Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 10 June 2008 08:08
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Well, the tipsters got the code name right. The working name for Mac OS X 10.6 is Snow Leopard. But what else has now been revealed, and how accurate were the rumours?
First of all, the tipsters were over-optimistic as far as timing is concerned. To the best of my knowledge, all that attendees at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) have been given is a preview of what's ahead, not a pre-release copy of the operating system as predicted in some quarters.
And rather than a January 2009 release, Apple is talking in terms of "about a year." Given the tendency for software projects to slip rather than come in ahead of time, my expectation is that it will be in the second half of 2009 at best. Next year's WWDC is a possibility, but around August or September seems a safer bet (accompanying a future hardware release ahead of the Christmas buying season?), with a January 2010 debut at Macworld Expo still not out of the question.
Those who said 10.6 would solely be about performance and reliability also seem to have scored a near miss.
While Apple officials claim "Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, [and] set a new standard for quality", this isn't being achieved without the addition of new features.
While you can write off the forthcoming "fastest implementation of JavaScript ever" as just an under-the-bonnet performance tweak (though that's not to underestimate its significance), native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in Mail, iCal and Address Book will make a big difference to corporate and other users. Assuming the job's done right, this will remove one major reason for buying Microsoft Office.
What else is coming for the business brigade? Please turn to
page 2.
