Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Cons

Fast read. Short list.

Get It Try It

Apple's Snow Leopard update to Mac OS X is due in September. This is a list of possible reasons to not get it. It's not a long list.

Details of the coming 10.6 version of Apple's operating system are still under NDA and so cannot be discussed directly. But enough can already be said about existing editions and what Apple have previously promised with 'Snow Leopard'.

Here at any rate are possible reasons you'd not want to get with the programme.

'Snow Leopard' is the latest in a series of 'big cat' releases of Mac OS X that has been going on since the New Millennium. The first breakthrough release of Mac OS X came with 'Jaguar' (10.2) on 24 August 2002, followed by 'Panther' (10.3) in October 2003, 'Tiger' on 29 April 2005, and 'Leopard' in October 2007.

Snow Leopard is slated as a 'maintenance release' and will cost only $29 to upgrade from Leopard. (Full price is $129.)

Mac OS X is based on NeXT's NeXTSTEP and later OPENSTEP, the only truly object-oriented system in use today. NeXTSTEP first appeared in the late 1980s (over twenty years ago).

Contrary to how things work with other systems, it's been consistently evolving ever since, not in the least in its visual appearance. Technically it's still ahead of what the competition are likely to ever come up with.

The underbody of NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Mac OS X is FreeBSD Unix, one of the most secure systems in use today. Mac OS X also sports a MACH microkernel to increase system stability. The Mac OS X system itself almost never crashes or hangs.

A great many components of Mac OS X come from the open source community, meaning they're thoroughly vetted for performance and security.

Anyway: here it comes. It's a fast read - it's a short list.

1. The dongle.

You need Apple hardware to run Apple software. Despite the system's forerunners being expressly cross-platform, this one isn't. There are unofficial cross-platform versions out there but then you'll forego Apple hardware which is a big part of the whole experience.

2. Parallel systems.

Mac OS X - as opposed to the iPhone OS which is essentially the same thing - is actually two architectures under one roof: the NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP system and some straggler components from the older Apple 'MacOS' which predates Mac OS X.

These components were added to the mix to make it easier for users to climb the learning curve and to help developers during a transitional phase. They do present troublesome scenarios from time to time. Nothing to shatter your world but still and all.

3. Reworked open source.

Because Mac OS X still uses Unix a bit differently than other vendors, open source modules can't necessarily be melded to the system 'as is' but need to first be reworked to where the target system needs them. This results in patch delays and in any case the methodology cannot possibly guarantee the same reliability and stability.

And that's it.

See Also
Apple: Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Industry Watch: Mac OS X: The Pros