http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/06/04/mac-os-x-10-6-code-named-snow-leopard-may-be-pure-cocoa
Whoa, Nelly! Apple may not be ready to go single-source on their CPUs just yet...
http://gizmodo.com/5014251/source-os-x-106-snow-leopard-will-support-powerpc-chips (http://gizmodo.com/5014251/source-os-x-106-snow-leopard-will-support-powerpc-chips)
We may find out as soon as tomorrow just what Apple's plans are for PPC-based Macs.
Am I the only one who thinks Snow Leopard is a poor choice of names? First, it's an endangered species, and one which sounds like market-speak for "Leopard-on-ice". Plus - there's still plenty of one-word, "cool" cat names out there. Just a thought.
Dan
re: Snow Leopard:
If it is a major OS X upgrade, then I would agree that it's kind of a lame name.
If, as some other forum discussion I was reading was suggesting, that it's just like a SP2 for Windows XP, with a clean-up/increased speed, and just to able to keep saying that they're upgrading the OS on a regular basis, then I can live with Snow Leopard. Most people were saying it better not be $129 price, just for improved speed/bug-fixing - that it should be free ala SP2 or 10.1.
Hey, it's scheduled to be released in January - mind you, it's not that snowy in San Francisco :D Someone suggested Cheetah re: being faster... And there were suggestions that it would be better to give a new, non-PPC able version a new name, such that you could say "Needs 10.6, or Snow Leopard, or better to run" rather than, 10.5.x or better".
-Mike
Cheetah was 10.0's unofficial name inside Apple, and Puma was 10.1, so it would seem those aren't eligible. However, I'm reading the same things you are, 10.6 is about stability, speed improvements and incorporation of whatever new devices and technologies Apple is planning for between now and next MacWorld.
Pardon my rant, but this is one of my pet peeves with Apple. When is a dot-something a "major" upgrade? Apple's been hoodwinking us for years with this numbering scheme. For those of you not familiar with software engineering terms (lucky you! - but bear with us), this is how software is "versioned":
major.minor[.build[.revision]]
i.e., Macintosh OS X, version 10.5.3 aka Leopard
Here's where we're being hoodwinked. OS X is really still version 1. Version 2, or OS XI (OS X, ver. 11.0???) would be a "major" upgrade. A dot-something is a minor upgrade. A dot-dot-something is a revision. We've never left version One, so there has never been a major upgrade, except when OS X went from pre-alpha to full release - the so-called version 10.0 or Cheetah (version One - you see?).
Here's how those levels are defined, usually:
Quotethe major number is increased when there are significant jumps in functionality, the minor number is incremented when only minor features or significant fixes have been added, and the revision number is incremented when minor bugs are fixed (Wikpedia:Software versioning)
Some could argue that the "10" is technically redundant. In fact that's the only argument that makes sense of both charging $99 for minor updates with free incremental revisions, ie, 10.x.0->10.x.5 = free, 10.x->10.y ~ $99. So, OS X started at version 0 (10.0), and has had major updates, 1, 2, 3, 4, and recently 5 (10.5). Sounds reasonable.
Others would say that OS X, 10.0 was the base release, and that all subsequent releases have been minor updates and revisions. This is more in line with Open Source version numbering, and most of Apple's previous software version numbering as well. This is also more in line with people's experience with the first four updates, 0, 1, 2, and 3 - the first really stable release for most being version 3 - or 10.3. Tiger and Leopard were undoubtedly major updates, which only clouds the whole issue.
On the plus side, there is a rumour also circulating that this update could be priced lower than Tiger and Leopard. A decent compromise, but I'm still blurry on how fixing something that doesn't work is an upgrade - when GM recalls a car, it's not for an "upgrade"!
Dan
Quote from: Dan Millar on June 08, 2008, 09:47:48 PM
Whoa, Nelly! Apple may not be ready to go single-source on their CPUs just yet...
If I still owned a PowerPC Mac, I wouldn't be feeling very confident about Apple supporting it for much longer, even if support is retained for Snow Leopard. This next release is happening very quickly.
Quote
Am I the only one who thinks Snow Leopard is a poor choice of names?
As many have already noted, the nomenclature could become a disaster. "OS Ten" (OS X) is cool enough and they should stay with it. "X" is hip... mutants, gaming hardware...
"OS Eleven" (OS XI) will not be so cool.
As for the cat codenames, Snow Leopard is nice but not so soon after having used Leopard. They could use Siberian Tiger, which is one fearsome beast. Or they could go with the totally extinct: Sabretooth. They are running out of large living predators and will soon have to start using habitat qualifiers or Ocelot, Tabby, Calico, and Alleycat. (o:
No mention of PPC being dropped/kept in the Snow Leopard press release, and this next release is far from happening quickly - the press release reads - "one year" - from now. That's just in line with Apple's purported version cycle of 12-18 months - though Leopard was in the works for three years.
I guess we shoud be discussing this in the General Discussions forum... though we are talking about support - for the PPC.
By the way - the PPC is FAR from dead, that's why MS is using them for XBOX. How ironic.
Dan
Quote from: Dan Millar on June 09, 2008, 03:58:35 PM
No mention of PPC being dropped/kept in the Snow Leopard press release
A conspicuous absence.
Quote
I guess we shoud be discussing this in the General Discussions forum... though we are talking about support - for the PPC.
By the way - the PPC is FAR from dead, that's why MS is using them for XBOX. How ironic.
Yes, my thinking is that it's a support matter -- users should be aware. PPC is leaving the Apple world and doesn't get first-line support from Ubuntu anymore, either. The writing is on the wall.
Well, start up the rumour mill - here's a list of requirements for the Snow Leopard beta:
(http://images.macrumors.com/article/2008/06/11/131105-6846_400.jpg)
Hmmm, that could change, but it seems unlikely at this point...
Dan
Quote from: Dan Millar on June 12, 2008, 12:15:07 PM
Well, start up the rumour mill
This is at least two highway exits past rumour. (o: