The next iteration of OS X was
mentioned early on during today's
WWDC 2008 keynote, but little was said afterwards. Thankfully, Apple hasn't left us completely out to dry, as a recent release gives a few clues as to what Snow Leopard has in store. First and foremost, the OS isn't expected to ship until about this time next year, and
just as predicted, it will be more evolutionary than revolutionary. Specifically, it will "enhance the performance of OS X and set a new standard for quality... rather than focusing primarily on new features." Still, we do know that it'll play nice with Microsoft Exchange 2007 from the get-go, provide "unrivaled support for multi-core processors" with a new technology dubbed Grand Central, extend support "for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL)," and raise the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM. Heck, you'll even find QuickTime X in there. Yeah, we love those
new features, but we can honestly say we're looking forward to a nice round of polishing.
Update: Looks like some more solid info has been posted to Apple's page. Head here for more on
Snow Leopard desktop and
Snow Leopard server (which will include iCal Server 2, 128-bit
ZFS support, Podcast Producer 2, the first version of their Address Book server based on CardDAV, and more).
posted June 9th 2008 4:21PM
except cake... and not the one that is a lie. home made cake thats full of chocolaty goodness.
I assume this minor OS update will be free like Microsoft's are??
Apple needs a Mac OS X App Store and a Macbook touch.
So basically Apple is acknowledging that there are issues with Mac OS X 10.5 but instead of addressing them as 10.5.x updates they'll just release a new version of the OS and charge people money for it. They might include like 2 new features to it so that it seems like a legit thing to do.
Yes, I'll most definitely pirate it :)
Again, what makes you think that 10.6 will be chargeable? Historically, Apple has release free versions of their OS (e.g. OS X 10.1) to address issues in the product. I honestly doubt that this will be the same, although I also doubt that it will cost the usual $129. I'm expecting a nominal fee.
Will it be a free update to existing Leopard users? If not then, then it would be a douche move on the part of apple to actually make people pay $129USD for what amounts to a "Service Pack" If they have to charge for for it, at least charge something resonable.
Reading the title of this post made me think it was a witty OS X-esque Christmas release play on words.
It wasn't.
The next OS should be called Possum. Or Octopus.
"The new Apple Possum..."
"The new Apple Octopus..."
I'll go for Octopus.
Heh, I like the fact that the previous post had a first post of "
Oh, and BTW Engadget, congrats for the non-apple post". Don't goat them =p.
Hmm back on topic though I haven't heard much of OpenCL but it sounds interesting (loaths DirectX over OpenGL so maybe this will do something along the lines of coding).
Hey folks, let's not get wrapped up on this quite yet, we have a *few* months to go before this takes off. Let's see what develops over the next 9-12 months.
I just want Mail (or even Entourage) to support RPC over HTTP. PLEASE!!!
I'm amazed at how so many Mac owners (and I am one) are duped by everything Apple come out with. Yes, the PC fanboys are almost as annoying as their Mac equivalents, but I for one am starting to feel fleeced as it seems I have to pay a fortune for some new software upgrade or other, often when the improvements constitute little more than a 'service pack'. For an OS, Leopard still seems extremely new to me and next year sounds a little too early for it to be old technology.
I'm happy to pay a premium for better hardware and software, but not when I'm going to have to pay that same premium again the following year.
No one's said you'll to pay for this yet. Hang out until MacWorld in January - I suspect that things like this will be much clearer by then. In the meantime, I will just say that 10.1 was a free release, so a precedent for free updates has already been set.
Wake me up when then say "ZFS, tabbed finder, transparent menus (options), and advanced time machine options plz"
The idea is to optimize the speed of the OS. Besides ZFS, the extra features would only slow everything down, especially transparency since most Macs don't have a dedicated GPU.
The only Macs that don't have discrete graphics are the Macbook and Mac Mini. The iMac, Macbook Pro and Mac Pro all have graphics cards.
Also, transparency, at least in its current form on Leopard, has not slowed down my Macbook. It seems that doing an overwrite install caused more issues, but a clean install didn't do any ill to my old GMA 950. The Time Machine graphic actually works well on it too.
I should have been more clear. I believe, most Macs in terms of volume as opposed to number of Mac models.
Jobs is so thinly sick, Apple really should start looking for new salesman.
Is it me or is Steve Jobs looking a bit frail?
He has cancer.
@ mamooth
i'll take his place.
The only thing that could excite me about snow leopard is full PC availability.
Much like M$s bull Apple is claiming polish and stability for 10.6 and the question is why couldn't that be delivered in 10.5 ?
Nice to see an updated GUI and at least tigers level of PC networking and printer sharing capabilities.
"...Apple is claiming polish and stability for 10.6 and the question is why couldn't that be delivered in 10.5 ?"
Because of all the other stuff they were working on putting into 10.5.
