Apple seeds iPhone build 5A331, OS X 10.6 build 10A96, Safari 4

[AppleInsider]

Apple in the past 48 hours has provided its developer community with a wealth of new pre-release software, including the first external builds of both Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Safari 4, as well as a fresh build of iPhone Software v2.0.

iPhone Software 2.0 (build 5A331)

People familiar with the seedings say iPhone Software v2.0 build 5A331 arrived late Monday to a select group of testers, and includes minor changes to reflect announcements made earlier in the day at Apple's developers conference.

Most notably, all references to .Mac setup have been re-branded for the upcoming MobileMe replacement service. The build also repaired a nagging issue where an IPSec VPN account with pre-shared key authenication would fail to establish a connection.

Apple said it plans to release iPhone Software v2.0 sometime in early July, likely around the same time it launches iPhone 3G on July 11th. A full rundown of features expected as part of the release were covered Monday.

Mac OS X 10.6 (build 10A96)

Separately, developers attending WWDC 2008 were provided with a physical Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installation disc, pictured below, containing the first build of the next-generation operating system to leave Apple's corporate boundaries.

Snow Leopard Developer Preview | Image via MacNotes.de.

A handful of uneventful screenshots (1, 2) from the release reveal the build number to be 10A96 and the system preference pane to reflect whether the system is running at 32- or 64-bit.

Snow Leopard Developer Preview | Image via MacNotes.de.

Apple said Monday that rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. A list of enhancements expected as part of the release are available here.

Apple says it plans to release Snow Leopard "within a year."

Safari 4.0 build (5526.11.2)

Finally, Apple on Tuesday provided developers with a Developer Preview of Safari 4.0 for Leopard, Tiger, and Windows. People familiar with the 40.2MB release for Leopard say the browser is noticeably more responsive than version 3.1.1 and also includes a couple of minor features.



Among the new additions is a General preference setting to set new browser windows to open with tabs from the bookmarks bar or a specific tabs folder. Another feature, accessible under the File menu, lets web pages be saved as self-contained, executable Mac OS X applications -- a feature that exists today via a third-party application called Fluid.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Feynman]

Score! I wonder if the first external developer build of Leopard Snow feels Snappier™

[solipsism]

No move from Aqua into a unified look yet. That is disappointing.

I'm glad we'll finally get soem in-depth details as to what has and has not been altered from Leopard.


PS: I'm told Safari 4 can already be had at torrent sites.

[bedouin]

I may have missed this in the flood of Snow Leopard news, but is PPC getting the axe or not in 10.6?

[bedouin]

Originally Posted by Amorya

It can be had for free at Apple's developer account -- register as an online developer, log in, and go to Downloads.

Amorya

"I'm There Dude" - Butthead

[Amorya]

Originally Posted by solipsism

PS: I'm told Safari 4 can already be had at torrent sites.

It can be had for free at Apple's developer account -- register as an online developer, log in, and go to Downloads.

Amorya

[macserverX]

Or you could just get the latest nightly at http://nightly.webkit.org/. Unless of course the DP has extra Safari features and not just extra WebKit features.

[solipsism]

The Webkit version they are using gets 100% on http://acid3.acidtests.org/ and have some nice features, like Full Page Zoom, although there is still no check box in Preferences to turn it on and off so you still need to enable via Terminal.

Originally Posted by Amorya

It can be had for free at Apple's developer account -- register as an online developer, log in, and go to Download.

Thanks. I thought it was only for paid developer accounts.

[CREB]

I like the name a lot: Snow Leopard

[Slewis]

Null.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Slewis

All the apps in the Utilities folder said "Universal Binary" in the screen shot.

Of interest: the System Preferences specifically noted in the title bar "32 bit" so maybe the OS really is fully 64-bit now and there's a 32-bit backwards compatibility mode for apps. Hmmm.....

That appears to be the case. Activity Monitor has also been updated to list which processes are 64-bit and which aren't.

[internetworld7]

Originally Posted by solipsism

No move from Aqua into a unified look yet. That is disappointing.

Aqua is a long standing Mac OS X tradition that Apple should never move away from. Most Windows switchers (myself included) love the Apple aqua elements of OS X.

What Apple can do is allow an option for a non-aqua appearance other than graphite to satisfy the teeny tiny number of folk who want this changed if they care to do so.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by internetworld7

Aqua is a long standing Mac OS X tradition that Apple should never move away from. Most Windows switchers (myself included) love the Apple aqua elements of OS X.

What Apple can do is allow an option for a non-aqua appearance other than graphite to satisfy the teeny tiny number of folk who want this changed if they care to do so.

I prefer the graphite, but I have no issue with Aqua. My real concern is that it will be unified. However, I still spoke to soon as the pics clearly show that apps using Aqua have not had enough time to make any of the changes needed. We can use the System Profiler image to see which apps have been updated. I am too busy to check now, but I did notice that Activity Monitor has been updated from 10.5 to 10.6, which now shows us which processes are 64-bit.

