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Snow Leopard launch seems to have been a smooth one

Summary: It seems that despite concerns about application compatibility, it seems that the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has been a smooth one.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

It seems that despite concerns about application compatibility, it seems that the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has been a smooth one.

Over the past few days I've been keeping a close eye on the Apple support forums and while there are plenty of issues being raised by folks who have made the switch, there doesn't seem to be any sign of any serious issues plaguing this latest OS release.

The biggest single issue seems to revolve around HP printers/scanners not working after updating the OS. Some unofficial fixes are beginning to emerge but they don't seem to work for everyone or all devices. Seems like HP fouled up with Snow Leopard and is now having to endure a fair bit of well-deserved criticism. Still, on the scale of things these issues seem minor. Actually, it seems that the real issue here is that folks aretrying too get unsupported hardware working. Seems that HP is supporting more hardware than ever in Snow Leopard. Kudos to HP on that!

Like I said, there seems to be a myriad of minor issues, but whether these are down to Snow Leopard or individual systems (and users) it's too early to tell. Gut instinct tells me it's down to individual systems.

[UPDATE: This in from HP's PR folks:

HP has worked closely with Apple on Snow Leopard compatibility since 2008. At launch, there was built-in print driver functionality for more than 1,300 worldwide HP peripherals - the most ever offered by HP for a new Mac OS - from all HP product lines included in Mac OS X v10.6. New for Snow Leopard, HP is also providing scan support built into the OS for the latest HP inkjet All-in-Ones; customers will not need to download or install additional software.

Customers can access a full list of HP-supported printers at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3669. In addition, HP recently announced that company experts will provide real-time support for customers who have recently upgraded to Snow Leopard. On Sept. 9, experts from the HP Mac-connect team will monitor the HP Mac Printing & Scanning Board <http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board?board.id=Macintosh> on the HP Support Forums to help customers enjoy full functionality of their current Mac-compatible HP peripherals. Customers can visit the board and post their questions now, with real-time service beginning next week.]

Topics: Hardware, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Operating Systems, Printers, Software

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38 comments
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  • PICNIC

    After many years supporting various systems, I am positive that the
    root of the majority of issues can be described with the acronym
    PICNIC...

    Been running Snow Leopard since last Friday with absolutely no problems
    - even my HP PhotoSmart printer works really well!
    UsernameRequired
    Reply Vote

    • Then maybe we should...

      Then maybe we should ship your system to those people that [b]are[/b] having problems...
      Qbt
      Reply Vote

      • Why do that...

        How old are you, you silly little boy?
        UsernameRequired
        Reply Vote

        • You are saying that the problems are caused by users...

          When in fact these problems are clearly not caused by users. Can you explain to me how incompatibility problems are caused by users?

          My (large) company sent a system-wide email stating that people that installed SL and connected to Exchange 2007 reported losing complete email folders and calendar events. These items are lost on [b]both[/b] Mail/iCal [b]and[/b] Exchange. Oops.

          I guess this must be users that blindly delete these folders and events without noticing they are doing it, by your logic.
          Qbt
          Reply Vote

          • In any roll out one should TEST.. TEST... TEST first.

            A few system representing the hardware configurations presently being
            used should be used as test beds. Find the problems and the solutions
            and if no solutions exist wait for said before roll out.

            Pagan jim
            James Quinn
            Reply Vote

          • Hopefully your (large) company can restore those users Exchange folders.

            Else your (large) company IT folks are incompetent.
            No More Microsoft Software Ever!
            Reply Vote

          • So when you knock SL it's from the perspective..

            of someone that hasn't use it, in an organisation that didn't even test a
            major upgrade before allowing it to be deployed. This stuff is priceless.

            I've not seen reports of the Exchange issues you describe. Perhaps you
            could provide some detail;-)
            Richard Flude
            Reply Vote

          • Thanks for sharing

            Even more proof that Snow Leopard was simply not cooked long enough. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Apple rushed Snow Leopard to get it out before Windows 7.
            NonZealot
            Reply Vote

          • I await with baited breath...