Remember, compared to 10.4, there were quite a few under-the-hood tidyings-up and additions as well as the flashy new consumer features (Core Animation being an example of where the two intersected). Snow Leopard is them taking the opportunity to continue cleaning up and optimizing their code and making everything behind the scenes as orderly as they like to make it look up front, now that they have some time to breathe instead of frantically working towards "feature" releases.
I agree, though, that they'd better not charge as much as a regular upgrade, if they charge anything, because most people are guaranteed not to see as much value in code optimization as they do in being able to actually do cool new things with their Mac.
Apple is, and has always affirmed, that it is a hardware company, not a software company. They write good software to enhance their hardware.
As long as they stick to that premise, you're not likely to see a version of Mac OS X for the PC.
And to the retort "but they released iTunes for the PC", their thinking there was to sell more iPods. Again, writing good software to sell more hardware.
Agreed. I almost wish that they'd skipped the 10.5 release and gone directly to 10.6, complete with the associated delay. However, I also love a lot of the new features in 10.5 so I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't say that its plus-points make up for the negatives. Still, assuming that they do a good job with 10.6, it should make for a very impressive OS.
Better be cheap.
You know, I had this whole thing about how engadget is apple's spokesboard and all, and....I just don't have the stomach for it anymore.
Instead I'll wish all of you dedicated Mac users well on your expensive service pack.j
Cheers.
Steve Ballmer's reaction to the Snow Leopard announcement
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9694/snowleopardballmergc3.jpg
G5's are 64 bit (I dual boot a completely 64 bit Gentoo on my G5). There have been 64 bit IBM PPC's for very long time. If 64 bits capability is the only requirement, all G5's are set.
can you spell all-our-engineers-are-busy-with-iphone-so-we-dont-really-have-anyone-to-work-on-macosx-now ? and the friggin thing still doesn't have a basic flash, like all the competition, rendering the camera useless 80% of the time!! geeez
"Specifically, it will "enhance the performance of OS X and set a new standard for quality... rather than focusing primarily on new features.""
Sounds like a service pack to me. Also sounds like Apple is admitting issues with Leopard.
Whatever, crap happens with OS launches. So long as Apple doesn't charge for their "service pack".
As if that's going to happen =P
While it "sounds" like a Service Pack, the details show that major plumbing works are going on. A Service Pack tends to be bug fixes and tweaks, whereas 10.6 appears to be overhauling core OS functionality, like the dispatcher and memory management. That's definitely outside of what a Service Pack delivers. The problem is, its damned hard to explain this to the layman so that they both "get it" and are excited by it, so marketing this thing is going to be very difficult, assuming that a charge will be involved. If you can't show new applications, or whizzy changes in the GUI, what do you show? I'd hate to be the marketing guys trying to sell this... Best they'll be able to do is show charts of how much faster it is, or something. *Snore*
I heard earlier today that it has Reco 7.1 with cruizeware availability right away. TALK ABOUT REVOLUTION!!!! Q.
Really, all the comments here about 'just a service pack' a ridiculously wide of the mark. I'm presuming these commenters have very little idea about software/system architecture and design...
Any muppet can add 'features' to an OS. It's really no different from writing an application. Time Machine, Cover Flow etc. come under this heading.
Re-architecting the core of an OS is an entirely different matter. This is big stuff. Really big. Designing stuff like this takes lots of very very clever people. Developing and testing this is also a big deal. ZFS, removing Carbon, full 64-bit compatibility, removing PPC and optimising x86 code all come under this heading.
This kind of thing is comparable to moving from System 9 to OS X, or DOS/Win95 to Win NT (well, if they'd done it properly and got rid of the Win32 APIs).
I repeat: this kind of thing IS NOT A SERVICE PACK. This is defining the core and direction of OS X for the next 10 years. This is important.
/rant.
Eh? I agree with the sentiments of your post, but I believe the removal of Carbon and PowerPC support are still rumor only, and hopefully completely false. Given that developer copies of the OS are available now we should get some confirmation of whether those rumors are true or not pretty soon. That said, 64-bit Carbon was pulled pretty late in the day with Leopard so anything could happen between now and next year. Still, at least about 1-years worth of hands-on testing looks to be available. That in itself is cause for celebration.
Just a quick correction: OpenCL is actually called 'OpenCL (Open Compute Library)' according to the Apple site.
Sorry, I couldn't resist... this is the first thing I thought of when I saw that picture...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58638411@N00/2569899919/
I wonder what they mean when they say that Quicktime X that is supposed to support 'all modern codecs.'
hmmm...when I think 'modern codecs,' I think Blu-ray Disc playback...
Hey I posted a video of snow leopard and some of its new features. I think it may be the only video of it being previewed; go check it out, who knows how long it will be there for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knYecgPHlPw