Mac OS X 10.6 Called 'Snow Leopard', All Cocoa?

[milo]

I would now be surprised at all if 10.6 is Intel-only and all cocoa.. apple has been trying to make devs migrate to Cocoa from carbon with bigger and bigger sticks with nails in them.. dropping carbon 64 was a big one.. dropping PPC forces ppl to buy new hardware and cleans up these "ultra dense universal binarys" where a dev has to have support all these skews... PPC 32, 64, intel 32, 64..

Yeah, there's one dev in particular that has been lousy about moving to cocoa and 64 bit...they do both pro apps and stuff for newbies...I think it's something like..."apple"?

The G4/G5's were fantastic cpu's in their time, and have served us well, but yes, it's time to let them go out with a bang.

In their time? The quad G5 is still a great machine, and more powerful than many of the machines apple is shipping now.

 

[Virgil-TB2]

I have not read up a lot on the 10.6 rumors but i don't see it likely that they will be dropping PPC entirely. ...

This is a fairly common strategy when bridging such a divide as PPC to intel though.

You have a new release of the OS with all the features that runs on the old hardware, albeit with caveats and a few limitations.

You then create an almost identical product that runs on the new hardware that takes advantage of the new hardware more.

That way, everyone moves to the new product and usually the new hardware, but there is always an almost identical product that mixed-computer shops can use if they need to.

10.6 is the "really" new OS and 10.5 is the please everybody product to fill the gaps left by old curmudgeons and others who haven't changed their computer for five or more years.

Makes sense to me.

 

[phalewhale]

I haven't had the time to soft through all the responses so far - I'm supposed to be working. All I wanted to say is this...

Does this mean that all of Apple's hardware is gonna go back to being white?

 

[TheMechanic]

Only a guess

It is only a guess, but maybe Apple will release its first Multi-Touch Macs (or MacBooks or whatever) in early 2009. These would require the OS to be Multi-Touch compatible.
But Apple is not going to ship only Multi-Touch Macs by then, so they need OS X to support Macs with and without Multi-Touch. They could do this by releasing 10.6 (maybe free for existing Leopard users, because it would only be an upgrade to security, stability and speed for them).
In this scenario it would make sense, if they were dropping PPC support, because this release wouldn't add functionality for PPC.

 

[Lone Deranger]

Well, some claim Steve to be the 'Master of the Universe', so that would work nicely. D'ya reckon he's got a sword?

I kinda like the ring of 10.6 Battle Cat

All kidding aside, I like the sound of a security/stability/speed update. Kudos to Apple if this rumor is true.
Not sure what to think of the axing carbon bit. Sounds like it might once again catch out a lot of developers who've not bothered updating their code.
Then again, it could be the push they need to finally make the leap to cocoa.

 

[Sam Yikin]

If this turns out to be true, which I doubt, this could sound like a "wrap up" of OS X before something new.... OS XI?
Edit: Meh, that looks funny. OS 11.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Going back in time...?

Mac OS X without Carbon...? Hey, we've had that before: Mac OS X Server 1.x

 

[john7jr]

The Mac needs a Finder replacement quick. The Finder is the single biggest crapware on the Mac right now. (Spinning beach-ball anyone?) "Cocoa-only" might refer to the rewritten UI... not axing all Carbon support across the platform.

The Next UI for Intel only? I can see it. PPC could still use the Finder, but Intel Macs can use this new UI Finder replacement.

There's my speculation... I only hope we get a copy if we go, cause I'll be in the audience...

 

[kolax]

Now would be a good time to try and copyright "Snow Leopard" - might make you a few bob or two if Apple hasn't snapped it up already!

 

[Eric S.]

But does it make sense to do a speed and stability upgrade only? That sounds like a 10.5.X, not a 10.6!

Right, but on the one hand it gives Apple an easy way out as far as dropping PPC support. PPC users can be told they can still run Leopard and not miss any essential features. Then when 10.7 comes out everyone will already have accepted that it's Intel-only.

On the other hand, if 10.6 is just a cleanup of 10.5, why shouldn't PPC users have access to it too? Maybe they'll release 10.5.x for PPC, which really has the same stuff; it will just be clear that there will be no PPC going forward.

 

[Santa Rosa]

This is a fairly common strategy when bridging such a divide as PPC to intel though.