            Your defense of each and every problem that anyone has with doing an incompetent job of installing Windows Vista/7/8/9/Whatever and declaring that it is all Microsoft's fault for rushing out their OS.
            zkiwi
            Reply Vote

    • ???? If this was Windows I would determine PICNIC to mean:

      Prepare
      In
      Case
      Nothing
      Is
      Correct

      .
      No More Microsoft Software Ever!
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Snow Leopard launch seems to have been a smooth one

    I upgraded a late 2008 15" MBP yesterday. As predicted
    the CS2 and earlier Adobe items won't run. I was able to
    set up work email via an "Exchange IMAP" setting that I
    didn't recall in Mail before. I think work is still using
    Exchange Server 2003. Incidentally, Mail feels a whole lot
    faster with SL and faster still after starting up "6-4."

    But, but, but. Firefox 3.5.2 is a great big failing crash-a-
    mundo application. Checked message boards and
    confirmed it isn't only me.

    I do want a second browser so I have Safari for news sites
    and another for banking, so I went and installed Camino,
    which is quite snappy as well. We'll see how quickly Apple
    and Mozilla resolve the problem; if it's a Mozilla bug, I
    think it will be resolved quickly. If it's an Apple bug, it will
    be 4-6 weeks.
    DannyO_0x98
    Reply Vote

    • CS2 does work!

      You must not have chosen to install Rosetta when you did your update/install.

      CS2 was the first thing I checked on when I launched SL for the first time. I had not problems with it at all.
      Geuseppi
      Reply Vote

    • Sounds anti-competitive to me

      [i]But, but, but. Firefox 3.5.2 is a great big failing crash-a-
      mundo application. Checked message boards and
      confirmed it isn't only me.[/i]

      Snow Leopard ain't done until Firefox won't run!
      NonZealot
      Reply Vote

      • Too bad for you

        the parent post is wrong.

        I'm running FF 3.5.2 on my SL machine right now. I know it sucks. Go
        back and dig through your toybox. You'll find something else to troll
        about in no time.
        frgough
        Reply Vote

      • Firefox 3.0.11 - 3.5.2 worked fine

        I'll bet you don't even have a mac and the fudaganga losers are filling the
        boards with crap.

        figures.

        Not fun to be on the loser side
        mlindl
        Reply Vote

  • nt

    nt
    frgough
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Snow Leopard launch seems to have been a smooth one

    I installed Snow Leopard on my year old black MacBook
    with nary a hitch. I did the usual preparation of backing
    up, in addition to my Time Machine backup, ran Onyx for
    all of its Unix maintenance features, and then installed.
    The installation took less than an hour, speedy by any
    standards today for a full blown OS. I had even
    downloaded the updates to my Epson RX680 and installed
    them before the SL install. However, SL detects your printer
    model in the background and goes off to the printer driver
    website of say, Epson and downloads and installs it without
    your having to do a thing. So far the only thing I've seen
    'broken' is the sort of thing expected with a major rewrite.
    Programs needing Rosetta to run don't of course, but again
    to be expected. Hey, even Sauerbratten plays well still.
    And yes, as a retired computer consultant the vast majority
    of problems can be traced to the nut that holds the
    keyboard.
    dheady@...
    Reply Vote

  • Why seems?

    If this deployment had been problematic or created big
    issues like 10.4 did, you'd know by now.

    This has been a rousing success and you should say so.

    Kudos to you for even saying ANYTHING positive about a
    system upgrade that changes the paradigm for all future
    systems upgrades! Imagine Microsoft or Ubuntu releasing
    a major systems upgrade that is smaller, faster and has
    loads of new technology! NOT.
    mlindl
    Reply Vote

  • Everybody: Visit these links

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?
    video=1236098737&play=1

    http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/08/mac-os-x-
    10-6.ars/23
    mlindl
    Reply Vote

    • Nope, can't

      Your links are all broken. Try using something better than WebKit. :)
      NonZealot
      Reply Vote
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