Apple to introduce OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" at WWDC?
By Nilay Patel 
posted Jun 4th 2008 7:00PM
posted Jun 4th 2008 7:00PM
The pre-WWDC Apple rumor mill has finally churned out something that doesn't have the words "3G" and "iPhone" involved -- sources have told both Ars Technica and our friends at TUAW that Steve will also use his keynote to introduce the next major version of OS X, codenamed "Snow Leopard." As the derivative release name indicates, there aren't many changes in store from 10.5 Leopard -- Apple's said to instead be focusing on tightening up speed and stability as it starts producing more mobile devices. What's more, this could be the end of PowerPC and Universal support in OS X, as Snow Leopard is said to be Intel-only. That's bound to ruffle a few feathers, but things could get even more heated if Carbon is deprecated as is also being rumored. We'll see when we see -- Monday can't get here fast enough.Read - TUAW post
Read - Ars post
WHATS WITH THE BIG CATS??????
next up: "Snow Cat"
http://blog.cleveland.com/photos/d055def59534e41d560257ea25234f9b.jpg
Big Cat > Giant Turtles
If you're going to do big cats, you should use names like: Lion-O, Cheatara, Jaga, Panthro and Tygra.
They should have called it Uncia uncia.
Someone watched a wee bit of He-Man growing up. ;-)
Thundercats, noob.
They should call the next one "Liger"
It's pretty much my favorite animal.
If Apple wanted it to sound stable, then they would name it "Rock Lobster".
Or Shield Liger?
The problem with rock lobster is that it loses to a paper tiger.
It beats a Scissor Bear though, and we all know that a Scissor Bear handily beats a Paper Tiger.
Have you guys made the live-blogging page for WWDC yet? You should post it so us fanboys can book mark it :P
I can see them releasing a new OS built around stability, with the addition of Snow onto Leopard to represent stability? Lol.
For all the disagreement I've felt at some of clak's posts in the past; I can only nod my head in agreement at this. Both thumbs up!
Good show, sir! And some stuff to help game devs would be nice, too, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Clak,
I switched to mac a year ago, and as soon as i realized what the zoom button was supposed to do, it works perfectly for me. The first click resizes the window to show all content. The second click reverts to the previous size. If it was the correct size to begin with, then the first click shrinks the window down. If i have 5 files in a folder and i click the zoom button, the window shrinks to the right size for those 5 files. If i have 20 files, and click the zoom button, the window enlarges to fit them. I prefer it alot to the maximize button in windows. Its one thing to not like it, but its an outright lie to say it never works the way its supposed to.
@dan
This is the problem I have with Maximize in OS X. I like to make my Finder and Safari windows full screen, because I use hot corners in Expose and it's very easy and convenient to switch between the windows. When I hit maximize, it makes the window smaller, which is great, but if I zoom twice, the window expands vertically instead of filling up the entire screen, as I originally had it. That is annoying, but I understand where you're coming from. It's okay if you like the way it works.
It's not a major deal to me, but OS X is like having the greatest Banana Split Sunday in history, only to find there are a a couple of hairs in the ice cream. I'm still going to eat the Banana Split, because it's the greatest in history, but damn, if you can get rid of the hairs, I'd be happy too.
And I also like Smileypanda's suggestion about gaming. Apple needs a better gaming API or else needs to assist the OpenGL dev team. I should have put that on the list.
We will make our products work out of the box—Steve Ballmer
@clak, 2nd comment: Can't you hold shift and click the + button?
@clak
Your exactly right steve jobs needs to fireup his internet tonight and read this. Also can i get a TABBED FINDER , and add some transparency options back (make them all optional please) I totally agree about elgato and eyetv/eyeconnect products that would rock. I would better media center options (avi's please!)
@digitallysick
Yes, agreed, a tabbed Finder would be nice. Although my characterization of the Finder maximize, or at least some of it, appears to be wrong. The behavior I was refering to seems to be more of a characteristic of Safari than the Finder. The Finder maximizes like it's supposed to. I just tested both. Funny that's it's not consistent across the board though. Very puzzling.
I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her—Rodney Dangerfield
What is it going to be next, siamese cat?
I believe Apple has trademarked only 2 more big cats : Lynx and Cougar.
