Snow Leopard could emerge from the first quarter 2009
And finally, if the next Mac OS X, aka Snow Leopard, arrived during the first quarter 2009? If that were the case, Apple would be in advance, but would follow the current trend is to give a date “pessimistic” and create the surprise by arriving early.
Snow Leopard is the next operating system from Apple. Unlike previous iterations of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard is a very special, because it is a still image and examines its own foundations. As a result, compatibility with the PowerPC code disappears and the system becomes fully optimized for Intel architecture. This is essential but it is accompanied by many other changes and improvements.
First quarter 2009?
The release date could be announced by Apple indirectly through one of its leaders, Jordan Hubbard. The latter, director of engineering Unix, attending a conference called LISA (Large Installation System Administration Conference). During a presentation that talked among other time that separated the emergence of different versions of Mac OS X, Hubbard has shown a table immediately much about him:
You can see it is clear that Snow Leopard, so Mac OS X 10.6, is scheduled for first quarter 2009. But it was not expected until at least spring, so the next quarter. In addition, the episode of Leopard had made careful on the advertised time, since the system had been delayed because of resource allocation and engineers to the iPhone.
An operation clean slate to start the year
If Snow Leopard arrives in a few months, Apple will be in good position to attack the year. The recent renewal of notebooks and announced iMac (and Mac Mini?) Then prepare the park equipment to the new system will not work anyway with Intel processors. Moreover, it is unclear whether the final version may or not run on anything other than machines running the 64-bit (64). That is the case in beta versions, but confirmation was not given.
In all cases, users will find that the size of the system has melted away like snow in the sun, without pun. Cleaning the PowerPC code is losing most of the files 50% of their weight. But Snow Leopard is also an opportunity to introduce underlying technologies that serve to Apple for the following versions:
* GrandCentral, which should enable Mac OS X to better take advantage of the multi-core processors as it recovers all the tasks required to be allocated among the hearts of the processors present
* OpenCL, which sends to perform calculations to the GPU
* Support for native Microsoft Exchange servers in Mail, iCal and Address Book
* A layer for the management of MultiTouch
* A strong improvement in the automatic correction
* SproutCore, a framework for the creation of Web applications, and Apple will call the “Cocoa Web”
* QuickTime X, a completely new engine multimedia Mac OS X, the QuickTime application was in fact the tip of the iceberg
* Safari 4
* An evolution of all components
No new “major” in terms of functionality as Apple, but improving what already exists with the introduction of technologies. The abandonment of PowerPC code and focus on Intel gives great hope for Mac users, especially in terms of speed and responsiveness of the system.
Finally, Snow Leopard is an opportunity for Apple to get rid of the last components written in Carbon and the move to Cocoa. This is particularly the case of Finder, and wait to see now whether the company will finally deal with iTunes with the same treatment.
