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Users Complaining of Frequent Crashing
Variously dubbed as the “spinning wheel of death,” or the “gray screen of death,” users of Apple’s new Snow Leopard operating system are crying out with grief. When users attempt to perform a system upgrade and installation to the OS X 10.6, some have been met with a screen that interminably displays a monochromatic screen and spinning wheel. The “spinning wheel of death” is the Apple equivalent to the Windows “blue screen of death.”
The Apple forums have been slammed with cries of outrage from disgruntled users. One frustrated user raged: “I…now have a totally non-functioning machine – just a spinning wheel and then black screen.” One other hopeful-installer tried to install, and wrote, “the SBBoD [acronym for “spinning beach ball of death”] started its spinning. After waiting about 10 minutes, I restarted the computer, and reinstalled SL. Same result upon restart. I fell asleep on the couch.”
Although the problem occurs when users try to install the new operating system, there are some techies who claim that Snow Leopard isn’t really the problem. The real problem, according to the report, is “preexisting faults on your computer.” A hardware problem, a corrupt file system, or a past experience with a sudden disk or power shutdown, are all likely candidates. An installation of a new operating system merely expose the problem.
Possibly. But despite those comforting words, it’s too late for a glorious reception of Apple’s new operating system. Of all of Apple’s OS upgrades, Snow Leopard seems to have the most tics. However, according to reports, “Apple is moving quickly to patch holes and repair incompatibilities within Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, having already providing some developers with betas of the first maintenance and security update planned for the new operating system.” Observers who are close to the situation predict that the upgraded OS X 10.6.1 should remedy any problems with the spinning wheel of death.
Spinning wheels of death haven’t been the only gripes. Some complain about printer driver failures (especially with HP printers), a slough of incompatible programs, failure of VPN clients, and security concerns.
No doubt, Microsoft execs are chuckling with unrepressed glee. Apple’s release of the Snow Leopard operating system comes mere weeks before the long-awaited release of Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system. Other Apple critics comment that for those who are “tired of the sanctimonious smugness of Apple users, it makes extremely entertaining reading.”
Undeterred, Apple devotees work, and wait for a solution. For Apple users, at least it’s better than the legendary blue screen of death.