Which aren't *technically* big cats. Except for the size thing, obviously. Biology 'n stuff like that!
No, a siamese bat. They're much more vicious.
@ Michael Pina
You spelled something wrong, it is not lynx. I think you meant linux :P
That was sad...
no... I'm pretty sure he meant lynx..
linux is a kernel used in some operating systems.
its ok CUBS i got what you meant even after you said to yourself that it was a lame joke..
Lynx is also an old text only web browser which is still included in many if not most Linux systems.
Apple abandoned Lynx as a trademark, looks like 10.6 will be called "Cougar," and it could be the last version of OS X.
If Apple stops supporting my PPC iMac I might be as ticked as when they charged me $20 for 5 crappy iPod Touch applications that everyone else got for free...
I'm pissed so much about the apps, that I jailbroke my touch.
Typed on my jailbroken iPod touch.
Hopefully it won't freeze!
MMMUH HAHA!
That's actually a little bit funny.
I didn't get that at first, but then I reread it, and ha. Hurraah for subtle humor!!!
OS X SP6
Says the guy using Windows 2000 SP8
Yes, but Microsoft's service packs are FREE.
You get what you pay for.
@BobTurbo
Yes, especially with the brilliantly overpriced mac hardware.
But seriously, looking at the windows and mac OS life cycles, windows and mac aren't really more expensive than each other, you're just forking out money at different intervals.
I know. I got a Vista notebook that doesn't run Vista, how is that for a bargain...
TUAW has in the last few days posted than as "confirmed" as well as the glossy black iPhone as the "confirmed" 3G iPhone, and says their sources are incredibly reliable, I don't buy it for a second, especially since they claim 10.6 will only be a speed and security update with no new features.
unless its like 10.1 and free, then i can see it. but i dont think they will charge $129 for a speed boost.
Your right, its more then a speed booster. Its an Apple revenue booster, if the kill PPC support then anybody that is still running a G4 or G5 that could upgrade to Leopard is going to have to get a new box to run Snow Leopard.
And its not like Apple would make any of their software require the latest version of their OS to work, cough, Garage Band 08 and Leopard, cough.... I mean they already jumped hardware requirements from a G4 300Mhz to a G4 800+ Mhz from Tiger to Leopard. Not to mention that single proc G5 1.6Ghz machines run slow as hell under Leopard, they might as well kill PPC support if things get much slower.
Don't know if this is true but at least i love the name (and Snow Leopards are cute).
Is "only" speed and stability worth a new version of OS X?
Considering that Apple users seem willing to pay as much for a service pack (essentially), why not?
Well at least Leopard is only one third the price of Vista so i would happily pay (^_^)
Razor, I have a new PC with nothing installed on it. Where can I buy the Vista's Service Pack 1? I've been looking for it in stores and came up with nothing.
Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years—Henry David Thoreau
uh, how are major releases with hundreds of new features "essentially a service pack"? Do Windows service packs include hundreds of new features? So how are they "essentially" the same thing?
By your logic, Vista is "essentially a service pack" for XP.
Zak, we all know the "hundreds" of new features were complete and utter bullshit, and that there were actually 10 - 20 new features in Leopard, while the rest were gems like event drop box for iCal, more smileys for iChat, and Searching by File name. Ive read through the list, and I had quite the laugh.
In saying that, the revisions of OSX can and should be considered OS releases, and not service packs. But i will say that 99 dollars for a few new features, and hundreds of very minor tweaks to the OS is a tad steep. Apple should offer upgrade versions of their OS which can install on top of previous OSX installs and a reduced price. Even Ubuntu offers more feature upgrades per release, and those are free.
And i dont think now is the time to be dropping the G4-G5 architecture, if this article proves to be true. Theres nothing like kicking Apple users in the balls and forcing them to upgrade their very expensive G5 PowerMac's to Intel variants just to get the security and performance upgrades (as well as some 100 more minor tweaks, such as an awesome Auto Zoom on the DVD player) that should have been included in Leopard to begin with, even though those PC's are still very capable.
@Andune: I don't know if you didn't already know this or are just pretending not to, but NOBODY pays list price for Windows. Vista Home Premium is $100 OEM on NewEgg and XP Pro is $130. For comparison, Leopard is $120. Plus, the prices all go up and down, so one day Leopard is a little more expensive while another it's a little cheaper.
