Apple to showcase Snow Leopard at Macworld - report

[AppleInsider]

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller will use a portion of his keynote address at next month's Macworld Expo to show off a more refined version of the company's upcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system, according to UK's Guardian.

"Apple and its partners have been privately dropping hints to developers that its upcoming release of its Mac OS X operating system, dubbed Snow Leopard, will ship earlier than expected," the report says.

It's unclear if the newspaper is basing its claims solely on a presentation slide used by Apple's Unix technology director during a recent system administrators conference, or whether it has other reason to believe an early release is in order.

The slide shown last month by Jordan Hubbard provided a historical rundown of major Mac OS X releases alongside their release date and how long it took the engineers to bring the software to market. It listed Snow Leopard for a release during the first quarter of 2009 (Jan-Mar) following a development cycle of "14+ months."

While announcing Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard at its developers conference last June, Apple stated that the software was "scheduled to ship in about a year," which would have put its release somewhere in the second or third quarter of the year, rather than the first.

In its report, the Guardian suggests that Schiller will confirm speculation of an early release during his keynote address at January's Macworld Expo while touting two of the software's core features: Grand Central and OpenCL.

The report also cites Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, as saying Microsoft has given Apple good reason to push for an earlier than expected release of Snow Leopard. The Redmon-based rival is also working on its next-gen system software, dubbed Windows 7, which is similarly scheduled to drop mid-year.

"There is a rush to get the new platforms to market. The estimate for Microsoft's Windows 7 is sometime in June," he said. "Apple would like to beat that. Having something with which Apple can pound on Microsoft until 7 shows up could do good things for their volume."

A slide from Jordan Hubbard's presentation at the LISA conference last month.

The analyst goes on to say that although Apple is expected to show off Snow Leopard at Macworld, it's unlikely that consumers are going to be able to obtain a copy until two or three months later.

Indeed, the most recent betas of the software issued privately to developers this month reveal that some of Snow Leopard's core features are still evolving.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller will use a portion of his keynote address at next month's Macworld Expo to show off a more refined version of the company's upcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system, ...

Even though I am sure Snow Leopard will be great, personally I think the new Safari improvements and QuickTime X are going to be the one two punch of next year. Apple will put Microsoft and Adobe back on their heels in regards the only OS that really matters, the Web.

[ltcommander.data]

Hopefully Apple is careful with this. Getting things out earlier than expected is great and all, but really only works positively if it is full featured and stable. Beating Windows 7 to the gate solely for the PR bullet point isn't advantageous. I guess Apple will be working overtime over the Christmas holidays to complete all the features and have something like a release candidate ready for Macworld to distribute to developers.

[Foo2]

If it's really being slated for an early release, I'd suggest Snow Leopard had better be in tip-top shape. Just being quick to market doesn't cut it. Remember Vista.

[monstrosity]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

Even though I am sure Snow Leopard will be great, personally I think the new Safari improvements and QuickTime X....

Quicktime X eh.......(googles).. how on earth did that slip by me, first I have heard of it, exciting. When was this announced? Thanks for the heads up, have been deep in code for months, and I'm obviously losing touch!

[k2director]

Rob Enderle is a fool. He's the wacko who, when Apple announced the iPhone would have a glass screen, went around telling the press that it was a questionable move, because if you dropped the iPhone the screen would shatter.

He did this months before the iPhone shipped, and stuck to his guns right up to when the iPhone *did* ship, and the glass screen proved quite sturdy.

This guy is a hack, he has no idea what he's saying, even on the most basic of topics.

[Ireland]

Cocoa touch

[iturtle]

For the love of God people, Q1 is FALL for Apple. Right now is their Q1. Everyone at Apple knows this and always refers to their own quarters that way. Stop thinking Snow Leopard could be early by this slide reference alone because if anything this is saying it will be like Leopard was for a release date (mid/late Oct). You're just going to disappoint yourself....again

Ref: FY08 results, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008...t_results.html

[JavaCowboy]

I can't see how Snow Leopard will ship early. Despite the aforementioned "lack of features", it's actually quite an undertaking. Consider the to do list:

1) All Apple apps 64-bit: Right now, only a couple of Apple's own apps are 64-bit.
2) All Apple apps Cocoa: The Finder, iTunes, and QuickTime, all have some Carbon elements.
3) Grand Central.
4) OpenCL.
5) 64-bit kernel.
6) 64-bit drivers.
7) Quicktime X.
8) (Last but certainly not least) Microsoft Exchange support.

There's no way they're delivering this early.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

I can't see how Snow Leopard will ship early. Despite the aforementioned "lack of features", it's actually quite an undertaking.

Showcase ≠ shipping.

iPhone showcase January 07 ≠ iPhone ship date.

[JavaCowboy]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Showcase ≠ shipping.

Still, I can't see them having something even remotely presentable by then.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Still, I can't see them having something even remotely presentable by then.

I guess we'll have to wait and find out then.

They'll probably demo the iDildo

[Booga]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

Even though I am sure Snow Leopard will be great, personally I think the new Safari improvements and QuickTime X are going to be the one two punch of next year. Apple will put Microsoft and Adobe back on their heels in regards the only OS that really matters, the Web.

Quicktime... I remember that technology. That's how people used to watch movies before Flash!

[DestructoTex]

Originally Posted by Foo2

If it's really being slated for an early release, I'd suggest Snow Leopard had better be in tip-top shape. Just being quick to market doesn't cut it. Remember Vista.

I don't think anybody has accused Visa of being quick to market. It took six years, after all.

Careless, yes. Total ignorance/disregard for your customer base? yes. Quick to market? No.

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by iturtle

For the love of God people, Q1 is FALL for Apple. Right now is their Q1. Everyone at Apple knows this and always refers to their own quarters that way. Stop thinking Snow Leopard could be early by this slide reference alone because if anything this is saying it will be like Leopard was for a release date (mid/late Oct). You're just going to disappoint yourself....again

Ref: FY08 results, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008...t_results.html

iTurtle,

Yes, Apple's fiscal Q1 is going on right now. But neither the slide nor we are talking about fiscal quarters regarding Snow Leopard. We're talking about Calendar quarters.

K

[Cubert]

I can't see a release anytime before the end of March. From what I have read, it seems very far from complete.

[Cubert]

Originally Posted by DestructoTex

I don't think anybody has accused Visa of being quick to market. It took six years, after all.

Careless, yes. Total ignorance/disregard for your customer base? yes. Quick to market? No.

Yes, but 6 years is really 2 years in Micro$ucks time. They measure years in their own proprietary units called "Ballmers" that they are actively trying to license.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

I can't see how Snow Leopard will ship early. Despite the aforementioned "lack of features", it's actually quite an undertaking. Consider the to do list:

1) All Apple apps 64-bit: Right now, only a couple of Apple's own apps are 64-bit.
2) All Apple apps Cocoa: The Finder, iTunes, and QuickTime, all have some Carbon elements.
3) Grand Central.
4) OpenCL.
5) 64-bit kernel.
6) 64-bit drivers.
7) Quicktime X.
8) (Last but certainly not least) Microsoft Exchange support.

There's no way they're delivering this early.

JC the only problem with your list is this. None of us knows how long Apple's been working on the aforementioned technology.

Grand Central was probably started after Panther shipped. We have heard that OpenCL has been a multi-year investment in engineering. Quicktime-X is coming from the iPhone and is only a playback mechanism. Apple's Pro apps have been evolving fairly slow. Final Cut Studio hasn't had a significant upgrade in 2 years. Logic Studio in almost a year and a half. Aperture in a good year.

I think that a March delivery is do-able. They will show SL at MW and deliver a new beta. The beta increase in frequency through mid february hitting RC status and manufacturing puts the OS available sometime by mid March.

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by Booga

Quicktime... I remember that technology. That's how people used to watch movies before Flash!

It's also used on this little thing called the iPhone.


I'm easily satisfied, so I personally can't wait to see what they've done with the look of everything. Remember, Leopard looked just like Tiger at WWDC and then got the new unified window borders, less Aqua, reflective Dock-shelf, translucent Menu Bar, etc. at the Macworld that followed. I'm hoping everything will go in the iTunes-matte direction (especially in regard to scroll bars).

[JavaCowboy]

Still, Apple's QA department has been strained before. Despite the delay until October, Leopard (10.5) took a while to stabilize.

