infrageeks
Very very nice. Here's a quick list of random observations
I did a clean install of the 10A380 beta build on a 16Gb USB key, testing on a 15" MacBook Pro so the overall performance is pretty sucky, but that's an issue with the key's performance rather than the actual OS or the machine.
First impressions:
The install process is pretty much unchanged from Leopard as far as I could tell, with some nice little touches like identifying immediately that the key did not use GUID style partitions so I needed to fix that before installing.
Once into the OS, I noticed a little alert icon on the battery and it was advising me that my battery probably need to be replaced which is very true and has been on my to do list for a couple of months as the retained charge is way down.
The usual post-install grind where mdworker/Spotlight index the entire hard drive (which is kind of painful on a USB key).
Mail/Exchange
The Exchange integration is flawless. I plugged in my name, address and password and it automatically found the proper Exchange server, complained about our unsigned certificates (normal) and offered the choice of integrating the Address Book and iCal. Some nice updated integrated shortcuts: Command-Shift-Backspace for purging deleted messages in all accounts for example. I did have some issues with the fact that the internal and external servers names for my office account aren't the same and I had to fall back onto a VPN connection to access Exchange, but that's not a huge problem.
IMAP Servers are just as easy, and less knowledgeable intervention is required, with SSL being the preferred connection, falling back to unsecured if it's not available.
Screen saver security
Another nice little touch - you can now specify the amount of time after the screen saver starts before it requires you to enter your password. Just a useful little feature so that you can quickly stop the screen saver within a reasonable amount of time before requiring the password.
Firewall
Still off by default - bad Apple.
Dock
The Exposé integrated dock functions don't seem to be working for me and I haven't found an option to activate/disable the feature. Click and hold gives the usual pop up menu with a list of windows.
MobileMe
Subtle little encouragement to sign up for MobileMe: There is an iDisk icon in the dock and clicking on it asks you if you want to configure MobileMe, taking you to the Control Panel.
Terminal
New default font! Alas, monaco, we knew ye well.
That's going to take some getting used to :-) Us old timers are pretty used to Monaco.
64bit (almost) all the time
Pretty complete coverage with Intel 64-bit being the standard for just about everything that comes with the OS. Still mulling over the kerneltask entry that is just plain old Intel though.
General notes
Previews and stuff are definitely much snappier. The new Stacks navigation is pretty and effective.
It looks like the current Preferences Application has changed a bit and (currently) refuses to load third party (or perhaps it's because they're 32bit) PrefPanes which currently means no iSCSI for me. You definitely notice that some applications launch at astounding speeds, Activity Monitor being one that stood out, especially since I'm running off a USB key. No bounces and the screen full of info appears practically immediately.
Some little logical design changes. The Directory Utility is no more. The user directory authentication component used for linking to Active Directory and LDAP servers is now a part of the Accounts Control Panel. The NFS mounts have migrated to a menu item in the Disk Utility which is better than the Directory Utility, but still not ideal since we're talking about network shares rather than disks. Why don't we have a simple NFS utility?
Overall, the whole environment feels faster (which was part of the point), but it's extremely IO bound. Running on the USB key with it's very slow IO highlights a lot of Just In Time disk fetch operations. I can really see this screaming on an SSD (anyone feel like lending me one to test?)
Not a trace of ZFS or iSCSI natively anywhere that I could find.
NFS performance is significantly better - when I browse big directory listings via NFS over Wifi it's almost like a local hard drive. Really really nice. Streaming 1080p is still a little hard on it, but most of that is an issue with the lack of local graphics horsepower and the fact that I have to scale down the raw source which is bigger than my physical screen resolution.
Perfect integration with External/Portable accounts let me log into my existing accounts, although this has confused MobileMe synchronization since it appears that the interchange formats for iCal and Address Book have changed.
Overall a solid A. If I had native iSCSI and ZFS, that would boost it to an A+, but a very stable beta release. Looking forward to september!
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Comments
Andy (unauthenticated)
Jun 15, 2009
It does indeed scream on an SSD :p I don't think counting bounces of an app icon to time launch times is going to cut it any more in Snow Leopard - Mail launches on an 1.6GHz Air with SSD in <1 bounce. That's with 1000+ messages in the inbox.
Gianni (unauthenticated)
Jun 15, 2009
Did the beta allow an option to install Rosetta? Thanks
CTC (unauthenticated)
Jun 15, 2009
any thoughts on the exchange integration.....can you keep your personal iCal and address book entries separate from what may come in from exchange, thereby protecting your personal contacts/info/appts from the corporate backup and knowledge? Also, is it protected from a corporate wipe of the account if you change jobs...leaving personal contacts and iCal appts intact?
Richard (unauthenticated)
Jun 15, 2009
New system font seems to be Courier. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
alphageek
Jun 16, 2009
@Gianni - I'm strictly on Intel machines now, so I don't think that Rosetta will be an option. And from what I gather, Snow Leopard will be an Intel only release.
alphageek
Jun 16, 2009
@Richard - actually it looks to be a font called Menlo (tip of the hat to Daring Fireball) http://blog.expandrive.com/2009/06/15/menlo-vera-sans-mono-comparison/
alphageek
Jun 16, 2009
@CTC - the Exchange integration is really well done and yes you keep your personal data separate from the Exchange data in very obvious ways, but you can drag and drop meetings from personal to work seamlessly in iCal. I'll post a new entry on that part in a bit since it's a huge deal for a lot of people.
Ever heard of an NDA? (unauthenticated)
Jun 16, 2009
That seed is distributed under a contract which you've violated.
alphageek
Jun 16, 2009
@NDA Violation : There's lot of other screen shots out there and nothing in here that isn't simply more detailed commentary on what has been publicly announced by Apple on their website and in published Keynotes.
Gianni (unauthenticated)
Jun 16, 2009
I've been perfectly content to run Photoshop 8 on my Intel Mac with Rosetta (Leopard). Don't need a PS upgrade.
Now for only $29 I can upgrade to Snow Leopard - but then have to spend $100s more to upgrade Photoshop because my 'outdated' version won't have Rosetta to make it work?
I'll stick with Leopard.
Brent S (unauthenticated)
Jun 16, 2009
The WWDC build (10A380) I recently installed does in fact have Rosetta as an option to install.
dude (unauthenticated)
Jun 16, 2009
Directory Utility isn't gone really... it's now in CoreServices and can be called by the accounts pref pane if you need advanced options
alphageek
Jun 16, 2009
@Gianni: OK - there's the note from Brent - it looks like it's in there, so you should still be fine with Rosetta.
@dude: Yup - the point is that it's no longer a standalone application - it's features have been absorbed into other parts of the OS. Somewhat more logically, I might add.
Gianni (unauthenticated)
Jun 17, 2009
Well, that's good news -- also for users of Quicken and Office and other programs that require Rosetta.