Apple to showcase Snow Leopard at Macworld - report
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.
"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.
Comments
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.
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!
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.
Ref: FY08 results, http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008...t_results.html
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.
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.
Showcase ≠ shipping.
Still, I can't see them having something even remotely presentable by then.
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
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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).