@Ruben
You are full of shit. If a third party offered you a package of applications that included Spaces, Time Machine, Quick Look, Boot Camp, Stacks, Back to My Mac, and a bunch of other added functionality like iChat screen sharing, Web Clips for Safari and Dashboard, and tab dragging in Safari, you would be charged a shit load of money and you know it.
I bought PathFinder, which is a glorified tweak of OS X's Finder, made by CocoaTech, and it was $34.95! That's for one app!
A partitioner like Boot Camp will cost you between $50 and $60 in the Windows world. That's one fucking program!
So, please, spare me the pathetic Apple-is-over-charging-you-for-a-Service-Pack argument. That's complete bullshit when you examine the facts.
Black Snake Moan: edited with Final Cut Pro
@clack:
Reading comprehension is key.
The features you mentioned are the ones that actually warrant Leopards release, not the other 290 "features" which are nothing but bullshit minor additions that should have been there in the first place. Those 300+ features were filled with crap, and a simple read of the features tell you that they are a joke. Please continue reading:
You obviously only read the first paragraph, since in the second, i stated that Leopard is worthy of an OS release, but that its too expensive for what you get. I stated that it was 99, but to the general public, its 129, which is way too much for those features. Thats why i said that previous owners of Tiger should have gotten a discount via an "upgrade" version of the OS, and not just for Leopard, but for all their OS's.
Microsoft has partitioning built in to Vista and XP, and Ubuntu offers it for free, not to mention the many freeware applications that accomplish the same task with incredible reliability on Microsoft, Mac and Linux platforms. Just because one costs money doesnt mean all the variations of that software warrant that price, especially considering they are nearly the same quality (ive used plenty, and they are all the same).
I have examined the facts, and they are overcharging for their OS. An OS built on a free platform that costs over 100 dollars every year or two is too expensive, especially when 2 of their 10-20 actual features were once freeware applications which i used to use on Tiger (Coverflow and Spaces were purchased and integrated by Apple, not to mention the integration of the free VNC and Apache). Ubuntu is free, and improved on a yearly basis for absolutly no money, often with featuresets that rival what OSX and Vista have to offer. XP and Vista are all made by Microsoft themselves (and nearly every part of it) and Microsoft only charges 129 for OEM copies of Vista Home Premium (179 ish for Ultimate, so you can get all the Business features along with Media Center), and they built that all themselves. Those are the facts.
@Ruben
No, asshole, making a coherent argument is key.
If you're going to compare OS X to Linux, then we have a problem, because by that standard, Microsoft is also ripping off people for Windows, which is the sixth upgrade to the NT code base. And don't give me that shit about BSD Unix. The BSD license allows for proprietary commercial use. Microsoft incorporated BSD's TCP/IP stack into Windows 2000, so you're not going to get anywhere using that argument.
Apple is not a charity. No matter how you skew the facts, developing software costs money. And as you pointed out, Apple has purchased companies to get certain software, which as you know, also costs money.
These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting—Crazy Earl, Full Metal Jacket
How can Microsoft be ripping people off by charging them for the NT code-base that is written by them, and rewritten and/or refined with each revision?
The BSD TCP/IP code was in NT3 and older versions of windows, due to them purchasing the license for it from another company who made a TCP/IP stack that Microsoft desperately needed which was based on the BSD TCP/IP stack, but its long gone since their rewrite of the TCP/IP stack. Go to MSDN and ask them directly.
Im not saying that Apple should give it away for free. But every 1-2 years, 129 for some minor upgrades is way too much to ask for, especially when all your doing is making a slight revision to your previous OS. I agree with a 129 price for a full installation of the OS, but they really should offer an upgrade option at a reduced rate for owners of previous OSX versions.
And the fact that you bring up a Wall Street Journal story that has been refuted by many just shows us all what kind of blind, irrational, and ill informed MacBoy you are. I suppose next your going to tell me that the Macbook Pro is the fastest laptop running Vista and that Cinema Displays have better quality output than Dell screens. The reality distortion field is strong with you.
