Snow Leopard Shows Us Who the Really Crappy Companies Are

I was really jumping when my Snow Leopard Family Pack arrived Tuesday and mad at myself for pre-ordering it at Amazon.  I did save another seven bucks when Amazon lowered the price but I really wanted to install 10.6 on my new MBP on Friday (release day) instead of waiting on the United States Postal Service for four days.  As it turns out, it was the best thing that could have happened.  Three applications that I absolutely rely on in my everyday workflow, Quicksilver, iStat Menus and SuperDuper! weren’t ready Friday but have since been updated to run on Snow Leopard.

Quicksilver is my default launcher.  Nine of ten apps running on my Macs get started by a ctrl + space hotkey sequence.  So much so that I feel really crippled when working on someone’s Mac where it’s not installed.  I keep a copy of the app on my thumbdrive and I will install it on someone’s machine if I have a lot of work to do on it.  I take it back off if the machine’s owner wants me to but when they see how fast I move around using it they usually opt to leave it on.  Before all you Quicksilver aficionados start shaking your fists at me, I know it is so much more than a launcher, but that capability is what I miss first when using a machine without it. Anyway, Blacktree updated Quicksilver before I did my 10.6 upgrade on Tuesday and I’m glad for it.

SuperDuper! is the app I credit for keeping my OCD in cheque.  My many years in the IT business have made me a devout backup practitioner.  In my experience I’ve come to realize digital data does not exist unless it resides on at least three different devices in two separate locations.  Take it from me, I’ve been on the bad (responsible for) side of data loss.  My lessons were hard-learned.  SuperDuper! automatically updates a complete clone of my boot volume (and any other volume for that matter) at any frequency I choose so I always have a “warm & fuzzy” feeling that my data is protected and never worry about a disk crash.  After trying several solutions, Carbon Copy Cloner, Retrospect and others, I settled on SuperDuper! because I found it the easiest and least obtrusive of them all.  I paid the $25 for the full version two years ago and have used it ever since.  If I had to work without a backup I’d feel like a trapeze artist without a net and I was glad to see Shirt Pocket update SuperDuper! for 10.6 so quickly.

iStat Menus is my Mac dashboard of choice.  I install some sort of system monitor on every machine I use, Mac or Windows.  On the Windows side there are a plethora of gadgets to accomplish what I need, namely CPU, memory and network activity monitoring as a minimum.  I’m a gearhead and like to know how my machines are running.  These types of apps are called “dashboards” for a reason.  The analogy is perfect.  The number one complaint us IT types get is, “My computer is running so slow!”  The first things us pros look at in those situations is the dashboard data.  Is the CPU pegged at 100%?  Is there no available RAM and a 10 gig swap file?  iStat gives Mac users all this “heads up” type data via menu bar displays with a wealth of other monitors just a click away.  iStat Menus not being ready forced me to install Menu Meters, a similar app that doesn’t include half the functionality of iStat but was ready for 10.6 on release day.  If forced to rate the two, Menu Meters would be a distant second.  Using it put into sharp relief the clear superiority of iStat Menus.  I won’t go into detail, I simply ask you to try them for yourself.  They’re both free so it won’t cost a nickel, just a little time and menu bar space.

There are still quite a few apps, plugins and drivers not ready for Snow Leopard and my iMac can’t be upgraded until M-Audio gets off their ass and upgrades their driver for my NRV-10 audio interface.  Really?  C’mon M-Audio!  You’re a big company with lots of resources.  I’m a lowly little developer and I’ve had a functional copy of 10.6 since February.  There’s no excuse for any mainstream hardware supplier not having Snow Leopard drivers ready for their hardware.  Apogee was ready for 10.6 on release day with solid drivers for their Duet and Ensemble devices of similar function, but M-Audio can’t even provide an estimate for when theirs will be ready.  They’re just lazy, poor businessmen or both.  I can understand if an independent developer takes a little more time updating a freebie like Letterbox.  I really miss my three column mail view but can’t get too upset with Aaron Harnley for not having this free plugin ready.  I mean, what’s in it for him, right?  M-Audio has over $700 of my money and I expect them to keep up.  If guys like iSlayer can update iStat Menus, an equally if not more difficult upgrade than a firewire audio driver, then M-Audio should be able to get a current driver to their paying customers.  They’re just failing boneheads.

If all this sounds like whining then maybe you’re just a wuss.  This is a common problem every time there’s a major OS upgrade, Mac or Windors.  I think users have gotten jaded and are too quick to “bend over and take it” when their hardware stops working.  I just don’t think its too much to ask of a hardware vendor, especially a big one like M-Audio, to have drivers ready for their paying customers.  After all, Snow Leopard was officially announced well over a year ago at last year’s WWDC.  Betas of 10.6 have been available to developers for over 9 months, so companies late with drivers can’t fall back on the “newness” excuse.  I’m sure there are hundreds of devices for the Mac that have fallen dark since the upgrade.  Some because they are older and unsupported, but some because the company responsible is a poor performer like M-Audio.  Major OS releases serve as a barometer for measuring who’s on the ball and who isn’t.