Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' Features and Parallel Computing [Updated]
Apple has posted pages for Mac OS X Snow Leopard for both server and client and describe a bit of what users can expect from the next OS X release. Apple promises that Snow Leopard "dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos." Some early screenshots from the Developer seed of Snow Leopard do indeed show significantly smaller application file sizes over current Leopard installations. Other features listed on Apple's site were largely touched on in the press release.
The New York Times, however, reveals that Snow Leopard's big focus is taking advantage of the recent trend towards multi-core and parallel computer processes. Steve Jobs provided some information on Apple's direction:
Apple's focus on parallel computing comes at a natural time with Intel's upcoming plans for Nehalem processors which will scale up to 8-core processors. Apple has announced that Snow Leopard will be delivered in "about a year".
Updated: The original version of the article had indicated that Jobs pitted Grand Central against nVidia's CUDA. It has been updated to include that while Jobs touts Grand Central as a breakthrough, the comparison was in regards to Apple's OpenCL
The New York Times, however, reveals that Snow Leopard's big focus is taking advantage of the recent trend towards multi-core and parallel computer processes. Steve Jobs provided some information on Apple's direction:
"We've added over a thousand features to Mac OS X in the last five years," he said Monday in an interview after his presentation. "Were going to hit the pause button on new features."
....
"The way the processor industry is going is to add more and more cores, but nobody knows how to program those things," he said. "I mean, two, yeah; four, not really; eight, forget it."
Apple's focus on parallel computing comes at a natural time with Intel's upcoming plans for Nehalem processors which will scale up to 8-core processors. Apple has announced that Snow Leopard will be delivered in "about a year".
Updated: The original version of the article had indicated that Jobs pitted Grand Central against nVidia's CUDA. It has been updated to include that while Jobs touts Grand Central as a breakthrough, the comparison was in regards to Apple's OpenCL
Top Rated Comments
(View all)48 months ago
I would like to point out that most applications (actually all save for Bootcamp Assistant) are still Universal.
48 months ago
Great! Now if only I had anything faster than a G4 that actually has any parallel-processing capabilities...
48 months ago
I was kinda disappointed at first that Snow Leopard wouldn't have any major new features, but it's really good to see Apple focusing on what's important instead of flashy, whiz-bang new features which don't help performance any.
48 months ago
Hey Apple: Just remember that a goodly lot of us are depending on the regular "Leopard" to become as hassle free as Tiger did by 10.4.11.
48 months ago
Wouldn't this "Grand Central" and OpenCL thing be good for people who want to run Starcraft II? :D
48 months ago
Forgive my ignorance, but what is parallel computing?
Google and Wikipedia are your friends :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_computing
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