Apple releases Snow Leopard, next version of Mac operating system

Apple has released Snow Leopard, an update to its Mac operating system, two months ahead of Microsoft's next major update to Windows

Apple's newest operating system, Snow Leopard

Apple has let the Snow Leopard out of its cage a little early.

The next version of its operating system, OS X 10.6 aka Snow Leopard, was supposed to be out in September, but Apple announced today that it will go on sale on Friday.

The update offers several refinements rather than a host of new features.

Apple has released a major update to its QuickTime multimedia software, which will make it easier for even novices to edit video. It also has built-in support to upload your videos to YouTube. The new QuickTime will also do screencasts, recordings of what is happening on your screen with narration. It is often used by companies to create tutorials or demos of their software or websites.

UPDATE: For an additional fee, Apple's mail and calendar applications will also support Microsoft's Exchange 2007 e-mail and communications server software, helping Apple's operating system compete better in the workplace.

In the past few years, the computer chip industry has been in the process of two major transitions, one from 32-bit chips to 64-bit and from single cores to multiple cores. Both are reflected in Snow Leopard.

The update to the operating system boasts better 64-bit support. The main advantage of 64-bit computing is the ability to address more memory. Apple's Mac Pro workstations can hold 32GB of RAM, but 32-bit applications can only take advantage of 4GB of that memory. Apple's own applications, including the Safari web browser and iCal, have all been rewritten as 64-bit, helping them run faster. Indeed, Apple says its TimeMachine backup software will work 80% faster.

The other major trend of the past few years has been the move to multi-core chips. Apple laptops all have dual-core chips, and Apple's Mac Pro workstations can accommodate up to two four-core chips. Applications need to be rewritten to take full advantage of all of these cores, but Apple's new operating system has a new technology that they are calling Grand Central Dispatch. The company says will make it easier for developers to write applications to take full advantage of multiple cores.

Modern computers also have very powerful graphics processors. Normally, these processors are only responsible for decoding video and rendering graphics, but they can also be used to supplement the general processing power of the computer. Apple has also included support for OpenCL, a technology that makes it easier to tap this extra computing power.

The operating system also trims 7GB from the installation. Some of the space savings is down to end of support for the older PowerPC chips that Apple used in its computers from 1994 until it began to transition to Intel chips in 2006.

Microsoft will also be releasing a major update to its operating system. Windows 7 is set for release on 22 October.