Briefly: Apple prepping new Snow Leopard, iWeb, ARD updates
The news vacuum that's followed Apple's Mac desktop refresh offers space for some updates on the company's software-related efforts, which should soon produce new builds of Snow Leopard. Meanwhile, minor updates to iWeb, Remote Desktop, and other OS X components are also reportedly in the works.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
People familiar with the ongoing development of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard say Apple is gearing up to provide some developers with a new build of the next-gen OS in the near term.
The target build is said to be 10A286, which could change at any time. Regardless of the build, an identically numbered beta of Snow Leopard Server should arrive in tandum.
Apple last equipped Apple Developer Connection members with build 10A261 in early February. Around that time it was reported that Snow Leopard would include Core Location and Multi-Touch frameworks for third-party developers, and also deliver more intuitive printer driver delivery.
Specific to the 10A261 build were a handful of visual tweaks, such as a Put Back option in the Finder and the ability to drill down into stacks via a new grid-view interface, each of which were documented in a series of screenshots.
While calls from Apple legal have marred various reports on those features, including AppleInsider's, readers point out that several videos covering the design tweaks live on over at YouTube, like the one below.
iWeb
Also in the works, and reportedly undergoing internal testing, is iWeb 3.0.1. The update is believed to address issues with publishing iWeb pages to MobileMe and FTP, which has been one of the largest sources of complaints about the new Web editor that shipped last month as part of iLife '09.
One thread running since late January concerns FTP publishing errors where a test worked properly but the publish failed. Others have reported issues with pictures not appearing correctly while still others have struggled with uploading for a month only to discover their sleep settings were putting the computer to sleep before it could finish the upload.
Apple Remote Desktop & VoiceOver
Meanwhile, two other software updates growing closer to release, though very little information is know about them at this time. The first is Apple Remote Desktop 3.3, which is reportedly code-named Hook. Somewhat further behind is said to be a significant update to VoiceOver.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
People familiar with the ongoing development of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard say Apple is gearing up to provide some developers with a new build of the next-gen OS in the near term.
The target build is said to be 10A286, which could change at any time. Regardless of the build, an identically numbered beta of Snow Leopard Server should arrive in tandum.
Apple last equipped Apple Developer Connection members with build 10A261 in early February. Around that time it was reported that Snow Leopard would include Core Location and Multi-Touch frameworks for third-party developers, and also deliver more intuitive printer driver delivery.
Specific to the 10A261 build were a handful of visual tweaks, such as a Put Back option in the Finder and the ability to drill down into stacks via a new grid-view interface, each of which were documented in a series of screenshots.
While calls from Apple legal have marred various reports on those features, including AppleInsider's, readers point out that several videos covering the design tweaks live on over at YouTube, like the one below.
iWeb
Also in the works, and reportedly undergoing internal testing, is iWeb 3.0.1. The update is believed to address issues with publishing iWeb pages to MobileMe and FTP, which has been one of the largest sources of complaints about the new Web editor that shipped last month as part of iLife '09.
One thread running since late January concerns FTP publishing errors where a test worked properly but the publish failed. Others have reported issues with pictures not appearing correctly while still others have struggled with uploading for a month only to discover their sleep settings were putting the computer to sleep before it could finish the upload.
Apple Remote Desktop & VoiceOver
Meanwhile, two other software updates growing closer to release, though very little information is know about them at this time. The first is Apple Remote Desktop 3.3, which is reportedly code-named Hook. Somewhat further behind is said to be a significant update to VoiceOver.
Comments
As to Snow Leopard all I can say is that I hope it comes quickly. The number one thing I'm hoping for is GPU acceleration of video play back. That should make a huge difference on my early 2008 MBP. If they don't implement I will be very disappointed with Apple. Not that Apple is in my good graces right now but I suspect that I will get over it.
Even if the iMac update was lackluster I'm starting to warm up to one of their new networking appliances. It is good to see that Apple has been steadily updating all their software even on embedded devices. Software is one of the good things to look at this year as Apple has been doing well here. Everything I have, my MBP, MobileMe and Iphone, are all working better than when I started out with the stuff in 2008.
