How will Snow Leopard compare with Windows 7?

[Rhisiart]

Comparing apples and oranges? (http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3222)

[krassyo]

Well I seem to miss the Snow Leopard part and see no comparison at all on this page :)

[fryke]

In my totally unprofessional opinion, Windows 7 will be much better than Vista ever was for Microsoft. But then there's a *lot* of hope there, and the expectations might not get met once the final product arrives. Similar things happened for XP and Vista when they were first released.

Snow Leopard is not looking like it'll be a "wow!" release. It doesn't seem to be about UI features and stuff, rather about cleaning up the act, getting rid of PowerPC etc. It also looks like graphics cards will get a much bigger role in 10.6. I'm looking forward to that.

I don't think it'll be much of a "brainer". Windows might find its grip again, but by its release, Apple will have continued to eat into the market pie. And I don't see that momentum fade anytime soon. Let's see whether Apple's new products at MWSF will be products that can bring more people over to our side of the pond. A new Mac mini might almost certainly help that cause. It's been denied of that role lately by not having been updated.

[Rhisiart]

I'd be pleased to see the Mac Mini updated. However I would recommend that potential Mac Mini purchasers go for maximum memory and hard disc capacity at time of purchase.

Having looked at the beta snapshots of Windows 7 I am disappointed to see the perennial (and very irritating) Windows pop-ups are still a feature.

[fryke]

About that Mac mini comment: Here's to the hope that the Mac mini gets a clue from the unibody MacBooks and lets users install RAM and harddrive themselves easily. Yeah, it hasn't been Apple's thing in the past, but the MacBook and MBP shows that they can and currently are willing to do it. But that's off-topic.

About the Win7 thing: I don't think MS will walk off their long-trodden paths too much. The same things that have been irritating us in the past will continue to do so in the future. In other ways, maybe. Remember how Windows XP suddenly got that ugly Fisher-Price look? It was toy-like at best. Today it's called the more professional alternative, because Vista has taken its cues from 3D games instead of a user interface handbook. I'm not entirely sure Microsoft gets that at all, but from what I've seen about Win7 by now, I just don't think so.

I mean: Take a look at image 23 of that gallery (http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12554_22-256914-23.html)... Don't they see how that upper lip is plain ugly? I don't see any way to see this any differently.

Or this one (http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12554_22-256914-52.html)... They seem to have quite an issue with space. It doesn't look right. At all.

Much worse, though: It's not gonna feel right. Microsoft hasn't tried to get the "feel" part of "look & feel" right. They've played with effects of menus fading etc. and they've been playing with transparency effects lately, but they just haven't actually looked at GUIs that _do_ feel right. I fully expect them to release some kind of new mouse next year with force-feedback to add effects to handling Windows 7. It'll feel even more like a computer game, and that might attract the game folks, actually, but they won't get it right. History proves it. They just don't get these things.

[Rhisiart]

I don't think MS will walk off their long-trodden paths too much ....
There lies the rub.

[Mikuro]

I'll believe it when I see it. I remember people asking how Longhorn would compare to Jaguar, then Panther, then Tiger, and finally Leopard (although they did beat Leopard to market by almost a year). I realize Microsoft is trying to learn from their mistakes, but I'll still be surprised if Windows 7 is released in 2009. You know the old saying from Texas: "Fool me once...shame on........shame on you........................fool me can't get fooled again."

In any case, I'm sure that Windows will still be Windows. I can't use an XP machine for 5 minutes without Windows doing something annoying. Oh, there are unused icons on my desktop, you say? Not interested. Oh, there are unused icons on my desktop, you say? No, still not interested. Oh, there are....FINE! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! JUST STOP BOTHERING ME!

[chevy]

I believe that 7 will be a shrunk down version of Vista, less fancy but much more efficient and completely recompiled to use the most recent hardware.

And 7 may include all little apps that are currently of Live so that you can you your files locally or remotely.

[Satcomer]

Well a lot of people seem to think (me too) that Microsoft BETTER get Windows 7 better or else.

Microsoft needs to have Windows 7 running on those mini netbooks and the budget PC well. I feel if they don't you will see a real general shift to OS X & Linux. So Microsoft is feeling the heat especially in most businesses. In my job I come across many companies and most all of them are still running Windows XP Pro and Server 2003. The servers are in a real danger of being replaced by Linux and if Apple ever gets real serious with OS X server. Most of these companies are experimenting with OS X desktop machines & Linux servers.

