Snow Leopard Sales Remain Strong

If online sales are an indication, Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system is a hit.

Snow Leopard, aka Mac OS X 10.6, remains the stop seller in Amazon.com's software category one week after its public debut, according to the Web retailer's Sales Rank page. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users can upgrade to the new version via Amazon for just $25.

Snow Leopard introduces a number of new features to the Mac operating environment, including 64-bit versions of Finder, Mail, iCal, iChat, and the Safari Web browser.

Mac OS X 10.6 also includes a new multithreading technology called Grand Central Dispatch that should prove popular with gamers, creative professionals, and other users that require maximum horsepower for graphics processing and other computationally intensive tasks. GCD enables applications to make full use of multi-core chips.

Snow Leopard also offers built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, a feature that could help Apple make gains in the enterprise and small business markets.

Snow Leopard isn't without its glitches, however. Currently the OS suffers from more than 100 incompatible Mac applications, according to a Web site that tracks compatibility.

It's also been hit with an installation bug know as "the spinning wheel of death" which causes the OS to hang during upgrades. Apple, in a support bulletin, has suggested the problem may be due to conflicts with older software.

In addition to the single-user upgrade license, Apple is offering a Snow Leopard Family Pack that allows five installations per household for $49.

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