Dave
I want to upgrade my iWeb '08 (Real Estate website) to '09 just for the FTP capability. A simple click rather than opening Fetch and dragging and dropping, but Apple's iWeb '09 support forums are awash with supposed problems using this feature.
I'll wait till I see a fix. I bet we see an iWeb '09 FTP fix before the SL release.
Thanks for the info AI, saves a lot of unnecessary headaches!
Chris
Yech... Stacks. Not a fan.
Stack's isn't useful for much, but it is useful for accessing small folders of apps without having the Dock take up an insane amount of space on the screen. Especially if you aren't running on a high resolution like 1680x1580 or 1920x1200.
Yech... Stacks. Not a fan.
Me neither. First thing that I turn off after a re-install.
They have added stuff like scrollbars and folder navigation.
You just as well can open a Finder window when clicking the dock icon,
it offers more control too. Stacks are different, I know, but do we really need it?
Leopard was released on October 26th. Now it is about 16 months later. With a daily build we would be around 480. I expected to see a build number like 10A4xx.
Could it be that Snow Leopard will not be that big an upgrade. We know they are hitting the Pause button on features, but maybe they are also hitting the pause button on OSX work?
Prince (Daniel) McClean, do you have an explanation, or anyone else for that matter??
Around that time it was reported that Snow Leopard would include Core Location and Multi-Touch frameworks for third-party developers, and also deliver more intuitive printer driver delivery.
Pray, Apple, enlighten me on when capable TimeMachine framework is gonna meet developers... Didn't I miss something?
My home-brewed dual pane file manager can't wait anymore...
Yech... Stacks. Not a fan.
I love them. It reminds me of the tabbed windows in OS 9, only much less intrusive (no more oddball tabs positioned around the edges of the screens) and easier to use. If you have a lot of locations with lots of files in each that you have to access frequently, then they are perfect and much more convenient than having to dig around in the Finder or leave your desktop cluttered with windows. Guess it depends on the kind of work you do.
With all of the fancy graphics and animations, why does the Activity Monitor still suck ass? The graphics look like they are from 1984.
The whole point of Activity Monitor is to monitor your system - you don't want it screwing up the figures by taking up a whole load of CPU time.
With regards to stacks, all I want is the implementation that Apple originally showed with the Leopard preview, where the files themselves reside in the stack, rather than the stack simply being a front end for a folder residing elsewhere.
I want to be able to grab a bunch of icons and drop them into a stack, without necessarily having to create an enclosing folder and file it away.
Yech... Stacks. Not a fan.
I rely on it every day.
Stacks + Expose + Spaces is an important part of my workflow.
Isn't that 'new' stacks method just the Finder, but with windows that have a black background and background windows that have some perspective?
With regards to stacks, all I want is the implementation that Apple originally showed with the Leopard preview, where the files themselves reside in the stack, rather than the stack simply being a front end for a folder residing elsewhere.
I want to be able to grab a bunch of icons and drop them into a stack, without necessarily having to create an enclosing folder and file it away.
Autostacks.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26206
If Apple wants "Stacks" to be an easy way to select stuff from the Dock, they should NOT implement this folder navigation / scroll bar thingie, because you will invite your audience to use it for something different than its original purpose.
Isn't that 'new' stacks method just the Finder, but with windows that have a black background and background windows that have some perspective?
With regards to stacks, all I want is the implementation that Apple originally showed with the Leopard preview, where the files themselves reside in the stack, rather than the stack simply being a front end for a folder residing elsewhere.
I want to be able to grab a bunch of icons and drop them into a stack, without necessarily having to create an enclosing folder and file it away.
an identically numbered beta of Snow Leopard Server should arrive in tandum
This must be TANDEM, I have no idea what TANDUM is
John Davis
This must be TANDEM, I have no idea what TANDUM is
But you are well versed in sardonicism.
Why point out the misspelled datum if you know perfectly well what it means?