Evidence suggests Apple at work on Mac OS X 10.7

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Apple is unsurprisingly already at work on the next version of its operating system, according to a new technical message that references Mac OS X 10.7.



As first discovered by MacRumors, a new database entry for the open source "launchd" framework responsible for booting Mac OS X references "11A47" with a new error message. Based on Apple's numbering scheme, the numerical prefix of a Mac OS X build determines the version number, and 11A47 would suggest a reference to the next version of the operating system, Mac OS X 10.7.



When it shipped, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard carried the build number 10A432, and subsequent updates 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 had the prefixes 10B and 10C, respectively. For Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, 10.5.0 builds leading up to launch were represented by the prefix 9A.



While the information suggests Apple has begun work on Mac OS X 10.7, as expected, it offers no hints or details as to what the next version of the operating system might offer.



Apple released Snow Leopard in August with great success, doubling the debut numbers of its predecessor, Leopard, and earning four times more sales than Tiger. Snow Leopard was given a warm reception due to its inexpensive $29 price and noteworthy performance boosts.



Snow Leopard's August release came nearly two years after Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard debuted in October 2007. Its predecessor, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, was introduced in April 2005.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 77
    I call BS. Sounds far-fetched to me.
  • Reply 2 of 77
    No surprise there. I would imagine that the new UI changes that they were thinking for 10.6 are going to appear in 10.7. Also, since they've tweaked under the hood, I wouldn't be shocked if 10.7 appears on store shelves sooner rather than later, depending on what happens with the whole tablet form factor system... assuming it's going to actually happen.



    The question here is going to be one of developers -- if there are any significant UI changes, I would imagine we're going to see them at WWDC 2011 in order to give software makers time to get their software ready.



    I'm thinking there are two directions we'll see: the first a unifying platform between the tablet and desktop, or second, the desktop OS will start to get pushed out a bit more between releases as the feature set has stabilized and the tablet OS gets more attention. Until there are any major breakthroughs in user interface design, I can't see Apple rocking the boat too much and raise the ire of their pro customers.
  • Reply 3 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by trip1ex View Post


    I call BS. Sounds far-fetched to me.



    How is this far-fetched at all? Companies start work on this kind of stuff as soon as, if not a little before, the current software is released. I am confident Microsoft is working on Windows 8, Adobe is hard at work on CS5, Infinity Ward is working on Modern Warfare 3, etc. Things like this take 1-3 or 4 years to get completed, so it makes sense to start right when the other stuff is out, or else you will fall behind schedule.
  • Reply 4 of 77
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Somebody who understands software development. A company like Apple is working on multiple versions of future OSes at the same time.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hittrj01 View Post


    How is this far-fetched at all? Companies start work on this kind of stuff as soon as, if not a little before, the current software is released. I am confident Microsoft is working on Windows 8, Adobe is hard at work on CS5, Infinity Ward is working on Modern Warfare 3, etc. Things like this take 1-3 or 4 years to get completed, so it makes sense to start right when the other stuff is out, or else you will fall behind schedule.



  • Reply 5 of 77
    pxtpxt Posts: 683member
    Or maybe it's 11.0. The giant-killer.
  • Reply 6 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PXT View Post


    Or maybe it's 11.0. The giant-killer.



    Unlikely, given the internal numbering. I'm sure OS XI will drop all legacy support (including Carbon) and is some way away.



    As for 10.7, well, it'll probably be 64-bit only, probably dual-core dependent and hopefully they'll FTFF.
  • Reply 7 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by trip1ex View Post


    I call BS. Sounds far-fetched to me.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hittrj01 View Post


    How is this far-fetched at all?



    I'm thinking that was sarcasm. I would hope that Apple has been working on their next version for some time now.
  • Reply 8 of 77
    So, why *wouldn't* apple be working on 10.7?



    My guess is the ground work for 10.7 got moving before 10.6 even made it out the door.
  • Reply 9 of 77
    Not surprised. Remember, the goal of Snow Leopard was to create a clean base for future versions of Mac OS X which is why the GUI is just an improved Leopard.
  • Reply 10 of 77
    OMG I can't wait. It's going to be awesome! I'm already so bored with 10.6's bland and outdated look.
  • Reply 11 of 77
    The blog-o-sphere is afire with rumors of Apple working on 10.7? Is it a slow news day or something?



