Snow Leopard screenshots emerge, reveal Web App functionality

A few dubious screens from Apple's upcoming OS X mini-update "Snow Leopard" popped up the other week, but now we're staring at a full-on collection of shots from the folks at German site Apfeltalk. They seem legit enough, but given the fact that Snow Leopard's improvements primary are under the hood, there's not a ton to see. Most interesting is a new Safari 4.0 feature to "Save as Web Application," which creates a Safari-lite, double-clickable application out of any webpage, similar to Firefox's Prism. Google Docs, anyone? Other features shown off in the screenshots include Exchange integration and Javascript benchmarks, but it's clear to see that Apple has perhaps a tiny bit more in store for Snow Leopard than what it's letting on.

[Thanks, John]

[D3V89 @ Jun 21st 2008 6:51PM]

Fake

[msr @ Jun 21st 2008 10:13PM]

hahahahahha. Awesome

[Exodius @ Jun 23rd 2008 10:50AM]

I am running Safari 4 right now and I can tell you that the pic is legit.

[engadgetier @ Jun 23rd 2008 5:07PM]

im also running it, just google for it and download it it, i think its faster, and i also like the web apps, its like the iphone safari.....

[Jon Samuelsson @ Jun 21st 2008 6:51PM]

The web app is in the safari 4.0 beta

[hombot @ Jun 21st 2008 8:58PM]

...which is freely available so anyone here who wants to can actually go play with it instead of looking at "dubious screenshots."

[deyanimay @ Jun 21st 2008 10:52PM]

When is s.l. coming out , i'm thinking of buying a macbook soon and i'd rather wait till they just include the latest version rather than paying extra money.

[Yours Smugly @ Jun 22nd 2008 3:55AM]

@ deyanimay: Snow Leopard ain't coming out until late next spring at earliest, so if you really *need* that MacBook you'd better just go ahead and buy it. And since it isn't a feature-laden update, chances are Apple might give it away for free (like they did with OS X 10.1 Jaguar) or sell it a t a lower price.

[Maikel @ Jun 22nd 2008 9:09AM]

@ Yours Smugly:
How on earth do you know Snow Leopard wont be feature-full? This is the first developer version of it, and do you remember how Leopard changed from the first version till the one we are running now? Immensely!

[azuravian @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:44AM]

@Maikel:

I'd say because it's an even numbered release. As I recall, they have consistently been less feature-full, and more under the hood enhancements. However, I disagree that this will cause Apple to charge less or give it away. They didn't do that with 10.2 or 10.4 even though both of them were similar. I usually wait for the odd numbered releases and skip evens.

[Loweded Wookie @ Jun 23rd 2008 5:37PM]

Actually it's not fake. It's also not to say this is Snow Leopard either.

I'm currently using Safari 4.0 now to write this and I can assure you that is a proper screenshot.

I'm running it on Leopard BTW.

[teamj @ Jun 21st 2008 6:52PM]

This is a Safari 4 Dev. Preview function. Not just Snow Leopard.

[jason @ Jun 21st 2008 6:58PM]

probably steal more stuff from linux

[aaronbareford @ Jun 21st 2008 7:00PM]

What is there to steal?

Don't get me wrong i think linux is great! But i really can't think of anything lol

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 21st 2008 7:28PM]

Compiz-Fusion.

[MacDork @ Jun 21st 2008 7:52PM]

Why would Apple steal compiz-fusion? It's entertaining for a while, but it reminds me of what happens when amateur car modders first get started -- they bolt on every known body kit piece that's available for their car and it looks like a rolling catalog.

Contrast that to what Chip Foose does and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.chipfoose.com/gallery.aspx?LinkID=tn7

His work is meticulous and very, very clean. Compiz-fusion is not.

[Trent @ Jun 21st 2008 7:56PM]

Oh please. Mac OS X was the first OS to have GUI hardware-acceleration. Vista Aero and Compiz/Fusion didn't come along until years later.

[WS @ Jun 21st 2008 8:01PM]

You can't steal stuff that's free. Last time I checked, Linux was still open source...

[jason @ Jun 21st 2008 8:03PM]

Compiz's window management is superior. It allows for manipulation of windows in real time. You can rotate them twist them, do anything you want with them. If anybody wants to do anything with them, all they have to do is write a plug in.

