RSSWWDC may see beta debut of Mac OS X 10.6
By Ed Oswald | Published June 5, 2008, 12:00 PM
While much of the buzz surrounding Apple's annual developer event has been about the iPhone, news reports indicate the company may also debut the newest release of its operating system at WWDC.
Hints of the next major OS upgrade first surfaced in the iPhone SDK, where Mac OS X 10.6 is reportedly referred to within the code. Additionally, Apple's invitation has dubbed this year's WWDC "a landmark event in more ways than one," suggesting that the iPhone won't be the sole topic.
Apple blog TUAW reports that a developer version of Mac OS X 10.6 may be released during WWDC. "Stability and security" seems to be the focus of this release, rather than new features as has been the case with previous major upgrades.
Using a point release to fine-tune Mac OS X is nothing new. Apple last did this with 10.1, which dramatically improved the user experience for many, and addressed issues dealing with performance.
Possibly the biggest change rumored here is a drop of PowerPC support completely. Such a change would be surprising considering that Apple switched to Intel processors less than two years ago.
Then again, news reports indicated that this switch may have been in the works for a while. AppleInsider reported in September that the Cupertino company was mulling the end of PowerPC support with 10.6 at that time.
Further reports from Ars Technica seem to confirm the above information, adding that Apple may be targeting next year's MacWorld event as the release date to the public. This would make sense: It is roughly 15 months after the release of Leopard, and matches the company's stated target of major releases every 12-18 months.
My guess is Apple will do something along these lines :
10.6 - Drop PPC support, tidy code, small price or free, no new features.
WWDC - set out roadmap for 10.7,10.8 etc.
10.7 - Drop carbon, full 64bit, new features ZFS etc.
make sense..?
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|Besides optimization improvements, I'm curious if Apple will keep the translucent menu bar and Aurora desktop image? Not that I dislike either but there was quite an outcry from some within the Mac community.
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|Why bother removing either, if one can be switched off and the other can be replaced? I don't mind the translucent menu bar, but truly the Aurora image is an abomination.
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|As a system admin, I hate backwards compatibility. I want everyone to have the latest software/hardware. So as far as I'm concerned, sweet dreams PPC.
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|I'll second that. It's time to let PPC go. It was great while it lasted but it's time to move along. This allows Apple to pour all of it's resources into developing only one platform instead of two.
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|Intel has been building superior processors for years. Even Intel's fastest Pentium 4 processor was better than PPC. It generated significantly less heat and used a lot less power too. It's too bad that Apple wasn't smart enough to make the switch to Intel sooner.
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|fukit...
You snooze, you loose...
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|Kind of a strange approach to drop PowerPC approach on a point release, but I guess that it works with the way Apple markets them.
They better have something up their sleeve other than "security and compatability" fixes to persuade the Mac drones to buy. They go for new eye candy and it's likely there will be some present.
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|I was not a Mac user at the time of 10.1 (which is referred to in this article), but I assume that if the new OS is only an improvement over Leopard, it is possible that Apple will offer it as a free upgrade for those who have purchased Leopard or a new computer recently. Also, dropping support for PowerPC would pose market issues - may not be the best way to go, but doing something to further separate X86 and PPC would be great. I'm surprised it even works the way it is now... since PPC and X86 are two completely different beasts.
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|Dropping support for new versions of OS X so quickly has always bugged me, and now they want to drop PPC after only 2 years.
How can the people who buy Apple products (which are generally of high quality) fall for this consistent forced upgrade schema?
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|It's been like this with Apple since the Mac's birth (maybe Apple II - didn't have one...).
There is gratification in the thought that if there were fewer fools it would be more difficult to shine...
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|I don't know how they do it. I have a Powerbook G4 and an iMac G5 and both have been working fine for me using Tiger 10.4.11, but I've thought about getting Leopard and haven't found a good reason to "spend the money on it". I guess if people always want the latest and greatest then they'll spend the money on it, and not just with Apple products either.
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|Paul, I cannot say I disagree with you here. I'm thinking its a little bit of bunk here, but I only bring together what I'm hearing. Personally, I think the PPC drop is coming -- but would have been in 10.7... which would match the 3-4 yr upgrade cycle for most PC buyers.
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|I agree.
10.7 would have made more sense.
We'll see.
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|Perhaps Apple doesn't want people to run (Snow?)Leopard on a slightly older/under-powered hardware and find that it's not zippy - something that many Vista users can identify with?
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