Apple on Monday launched its next-generation browser,Safari, and gave details on the Snow Leopard OS X update.
Apple said during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that the operating system would be available in September. Apple presenters took the time to denigrate Windows 7 as merely a version of the much-derided Vista. Windows 7 will launch on October 22, according to Microsoft. Snow Leopard will only run on Intel-based Macs, so older IBM PowerPC based Mac PCs are out in the cold with Snow Leopard.
Snow Leopard, aka OS X 10.6, will cost just $29 to current Leopard users and will naturally ship with all new Macs. But it doesn't offer much in the way of new features for end users.
Its inner plumbing takes advantage of new trends in PC hardware, such as 64-bit and multicore CPUs, along with faster graphics processing hardware. The most noticeable feature for end users will be its built-in support for Microsoft Exchange mail, contacts, and calendars, and a new version of QuickTime called QuickTime X. Installation will be 45 percent faster and opening JPEF image files and PDF documents will be 2 and 1.5 times as fast, respectively.
"We've built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering. "Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before."
The Safari 4 browser is available today as a download for Mac OS X (Leopard and Tiger) and Windows. It's notable for an iTunes-like Cover Flow interface for viewing history, and Top Sites view that shows your most visited sites in a 3D grid view.
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