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How long do you think leopard will be the main system for?

O

olliestockton

macrumors member
Original poster
How long do you think leopard will be the main system for?

I was just wondering because i'm getting a macbook with leopard and i just hope that leopard is around for years because it would suck if i get my macbook then in a few months i need to buy an expensive upgrade pack to something new.

So how long will leopard be the main system for?
 
Upgrades are not really expensive. For the time that I have been using Mac's they run about $130US. I wouldn't worry about that too much as a deal breaker.
 
olliestockton said:
I was hoping it would be over 2 years at least
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Steve said after Leopard was released that they were going for a new OS every 18 months, so 12 months from now. Leopard will be supported for 18 months beyond that.

The next OS will cost $129, and will be pretty easy to install when it comes. It'll also come with some decent new features.
 
The next release of the OS will definitely not occur in a few months from now, as it has not even been announced yet, so you should just go ahead and keep the purchase and not worry about feeling outdated anytime soon. Cheers.
 
They say Leopard will be used for quite a while...longer than they used Tiger (which was about a 2 year run). Upgrading the OS isn't that expensive and at times, I don't think it's really worth it. I got Leopard cause I was curious, it was cheap (69 bucks at my college bookstore), and I've found that I really like it but I can still do everything I need on Tiger if I wanted to and not notice anything different really. So even when 10.6 comes out, 10.5 will still be a very good and relevant OS for you to use.
 
Over 2 years. Possibly more than 3. Consider OS X history:
  • 10.0 - March 24, 2001
  • 10.1 - September 25, 2001 (6 months)
  • 10.2 - August 23, 2002 (11 months)
  • 10.3 - October 24, 2003 (14 months)
  • 10.4 - April 29, 2005 (18 months)
  • 10.5 - October 26, 2007 (30 months)
Clearly the trend is slowing down as OS X stabilizes.

Also, it doesn't really matter what Apple says. Remember that they said Leopard was due in the spring of 2007. And I'd say a lot of customers would be pretty upset if they move on to 10.6 too quickly before fixing the many remaining issues with 10.5.
 
I'm still on Tiger and feel no need to upgrade. Leopard has some nice stuff, but I think I'll sit this one out and wait for Tabby (10.6). My guess is that it will be at least over a year, and more likely 18 months.

Just because an update comes out doesn't mean you have to buy it. There is no compulsion to upgrade. Leopard will continue to be a great OS, even after the newer one comes out. You could always wait for Puss (10.7)
 
fastlane1588 said:
sounds to me like you want a windows computer....they get over 5 years in between now OSs.
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🙂

Eraserhead said:
Steve said after Leopard was released that they were going for a new OS every 18 months, so 12 months from now. Leopard will be supported for 18 months beyond that.
Click to expand...
He also mentioned that they will be slowing down on new Mac OS releases.

Eraserhead said:
The next OS will cost $129, and will be pretty easy to install when it comes. It'll also come with some decent new features.
Click to expand...
Good bet.

bankshot said:
Over 2 years. Possibly more than 3. Consider OS X history:
  • 10.0 - March 24, 2001
  • 10.1 - September 25, 2001 (6 months)
  • 10.2 - August 23, 2002 (11 months)
  • 10.3 - October 24, 2003 (14 months)
  • 10.4 - April 29, 2005 (18 months)
  • 10.5 - October 26, 2007 (30 months)
Clearly the trend is slowing down as OS X stabilizes.

Also, it doesn't really matter what Apple says. Remember that they said Leopard was due in the spring of 2007. And I'd say a lot of customers would be pretty upset if they move on to 10.6 too quickly before fixing the many remaining issues with 10.5.
Click to expand...
Nice list.

As Steve indicated, there will be more time between Mac OS releases.

I would say the next one will be released around 24 months, or longer. So about a year and a half from now, or longer.
 
I'm gonna say it's more like 18-20 months. Bear in mind the 'gap' between 10.4 and 10.5 was partly filled by 10.4 Intel...
 
Eraserhead said:
Unlikely, from the linked article in my last post.
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Jobs can say whatever he wants, but based on a lot of past experience, I don't believe that for a second. Not only has Apple shown a history of extending development time with each successive release, but they now have more non-Mac projects on their plate than ever before. And Mac OS X becomes more complex with each release, adding to development time.

Add to this the fact that it's rare these days for any major software project to be released on time and fully complete. As both a developer and consumer of large-scale software, I can say that such projects are almost always delayed past their first projected release dates.