[internetworld7]

I sure hope Apple has MUCH more in store for Safari 4 than what this preview build offers. Whether Apple likes it or not, it is in stiff competition with Firefox 3 which should be released any day now. Safari 3.1.1 is ok but I much rather prefer the nightly webkit builds with a few plugins, NightShift and the webkit new version check homepage disabled.

[Slewis]

Null.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by internetworld7

I sure hope Apple has MUCH more in store for Safari 4 than what this preview build offers. Whether Apple likes it or not, it is in stiff competition with Firefox 3 which should be released any day now. Safari 3.1.1 is ok but I much rather prefer the nightly webkit builds with a few plugins, NightShift and the webkit new version check homepage disabled.

Extensions would be nice. The benefit from pulling FF users to Safari seems to greatly outweigh the little effort it would take to set up the functionality. With the thousands of Dashboard widgets and the number of people wanting to develop for the iPhone, I can only see this helping Safari's platform.

I'd also like the Downloads window to be translucent like in Shiira, or like the Show Inspector window, amd/or have a native open to make it not appear at all.

[MiMiC]

Originally Posted by internetworld7

I sure hope Apple has MUCH more in store for Safari 4 than what this preview build offers. Whether Apple likes it or not, it is in stiff competition with Firefox 3 which should be released any day now. Safari 3.1.1 is ok but I much rather prefer the nightly webkit builds with a few plugins, NightShift and the webkit new version check homepage disabled.

I wold be happy if it did not crash daily on my G5!!

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by internetworld7

I sure hope Apple has MUCH more in store for Safari 4 than what this preview build offers. Whether Apple likes it or not, it is in stiff competition with Firefox 3 which should be released any day now. Safari 3.1.1 is ok but I much rather prefer the nightly webkit builds with a few plugins, NightShift and the webkit new version check homepage disabled.

What isn't available in Safari that you want to see? Which plugins?

Safari isn't supposed to be a Cadillac. It's supposed to be a sports car. It's supposed to be lightweight and fast. That's the way I like it. I don't want cup holders.

Safari isn't even competing with Firefox...and doesn't have to.

[smack416]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Activity Monitor has also been updated to list which processes are 64-bit and which aren't.

FYI: Activity Monitor in 10.5 already notes which apps are 64 bit. Last.fm's iScrobbler is noted as: Intel (64 bit). It's also noted as taking up far too much of my RAM, but that's another story.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by bedouin

I may have missed this in the flood of Snow Leopard news, but is PPC getting the axe or not in 10.6?

The rumors said yes, but the info trickling in makes it look like PPC is still supported. Someone with the release should be able to confirm it for sure soon.

[dr_lha]

Originally Posted by solipsism

No move from Aqua into a unified look yet. That is disappointing.

No move? Why don't you compare Leopard's Activity Monitor window with the one posting, there's one major difference which looks to me like the beginnings of the removal of Aqua widgets to me.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by smack416

FYI: Activity Monitor in 10.5 already notes which apps are 64 bit. Last.fm's iScrobbler is noted as: Intel (64 bit). It's also noted as taking up far too much of my RAM, but that's another story.

Ah, I didn't have a single app say 64-bit.. Not one did. At least we know that they ahave started to change processes over.

I checked the applications list and all but a few have been updated in some way. BootCamp Assistant has been moved to 2.1 to 3.0.. I wonder if they will finally support having more than one partition and allowing Linux as an option.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by dr_lha

No move? Why don't you compare Leopard's Activity Monitor window with the one posting, there's one major difference which looks to me like the beginnings of the removal of Aqua widgets to me.

What difference is that? I see absolutely no difference there.

[DoctorGonzo]

Originally Posted by solipsism

What difference is that? I see absolutely no difference there.

The process-filter dropdown menu now matches the UI appearance introduced in Leopard.

It would be nice if Apple would offer a unified UI in 10.6. As it stands now, the remaining widgets that have remained largely unchanged since 2000 look terribly out of place.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by DoctorGonzo

The process-filter dropdown menu now matches the UI appearance introduced in Leopard.

Good catch!

[bedouin]

Originally Posted by minderbinder

The rumors said yes, but the info trickling in makes it look like PPC is still supported. Someone with the release should be able to confirm it for sure soon.

Perhaps this 32-bit / 64-bit distinction means G4s will get axed, but G5s will remain? Or us G4 folks might be safe for a tad longer . . .

[esXXI]

Originally Posted by DoctorGonzo

The process-filter dropdown menu now matches the UI appearance introduced in Leopard.

It would be nice if Apple would offer a unified UI in 10.6. As it stands now, the remaining widgets that have remained largely unchanged since 2000 look terribly out of place.

That's just because toolbar buttons all use the same matte metal look, so it makes sense to introduce a drop down field for applications that need one so they match. Don't expect Aqua-gloss buttons to be disappearing anytime soon.

(And they're not called "widgets", no UI element is called that.)

