As all Apple aficionados know, Mac OS X Snow Leopard was released yesterday. Upon receiving a marketing email promising free delivery on day 1, I pre-ordered my copy online via the Apple Store. Unfortunately, as the tweets started accumulating, my account indicated delivery was scheduled for September. I wouldn’t say I’m a Mac fanboy. But I am a tech fanboy. And I want it now. Good thing we live just a few miles from a brick & mortar Apple Store to get my fix.
The Macbook upgrade last night was painless, clocking in somewhere around 45 minutes and requiring no interaction on my part. But there have been scattered reports of Snow Leopard driver and software incompatibilities (a wiki here). I can confirm my Brother laser printer is no longer seen on the network and the Cyberduck FTP client won’t launch (which should be resolved imminently). Other than the low upgrade fee ($30), my primary reasons for joining in are the new QuickTime capabilities and whatever performance improvements it ekes out of my existing hardware. I’m also optimistic that Snow Leopard will overcome my inability to install third party memory. (TBD)
Also on the horizon is Windows 7 – a more substantial (and pricey) upgrade to Microsoft’s much maligned Vista. Much of that haterade is overblown, but there’s been plenty of room for improvement. And having run W7 betas on multiple machines the last few months, I’m quite pleased with what I see (and pre-ordered a copy for 50% off). Plus, I’m hopeful of some exciting Media Center news out of CEDIA early next month.