Apple's announcement (http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/) of licensing Microsoft Exchange Support is really a welcomed surprise! Some IT people sat up and took notice of this.

[krassyo]

Here is an interesting Snow Cat related link, I've got from a friend of mine: http://www.sevenmac.net/sevenmac-receives-video-preview-of-snow-leopard/

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Interesting, indeed! It's invisible! :O

[Mario8672]

Agreed. Microsoft are coming to a point where their customers are beginning to seriously reconsider their "favourite OS". Satcomer, you said we'll see a shift to OS X and Linux users. I think it's already begun.
Seeing was a majority of believing.

[Tommo]

I think Windows 7 will be much better than Vista, but apart from slimming it down and making the Apps more Exzchange aware I have not seen a big difference in 10.6. As Fryke mentioned unless the final release changes it will not run on PowerPC based systems which may well upset a lot of users.

Unfortunately with the world economies going as they are I fear Apple may be the biggest loser in terms of OS market share, it might be the best but Apple hardware is the most expensive and that will hit them hard. I bought my Macbook almost a year ago, but if I had to replace it now I would find it hard to justify the price tag much as I love it.

Most popular OS for the next couple of years, got to be Linux as it has the best price point, Free and it runs on both PC and Mac hardware.

[chevy]

I think Windows 7 will be much better than Vista, but apart from slimming it down and making the Apps more Exzchange aware I have not seen a big difference in 10.6. As Fryke mentioned unless the final release changes it will not run on PowerPC based systems which may well upset a lot of users.

Unfortunately with the world economies going as they are I fear Apple may be the biggest loser in terms of OS market share, it might be the best but Apple hardware is the most expensive and that will hit them hard. I bought my Macbook almost a year ago, but if I had to replace it now I would find it hard to justify the price tag much as I love it.

Most popular OS for the next couple of years, got to be Linux as it has the best price point, Free and it runs on both PC and Mac hardware.

Unless it comes bundled with iLife'09 and iWork'09 for the same price as the former Leopard.

[icemanjc]

I have both tested and tried out Snow Leopard and Windows 7. From experience Snow Leopard is much faster than Leopard, with applications and the system.

Windows 7, I kinda see like Snow Leopard. It looks almost the same as the previous model, but different coding (or so i've heard for Windows 7). But Windows 7 just feels clunky and I don't see or feel much of a difference between Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Some things might have even taken longer than Windows Vista to load.

I also kind of think the ZDnet review was a bit biased.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

So you're a private beta tester that works for both Apple and Microsoft?! Don't they consider that a conflict of interest concerning your job? I mean, since there's no legal way for anyone outside of those companies to get their hands on beta versions of those operating systems and all, you know, you see... and umm... ;)

[Doctor X]

He could tell you . . . but then he would have to kill you. . . .

--J.D.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Kill me... digitally? ;)

[Doctor X]

Kill me... digitally? ;)

Yes.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u264/DoctorX_photos/Lexx/HisDivineShadow.jpg

He will send one of his Divine Assassins. . . .

--J. "And May His Merciful Shadow Fall Upon You!" D.

P.S. Interesting if Snow Leopard runs faster than Leopard.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

You're a creepy, creepy man, you creepy man.

[icemanjc]

So you're a private beta tester that works for both Apple and Microsoft?! Don't they consider that a conflict of interest concerning your job? I mean, since there's no legal way for anyone outside of those companies to get their hands on beta versions of those operating systems and all, you know, you see... and umm... ;)

Last time I checked, it wasn't illegal to know people.

[Ferdinand]

I think you can download Beta 1 of Windows 7 from Microsoft's website.

[Tommo]

You don't have to be a private beta tester and it is not illegal either. Windows 7 is now in public beta and if you have an Apple Development Connection subscription you have access to apple pre-release software including the OS.

[Doctor X]

So . . . call off the Divine Assassin?

--J.D.

[icemanjc]

If you have an Apple Development Connection subscription you have access to apple pre-release software including the OS.

Thats only if you are paying. I currently have the free one which only releases application betas.
And currently Microsoft's website still says beta coming soon, even though it was supposed to be released today to the public.

[fjdouse]

How will Snow Leopard compare with Windows 7?]

