Month: August 2009

There’s no leopard like Snow Leopard…

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If you’re at all interested in all things Apple you’ll know that Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, was released yesterday. I haven’t got my copy yet but it is on order from Amazon (sponsored link), so hopefully I’ll have my paws on it next week. I’ve only ordered the single license copy this time and not the Family Pack, as Apple have decided that my 4-year-old PowerPC Mac Mini is too decrepit to run Snow Leopard. A shame, but that’s the price of progress I suppose.

It will, however, run on my 3-year-old MacBook, as it has an Intel processor. I won’t be able to take advantage of some of the new features, such as OpenCL or H.264 hardware acceleration in QuickTime X. And the processor is 32-bit so none of the 64-bit code will be used. But it does have a dual-core processor so Grand Central Dispatch will be able to make both cores work harder, and based on various first-hand reviews I should expect faster startup and shutdown.

In terms of new features, full support for my HP DeskJet F2100 series printer is provided out of the box (partly due to a new version of CUPS) so I won’t need HP’s drivers – this includes scanning and copying support built-in to the OS. Mac OS X will also now remove printer drivers for any printers that I don’t use, freeing up a few gigabytes of space.

Support for Exchange 2007 doesn’t really affect me as I don’t use Apple Mail or Exchange for my email, nor do the iChat changes since I use Adium. The improvement to Services are welcome – until now they’ve been a useful but misaligned feature of the OS.

There are some pitfalls for early adopters, however, as some programs won’t work straight off the bat. The release of Snow Leopard was brought forward with little warning and so some programs are not yet fully compatible – there are issues with Growl, for example, and while a new version is on the way it’s not ready yet. I’ve also heard there’s problems with third-party screensavers. I’d therefore recommend you install AppFresh which is great for notifying you of available software updates for third-party programs. And obviously do a full backup of your system before you upgrade in case you have a power cut while it’s installing, or encounter some other issues.

I may or may not give my own first impressions of Snow Leopard next week, depending on how I’m feeling. Today was my first day off work in 13 days and so I haven’t really had the time or the inclination to think about things to blog about.

Is public healthcare in Britain really that bad?

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This was originally a guest post at Stupid Evil Bastard, re-posted here following that site’s demise.

Obama’s plans for healthcare reform in the US are far from uncontroversial and many of those on the right side of the political spectrum have been coming up with various facts and figures to undermine his moves to widen access. One of the (perhaps unintended) targets of this has been Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), a ‘socialised’ health care system, and many claims have been made about its supposed failings. But are these claims really true? British newspaper The Guardian investigated the claims and came up with the facts:

The claim: Ted Kennedy, 77, would not be treated for his brain tumour if he was in Britain because he is too old – Charles Grassley, Republican senator from Iowa.

The response: Untrue, says the Department of Health. “There is no ban on anyone of any age receiving any treatment, ” said a spokesman. “Whether to prescribe drugs or recommend surgery is rightly a clinical decision taken on a case by case basis.”

The claim: In England, anyone over 59 years of age cannot receive heart repairs, stents or bypass because it is not covered as being too expensive and not needed – an anonymously authored, but widely circulated, email, largely sent to older voters

The response: Totally untrue. Growing numbers of patients over 65 with heart conditions are having surgery, including valve repairs and heart bypass surgery, says Professor Peter Weissberg, the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) medical director. For example, the average age at which people have a bypass operation has risen from 58 in 1991 to 66 in 2008.

There are several more which reveal the true facts. It’s true that survival rates for breast and prostate cancers are lower in Britain than in the US, but whether that is due to the standard of treatment or care, or down to other factors (such as diet, exercise or genetic variations) isn’t explored. In any case, not one of the major British political parties promotes the abolition of the NHS, and barely any of the minor ones would abolish it either. While most Brits, politicians or otherwise, would happily spend half an hour telling you about how the NHS could be improved, you would find it hard to find anyone who would want to get rid of it altogether.