Apple taps developers to test new Snow Leopard beta
Apple on Thursday notified developers by email that they could begin downloading and testing a new pre-release build of the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system, the second beta of the software released this month.
As was predicted by AppleInsider on Tuesday, the distribution is indeed labeled Mac OS X 10.6 build 10A335. It arrives just three weeks after the last external test release, a sign that Apple may start requesting feedback on new builds more frequently as it strives to wrap up development of the software by the summer.
The Cupertino-based company reportedly made no mention of any significant changes in Thursday's beta but continued encouraging developers to start working on and testing any 64-bit kernel extensions that their third-party products will require under Snow Leopard.
Apple did list a handful of bugs affecting build 10A335, people familiar with the matter say. Among them were crashes in QuickTime X player, application crashes under Rosetta, problems with Migration Assistant and odd errors being spit out by the new version of Disk Utility.
Arriving in tandem with new client beta of Snow Leopard was an identically labeled build of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server, those same people say. And unlike the client release, Apple is reported to have mentioned a handful of advances new to the build.
In particular, an easier to use and configure version of Podcast Producer is said to pave the way for picture-in-picture podcasts and allow remote management of cameras over the web using a Mac, PC or iPhone. Other notable changes reportedly include new junk mail filters in Mail Server, better automated account creation in Calendar Server, and completely re-written certificate management code.
Readers interested in keeping track of Snow Leopard developments can do so by subscribing to AppleInsider's Mac OS X 10.6 topics page.
As was predicted by AppleInsider on Tuesday, the distribution is indeed labeled Mac OS X 10.6 build 10A335. It arrives just three weeks after the last external test release, a sign that Apple may start requesting feedback on new builds more frequently as it strives to wrap up development of the software by the summer.
The Cupertino-based company reportedly made no mention of any significant changes in Thursday's beta but continued encouraging developers to start working on and testing any 64-bit kernel extensions that their third-party products will require under Snow Leopard.
Apple did list a handful of bugs affecting build 10A335, people familiar with the matter say. Among them were crashes in QuickTime X player, application crashes under Rosetta, problems with Migration Assistant and odd errors being spit out by the new version of Disk Utility.
Arriving in tandem with new client beta of Snow Leopard was an identically labeled build of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server, those same people say. And unlike the client release, Apple is reported to have mentioned a handful of advances new to the build.
In particular, an easier to use and configure version of Podcast Producer is said to pave the way for picture-in-picture podcasts and allow remote management of cameras over the web using a Mac, PC or iPhone. Other notable changes reportedly include new junk mail filters in Mail Server, better automated account creation in Calendar Server, and completely re-written certificate management code.
Readers interested in keeping track of Snow Leopard developments can do so by subscribing to AppleInsider's Mac OS X 10.6 topics page.
Comments
I remember a new Finder in SL was a big deal. Living up to the hype in these early stages?
Does the rewritten Finder in Cocoa show any changes? Does it crash less often than the Finder we are using now?
I remember a new Finder in SL was a big deal. Living up to the hype in these early stages?
There are some changes but nothing that acutely noticeable. There are a few slight visual tweaks but it doesn't seem any less or more responsive at this point.
As for stability, I haven't had any issues with Leopard's Finder, in fact it hasn't been since Tiger's Finder freezing up when drives disconnected that I have had any problem with Finder.
They could reinvent the way people search and browse their files but they're sticking to old 1984 metaphors that make little sense today with the growing number of files on HDs that are thousands of times larger than in 1984.
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with Apple. They supposedly rewrote the Finder but they left it looking and feeling exactly the same as the Carbon Finder (or so I've gathered looking at the screenshots of it.)
They could reinvent the way people search and browse their files but they're sticking to old 1984 metaphors that make little sense today with the growing number of files on HDs that are thousands of times larger than in 1984.
I hear you! I made me really mad when Apple rewrote Tiger for the Intel processor, but they left it looking and feeling exactly the same as the PPC Tiger! /sarcasm
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with Apple. They supposedly rewrote the Finder but they left it looking and feeling exactly the same as the Carbon Finder (or so I've gathered looking at the screenshots of it.)
They could reinvent the way people search and browse their files but they're sticking to old 1984 metaphors that make little sense today with the growing number of files on HDs that are thousands of times larger than in 1984.
What parts do you have problems with? Personally, I like the way Finder looks and like the incremental additions and changes that it has gotten over the years. If they make it Cocoa and it's more responsive and as stable then I'm okay with the change. Regarding large files they have included Spotlight with also searches Metadata.
