Snow Leopard screenshots show web app support
updated 11:15 pm EDT, Sun June 22, 2008
Snow Leopard Screenshots
A German web site has posted photos of the test build of OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard,” and describes it as “interesting -- but not overwhelming.” Apple has told developers Snow Leopard will focus on boosting performance, not on new features. But Apfleltalk.de found at least one new feature -- the ability to create desktop web applications, much like the iPhone version of OS X. The site says Safari 4 includes a pull-down menu called “Save as Web Application” allowing users to create desktop versions of web apps, and place them in the Dock. It’s not clear if these are simply web bookmarks, or actual applications that can be used offline such as Flicker or Photoshop Express. Clicking a saved item launches a stripped-down version of Safari with immediate access to a particular site or web application, similar to the way the iPhone stores web bookmarks.
Safari 4 is expected to include the new SquirrelFish JavaScript interpreter which is supposed to be 1.6 times faster than its predecessor. Since the recent adoption of SquirrelFish in the current version of Safari, some believe it has become the fastest browser out there. But Apfleltalk.de said its tests on an iMac show no speed improvement in Safari 4 -- it actually falls well behind version 3.1. Of course it's very early in the development cycle, so that may well change.
This early build of Snow Leopard comes with a new version of Address Book that includes “Exchange Component.” According to the site, Address Book “worked very well” at syncing contact information when logged on to a Microsoft Exchange server. Other than that, the application appears unchanged.
The site comfirms what has already been widely reported: Snow Leopard does not support the Power PC platform, leaving some owners with two-year old PPC Macs unable to upgrade. Apfleltalk.de says the new OS does, however, support 32-bit Intel machines -- so owners of early Intel Macs won’t be left out in the cold.
Apfleltalk.de writer Felix Riesenberg says overall, the early build of Snow Leopard has few obvious changes from the current version. He says some of the applications are considerably smaller, but with no noticeable performance improvements as yet. RIesenberg points out, however, that Snow Leopard appears to be in an “extremely early stage of development” -- perhaps too early for Apple to show what it really has planned for the new version.
Oh, come on!
06/23, 04:51am reply
You wanna "make web applications button"? You can have it on Tiger. Go get Safari 4 Developer Preview from Apple's ADC.
Or just go here and see a couple of screenshots (real ones) � http://www.flickr.com/photos/polumrak/sets/72157605764011476/
plmrk
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2008
Oh, come on!
06/23, 04:52am reply
You wanna "make web applications button"? You can have it on Tiger. Go get Safari 4 Developer Preview from Apple's ADC.
Or just go here and see a couple of screenshots (real ones) � http://www.flickr.com/photos/polumrak/sets/72157605764011476/
plmrk
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2008
That's Safari feature
06/23, 05:28am reply
I tried it on Safari 4 under Windows and it worked, nothing to do with next OS.
ViktorCode
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
SqirrelFish..
06/23, 07:59am reply
..is already included in the nightly builds of WebKit, so go get that if you wanna get it now. www.webkit.org.
Marook
Forum Regular
Joined: May 1999
PPC
06/23, 10:06am reply
The current released build might be Intel only, OSX from day one was PPC and Intel but it was not until Tiger did apple let us know this. I see no reason why PPC is being dumped, if anything they are working on optimizations with Intel and only releasing intel developer versions right now.
Athens
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Jan 2003
Re: PPC
06/23, 10:29am reply
I see PPC being dumped because Apple could care less about supporting such ne'er-do-wells as those people who insist on holding on to their computers well past the three year support mark.
And then you've got the kool-aid drinkers who will insist that apple should always look ahead and cut old support because that's how they can stay nimble and ahead of the game.
The bigger question is how much Apple and other developers will use this as their chance to just stop making PPC versions of their apps.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
dashboard
06/25, 05:18am reply
is it just me, or is that dashboard link on the dock slightly different?
really c*** res, though, so it's hard to tell
calverson
Mac Elite
Joined: Jul 2007