amazon_snow_leopard
One of the things that amazes me most about operating system upgrades is the contrasting pricing structures. Apple has kind of got a reputation for making the more expensive computers but on the flip side they typically sell their operating system much cheaper than Microsoft does. While I am admittedly critical of Microsoft for being slower to release new versions of operating systems, I think that Apple takes it to the other extreme.
MacRumors reported this past Saturday that Amazon has a pre-order available for Mac OSX 10.6. At first my reaction to this report was the same as most people’s in that I was excited to see this new release from Apple nearing the finish line. With a sale price of only $29 it is not exactly an expensive update so this should make me happy, right?
The real question is, “Why should users pay $29 for what should be free?”. Microsoft has been asked that same question regarding Windows 7 but the difference is that Microsoft did a lot more work than just service pack Windows Vista and sell it as Windows 7.
Mac OS X 10.6 Changes and Improvements
- Stacks will allow viewing a subfolder without launching Finder. Stacks have also been modified to include scroll-bars for folders with many files.
- Contextual menus which come out of Dock icons now have more options and have a new look, with a semi-transparent charcoal background and white type.
- Exposé can now display all windows for a single program by left clicking and holding its icon in the dock.
- Faster PDF and JPEG Icon refreshes.
- Selection of columned text in PDF documents by analyzing the page layout.
- Faster startup, shutdown, installation, Time Machine backup and connection establishment.
- Smaller OS footprint on disk
- Microsoft Exchange support out of the box
- Built-in applications have been rebuilt to leverage the 64-bit addressing space (excluding iTunes and DVD Player applications)
- Quick Time X
- Grand Central dispatch has been added to help utilize multiple processors and increase efficiency
- Open Computing Language (OpenCL) for graphics processing units (GPU) can be utilized in any application now, not just 3D or graphics intense applications.
Maybe it is just me but nothing there looks really ground breaking, or worth $29. Of course maybe it takes a Apple Addict to really appreciate paying for operating system updates.
Said,
*shrug* that’s the way it goes with Apple, remember poor iPod Touch owners had to pay $10 so they could gain the ability to copy and paste on their devices (of course there were a few other tweaks included)?