UPDATE: Got wireless working by updating my Actiontec GT-701WG router firmware.

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Apple OSX v10.6 (aka “Snow Leopard”) was released last Friday, of course I went to the Apple Store to get a copy. I even got up early and waited for the mall to open, I guess I really am a fanboi… [sigh]

Early review? MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!

(scores from 0-10)

Install: 10

I installed it on my MacBook. It went smoothly, as you would expect from Apple. Once it was done (about an hour) it booted right up and told me what cool new things I could do, never mind 10.5 could do all those things too. The install process was pretty slick BTW, it didn’t need me to do anything other than wait unlike Windows that requires you to do stuff every 20 minutes or so and will patiently wait for you to do it before proceeding thereby insuring that you can’t just walk away and do something productive.

PLUS: APPLE STICKERS! YAY!

Initial impression: 6

Even though Apple was careful to tramp down any expectations of cool new features I was struck by just how little had changed. It looked exactly the same. So much like 10.5 that it startled me when the visual appearance of the dock menu (hold down the mouse button on an app) changed. Can’t really tell at this point if the 64 bit upgrade is any faster, though Safari is clearly faster.

Early use: 0

I connect the MacBook to the Internet via wireless. As any sane person, I set up the super easy to defeat but still takes effort WPA “security” on the wireless access point. 10.5 was running just fine with the “security” as does my other Mac, Linux box and 2 Vista [spit] boxes. Snow Leopard … not so much. It can’t connect. I spent what little time I had to putz with my new toy trying to get the dam thing to connect to the internet. I tried the even more laughable WEP “security”, no go. I tried allowing only the MacBooks’s MAC address and it still wouldn’t connect.

I tried taking off all “security” and it connected, but I’m not really happy about my house being an Open Access Point. I gave up for the moment and left the whole thing open so I could move on and will revisit when I have more time to putz or I see a patch from Apple. At least I can take my MacBook with me and be reasonably assured that I will be able to connect to open wifi hotspots, but not to anything that requires “security”.

Turning off my router while I am away sucks since I can’t get to my SVN or leave a Lineage2 sell store up…

Exchange Server 2007 didn’t work. Got WAY farther than 10.5 in accessing my day job’s server, which isn’t saying too much, but it got about halfway through my mailbox and failed. I tried a number of times with it stopping at the same spot. I give up on this too, which is really too bad because this one feature was the main reason that I got the upgrade (other than a lame excuse to go to the Apple Store and grope the $2500 MacBook Pro).

Also a favorite Java game site of mine just doesn’t work anymore. Under Camino it crashes and under Safari it plays but buttons and some graphics are major glitchy.

Overall early score: 1

I expect so much more from Apple. Snow Leopard was initially going toward a release next week, they might have done better to wait. I hope to see a patch soon, but I have not seen anything via Google searches about other people having wireless WPA/WEP problems with Snow Leopard. I am completely open to the explanation that I am doing something horribly wrong, but since the initial wireless setup worked under 10.5 and only failed after installing 10.6, it seems that the software is at fault.

Apple fanboi rating slipping… DEVELOPING…
Microsoft loathing still holding steady though, so I have that going for me.