Window tabbing is something that is fantastic. I can group all the windows i need into one, keeping things radically organized. Compiz allows for a fluid seamless experience. The way it is set up the possibilities are endless.

[MacDork @ Jun 21st 2008 8:07PM]

Why would I want to rotate & twist a window?

I agree that choice is good, but ... seriously?

[Derek @ Jun 21st 2008 8:30PM]

Guys, KEROLiUKAS has been proven time and time again to just be an idiot, so I would just ignore him.

[Casper @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:28AM]

Well, Compiz is kinda your tool to make your environment look more OS X-ish og Vista-ish in Linux. Also I believe OS X was first to introduce the dock and other things.

- Anyways, hope that Windows would "steal" something from Linux. That would just help Microsoft lol.

[drunkenoaf @ Jun 22nd 2008 5:14PM]

NeXT's OS had the dock...

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 22nd 2008 6:45PM]

MacDork, don't compare compiz-fusion to ricers, just don't, if you say compiz-fusion is the ricer civic of window manager enhancements, then idk dude...

[xor24 @ Jun 21st 2008 7:00PM]

that sounds awesome saving any page as an application great for gmail google docs and probably tons of other stuff I'm not thinking of.

[tryagain @ Jun 21st 2008 7:02PM]

The Web App thing looks a lot like Prism from Mozilla

http://labs.mozilla.com/featured-projects/#prism
and
http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/

[Aupajo @ Jun 21st 2008 7:15PM]

A lot of similarities, yes. It is their equivalent of Prism.

Honestly, I don't know why so many people seem surprised, all this stuff has been well publicised in the right circles :)

[TXU @ Jun 22nd 2008 5:24AM]

And Fluid:
http://www.fluidapp.com

But, honestly, it's like tabbed browsing, live phishing checks and RSS in browsers. At first, when Brand Y brings out a similar feature, ppl are going "you stole that off Brand X". While at the same time, another group of ppl are saying to Brand Z "how come you can't put in that feature like Brand X - I need that feature, it's a deal-breaker and I won't buy or upgrade until you do". Eventually, some time later when it's in everything, nobody can remember how they ever lived without it.

[Darkroom @ Jun 21st 2008 7:03PM]

i still think Snow Leopard should be a free update for all 10.5 users... but something tells me that it will not be... i don't even think they should charge a $20 fee for it... it should be free!!! the end!!

[xor24 @ Jun 21st 2008 7:09PM]

yah i agree kind of like Vista SP1 or XP SP3 but knowing apple it will $20 if you're really lucky.
P.S.: just so everyone knows i hate apple sept for the ipod and iphone

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Jun 21st 2008 7:18PM]

Why exactly should it be free? If you tell me it's because there are no new features then it would make absolutely no sense for you to upgrade from Leopard with many point releases ensuring it's stability to Snow Leopard.

You attitude toward software is why so much software development become bloated and less optimized. You think reworking the entire OS to function more efficiently should be free because you don't have any new bells and whistles to brag about to anyone, despite the fact that this rework of the foundation take considerably more effort to produce.

The reason Apple is calling it Snow Leopard AND publicly claiming "no new features" despite having many new features, like GC and OpenCL, that require a complete overhaul to the OS is because they realize that there are plenty idiots that think they will be getting screwed. You probably think that once Snow Leopard comes out that Leopard support will be dropped, despite the glaring fact that Tiger is still supported.

[WS @ Jun 21st 2008 8:04PM]

Well said Bender! That was an excellent move on Apple's part to refine their product rather than adding more cruft! A marketing nightmare (because of idiot users like the one above), but a brilliant computing move :)

[Darkroom @ Jun 21st 2008 8:14PM]

@ Bender Bending Rodriguez:

i'm basing my "attitude" on the fact that Snow Leopard is just a really really big OS optimization (like a 10.5.6 or a 10.5.7), not that there are no new features.

besides, how is apple going to market it? "oh look! we sold you this already last year, and it looks the same and does the same, but it's more optimized! for only $129!!"... fuck that shit... only fanboys (or easy prey) will buy...

apple should have been giving their OS away as free updates all along, especially in the 90s, if someone's mac still supported the the OS...it would have increased the value and functionality of the premium priced macs, and it's not like mac buyers have a choice of which OS to install, like those who buy PCs... it would have made better marketing sense, still would, and would increase hardware sales that would would be far greater than $129 bucks here and there... but they will not, because if anything is bloated and less optimized it's apple *INC*'s new found market share and business-thinkers running a big business - masquerading corporate greed and profits as innovation.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Jun 21st 2008 8:57PM]

@ Darkroom,

That is where you are incorrect and where you have failed to understand the gist of my post and of software programming. Point updates 10.5.6 and 10.5.7 are the updates for 10.5.6 and 10.5.7. These are big fixes and optimizations to Leopard.

What Apple is doing with Snow Leopard goes well beyond a point update; they are reworking OS X from the ground up. Right now there are only two native 64-bot apps in Leopard that I know about (and remember that things like System Update, Finder and Dock are all applications running on your Mac).

The whole basis for Snow Leopard is to forego adding features and to start giving the whole the whole OS an overhaul. Think of a tune up, oil changes, and tire replacement as point updates. They all improve the vehicle but it's still the same vehicle. Snow Leopard is a complete overhaul. They are adding role bars, replacing the suspension, adding horsepower to the engine, making the car lighter yet stronger. It's not just a fresh coat of point, some neon and a programmable horn we are talking about. This is some major stuff.

And like all major OS revisions, you should never just jump into them as your main machine because they WILL BE RIDDLED WITH BUGS. Again, this is not a simple point update. This is a huge undertaking. The problem you, and others, are having is that you are looking at like it's a "service pack" and failing to see that there are major new features in Snow Leopard, not just some bugs fixes adn cleaning up of code.

[Backlin @ Jun 21st 2008 9:00PM]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure if Microsoft advertised a total OS revision for Vista, making the footprint smaller, people that knew what an OS revision is would flock to the new version. You know, being the current bloated version it is now.

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 21st 2008 9:49PM]

I agree with the person directly above me.

It's obvious the OP has absolutely no knowledge of or respect for software development. It kills me when I constantly see many large open source projects panned by idiots for "not having anything new", when in fact they've not only been completely refactored and optimized, but they've actually added hundreds of very small features that enhance the usability of the application, or features were added that that particular user doesn't use.

As far as Snow Leopard, I can only imagine how many "lay" users will be bitching and moaning about paying ANY AMOUNT to upgrade. It's not a matter of "Apple should provide bug fixes and performance improvements for free". I can understand that sentiment for sure, but this is not the case.

Snow Leopard is going to be a bit different than a stability update. This isn't like a Windows service pack. It appears they are not only refactoring the major system libraries, but are potentially reworking parts of the low-level system and kernel to enhance performance and stability. This is in addition to creating entirely new APIs and libraries like "Grand Central" and OpenCL, which help developers offload parallel computation to the GPU, and best utilize multi-core/SMT processors, respectively.

I, for one, am glad that they are putting a halt to the endless "feature" additions, and are focusing on making the EXISTING operating environment faster and more stable, especially with the fundamental shift in processor development to highly parallel instead of high frequency.

I have had many iPods, including an iPod Touch, but I haven't even owned a Mac in almost a decade, which is about the length of time I've been running windows 2000/XP. With the Intel switch and the ability to virtualize or dualboot Windows XP, I was already leaning towards buying a Mac next time around. That feeling only increased with the release of the bloated POS that is Windows Vista.

And now OSX is being refactored for many-core CPUs and GPU offloading? Can you imagine, a company actually making a new operating system that is FASTER and MORE STABLE than the one before it!

Oh man, I can't wait for Nehalem to makes its way to the Mac Pro sometime around Christmas , and then when Snow Leopard ships, that beast is going to be FAST!

[Darkroom @ Jun 21st 2008 11:12PM]

i'll end by saying this: if Apple's iPod/iPhone success occurred before Apple released Mac OS 10.1, than 10.1 would NOT have been a free upgrade from Mac OS 10.0, which it was. all the same reasons: 10.0 was slow as shit, 10.1 was reworked from the ground up and was free. so, should 10.6 be free as well? or is Apple more important now than they were before 2001.

@loosely_coupled, you probably didn't know that 10.1 was a free upgrade since you were too busy being a knowledgeable, respectful developer on your windows box, but some of us have been developing for the mac well before you even heard about the iPod...