    I'd assumed they've been working on this since the day 10.6 was released, if not before.



    I think it's safe to assume they're working on iPhone OS 4 now, and AppleTV OS 4 as well.
  • Reply 12 of 77
    I'm expecting 10.7 to involve multitouch and hopefully a re-unified GUI theme (don't care if it's 'illuminous' or 'marble' or whatever, I just want them to make everything consistent and drop the Aqua buttons and scrollbars in favor of the Quicktime X/10.6 Dock contextual menu/Cover Flow scrollbar look. Also expecting serious improvements to Quicktime X, since as AI mentioned in an earlier article, it's something of a reboot of the codebase and is likely to support export/plugins again at some point in the future so they can drop QT Player 7.



    I'm not expecting it to go dual-core/64-bit only for now, but I could be wrong. I think fully transitioning to Intel with 10.6 is going to be plenty for the next few years.



    I'll be curious, though, since 10.6 as a 'code' release suggests strongly that 10.7 will be a 'feature' release.



    Speaking of OSes, I'm very curious to hear more about future revisions of the iPhone OS - hopefully as we move into 2010 we'll be hearing more.
  • Reply 13 of 77
    This is the most REDUNDANT article I have ever read on this site. Come on people. That is like saying Apple is working on technology to sell you later. Good grief!!!
  • Reply 14 of 77
    people in the media keep going on about "mature" os's and such saying there's nothing left to really add. that's total bs. like why don't "modern, mature" os's have network awareness? like in the sense that, well if i'm on my home network, I want my network drives mounted, and if i'm at work, i don't. (or want different ones) so that i can't click the wrong thing. Or like how come it can't tell when i'm on my home network that it should switch the default printer to my home printer and not the office printer.



    I thought laptops were starting to sell more than desktops so how come portability features aren't being worked in?



    p.s. what the heck was the point of this article. "Yes, we've got insider sources telling us people at apple are still going to work in the morning even after the release of snow leopard"
  • Reply 15 of 77
    stuffestuffe Posts: 394member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RadicalxEdward View Post


    people in the media keep going on about "mature" os's and such saying there's nothing left to really add. that's total bs. like why don't "modern, mature" os's have network awareness? like in the sense that, well if i'm on my home network, I want my network drives mounted, and if i'm at work, i don't. (or want different ones) so that i can't click the wrong thing. Or like how come it can't tell when i'm on my home network that it should switch the default printer to my home printer and not the office printer.



    I thought laptops were starting to sell more than desktops so how come portability features aren't being worked in?



    p.s. what the heck was the point of this article. "Yes, we've got insider sources telling us people at apple are still going to work in the morning even after the release of snow leopard"



    You need "core location" my friend. Expect to see it being used for exactly this very soon.
  • Reply 16 of 77
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Lion touch.
  • Reply 17 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stuffe View Post


    You need "core location" my friend. Expect to see it being used for exactly this very soon.



    I disagree. You don't really need the core location service for this type of behavior. All you need is the network stack to recognize what network you're on (using the MAC address or whatever of your router) and initiate the appropriate network connections for that network.



    You can already sort-of do this with OS X networking with the different profiles that specify if things like VPN are auto-launched on the particular connection you're on. It doesn't seem much of a stretch to say if I am at home, launch my network drive connections, if I am at Starbucks, turn them off.



    Core location tries to actually figure out where you are in the world physically. It's not quite the same thing.
  • Reply 18 of 77
    desarcdesarc Posts: 642member
    apple is working on 10.7?

    that's a surprise.



    in other breaking news, microsoft is working on winmo7, ea sports is working on *sport title* 2k11, car manufacturers are working on their next model year cars, and the movie industry is working on sequels.
  • Reply 19 of 77
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by desarc View Post


    In other breaking news, microsoft is working on winmo7, ea sports is working on *sport title* 2k11, car manufacturers are working on their next model year cars, and the movie industry is working on sequels.



    The movie industry has moved on to prequels.
  • Reply 20 of 77
    I would be very surprised if they were not working on the next version of MAC OS X.



    Steve keeps Apple's programmers busy ...
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