I received Apple’s new operating system update, Snow Leopard, today. Naturally, I was obligated to install it immediately. I had read a few reviews and previews before it was delivered in the morning, and felt that I was prepared for the installation process. Of course, I was wrong.
Now my machine is relatively new, so there wasn’t that much in the way of software and files on it. I did a Disk Utility permissions repair in preparation for the install. One review mentioned that the operating system had some issues with older software, most notably Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 (CS3). The reviewer said that patches would be coming down the pipe in a short order. Although the reviewer cautioned some software might not be updated , most notably Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 (CS3). Well I have CS3 on my Mac Book Pro and I don‘t use it much, so I decided uninstall it. Why tempt fate?
Most of the press covering the release had positive things to say. It required less space on the hard drive. There were improvements to speed, especially native application (Apple software). It takes less time loading the operating system, although it took almost 45 minutes for mine to load. So the reviews didn’t say it would be that long. I’m sure it might be different on a different computers. I have a 320 gigabyte hard drive (about a hundred gigabytes or so is used), so that might require some shuffling on the hard drive. I don’t have an issue with the time, I blocked enough time so that wouldn’t be an issue. It’s what happened after the primary installation. The install disk has a readme file(didn‘t read), the install Snow Leopard (done), and install options (?) folder. Well, being the curious type, I open the folder and discover an install Xcode and an install additional system files. Xcode has utilities for developers, and I had to open the other install application to discover the content of it. It had a variety of system resources, but two stood out.
One was the print drivers, which would allow you the select any additional drivers or all the print drivers (over a gigabyte of drivers) This one feature that is a space saver-only the driver for the printer you are currently using are stored on your hard drive. If you need additional drivers, they will be downloaded by the operating system. Very cool, provided you have access to the internet.
Now the other resource is Rosetta. I understood this to be useful because it allowed your Intel processor to work with programs developed for the older Macintosh G5s. Great, I have some of those older programs and decide to install this resource. When the installation is over, a message comes up informing me that some of the resources (I suspect it is Rosetta), might not work well with the upgrade, and I should install an older system update (the 10.5.8 combo) to remedy the problem. Damn, I wouldn’t have loaded this if I’d know that there would be a conflict. I quickly copy the URL for the patch and go to the Apple Support location with the Combo patch. I start the download, and 750 + megabyte file begins to download at a rate so slow that it would take five or six hours. Is this because so many people were hitting the servers that the throughput was diminished? I don’t know, But why didn’t the three or four reviewers mention this? You know a little “forewarned is forearmed” advice.
I guess the above would be some kind of mellow rant. I haven’t done much in the way of testing with older programs. I did play a short session of Doom without any issues, but I wasn’t in an area that place any significant stress on the OS. I’m going to install version 2 of Final Cut Express to work on my relative's Kennedy videos. I’ll see if it causes a problem.
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