@Ruben
The Wall Street Journal? I haven't read the Wall Street Journal since kindergarden. Oh, I see, you did a quick google search and found some kind of article linking Microsoft to BSD Unix. I haven't read it.
Anyway, let's examine this like rational people. These are the prices for Windows software that compare to some of the features in Leopard (as of June, 2008)
1) Time Machine (A Backup Utility).
Norton Ghost: $69.99
Acronis True Image: $49.95
2) Boot Camp (A Hard Drive Partitioner)
Norton's PartitionMagic: $69.95
Acronis Disk Director Suite: $49.99
Avanquest Partition Commander: $49.95
3) iChat Screen Sharing (Remote Access Software)
VNC Personal Edition: $30.00
eBLVD: $59.00
Boco's Screen Share: $29.95
GoToMeeting: $49/monthly for ten users.
If you take the lowest price from 3 of these Windows products above, know what price you get? $129.95. The same price as Leopard! What are the odds?
And this doesn't include all those other features like Quick Look, Spaces, Stacks, Cover Flow, Back to My Mac, Parental Controls, Podcast Capture, video recording with blue-screen technology in Photo Booth, Wikipedia search in Dictionary, Russian language support, the Unix certifications and the numerous changes to Preview, iCal, Mail, Front Row, Automator, Finder and Universal Access, as well as the security enhancements which include Library Randomization in memory, RBAC and Application Signing.
So despite what you say, Leopard wasn't just some "slight" update to OS X. If anybody deserves their money back, it's the poor suckers that paid retail for Vista.
It is never too late to give up our prejudices—Henry David Thoreau
Clak,
You're price sheet is complete bogus. I can get almost all of those features from freeware online. Especially the go back to my mac. I have Logmein Free. It does everything. It has saved me a whole bunch of times, and unlike GoToMyPC and its ilk, its networks never go down.
Also, you really need to take a chill pill or something. It really doesn't look good calling people idiots for having their own opinions.
Also, cursing is bad for your credibility. Just saying.
You are obviously a vehement mac fanboy.
@clak: MSN Messenger (now Windows LIVE Messenger) includes screen sharing for free. Before that, there was NetMeeting.
And tab dragging, are you kidding me? Both IE7 and Firefox have that feature.
Hopefully this rumor is true, the current version hasn't exactly been the flawless system I needed it to be.
I voted on TUAW for them to call it LOLCAT. I think that its fraekin ridiculous that there coming out with ANOTHER version of OS X! I just upgraded from tiger to leopard and now my crave to have the latest and greatest will get me once again.
Unbelievable about dropping the PPC support. Apple has historically supported Macs for 5 years. As a G5 owner, this fucking blows. My dual-core 2.0 machine is just as fast as many of the Intel machines being produced today.
I still haven't done the last service pack out of fear...
Well 10.5.3 actually helped my system
okay you can stop now
I always liked the transformer from Beast Wars
Cheetor?
That's just prime!
Intel only is a move in the right direction, though it will piss people off--me included as I type from my PowerMac G5... Honestly though, snow leopard? There are plenty of other cat names out there that are fairly common. I know this sounds like it will be a beefed up Leopard, but just do that with Leopard upgrades... So I hope this is a false rumor. Not exactly excited about this announcement. Apple should be focusing on updating their laptop line, which is a bit overdue honestly. They could do something innovative there. Apple is too quick about OS updates. By version x.x.9, it's usually fairly bug free and near "perfect" (obviously lacking some desired features, but usually pretty stable), but a full $130 update comes every couple of years when they could easily work on expanding the current version. Ah well...
Can't wait for WWDC though. Hoping for a MBP update.
If it's nothing more than performance and stability updates, then perhaps it will be a free upgrade like 10.1 was.
This is what I'm thinking it would be (if it's true, that is). Especially with keeping "Leopard" in the name, and coming so shortly after 10.5 came out. I hope they don't eliminate PowerPC support altogether. I have a PowerBook G4 and can't afford a new computer any time soon.
That seems to be the conventional wisdom right now. But who knows, since there isn't enough information right now to say one way or the other. Additionally, nobody said there would be "no" new features. They just seem to think Apple will be focusing more on improving OS X rather than adding new features.
