What is NOT 64-Bit in Snow Leopard?

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard is first the entirely 64-bit OS for Mac. That is to say, the operating system itself has nothing whatsoever that is 32-bit.

But Mac OS X has been able to run 64-bit code for many years with all the benefits, depending upon the hardware on which it is run. This started the day the G5 PowerMac was released in June of 2003. This is very useful information to have at the ready the next time an Apple-hater questions when Mac OS X went 64-bit. Also point out to haters that all consumer level PCs are sold, by default, with 32-bit Windows installed, NOT 64-bit Windows. However, ALL Macs are sold 64-bit, period. There are no 32-bit Macs.

All Mac hardware went 64-bit in September 2006 when the Mac Mini Core Solo was discontinued. Be sure to ask any hater when IBM derived PC hardware went entirely 64-bit. You'll drive them insane. The answer: NEVER. At this moment in time there is no foreseeable date will all PCs will be 64-bit.

So what ships with Mac OS X Snow Leopard that is still 32-bit? Not much. I went through every application and here is what I found:

1) QuickTime 7.x, if you custom install it. QuickTime X is 64-bit.
2) iTunes. This includes updating to iTunes 9.0.
3) DVD Player 5.2.
4) X11 2.3.4.
5) Podcast Capture 2.0.
6) Grapher 2.1.

The end. Let me know if you find other stragglers.

There are a couple easy GUI ways you can tell what mode is being used:

a) Do a Get Info on an app and see if there is a check box for 'Open in 32-bit mode'. If there is, the app is 64-bit by default.

b) Run the app and check it in Activity Monitor. Look in the 'Kind' column. If the Kind says only 'Intel' then it is running as 32-Bit. Otherwise it would say 'Intel (64 bit).

One very kewl thing about Mac OS X is that the kernel runs 32-bit processes NATIVELY. However, 64-bit Windows has to run 32-bit processes in emulation. That means they run more slowly than they do in 32-bit Windows. Emulation speeds suck compared to native speed. Your haters won't like that either.

Then of course finish your 'mine is bigger than yours' contest by pointing out that Macs are capable of running both 32-Bit and 64-bit Windows natively at faster speeds than PCs. (Google it for yourself to verify). Then suggest, in a friendly manner, that they defect from the PC and Get A Mac. Statistics consistently prove that they will be happier when they switch to their 64-bit Mac.

:-D
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I Quit TWIT

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I'm surprised that Leo Laporte, of This Week In Tech fame, declares himself a Snow Leopard 'HATER'. Listening to the TWIT podcast discussing Snow Leopard's release made my ears bleed. Not because of fanboi-ism. It was because Mr. Laporte's slam treatment was based on nonsense. What few facts he knew about Snow Leopard he actually avoided discussing.

Examples:

• Mr. Laporte got QuickTimeX all wrong. At one point I heard someone in the gang say they thought Apple was going to still offer a 'Pro' version of QuickTimeX. <--NO.
• Mr. Laporte went into troll mode about Grand Central with no explanation of what it was or why he didn't like it. <--HUH?
• Mr. Laporte said Snow Leopard was a marketing move by Apple to counter 7ista. But his explanation was again in troll mode. He said nothing at all that backed up his claim. Instead he did the usual troll move of saying Snow Leopard is a 'service pack', meaning that it was a lame patch job reminiscent of Microsoft. <--NO.

Want more examples? I can bore you with them in the comments if requested.

Conclusion: I quit TWIT. It's been a long time coming. Dvorak is of course a useless toad, possibly the most deliberately dishonest and worthless 'prominent' technical writer in the business. So I ignore his wheezes. But to have Leo Laporte behave as an ignorant troll in public. Not acceptable. Me = sad, but that's enough for me.

Earlier in the year I stopped my Pogue worship. He got the hoax known as 'HD' Radio very wrong in his article and video on the subject. We did a back and forth by email that disturbed me. So I'm on sabbatical from his work for an extended period of time if only to allow myself to forgive him for recommending BAD TECHNOLOGY to his readers. <--See, I'm still upset. But Pogue got it right with Snow Leopard in his review. I'd take Mr. Pogue over our pair of HATE MEDIA trolls twins any time.












Shame on you Mr. Laporte. Dvorak's dullard dopiness has corrupted your synapses. So long and thanks for all the happy techy memories.
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The 'How To Install Snow Leopard' Debate

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Apple have taken a new approach for installing Snow Leopard. Sometimes it is backfiring, which is disconcerting. I don't have my claws on Snow Leopard yet. It's in the mail. But here is my POV so far, as I posted at MacDailyNews:

From every reviewer's point of view, the new approach Apple is taking is to lead users to install ON TOP OF their current OS installation. For ordinary users, there isn't a clear method for making a clean installation via the DVD.

There are a couple problems with this approach:

A) What if the current OS installation is corrupt, or that volume is damaged? It most likely means problems after the new OS installation.

B) What if Apple's list of NOT-compatible applications and extensions is incorrect? Well, it IS incorrect! The result has been that some good applications are sequestered by the installer and some bad applications are left in place. The worst examples are bad .KEXT files left in the system that are causing the Sit-And-Spin problem for some users after the installation has rebooted.

How is Apple supposed to solve both these problems?

A) Test and repair both installation volume. The repairs provided by fsck/Disk Utility are NOT adequate for this task.

B) Apple has to have tested EVERY application and .KEXT file that runs in Leopard. (Apple are not supporting installation over Tiger, although it has been found to usually work). Good luck with that one. There is no registry at Apple for applications. Apple literally has no way of knowing all the software available for Mac. It's not going to happen.

Therefore, this new approach is going to have problems now and in the future.

Meanwhile, I can verify that a CLEAN INSTALL is the very very best way to go in all cases. It has solved major problems for me many times. Sorry Apple. Nice idea! But not practical or supportable.

Conclusions:

If you have the time and stamina, I suggest a CLEAN INSTALL of Snow Leopard. Performing an install over Leopard (or Tiger) and running into a problem is rare. No need to blow the problem out of proportion. But the problems are happening.

Therefore, of course I am going to suggest the #1 Rule Of Computing: MAKE A BACKUP of your ENTIRE boot drive before performing ANY installation of Snow Leopard. Carbon Copy Cloner is free to use these days. Get to it! You will not regret it.
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