[leafy]

I used to use

code:

---

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

---

to force every new link to be opened in a Tab in the current Window in Safari. With Safari 4 DP, this no longer works.

[Lorre]

Originally Posted by DoctorGonzo

The process-filter dropdown menu now matches the UI appearance introduced in Leopard.

It would be nice if Apple would offer a unified UI in 10.6. As it stands now, the remaining widgets that have remained largely unchanged since 2000 look terribly out of place.

I see what you mean and agree. I think they'd better make the scroll bars as used in the iLife suite as a default across the UI. The Aqua scroll bars look out of place under the Leopard matte grey tool bars and window headers. Making the scroll bars and Aqua buttons grey in the preferences instead of blue does help though imo.

[dr9553]

The developer preview of safari 4 on leopard is fast as can be. thank god... i like it so far. no issues.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Ah, I didn't have a single app say 64-bit.. Not one did. At least we know that they ahave started to change processes over.

I checked the applications list and all but a few have been updated in some way. BootCamp Assistant has been moved to 2.1 to 3.0.. I wonder if they will finally support having more than one partition and allowing Linux as an option.

If you want to check it out, the two 64 bit apps most mac users will have are Chess and Xcode. I think Activity Monitor only shows 64 bit on intel boxes, on my G5 it still says 32 even though it seems like it's running in 64.

Originally Posted by bedouin

Perhaps this 32-bit / 64-bit distinction means G4s will get axed, but G5s will remain? Or us G4 folks might be safe for a tad longer . . .

Either one is a possibility. I'm surprised someone hasn't passed on what it says in the release notes. Otherwise, someone will try installing it on a G4 or G5 and see what happens.

Just found this, looks like it might be intel only if this is real...but if that's the case, then why would all the apps say universal?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by minderbinder

Just found this, looks like it might be intel only if this is real...but if that's the case, then why would all the apps say universal?

Nice find, and that is the best evidence that it will drop PPC support but keep 32-bit Intel.

The apps say Universal because their code still supports the other architectures. Some will certainly change others may stay UB for awhile.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Nice find, and that is the best evidence that it will drop PPC support but keep 32-bit Intel.

The apps say Universal because their code still supports the other architectures. Some will certainly change others may stay UB for awhile.

These are virtually all new builds of these apps. Why compile and distribute them universal with an OS that only runs on intel?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by minderbinder

These are virtually all new builds of these apps. Why compile and distribute them universal with an OS that only runs on intel?

They are new builds, but they may not have gotten around to cleaning out the old code. Or maybe they see no reason to many apps as they can still be copied and used across different systems. Whatever the answer, the "Intel Processor" requirement is the best evidence we have right now.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by solipsism

They are new builds, but they may not have gotten around to cleaning out the old code. Or maybe they see no reason to many apps as they can still be copied and used across different systems. Whatever the answer, the "Intel Processor" requirement is the best evidence we have right now.

While there's probably some PPC specific stuff in the code itself, for the most part the two builds come from checking two boxes in the compiler. To leave out the PPC code, they just have to uncheck the PPC box in Xcode. And I can't imagine they'd want to encourage people to take 10.6 versions of system apps and drag them over to boxes running 10.5. It makes no sense that they wouldn't do that and save time and space on the install disks and hard drives.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by leafy

I used to use

code:

---

defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true

---

to force every new link to be opened in a Tab in the current Window in Safari. With Safari 4 DP, this no longer works.

The command is in the .PLIST file but it's not working. I tried everything I could think of and checked to see if there were any other options available. Hopefully the next update fixes it.

[iVlad]

omg people, this is like the Beta of Beta. Apple didn't even put the graphical changes yet. You build the foundation first and then make the house pretty.

Im happy that they had some sort of Differentiation from Leopard. "Snow Leopard" will look very settle and stable. LOVE IT!

It's just a start!

[stokessd]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

What isn't available in Safari that you want to see? Which plugins?

Safari isn't supposed to be a Cadillac. It's supposed to be a sports car. It's supposed to be lightweight and fast. That's the way I like it. I don't want cup holders.

Safari isn't even competing with Firefox...and doesn't have to.

Safari has them in some form, but plugins like adblock pro, flashblock, and noscript are key to me using the browser.

Frankly with the limited bandwidth and processor of the iPhone, something like adblock is even more important there. No I do NOT want to punch the monkey...

Sheldon

[solipsism]

According to the WebKit website development of SquirrelFish has ended. I guess that means they've got a stable enough build to move into the nightly WebKit builds.

They did something similiar with a previous development cycle for Feature Branch, which may be Qt (but I'm not certain). That appears to have more than doubled the size of the nightly WebKit builds from about 6MB to 15MB.

• http://nightly.webkit.org/builds/overview/squirrelfish
• http://nightly.webkit.org/builds/squirrelfish/mac/1
• http://nightly.webkit.org/builds/trunk/mac/12

[Chucker]

WebKit builds have been > 14 MB starting with r27031 on 2007-10-25, when Leopard (in addition to Tiger) was included.