As a programmer, I understand the difference between coding a particular feature and testing it to make sure that it works properly. Even the best programmers make mistakes, which I've learned the hard way. The QA department can catch only so many of those mistakes before they make it into prod.

So what may seem to be a simple port of existing code can turn into a nightmare due to seemingly innocuous incompatibilities.

I know the whole point of moving to Cocoa is to have a robust API and reusable code base to get away from the remnants of the old Mac OS. Still, no code is perfect, and based on what I've heard of the latest Snow Leopard builds, they still have a bit a work to do.

Originally Posted by hmurchison

JC the only problem with your list is this. None of us knows how long Apple's been working on the aforementioned technology.

Grand Central was probably started after Panther shipped. We have heard that OpenCL has been a multi-year investment in engineering. Quicktime-X is coming from the iPhone and is only a playback mechanism. Apple's Pro apps have been evolving fairly slow. Final Cut Studio hasn't had a significant upgrade in 2 years. Logic Studio in almost a year and a half. Aperture in a good year.

I think that a March delivery is do-able. They will show SL at MW and deliver a new beta. The beta increase in frequency through mid february hitting RC status and manufacturing puts the OS available sometime by mid March.

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Still, Apple's QA department has been strained before. Despite the delay until October, Leopard (10.5) took a while to stabilize.

Yeah...but the major point of Snow Leopard is stabilization/optimization and not introducing a ton of new features (which Leopard did).

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by iturtle

For the love of God people, Q1 is FALL for Apple. Right now is their Q1. Everyone at Apple knows this and always refers to their own quarters that way. Stop thinking Snow Leopard could be early by this slide reference alone because if anything this is saying it will be like Leopard was for a release date (mid/late Oct). You're just going to disappoint yourself....again

Ref: FY08 results, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008...t_results.html

Slow down there, man. Yearly quarters can be seen from two perspectives:
1) annual, where Q1 is January thru March; and
2) financial, determined by the company

I doubt the slide that referenced Q1 was referring to the financial quarter.

[Denmaru]

Rob Enderle? This Microsoft-Apologist who doesn't know jack about technology? Just google for his name...

[wprowe]

Originally Posted by iturtle

For the love of God people, Q1 is FALL for Apple. Right now is their Q1. Everyone at Apple knows this and always refers to their own quarters that way. Stop thinking Snow Leopard could be early by this slide reference alone because if anything this is saying it will be like Leopard was for a release date (mid/late Oct). You're just going to disappoint yourself....again

Originally Posted by Kasper

Yes, Apple's fiscal Q1 is going on right now. But neither the slide nor we are talking about fiscal quarters regarding Snow Leopard. We're talking about Calendar quarters.

On top of that, the slide said 14+ months from the release of Leopard. The slide showed a 10/2007 Leopard drop date, which would place a 14+ month Snow Leopard drop date at Feb/Mar 2009.

[nizy]

I don't think Apple will release Snow Leopard "early". If you remember, they showed off Leopard way before its launch too - that's all this will be, a public demo of some of its major features like Quicktime X, Exchange, Safari, Grand Central and Open CL (plus some others we don't know about yet). Maybe developers will get a new beta version too.

[adisor19]

I pray that Shiller will drop the bomb and announce that resolution independence will be included in 10.6 !

but then again.. Apple has been soooo quiet about it, it's not even funny anymore

Adi

[FreeState]

Originally Posted by wobegon

It's also used on this little thing called the iPhone.

Quicktime is also used in iTunes, AppleTV, iPods and many cameras among other devices.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by adisor19

I pray that Shiller will drop the bomb and announce that resolution independence will be included in 10.6 !

but then again.. Apple has been soooo quiet about it, it's not even funny anymore

Adi

I've stopped caring about resolution independence. I've seen bupkiss evolution in the PPI of LCD panels.

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The Redmon-based rival is also working on its next-gen system software, dubbed Windows 7, which is similarly scheduled to drop mid-year.

Two questions:
1) Of which year?
2) Does anyone really believe that?

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Still, I can't see them having something even remotely presentable by then.