What parts do you have problems with? Personally, I like the way Finder looks and like the incremental additions and changes that it has gotten over the years. If they make it Cocoa and it's more responsive and as stable then I'm okay with the change. Regarding large files they have included Spotlight with also searches Metadata.
Allow me to insert my incessant bleating but I think systemwide tagging is the key to not replacing the finder but making it far more powerful than it is today.
I'm hoping that we get that for 10.7 nestled in a bunch of other goodness.
What parts do you have problems with? Personally, I like the way Finder looks and like the incremental additions and changes that it has gotten over the years. If they make it Cocoa and it's more responsive and as stable then I'm okay with the change. Regarding large files they have included Spotlight with also searches Metadata.
The Spotlight interface is somewhat lacking in the Finder. It's decent if you want to spend some time fine-tuning a search...however, Spotlight could be much more user-friendly in the Finder.
See, I've always known Spotlight to be near-instantaneous in its searches. I don't understand why Apple isn't fully leveraging Spotlight's power.
The "Search for" are in the Finder's sidebar is a good start but it could be expanded. It could become the primary way to browse files if it was more powerful. There should be an easier way, for example, to apply filters. iTunes makes it easy to narrow down on a song, so should the Finder. When you select "All Images", there should be options to narrow it down. Perhaps the "All" part of the description could be dropped...call it "Images" then choices to narrow the search...the user should be able to easily choose which type of image file he's searching for. Perhaps the user is just looking for a Photoshop image file. Perhaps he's looking for a tiff. He doesn't need to see all the jpg files on his computer. Same with documents. The user could know he's looking for a Word document or a Pages document. These drilldown options should be easily accessible.
The Finder should be more clear how the "Search" field works. Right now it defaults to searching the entire computer or "This Mac" as they call it...you have to click the second option which is usually the folder or smart folder your were in when the search was typed. The search field should at least default to filter files within the folder you're in. Afterall, the Spotlight menu is already a good default "This Mac" interface. When I'm in the Finder and I'm in a folder or a smart folder, I'm typing stuff into the search field to further filter the search. Apple should make this clearer and more intuitive.
Allow me to insert my incessant bleating but I think systemwide tagging is the key to not replacing the finder but making it far more powerful than it is today.
I'm hoping that we get that for 10.7 nestled in a bunch of other goodness.
Exactly.
First, the save dialog should become more powerful and allow users to easily tag their saved documents/files. File name is good metadata but there should be ways to easily add more metadata. Apps in particular could be tagged with keywords such as "productivity", "internet", "utility".
All this tagging can be done today by slapping keywords into the the Spotlight Comment field but it's not very user-friendly.
Exactly.
First, the save dialog should become more powerful and allow users to easily tag their saved documents/files. File name is good metadata but there should be ways to easily add more metadata. Apps in particular could be tagged with keywords such as "productivity", "internet", "utility".
All this tagging can be done today by slapping keywords into the the Spotlight Comment field but it's not very user-friendly.
Yup I'm doing that right now with Default Folder X and it works well. I echo your sentiments on how to improve Spotlight. Right now it's still "Spotlight for Dummies" and more experienced users need setting like.
1. Choosing to engage the search only after we've entered in all criteria
2. Allowing us to choose which volumes or folders we wish to search
3. Searching by Tag and not arbitrary metadata
4. Being able to pull of search results into their own window and do more searches.
The "Search for" are in the Finder's sidebar is a good start but it could be expanded. It could become the primary way to browse files if it was more powerful. There should be an easier way, for example, to apply filters. iTunes makes it easy to narrow down on a song, so should the Finder. When you select "All Images", there should be options to narrow it down. Perhaps the "All" part of the description could be dropped...call it "Images" then choices to narrow the search...the user should be able to easily choose which type of image file he's searching for. Perhaps the user is just looking for a Photoshop image file. Perhaps he's looking for a tiff. He doesn't need to see all the jpg files on his computer. Same with documents. The user could know he's looking for a Word document or a Pages document. These drilldown options should be easily accessible.
Those are just the default smart searches that Finder comes with. You can remove those and add your own. Just start a search and then choose the parameters you wish. You can even choose to search system files. Then you just save it and it even has a per-selected check box to add to side bar. There are so many options under Other that I can't think of anything that is missing.
The search field should at least default to filter files within the folder you're in.
This won't be an issue after Leopard.
All this tagging can be done today by slapping keywords into the the Spotlight Comment field but it's not very user-friendly.
When you hold down the Option key Get Info turns into Inspector. It would be nice if Inspector had the Spotlight Comment section as this can be used for multiple items. This way you can add the same metadata tag to multiple items at once.
