Apple ‘Snow Leopard’ Improvements Will Aid Mac OS X Business Users

The ‘Snow Leopard’ evolution of the Apple Mac OS X operating system speeds up common tasks such as startup, offers a redesigned Finder and removes unnecessary software by changing the way in which printer drivers are installed. For IT managers who oversee Apple in the enterprise, here is a look at what’s new and enhanced for Mac business users.

FinderFinder exemplifies an important change in Snow Leopard OS X: increased support for 64-bit computing. The Finder experience is relatively unchanged, but was rewritten in Cocoa and now includes live previews of documents and QuickTime movies.

New Software UpdateOn both the Mac mini and the Mac Book, I was asked to update the Remote Desktop Client after the Snow Leopard upgrade.

SpotlightSearch results can be customized, and a refined icon view lets users look through multipage documents and multimedia files.

Printer Drivers Get SmartMobile workers can still be productive with the automatic printer driver update feature and Snow Leopard’s ability to locate and use nearby printers. The smaller Snow Leopard footprint is due in no small part to the fact that that OS does not copy all print drivers to the hard drive.

Support for Microsoft ExchangeSnow Leopard has built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 rollup 4. If enabled on Exchange Server, e-mail accounts can be autodiscovered. Configuration is also supported over VPN connections, including support for Cisoc IPSec. Here, you see my mail client autoconfiguring with a test account at managed e-mail provider Rackspace.

Expose in the DockClick and hold on an application icon to fly everything else away so you can focus on the work at hand.

IndexingMy Mac mini got hit with a Spotlight index job right after installation.

Faster Shutdown and WakeupShutdown and wakeup are important features for mobile workers, and are more responsive in this version of Mac OS X.

Smaller FootprintSnow Leopard freed up 12GB of drive space on my Mac mini. Prior to installation, I had 30GB of available disk space.

SafariBrowser plug-ins now run in a separate memory space so that any crashes are contained and will not affect the underlying OS.

QuickTime XThe new QuickTime X builds on core image and audio capabilities, as well as on animation with ColorSync and video HTTP streaming, from previous generations of the QuickTime application.

Unknown applicationThe RealPlayer Downloader turned into an unrecognized application in the Dock after my upgrade to Snow Leopard.