Now how the hell are the MS fanboys supposed to overreact to a reasonable, entirely plausible concept like that?
Perhaps this is a technique to make the final stages of the intel shift less painful. If the release the first intel only version as a free update it might make the transition seem less painful. Just a thought....
Correct me if I'm wrong... 'Snow Leopard' is one of the most misguided Apple rumours I have ever heard. The first time I've heard that name is on that TUAW post regarding 10.6's introduction at WWDC. And that name was in a user poll. Then the next thing you see is Ars Technica adding more to the rumour, including "Snow Leopard." The author did link to TUAW, but the whole Ars post didn't even try to call attention to the fact that it's only a RUMOUR. I'm just saying that this rumour is simply too hard to believe. It's disappointing that It's garnered so much attention. So far, two posts from John Gruber about it, even.
No, it is called Snow Leopard.
there has to be a carbon dating joke in here somewhere, but I am too tired to look. Also there must be a carbon half life joke lurking.....
No I tried and I tried but my brain hurt too much.
I came up with several totally lame puns.
The future of carbon is dated.
Carbon no longer dating Intel.
It's just too hard!
Haha, Carbon too hard!
@Ryan
That's what she said.
If they're not going to be launching any big user features on this one I don't see how they can charge what they usually do.
I love Leopard and think it was totally worth the $129 but if they're going to release 'Snow Leopard' which will just tighten things up and break compatibility, its not something I'll be willing to pay for.
bump \/
@clak,
Dream on. Nobody's listening to you. It is amusing though. Your word are a little desparate. "Steve, Steve, why hast thou foresaken me !".
@Andune,
You ARE kidding me. Do you know how much Vista costs ? My 64 bit OEM Vista cost me $99. How much does Apple service pack 10.7 cost ? And Vista beats the crap out of Apple SP 10.6, needless to say, 10.7 will not fair any better.
My Apple Mac mini Powerpc 4200 rpm drive running some form of Apple crap runs like a DOG. Had nothing but trouble with it. Crap support.
WTF is it with that rainbow thing that spins round and round whilst the Mac sits there dumbassed, frozen up.
Since switching to Vista I have had not a single freeze up, not a single hang. This is without doubt the best OS I have ever used.
You Apple fans really have a lot to learn about a decent OS. You should try using Vista first before you make any further ill advised OSX investments.
that rainbow circle jerk icon sucks
I'll wager that most OS X users have used Windows (in the past, or currently at work or on a secondary home machine). The reverse is not true. So who needs to learn about a "decent OS"?
Oh, and you're using a Mac Mini with a 4200 RPM HD? Probably with the stock 512mb or 1gb RAM, yeah? And you're running 10.5 (you must be since you know it so well to bash it). Well then, duh at your beach ball.
I have used Vista and I prefer Leopard.
i take it you haven't used xp which is better than both.
Based on your astute suggestion kccboy2004, I will now throw my useless $5000 Mac Pro with Leopard and a XP partition out of the window and buy a PC with this great new Vista thingy. Thank you for showing me the light. I will never forget what you have done for me. I'm putting your picture on my wall and embossing your name into solid gold. I will bookmark this page every time I have any doubts about this Vista thingy and call you for any tech support, which I will surely not need because Vista, by all indications, is perfect and delicious too!
I get the impression sometimes that some Windows users got their ass kicked by some prep school guy wearing an argyle sweater and penny loafers—Clak
cool
I smell BULL$
Releasing 10.6 eight months after 10.5 would basically be admitting that 10.5 was not fit for purpose, I would think reliability fixes could be made in 10.5.4 or 10.5.5 release.
WWDC :
3G iPhone (Yawn ! already bored with touchscreen & my 3 year old Nokia N70 had 3g)
New Macbooks (looking forward to these)
Hopefully something half way between an iPhone and a Macbook (Macbook Nano ?) running an Atom.
Leopard has already been out 9 months. AT the most, this would be a "preview" or announcement that 10.6 is in development. It wouldn't ship until at LEAST Jan 09 (Macworld) which would be 15 months after Leopard's release. Which is right in the "12-18 month" release schedule that Jobs spoke about.
