend to embrace everything they say. I've seen lots of comments about how trivial it is to be able to put back your trash to its home. It seems the author must have put too much of an emphasis on it in the article, but either way, there's no reason one should focus on that.

It's one feature, among tons more, most of which are invisible.

sanenazok: don't judge a book by its cover, or, in your case, by the 3rd letter in the 2nd word in the author's name...
by jumpjetta February 23, 2009 6:50 PM PST
Uh, Command-Z already puts things back that've been put in the Trash.
Reply to this comment
by lestatdelc February 23, 2009 10:03 PM PST
But if you do anything else, then undo/redo (i.e. command-Z) will only cycle the last thing you do. With this change, if you toss something in the trash and don't empty it, then a week later realize you want it put back where it was when you trashed it a week ago, this will do it.

Engage brain before sniping next time.
by DarkHawke February 24, 2009 12:00 AM PST
Let me get this straight: only NOW is there a command to restore something put into the Trash? Am I understanding that correctly? So before this "update," you couldn't, say, right-click on a file, select either "Restore" or "Put Back" and it's returned to the folder from which it was trashed? That can't be right, can it? 'Cause that's retarded. And this "Command-Z" thing doesn't do the job all the time? ***? Someone please set me straight on this one, 'cause on the face of it, that's balls-to-the-wall nutso, especially for an OS with such heavy "ease of use" PR.
by seven7dust February 24, 2009 2:14 AM PST
@DarkHawke
u people need to use Macs instead of basing your opinion on the news articles and comments !
it has a small learning curve but once mastered it's way easier to work with than windows will ever be !
by wolivere February 24, 2009 4:16 AM PST
@seven7dust

Open think that looks like a trash can (Recycle Bin) right click restore....

Yupp thats soo hard
by kelmon February 24, 2009 4:17 AM PST
Unfortunately, Cmd+Z only works for something you've put in the Trash as your last Finder action. A proper "Restore" function is something that I do miss from Windows and it's even more annoying under OS X because previous Apple operating system did provide this. Still, better late than never.
by sanenazok February 24, 2009 6:43 AM PST
@Dark: RIGHT CLICKING isn't allowed in OS X!
by ralfthedog February 24, 2009 9:16 AM PST
If you can't find the right click button on a Mac mouse, just hold down the option button while clicking. It does the same thing.
by numbingpain February 24, 2009 9:24 AM PST
Funny, troll, I could have sworn right-clicking was possible on Mac OS X. I'll assume you've never used a Mac. Maybe when you graduate high school you can get a job at a popular fast food change and scrape together enough money to buy a used Mac and try before you whine/appear ignorant.
by Sporlo February 26, 2009 7:29 PM PST
wow, I get done commenting about how strange it is that people focus so much on a single feature, and a few comments down I see someone doing it again.

ONE TINY FEATURE DOES NOT DEFINE AN ENTIRE OS!
by gigo1000 February 23, 2009 6:58 PM PST
Apple has a good attitude towards OS development. An operating system should do what it is supposed to do and stay out of the way of applications. By reducing the size of OSX and optimizing it for speed and stability they are making it the perfect platform for applications.

I like that Apple is giving users Quicktime Pro.
"All features are now enabled in QuickTime by default. No longer requires a QuickTime Pro upgrade"
Reply to this comment
by kelmon February 24, 2009 4:19 AM PST
Don't count your chickens on QT Pro being included. By all accounts, enabling the Pro features in beta releases of the Mac OS is normal practice and that you'll have to pay when the final release hits the shelves. It'd be nice to be wrong and get the Pro features for free but I'd be surprised if that happened.
by ferretboy88 February 23, 2009 9:19 PM PST
Can't we get a new look? Not very stylish Steve. Silver is boring it is so 2001.
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by cdwilliams1 February 24, 2009 6:33 AM PST
I'm not sure why there are so many people wanting a "new look" to the interface. "Classic" MacOS from 1-9 all had basically the same interface. I DON"T WANT to learn a new interface with every release. I want to get work done. I want to be efficient. I want to get right down to business. Consistency between releases (and between apps for that matter) is huge. In the PC world, every release (2k, XP, Vista, 7) I have to mess around to set it back to the Windows 98 theme so I can start working with it right away rather than having to relearn everything. Why would I want to waste a few hours to re-learn how to set my IP address and add a printer? The eye candy and special effects (ZOMG Ponies! Animated shrinking windows!!) do nothing to enhance productivity and generally just eat resources. I'd rather have a stable and zippy workhorse.
by homercles82 February 24, 2009 7:09 AM PST
CDWilliams

Appleheads constantly brag about how good their stuff looks.

You idiots can't get on the same page. In one article the comments are "**** IT LOOKS SO PRETTY" then in the next it's "It doesn't need to look good just work lol M$ nubs."

If it took you a few hours to set your IP address and add a printer you must be using a non-MS or Apple OS because both are easy to do such things in.
by seven7dust February 24, 2009 2:57 PM PST
"If it took you a few hours to set your IP address and add a printer you must be using a non-MS or Apple OS because both are easy to do such things in."

adding a printer in a Windows PC is the most painful thing to do
it takes patience and effort, and even with the driver CD it takes about 5-10 minutes

in MACs it's just plug n play, plug it in and start printing away
even if you're network is connected to a printer you can inststanly
start using it ,with zero config !

Plzz try doing some research before whinning/complaining
or you'll end up looking ignorant
by CrashPad63 February 25, 2009 7:46 AM PST
Seven What the hell you talking about? Vista and 7 both installed my printer and networked printers without any dance. You wouldnt be trying to spread lies would you?
by Warhaven February 25, 2009 10:53 AM PST
@CrashPad63

What I think seven7dust means is that when plug & play doesn't work, adding a printer can be very much a pain in the ass. For example, if you have an TCP/IP printer on your network, one would -think- you'd add it via Network Printers in the print wizard. Nope. You have to select local printer (you know, like a USB printer) for your network printer, then create a custom TCP/IP port, and then punch in the info as per usual. But wait, it gets better. If you have more than one TCP/IP printer, you have to do it all over again for every single printer; with every single printer getting it's very own custom port -- populating your list of ports when adding other print devices with a bazillion different ports you'll never use again because those ports are tied to each individual printer's IP address.

EZ as pie, right?
by DrtyDogg February 25, 2009 1:50 PM PST
@Warhaven

Your information is dated, as it works now you just tell the wizard you are installing a network printer, give it the i.p. address or hostname and it will find it and install the appropriate driver. So yes it is easier than pie.
by omnicronx February 26, 2009 12:37 PM PST
I've never had problems adding a network printer in windows dating back all the way to XP. As for driver issues, most of this spawned from users trying to use their XP printer drivers on Vista. You can't really blame Microsoft for the manufacturer not updating their drivers(not only that but a windows update often downloads the drivers for you). In fact many printers are specifically designed for windows domain usage, and should be easy as pie. I have heard of Mac horror stories when trying to connect to network printers, although I do admit a local printer can be easier to install on OSX, it all depends on the situation.
by kcotham February 26, 2009 4:22 PM PST
Thank you cdwilliams1. All these new converts from the world of Microshaft have gotten used to learning a new interface at every new release. Consistency is a GOOD thing people!
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