When you hold down the Option key Get Info turns into Inspector. It would be nice if Inspector had the Spotlight Comment section as this can be used for multiple items. This way you can add the same metadata tag to multiple items at once.
Spotlight Comments are flaky and in the past Adobe apps had a penchant for erasing them.
I did notice that some 64-bit apps are already showing up.
http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFi...e/version.html
This release takes A Better Finder Rename 8 to a 64-bit garbage collected architecture and prepares the ground for important scalability and performance improvements that we hope to deliver in the next two releases.
Nice. When I move to Snow Leopard I certainly will be harassing all developers to move their apps to 64-bit no matter how small.
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with Apple. They supposedly rewrote the Finder but they left it looking and feeling exactly the same as the Carbon Finder (or so I've gathered looking at the screenshots of it.)
They could reinvent the way people search and browse their files but they're sticking to old 1984 metaphors that make little sense today with the growing number of files on HDs that are thousands of times larger than in 1984.
Don't be so dense. First is to duplicate functionality in Cocoa and then to augment it to meet the goals for Snow Leopard and beyond.
Exactly.
First, the save dialog should become more powerful and allow users to easily tag their saved documents/files. File name is good metadata but there should be ways to easily add more metadata. Apps in particular could be tagged with keywords such as "productivity", "internet", "utility".
All this tagging can be done today by slapping keywords into the the Spotlight Comment field but it's not very user-friendly.
All I want from the open/save dialog is the ability to sort by type, by far the most likely way that anyone is going to want to sort and yet somehow still lacking!
I'm not a fan of the whole keywording/tagging culture simply because I don't think about things in those terms and don't want to be made to. I like how Finder works for the most part; I'd like it to be easier to set global window geometry than on a per window basis, so that things like cover view might actually become useful. I'd like to see some of the Get Info information incorporated into the main view Ã* la Vista, which makes working with files much easier than Finder, with only the curiosity of the removal of the 'up' button against it.
All I want from the open/save dialog is the ability to sort by type, by far the most likely way that anyone is going to want to sort and yet somehow still lacking!
I'm not a fan of the whole keywording/tagging culture simply because I don't think about things in those terms and don't want to be made to. I like how Finder works for the most part; I'd like it to be easier to set global window geometry than on a per window basis, so that things like cover view might actually become useful. I'd like to see some of the Get Info information incorporated into the main view Ã* la Vista, which makes working with files much easier than Finder, with only the curiosity of the removal of the 'up' button against it.
I agree. When changing it to list mode one can see date modified and the name, why not allow the user to right click and choose - like on iTunes how you can choose what information want displayed.
The Spotlight interface is somewhat lacking in the Finder. It's decent if you want to spend some time fine-tuning a search...however, Spotlight could be much more user-friendly in the Finder.
See, I've always known Spotlight to be near-instantaneous in its searches. I don't understand why Apple isn't fully leveraging Spotlight's power.
The "Search for" are in the Finder's sidebar is a good start but it could be expanded. It could become the primary way to browse files if it was more powerful. There should be an easier way, for example, to apply filters. iTunes makes it easy to narrow down on a song, so should the Finder. When you select "All Images", there should be options to narrow it down. Perhaps the "All" part of the description could be dropped...call it "Images" then choices to narrow the search...the user should be able to easily choose which type of image file he's searching for. Perhaps the user is just looking for a Photoshop image file. Perhaps he's looking for a tiff. He doesn't need to see all the jpg files on his computer. Same with documents. The user could know he's looking for a Word document or a Pages document. These drilldown options should be easily accessible.
The Finder should be more clear how the "Search" field works. Right now it defaults to searching the entire computer or "This Mac" as they call it...you have to click the second option which is usually the folder or smart folder your were in when the search was typed. The search field should at least default to filter files within the folder you're in. Afterall, the Spotlight menu is already a good default "This Mac" interface. When I'm in the Finder and I'm in a folder or a smart folder, I'm typing stuff into the search field to further filter the search. Apple should make this clearer and more intuitive.
That makes sense. It knows all the file types in the machine as well as any other criteria. It should use what it knows to let us select between them, if we also know some of this.
It's like twenty questions, except that most of the time it would be more like two to four.
Spotlight Comments are flaky and in the past Adobe apps had a penchant for erasing them.
I did notice that some 64-bit apps are already showing up.
http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFi...e/version.html
This release takes A Better Finder Rename 8 to a 64-bit garbage collected architecture and prepares the ground for important scalability and performance improvements that we hope to deliver in the next two releases.
Nice. When I move to Snow Leopard I certainly will be harassing all developers to move their apps to 64-bit no matter how small.
Now if my 32 bit version would get the menu to work properly I'll be happy.