Apple recently gave us a preview of its next major revision of Mac
OS X, dubbed "Snow Leopard". With just the few new technologies that we
have been given a glimpse of, it is plain to see that Snow Leopard will
be a huge step into the future.
Whither Office?
The newest version of the Mac operating system promises complete
support for Exchange Server 2007, which is very popular in business
settings. I see this as Apple's attempt to steer its products into the
path of Microsoft Office.
Apple has been able to create an analogous counterpart to every
product in the native version of Office except one, Entourage. With
Snow Leopard, users will only need to buy iWork in order to replace the
majority of the functionality of Microsoft Office for Mac. With its
current $79 price tag, this solution may be attractive to offices who
complained that Macs couldn't match the functionality of Windows
machines in a business environment.
For instance, when Snow Leopard is released, my father, who has come
to appreciate the stability and features of OS X, could buy a
MacBook and take it to work, knowing that he won't have any problems
accessing his information on the company's Exchange server. This, along
with the Mac's ability to tap into the resources of an Active Directory
(a major part of Windows Server) will allow almost seamless integration
into a typical business network.
Putting That $300 Graphics Card to Work Full Time
Another piece of the Snow Leopard puzzle, and one that is absolutely
revolutionary in my opinion, is the new OpenCL technology. As Apple
says on the Snow Leopard page,
"Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL
(Open Computing Language), makes it possible for developers to
efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked
up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching
processing speeds of a trillion operations per second, they're capable
of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that
power and redirects it for general-purpose computing."
This allows the millions of Intel-based Macs out there to use their
graphics cards all the time, not just when they are using programs
requiring 3D calculations (such as games). Apple's innovative
programmers saw the untapped potential of today's graphics chipsets,
and they devised a way to bring it out into the open, allowing that
power to supplement the increased multicore support of "Grand Central".
This advance begins to blur the lines between the different subsystems
of the Mac itself.
Andy Ihnatko once joked in his book about Tiger that because the Mac
platform was so powerful, complex mathematical calculations were done
by the keyboard controller. Someday in the near future, that may cease
to be a joke.
Last, but Most Certainly Not Least
Apple also revealed four other technologies: Grand Central,
QuickTime X, a new version of JavaScript, and new 64-bit technology.
While I do not discount the importance of these technologies, I see
them more as natural extensions to technologies that are already part
of the Mac OS.
This tiny peek only increases my appetite for information on the new
technologies in Snow Leopard, and when more information is released, I
will be back to opine and commentate on it.