You have a new release of the OS with all the features that runs on the old hardware, albeit with caveats and a few limitations.

You then create an almost identical product that runs on the new hardware that takes advantage of the new hardware more.

That way, everyone moves to the new product and usually the new hardware, but there is always an almost identical product that mixed-computer shops can use if they need to.

10.6 is the "really" new OS and 10.5 is the please everybody product to fill the gaps left by old curmudgeons and others who haven't changed their computer for five or more years.

Makes sense to me.

Microsoft should have seriously hired you lol . That is a strategy that they really missed!!!

 

[EagerDragon]

If they drop PPC, that means that 2 to 3 million people will not be purchasing and upgrading the OS.

Speed and stability while important, sound rather boring. What is going to get people to upgrade and shell out $129?

What ever happened to that SUN file system "ZFS" that Apple was playing with?
What ever happened to Resolution Independence?

If it is only speed and stability, why bother showing it to developers? There is nothing new there to show.

Sounds to me like there has to be more than just a speed and stability release, otherwise why not just release 10.5.7 for stability and speed?

 

[FreeState]

It is only a guess, but maybe Apple will release its first Multi-Touch Macs (or MacBooks or whatever) in early 2009. These would require the OS to be Multi-Touch compatible.
But Apple is not going to ship only Multi-Touch Macs by then, so they need OS X to support Macs with and without Multi-Touch. They could do this by releasing 10.6 (maybe free for existing Leopard users, because it would only be an upgrade to security, stability and speed for them).
In this scenario it would make sense, if they were dropping PPC support, because this release wouldn't add functionality for PPC.

This fits my thinking as well. Makes since too - Apple needs to get a multi-touch mac out in the market before Microsoft does if they are gunning for the enterprise market.

 

[edenwaith]

Optimization

Meh. I'll only believe this once I hear it from the Apple's mouth.

But when is Microsoft going to release an optimized version of Vista? Seriously, the requirements for Vista to even run half-way decently are ridiculous, which is pretty much requiring people and businesses to purchase new hardware if they want to run Microsoft's latest OS. So if someone really needs to buckle down and optimize the !@%@ out of their system, it should be Vista. I'm able to run Mac OS 10.4.11 on 9 year old Macs, and I'm currently running Leopard on a PowerMac that is 5 or 6 years old. I'm certainly not going to try and put Vista on a 5 year old PC.

 

[nuckinfutz]

It's not too hard to believe really

Snow Leopard may or may not be the name but having a sort of "mid" upgrade kind of makes sense to me (not at $129)

I'd pay $89 for this.

1. Perfomance optimizing that make my computer feel like it's 400Mhz faster.
2. Not huge ..but substantive improvements to iCal (needs work) and Address Book UI.
3. Better Quicklook support and Quicktime with more codec support.
4. Spaces 1.5 without some of the issues I've read about (granted I don't use it enough yet)
5. ZFS (Read/Write) and Resolution Independence
6. Core Data Multi User
7. Cocoa Touch

Apple wouldn't have to put the marketing effort into like it was a world beater but they'd be able to deliver a half generation jump forward and solidfy Cocoa as the preeminnent API and perhaps ditch PPC.

 

[Virgil-TB2]

... "Lep-you-ard" (similar to how Steve pronounced Jaguar)

You mean the original, correct way to pronounce the word?

That's pretty outrageous of Steve to do that. I mean what is he? Some kind of accuracy prone guy who cares about proper word pronunciation or something?

 

[Poll Smoker]

So what are you going on about? You tried using Vista recently. Everyone who has a Mac on here should be thankful and the ones that complain should stop, give Vista a whirl.

Blah, blah, blah -- windows sucks -- blah blah blah -- Apple is so awesome that there's not even any room for improvement -- blah, blah, blah.

 

[NodyF1]

I vote for Ocelot. It's a pity they already used the biggest cat (Tiger) already--now it's time to go small. Ocelot, the small big cat.

It's got the lowest body temperature at rest of any big cat, making it the coolest cat.

What about OSX 10.6 Liger - They make Tigers look like domestic house cats!!

 

[Peace]

Apple has used the word snow before. I see no reason why this would be any different.

 

[Digital Skunk]

If they drop PPC, that means that 2 to 3 million people will not be purchasing and upgrading the OS.

