Mac OS X Lion tipped for this week or next

Stephen Withers
Monday, 04 July 2011 10:57

Business IT - Technology

July's here and the blogosphere is full of rumours about the exact release date for Lion, Apple's latest version of Mac OS X. And it seems there's some good news on the virtualisation front.

With the release to developers of the golden master build of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion at the end of last week, it shouldn't be too long before it reaches the rest of us. During the Lion presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference last month, Apple merely revealed that the new OS would be released in July.

Speculation is now rife about exactly when Lion will appear in the App Store. (In case you've been incommunicado, we know that Lion will - at least initially - be available for existing Macs only from the Mac App Store as an upgrade from Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.)

Suggestions are flying around that Lion may arrive this week (July 6 is one specific date that's been mentioned) or next (July 14 is another supposed candidate). Both of these are US time, so add a day for Australia.

Given that it's a holiday weekend in the US, releasing the golden master (GM) on the Friday with the intention of starting sales on Wednesday doesn't give developers much time to provide Apple with feedback about any issues they uncover with the GM.

There are also reports (eg, MacRumors) that the Lion licence allows use on up to two virtual machines. The clause specifically limits use to each "Mac Computer" owned or controlled by the licensee.

What about virtualising Snow Leopard to keep Rosetta? Please read on.