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Serial upgraders: OS X customers consistently upgrade
California-based Net Applications measures operating system and browser adoption rates by checking stats from visitors to about 40,000 Web sites. A Computerworld post today highlighted the fact that Apple's OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion) and 10.8 (Mountain Lion) have been adopted by Mac users at a rate about three times that of Windows 7, Microsoft's best-selling version of Windows to date. Snow Leopard was installed on 32 percent of all Macs within five months of its launch, while Lion and Mountain Lion were at the 29 percent level after five months. With Windows 7, only 11 percent of all Windows users had upgraded at the end of five months. That number, however, dwarfs Windows Vista, which saw only a 5 percent adoption rate after five months. Net Applications' data is showing that the uptake rate for Windows 8 appears to be about the same as Windows Vista, although that could change after the holiday buying season. So why do Mac users consistently upgrade faster? Well, part of it could be pricing. The last three versions of OS X have been available for less than $30, while Windows upgrades are much more expensive -- an upgrade to Windows Vista Home Edition was $159 in 2007. Microsoft appears to be trying the lower-price path with a $40 deal for Windows 8 Pro upgrades that expires at the end of January 2013. The biggest difference, though, is that most Mac users are consumers, who can choose to upgrade at any time. On the other hand, many Windows machines are located in enterprises, which tend to be very cautious about upgrading to a new OS.
Snow Leopard update wreaks havoc on Rosetta, luddite users contemplate running with Lion (update)
Normally updates are meant to better your OS, delivering necessary tweaks and performance improvements. But this latest batch out of Cupertino's managed to do just the opposite for users running the Lion 10.7.3 package, as it's caused many applications to force crash and bewildered users to restore Time Machine backups. Well, now the hordes clinging to Snow Leopard can join in the commiseration, as forums begin to flood with reports of failed Rosetta compatibility. That software, essential for PowerPC programs to run on Apple's preferred Intel chipset, has been rendered useless by a just released security fix, prompting one community member to craft a DIY patch. While, Apple is reportedly working on a cure-all for these rampant woes, we'd caution any who haven't taken the plunge to sit this one out for a bit.Update: Good news for those of you on Lion that haven't updated, as Apple's pulled the 10.7.3 delta update (responsible for borked installs), leaving those who haven't taken the plunge to try the larger (and non-problematic) combo one. Unfortunately for users of Snow Leopard, though, the troublesome security update lives on, so until Cupertino rectifies (and we update), sound off on how the temporary fix is treating you in the comments below.
Apple aware of Snow Leopard accounts bug that kills data, is working on a fix
Apple just made a statement about that nasty Snow Leopard Guest Account bug that deletes user data -- it's not much, but at least the people in charge are working on things. We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix. Peachy -- now if Apple would just figure out how to fix all those broken Time Capsules holding the backups, we'd be all set.
Snow Leopard gets hip to CoreLocation and multitouch
We're in the Q1 2009, folks, and while we'd love to believe that the release of Snow Leopard is imminent, it looks like all we'll have to be sustained by is rumors and innuendo for the time being. According to "insiders" at, well, Apple Insider, the eagerly awaited operating system will be taking some cues from the iPhone, adding both CoreLocation and opening up the multitouch trackpad to third-party developers. Since MacBooks don't currently have GPS, we're guessing CoreLocation will be powered by Skyhook's WiFi-positioning service, but anything can happen down the line. With all the buzz over Google Latitude making its way onto all manner of devices, including the G1, select Blackberrys, and (someday!) the iPhone and iPod touch. With Mac sales being particularly laptop-heavy lately, it looks like location awareness is shaping up to be the must-have functionality of the coming year. Fabulous, darling. Fabulous.
Leaked Snow Leopard image potentially indicates a 32 / 64-bit divide
Apple's said it's taking a break from adding flashy features to OS X to focus on the foundations and stability of the system with Snow Leopard, and this latest leaked screenshot might indicate that those foundations are moving to 64 bits -- it shows System Preferences saying it needs to restart in 32-bit mode to open the Network panel. That's certainly interesting, given the rumors that Apple's dropping support for non-Intel machines and maybe even 32-bit Intel processors with this release, but it could also just mean that whoever took this screenshot doesn't have a 64-bit-friendly version of that preference pane installed. (We're guessing the latter, since there are a lot of 32-bit only Core Duo Intel Macs out there.) Restarting apps to change modes seems pretty clunky, though -- shades of System 7 and the 32-bit Enabler, for the olds -- so we're hoping Apple's got a more elegant solution in the works. Macworld's just around the corner, we're sure we'll hear more from Steve Phil soon.