[Barry Wiseman @ Jun 21st 2008 11:37PM]

I think Apple may have something else up their sleeve- I've heard no talk of an upcoming iLife/iWork update coming down the pipe. What if they sold Snow Leopard wtih iLife 09? Then it becomes a compelling reason to upgrade-- you get snow leopard and a new iLife (or, maybe less likely, iWork). I heard rumors awhile back about the possibility of including iLife with the OS and this may be a good time to consider it.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Jun 21st 2008 11:37PM]

@ Darkroom,

Are you purposefully fudging the facts or are really not seeing the whole picture?

Besides the excessive bugginess* of 10.0 the time difference to 10.1 was very, very short. There will be about 2 years between Leopard and Snow Leopard, and there will have been a lot of R&D going into Snow Leopard.

* Don't even try to compare bugs in the other OS X releases to that of 10.0. I haven't used a developer build of OS X that was even close to 10.0 when it was released.

[Kelmon @ Jun 22nd 2008 6:05AM]

I'm largely inclined to agree with both sides of this discussion since both have their merits. Snow Leopard, against my initial expectations, looks like it could be the defining release of OS X. New features are generally nice but since Apple has already packed OS X full of them, a release that delivers pure performance and stability is something to be welcomed. As best as I can tell at the moment, the core components of the OS X foundations are going to be overhauled and that's clearly something that a "Service Pack" does not deliver (confession: I did initially think that 10.6 was a Service Pack equivalent until more information came out). So, this is going to be a big release.

But I do tend to agree with Darkroom on this - how do you market this? Regardless of how much work has been done by Apple, this is effectively 10.5+, as far as the general public are concerned. With no new features, with the exception of Exchange support, how do you advertise this without having to resort to a load of bar charts? The perceived value of this release is not going to be as high as previous releases, except to those who know what's happened, and therefore Apple can't charge the usual fee.

Incidentally, I really applaud this departure. Bill Gates is quoted as saying that Microsoft always works on new features rather than bug fixes because you can't sell bug fixes. Apple's trying something different here and it will be interesting to see whether Bill is proven correct.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:53AM]

@ Kelmon,

Excellent point; I forget Gates had said that. Optimizations and cleaning up the code for future faster and more stable updates is also hard to market. That is why I think Apple choose to include the word Leopard in the name of the new OS X version and why they are advertising no new features when 10.6 has the most impressive features we have seen in OS X. While they want people who can upgrade to buy Snow Leopard, I think they don't care as much as previous builds and why they aren't going to focus on people with current Macs, hence the statement and similar name. By doing this now Apple saves a great deal of money of R&D on for 10.6 and makes it much, much easier to build a better OS in the future. Apple has always looked to the longterm, and this appears to be no exception.

[Chris @ Jun 22nd 2008 3:35PM]

"10.0 was slow as shit, 10.1 was reworked from the ground up and was free."

10.1 was not reworked from the ground up. 10.0 was the first of it's kind and had tons of unoptimized code. 10.1 and many further releases took the existing strong foundation that was created in 10.0 and optimized it while also implementing further speed enhancing technologies.

[LJKelley @ Jun 21st 2008 7:07PM]

Isn't web apps just basically the same as a URL Shortcut on Windows?

Nothing to see here... move along folks...

[heshmati4 @ Jun 21st 2008 7:15PM]

NO... They are an actual Application. Look here for screenshots

http://www.apfeltalk.de/redaktion/riesenzwerg/mag/snowleopard/leopard14.jpg

http://www.apfeltalk.de/redaktion/riesenzwerg/mag/snowleopard/leopard13.jpg

http://www.apfeltalk.de/redaktion/riesenzwerg/mag/snowleopard/leopard12.jpg

[Blaktornado @ Jun 21st 2008 7:16PM]

It may launch it in a standalone browser... which would be nice since a LOT of things can crash Safari.

And Safari has had the ability for a long time to have url links like the one's you are talking as well.

[TomWBrowning @ Jun 21st 2008 7:19PM]

Or a URL alias on Mac? No. It isn't.

[Astrostream @ Jun 21st 2008 8:19PM]

@LJKelley
Are you stupid? I am sure you feel ashamed that you wrote that stupid comment.

[Ellianth @ Jun 21st 2008 7:11PM]

And this is the UI that everyone says is so beautiful? Humph!

[John @ Jun 21st 2008 8:36PM]

I wonder how many Mac users skin their desktops to look like Windows machines...

[heshmati4 @ Jun 21st 2008 9:48PM]

none