Like a golden egg vs. a wet fart... basically

Looking at the screenshots, it looks like the start bar is going for some kind of KDE-ish look and the chunky window borders look to me like Aero isn't running properly. I've been having a good play with Vista, it feels like it's bloated and by what I've heard Windows 7 isn't much better overall, having said that it's only the first beta but I'm not optimistic. In contrast I'm hearing that Snow Leopard is being freed of the PowerPC legacy code and is substantially quicker, which is great news for my shiny new MacBook. I'm looking forward to more 64bit goodness and hopefully a flippin' port of Blender to take advantage of it.

For me as a Mac user, I DO have an interest in how Microsoft's next OS fares, moreover I'm going to be specifically interested in performance as a guest OS in a virtual machine. I recently did something I've not done for a LONG time, I decided to run a Microsoft OS natively - I used boot camp and Vista (long story) decided to eat the partitions, wiping OS X. Never again. I do run some Windows stuff occasionally out of convenience rather than necessity but by God it NEEDS to be caged in a VM for it's own safety. So if anyone does check Windows 7 out, I'd be interested in how well it runs under virtualisation, especially VirtualBox.

In the meantime, if you want Vista's GUI but a bit more oomph under the bonnet, you could always do what I'm doing at the moment and run Windows 2008 (server) and convert it for workstation use. ymmv.

(hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas and happy New Year to all)

[Satcomer]

(hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas and happy New Year to all)

Yes I did have a great Christmas (even though I worked on that day)Thank you.

Now as I said before Microsoft is loosing it's grip on server software (government) at businesses I deal with. In a place i rather not talk about you would be surprised on the desktop software they use. They even have a harding guide (http://www.nsa.gov/snac/downloads_macx.cfm). Lately my headquarters called me out of the blue and wondered if my SUN OS training can deal with Red Hat. This really took me by surprised and if the government is contemplating Linux (they already started using it!!!) other business are turning over to Red Hat Server or another flavor.

So Microsoft is really loosing it's grip on business and it was no mistake that VMWare came out with Fusion (and it wasn't just Parallels either). WMWare was chomping on the bit to get OS X server virtualized and also they want to get Server 2003 & 2008 virtualized on OS X, just wait.

[fjdouse]

I've just been having a play with the Beta myself, I honestly can't say it's much quicker, took as long to install - I think, I didn't time it. I really, really, really do not like the start bar, it looks crap compared to Vista's. It feels marginally quicker under VirtualBox but with no support for the drivers, plus being a time-bombed (I believe) beta it's not really worth investing my time and energy playing with it too much. Not overly impressed and I've just deleted it now rather than later.

After playing with Windows 2008 too, I've come to the conclusion that it's better just to stick with Vista, even though the virtual disk is eating 14GB of my Mac's hard disk to run just 3 apps I use. Terrible waste of space really. XP would be the more efficient choice.

I think Microsoft have just got it wrong with Windows, a lot of space is used for a bloated, slow, feature-less, application-less environment out of the box, critically dependent on heterogeneous 3rd party apps to get any level of usability which paradoxically increases the risk of system non-usability. Essentially a bloated application launcher compared to OS X, workflow is neither graceful or efficient. I see no innovation here just poor imitation and a perennial striving for what they so obviously cannot achieve. People have not responded to Vista, so what's the solution? More of the same. People didn't like all this 'Basic', 'Home Premium', 'Business' and 'Ultimate' nonsense, so again the solution is yet more of the same.

In short, I've always said 'DONT GET A PIG TO DO THE JOB OF A LEOPARD'*
(modify: Panther, Tiger, Snow Leopard etc as appropriate)

How does Windows 7 compare to OS X? Really? It compares just like every other prior version of Windows, and I'll predict any to come - poorly, because Microsoft just lack a certain something that Apple just GETS intuitively. Microsoft for all of their money cannot buy it, they can't acquire it or develop it over time, it was there from the very beginning. It's why Apple are still here all these years on and Microsoft are STILL trying to be like them and STILL missing the mark every single time.

[deer dance]

Microsoft for all of their money cannot buy it, they can't acquire it or develop it over time, it was there from the very beginning. It's why Apple are still here all these years on and Microsoft are STILL trying to be like them and STILL missing the mark every single time.

Wow.
That's just...

Beautiful.

The fact is, Windows was created and built out of haste to compete with the original Macintosh. And after 20 some years, Microsoft never went into a board meeting and said, "We need to stop. We need to stop and rethink Windows. We're still using the same basis it was founded on, haste and jealously. If we take two or three years and work on making a simple system. We could do it. We could close the windows and open the doors."