I have a copy of Snow Leopard from WWDC08... it runs fine although a lot of features were missing. They could very well have a feature complete version ready for MWSF09. All bugs and wrinkles may not be worked out, but should definitely be able to demo it. This is also why I'm sure Steve jobs is not presenting this time... he usually only ever demo's the bling and leaves the technical stuff to someone else to show off. Seeing how Snow Leopard will be all about rebuilding the foundation and not about surface enhancements, it's not wonder Phil will deliver the keynote.

[JavaCowboy]

I see the Microsoft-sponsored trolls are out in full force nowadays.


DON'T QUOTE TROLLS IF YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM. IT'S EXTRA WORK FOR ME.

[mjtomlin]

DON'T QUOTE TROLLS IF YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM. IT'S EXTRA WORK FOR ME.

Umm, yeah. I think you need therapy.

[Dlux]

Originally Posted by Boycott_Apple

On another note, I am flabergasted by the sheer number of computer illiterates still out there...

(blather deleted)

Oh, for gopod's sake, are you now posting here as well? Go away.

[elroth]

DON'T QUOTE TROLLS IF YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM. IT'S EXTRA WORK FOR ME.

Do you get out much, Mr. Bitterman? Sorry about your mental illness.

[bloggerblog]

Admin... Could you please remove this nutcase (Boycott_Apple)?

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

Admin... Could you please remove this nutcase (Boycott_Apple)?

Hit the red exclamation point on those two posts and leave a message for the admins... get those two posts removed from this thread. And possibly 'BoycottApple' removed.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by Boycott_Apple

- Final Cut Pro will be put head to head against Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker. Steve will explain that Final Cut's slow performance and $1000 price tag against Windows Movie Maker's $0 Free, standard distribution and fast speed are simply the "price you pay for the Apple Advantage".

On a second note... This is just priceless!

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

I have a copy of Snow Leopard from WWDC08... it runs fine although a lot of features were missing. They could very well have a feature complete version ready for MWSF09. All bugs and wrinkles may not be worked out, but should definitely be able to demo it. This is also why I'm sure Steve jobs is not presenting this time... he usually only ever demo's the bling and leaves the technical stuff to someone else to show off. Seeing how Snow Leopard will be all about rebuilding the foundation and not about surface enhancements, it's not wonder Phil will deliver the keynote.

It's hard to say how far Apple is along, I think they're probably craking along nicely. I don't really buy into the "Look at the delays with Leopard" approach for a few reasons.

1. Leopard was undoubtedly affected by concurrent development of the iPhone and to a lesser extent the Apple TV.

2. Apple was still fighting a Carbon vs Cocoa battle with the Adobe and Microsofts of the world.

3. Leopard had a boatload of new API hitting.

Fast forward to day and it's reasonable to assume that

1. The iPhone is still under rapid advancement but does not need the startup engineering resources ditto for the Apple TV.

2. Carbon 64 is dead and Apple is focused heavily on making access to frameworks that were formerly Carbon, Cocoa.

3. Snow Leopard is featuring large changes but OpenCL was developed by consortium, Exchange support comes from ActiveSync from MS and Grand Central may have had significant input from Intel.


I presume the demos will be basic.

Quicktime X- Will show glorious HD Disney content and speak on how easy it is to playback media without requiring your whole CPU.

OpenCL- It'll be a boring demo. They'll show some fractal or mandelbrot rendering that is dog slow on current Leopard but will become supercharged on SL

Grand Central- Will show 8 cores pegged and show some nifty multitasking (encoding a file while QTX plays a huge video while the Fractal/Mandlebrot thingy plays in the background.

Exchange Support- Will show how easy and fluid access Exchange server is.


What I'm more interested in knowing is how Apple plans to monetize Snow Leopard. They can't give it away for free but are they doing any favors by trying to charging full price?

[Cavallo]

Post mysteriously deleted by user.

[Adjei]

Originally Posted by wprowe

On top of that, the slide said 14+ months from the release of Leopard. The slide showed a 10/2007 Leopard drop date, which would place a 14+ month Snow Leopard drop date at Feb/Mar 2009.

Dude for all you know that could have been a mistake, watch when March comes and people will be complaining that Snow Leopard is late even though no one has officially stated that is the date to look forward to it.