Snow Leopard launched, response lackluster

The turnout was, however, modest at Apple retail stores in contrast to the release of Leopard two years ago. In 2007, Apple sold 2 million copies during the first weekend.

The new operating system is not expected to match its predecessor’s sales. Analysts expect the sale to range between 2.5 million to 3 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

A performance upgrade
Mac OS X 10.6, an upgrade on its predecessor Leopard, will offer users new feature like 64-bit versions of Finder, Mail, iCal, iChat, and the Safari Web browser.

But the Snow Leopard lacks slew of visible features and is more a stability and performance upgrade over its predecessor as certain codes in the operating system have been redefined.

Quick Time has been reworked on. As a result, the vulnerability that was easily exploitable on recent versions of Leopard will not be there in Quick Time in the new operating system.

Further, the easily targeted OS X parts, which include the H.264 video codec, will now come loaded with sandboxing, thus restricting the type of functions they can perform.

The new operating system is priced $29 for single license and the five-license Family Pack will cost $49. However, Snow Leopard will be functional only on Intel-powered Macs.

Limited anti-malware feature
Though Snow Leopard is out with anti-malware feature, it is limited.

Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at computer security firm Sophos, said that the anti-malware feature only detects two files - The Rs-Plug Trojan and the iWorkservices Trojan. Apple will probably overhaul this feature to protect users against other malware files in future.

The new operating system also lacks the industry standard technology known as ASLR or address space layout randomization. This technology uses a separate memory location to load components each time OS is started.

Thus lacking randomization means that attackers who identity a bug in the components of OS X can easily exploit that vulnerability and implement malicious codes to take over the system.

ASLR is really only useful if EVERYTHING is randomized," Charlie Miller, co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, wrote in an email to The Register. "If there is anything that is not randomized, it defeats the purpose mostly. This is a major shortcoming of Apple, and I'm disappointed they didn't take this opportunity to implement full ASLR."

He added that Apple has not incorporated all the security features that Vista has, so despite improvements they are still behind.