I do find it fairly likely that 10.6 will be the first OS X release that takes less time than the previous, especially given that Leopard was supposedly delayed 6 months because of the iPhone. Beating 30 months may not be too difficult. But that's only if all of the following occur: Leopard's issues get worked out satisfactorily in the next few point releases, increased complexity doesn't slow things down too much, and if Apple can better plan around potential resource conflicts like the iPhone project.

I'll happily put money down that 10.6 comes out more than 18 months after Leopard. How much more I can't say at this point. But 3 years wouldn't surprise me much. I hope I'm wrong, but only if it's for the right reasons - that Leopard is polished up quickly and 10.6 comes out sooner without being half-baked. We'll see. 😉
 
the reason for Tiger being the main system for 30 months was because they launched 2 Tiger's for 2 different platforms PPC and Intel.

i know Intel Mac OS X was developed since the beginning but to make it publicly available Apple needed to do a lot of work on it and iron out the creases. Intel Tiger was recieved very well and it was done in under the time Apple said.

As Leopard in now universal binary i would suspect that Mac OS X 10.6 will launch around 20 months after the Leopard launch and defaintately before the time frame between Tiger and Leopard. this would be more than enough time to iron out Leopard like they did to Tiger and launch a new OS not too quickly.

who knows Apple might have already planned the new features for 10.6 Lion (im guessing!) and are starting to code while still releasing updates for Leopard AND Tiger and Panther (different departments of course. i love thinking about what Apple would be doing in CUpertino right now. some super secret stuff i would suppose. just think about what kind of hardware and software they would be building in these workshops.

i will think at WWDC08 they will launch the code name for 10.6 and introduce some of the basic features like they did for Leopard at WWDC06.

what im worried about is the Apple developers put so many useful features into Leopard that
 
I think it will be with us for 2 years or so....i know most people disagree but i dunno just a feeling..
 
Killyp said:
I'm gonna say it's more like 18-20 months. Bear in mind the 'gap' between 10.4 and 10.5 was partly filled by 10.4 Intel...
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Good point.

richthomas said:
the reason for Tiger being the main system for 30 months was because they launched 2 Tiger's for 2 different platforms PPC and Intel.
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One of these days, Apple will probably stop development for the PPC side of the house.

Will it be 10.6 or 10.7?

Intel Macs were introduced in 2006. If it takes two years to introduce each new OS, PPC Macs will be 6-7 years old. So my guess 10.7 will be Intel only.

Comments?
 
sushi said:
… One of these days, Apple will probably stop development for the PPC side of the house.

Will it be 10.6 or 10.7?

Intel Macs were introduced in 2006. If it takes two years to introduce each new OS, PPC Macs will be 6-7 years old. So my guess 10.7 will be Intel only.

Comments?
Click to expand...

well 10.5 dropped support for 867MHz and below G3s. 10.6 may drop support for G4s, 10.7 G5s, then im guessing 10.8 may be Intel only.

but 10.5 supports 867GHz and above G3s so G3 support hasnt fully been dropped so Intel only binaries in 10.9 or 10.10?

juanster said:
I think it will be with us for 2 years or so....i know most people disagree but i dunno just a feeling..
Click to expand...

Tiger was the main OS for 30 months because a PPC version and Intel version was released. so i think Leopard (which is universal) will be with us for much less than 24 months.

Apple is speeding along these days with the iPhone/iPod Touch OS, Apple TV OS, Intel chips. we might even see a new OS sooner than we expect? though i hope its not too soon as i want to see Leopard ironed out for users who wont upgrade like they did for Tiger and i dont want the new OS to be rushed.
 
Killyp said:
I'm gonna say it's more like 18-20 months. Bear in mind the 'gap' between 10.4 and 10.5 was partly filled by 10.4 Intel...
Click to expand...

Mac OS X has had an Intel version from day one it was just not released to the public. 10.4 Intel was just the first time it was.
 
Cromulent said:
Mac OS X has had an Intel version from day one it was just not released to the public. 10.4 Intel was just the first time it was.
Click to expand...

yeh but Apple needed time to make it ready for the public. the version of Mac OS X for Intel which was internally developed by Apple in that 'building' was probably too buggy for release. Apple released Tiger without any major bugs in under the time they said... pretty remarkable!

but they couldnt of just said hey weve been developing Intel OS X since the beginning and release it that day. it would ruin Intel for Mac OS X which has been so successful. Intel chips are "Screaaamers" as Jobs would say 😀
 
He didnt say 18 months, he said "12-18 months" which suggests 18 at the most. He also went on to say how he likes releasing one a year.

I think 10.6 will only take the usual ~12 months, Leopard was the big upgrade so I would not expect anything huge in 10.6 that would take a long time, plus theres no iphone OS that needs to be developed this year. 2 Years is totally not going to happen, they are already seeding betas.
 
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