Speed and stability while important, sound rather boring. What is going to get people to upgrade and shell out $129?

What ever happened to that SUN file system that Apple was playing with?

If it is only speed and stability, why bother showing it to developers? There is nothing new there to show.

Sounds to me like there has to be more than just a speed and stability release, otherwise why not just release 10.5.7 for stability and speed?

Good thinking if I must say so. Why release a entirely new OS just for speed and stability? I think they should be putting it into the current one and if there are no new features then where's the need for a new OS?

This fits my thinking as well. Makes since too - Apple needs to get a multi-touch mac out in the market before Microsoft does if they are gunning for the enterprise market.

I would hope that Apple does, but for much of Apple Inc.'s history they have just entered into markets that others have started and tossed things up a bit. I think MS will have their touch gesture tablet out far before Apple, then Apple will release it's version with some new way of doing something, or some flashy OS and people will go crazy.

p.s. If it is just a stability update, then call it 10.6 Healed Leopard, or 10.6 We Fixed it... if you know what I mean.

 

[cal6n]

*snip*

Finally it's revealed what took the bite out of the apple logo all those years ago!

That secret's been "out" for years...

 

[Mekgek]

Focus on performance and stability sounds great. I'd love to see the following:

- Greatly improved finder
- Resolution independence
- Advanced multi-touch support

If dropping PPC support really improves performance(?) that would be nice too. Another thing maybe the new filesystem (ZFS)

 

[DMann]

Aren't we rather burning our bridges by dropping stuff that we might one day need?

Ah, but Steve will have a PPC version running secretly in the labs, in parallel existence, just like he did with OSX on Intel.

If this rumor is true, at least bring us resolution independence, ZFS, a tabbed finder, and multi-touch via a transformed mouse with a multi-touch pad. These two features alone would make the upgrade worthwhile.

 

[saminsocks]

Why does everyone assume that just because a new OS may or may not come out Apple will stop supporting the old ones? I haven't seen any reason to upgrade to Leopard but if a version comes out that'll allow me to do my work more efficiently I may have to get it. PPC support has to last for at least 3 years after they sold the last one, so while PPC users may not have the newest product it doesn't mean they're on their own. And if there really are no real features then people can decide if they want to use 10.5 or 10.6, the only real difference being performance. It seems a little silly to make it 10.6, but I think that's so that it's clear that there's a distinction. Otherwise how will you be able to tell which service update is the one you need? And 10.5 1/2 doesn't really work...

And Photoshop's decision not to release a 64-bit version of CS4 for Mac was announced to have something to do with their going away from Carbon support, so it wouldn't surprise me if it happens soon. Again, I don't think this means that Apple will support Carbon, only that people will have the option to have an OS without the support added, for those who don't need it. I think it would be nice to have an option not to include Rosetta as well. I switched to Mac for its simplicity. And although it's nowhere near as bad as Windows, the fewer features my OS has that I never have need for, the better.

 

[Burtonsnow9]

didn't Adobe announce a couple months ago that they wouldn't be doing a 64-bit version of their apps next update?

Do you think there might be a reason why? Like re-doing it for Cocoa?

yea if you search for news on cs4 on adobe's site it says that it wont be going to 64-bit with cs4 because apple dropped support for carbon 64 for cocoa.

heres a snip from the site and a link to it as well. scroll down in the article to where it talks about it:

"As we wrapped up Photoshop CS3, our plan was to ship 64-bit versions of the next version of Photoshop for both Mac and Windows. On the Mac Photoshop (like the rest of the Creative Suite, not to mention applications like Apple's Final Cut Pro and iTunes) relies on Apple's Carbon technology. Apple's OS team was busy enabling a 64-bit version of Carbon, a prerequisite for letting Carbon-based apps run 64-bit-native.

At the WWDC show last June, however, Adobe & other developers learned that Apple had decided to stop their Carbon 64 efforts. This means that 64-bit Mac apps need to be written to use Cocoa (as Lightroom is) instead of Carbon. This means that we'll need to rewrite large parts of Photoshop and its plug-ins (potentially affecting over a million lines of code) to move it from Carbon to Cocoa."

It continues to say that it will be cocoa for cs5 though. this may bring some truth to what this rumor is saying, however it is probably referencing moving to cocoa for any 64 bit applications.

check it out for yourself : http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/64bit/