I think Engadget's headline is somewhat misleading... TUAW and Ars both report that the OS will be unveiled on Monday, but will be released in January of 2009. That at least makes it 15 months which, while relatively quick given Apple's recent OS release timeline, is still conceivable for a largely maintenance-oriented update.
Now, whether any of this is actually true, I dunno... stability and speed improvements seem like 10.5.x updates to me, too, and I doubt Carbon's going away this soon, given the number of apps that still depend on it. 10.6 might EOL the framework, but I wouldn't expect Apple to strip it from the OS for a while yet. The elimination of PPC support is a but more believable, but still questionable given the amount of time between the Intel announcement and the end of the switch-over at retail.
@DT
Steve jobs authorized the configuration of th Crap Mini I was duped into buying. I paid $100 extra for the full 1GB RAM. I trusted that Apple Service Pack 10.5 would run acceptably / proficiently, since I was duped into believing that Service Pack 10.5 was an efficient, non leaky OS. 1GB was a good amount of RAM in 2005.
I myself authorized the $100 purchase of 4GB of RAM, the $90 780G mobo, the $100 WDSE16 HDD, the $100 Vista 64 Premium. It is a thing of beauty, I mean WOW !!!!!
I am not saying that I know more than Mr Jobs, but he is like Bush in his deceitful evasive talk. He stole money from me.
So yep, I tried Apple service pack 10.5 and I tried Vista. Vista is light years ahead and rock solid stable.
I am a successful application software designer. I travel the world. I have visited hundred of clients, sat on numerous boards, and ran countless project teams.
I have never ever seen an Apple product on a single desk. There is good reason for that. Apple is a tiny nonsense company that can only "win" a customer through trickery and illusion. Go visit a "Genius Bar". Oh, of course, you have already.
sorry, dude. I don't care about your pissing match of Vista vs. Leopard, but if you are as successful as you say you are, you wouldn't be arguing with us peons at Engadget.
I'm not sure what to believe, but given the 15 month difference between Leopard and Snow Leopard, how that fits into the 12-18 month release cycle, and the fact that every other release seems to be less eye candy than stabilization, I find the rumor believable.
It's not a service pack you fucking idiot. It's a stable release of a newer version of an Operating System. Think of it as Vista to Windows 7...LOL.
My opinion is this:
Steve is not at all satisfied with Leopard & wants to bring 10.6 about ASAP.
Who can blame him. I've been a Mac user since 10.1 & IMO, Leopard is indeed the buggiest/annoying major release to date (not counting 10.0 Cheetah). This is the only release I've held off on for this long until it shapes up better.
Leopard is still very nice compared to the alternatives, but its starting to become a cluttered, clunky & unintuitive resource hog. Thats what I see anyways.
Rumors don't mean a thing. It'll be nice if there is a Snow Leopard in the future. Then it'll be another nail in Vista's coffin. But for now I'll continue to use Tiger. If I ever get a MacPro, then I'll go full tilt for Leopard or Snow Leopard or whatever there is.
I feel sorry for those that are forced to upgrade (those that need Leopard to run the iPhone SDK) and sorry for those that are upset because they don't have Intel machines. Me, I don't care. As long as I can use my MacBook Pro to suit me, to heck with the latest OS. I believe Apple should just keep moving ahead and try to change the face of computing in the best way it can. Time waits for no man. G4s and G5s are dead (they're still useful but in a small way). They might as well just bury them.
Yeah, I think I will save my money for 10.7
Very interesting!
So this makes three main/credible rumors that will happen next week!
Check them out - which ones do YOU think will really come out?
http://www.jeffmccord.org/?p=222
Carbon deprecated? IIRC, iTunes is still Carbon... So that would have to mean something completely rewritten in the near future for that app...
iTunes is not that much of a problem because its an application that Apple controls and I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised to see a Cocoa version (hey, they kept an x86 version of OS X in development so one application isn't much of a stretch). My main concern, however, is with the likes of Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office. I'm not entirely certain what Office is written in these days (Office:mac 2008 was developed in Xcode, but the API is probably still Carbon) but Photoshop is definitely going to remain as a Carbon application until CS5, given Adobe's existing statement that this is the version that will deliver a 64-bit Cocoa version; CS3 and CS4 will be 32-bit Carbon applications.
I don't care.. my PPC stays with me