Appletell

Orchard Spy has released a few screenshots of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and while they look the same as Leopard, (Leopard looked like Tiger once, too) they do tell us some preliminary things about the new OS, and we’ll tell you after the break.

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Mac OS X 10.6 is Snow Leopard. While only mentioned once at the WWDC keynote, it was enough to let us make some very safe assumptions. Snow Leopard, as evidenced by its name, is a bigger than usual incremental update. Here’s what I’m expecting.

• Snow Leopard will have some visual tweaks. The only way this isn’t happening is if it is free or very discounted. Apple will not be able to get many laymen to buy an OS that looks the same.
• It will remain under the hood, much the same as Leopard, with fixes and stability changes.
• If it is free, then it is entirely likely that is will be Intel only, and Intel-optimized version that fixes stability and other things without having to simulntaneaously code for PowerPC. It will signal that 10.7/Mac OS Touch will be a big release with no PowerPC support.
• It will contain no new end user features.
• It will not contain Carbon APIs, but Carbon apps will still run. This signals the death of Carbon in Mac OS Touch, with perhaps one last OS before Carbon goes away.

What do you think Snow Leopard will be? it’s still very much a mystery.

Contrary to the recent rumors that Apple would drop PowerPC architecture support with its newest update to OS X, a tipster (and possible Apple insider) was able to acquire the latest build of the soon to be released update of Mac OS X 10.6, and found some evidence that Apple might actually be keeping the chip alive.

The tipster, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, found a WWDC seed release labeled 10.6. Learn what information he found after the break:

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There’s been talk lately about what Apple’s operating system will be like in the future, and some evidence that Apple is already working on it. Will it be entirely multi-touch? What will it be called? If this next rumor is to be true, we might be seeing a sample of what’s to come sooner than we think. TUAW has reported that the next release of the operating system could be debuted by Apple at the WWDC in just five day’s time, and then seeded to developers. They also say the next release could be dropping support for PPC based Macs, and that it could be ready for release in January 2009.

Hold your horses, though, because they also say that a source has told them that Apple is focusing solely on “stability and security” in their next OS, I guess we’ll have to wait until OS 11 to see any groundbreaking features, then (multi-touch here we come).

If the next OS really does leave behind its support for PPC based Macs, this could come as quite a blow to those still using them. Apple has had excellent backwards-compatibility in their previous operating systems (take Leopard, for example), but we all knew there would come a point when they would no longer support PowerPC. Perhaps not this soon? And is this goodbye to universal applications then?

One more question; what will Apple name the new OS?

Via [a href="http://TUAW.com" title="TUAW">TUAW]

Late Tuesday night, in an interview with Forbes.com, an Apple spokesman shed some light on their recent acquisition of PA Semi, a small PowerPC computer chip manufacturer.  This buy out is a very interesting one indeed, as Apple ditched PA Semi’s PWRficient processors for Intel’s x86 design back in 2005.  Steve Jobs’ reasoning behind the move was although PWRficient was, you guessed it, very energy efficient, it had no where near the processing power Apple was looking for.  This purchase is also a huge blow to Intel, as Apple was one of their biggest customers.  With the recent acquisition, Intel’s recently released Atom chip, which was targeted at the iPhone, may take a back seat to the versatile PWRficient chips.  The adapted PWRficient chips could be used in every from a MacBook Pro to an iPod Nano, and Apple prefers to get everything from the inside- no third parties are best.

The decision to center the iPhone design around a chip that Apple could own marks a significant strategic choice by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, and is aimed at ensuring Apple can continue to differentiate its flagship phone as a raft of competitors flood the market. According to a source affiliated with the chip company, Jobs and Senior Vice President Tony Fadell led the tiny group of executives who spearheaded the acquisition, which included negotiations that took place in Jobs’ home.

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iPhone developers are signing up, in the masses at a rapid rate. The number simply keeps on growing. Though, how many potential iPhone developers are running on a PowerPC system? A lot, apparently, and Mike Rundle is one of those people. Still on his PowerPC G4, Mike was desperate to get the newly released SDK. After heading over to Apple’s site, signing up, and beginning the download, Mike realized that the SDK is Intel only, or was Intel only. Determined to run the SDK and develop, Mike figured out a way to get the SDK and new developer tools running on his non-Intel, PowerPC processor. Using individual installers, he installed packages one by one, until all of them were installed, essentially bypassing the mass batch installer that Apple launches for the user.

Mike reports that the SDK works fine, that the documentation and instructions are all there, and even the emulator/simulator works, giving full development support on the PowerPC platform. The only problems are a build error within Xcode (reported to be normal) and the possibility of not being able to have your applications digitally signed and certificated by Apple. Mike has written a post describing how to install the SDK, which can be found on 3by9.

[3by9] Via [Ars Technica]

At Macworld 2008, Steve Jobs noted that Apple had provided updates every week for the year so far (at the time only 2 weeks). He also remarked that that was only 2 down, and 50 more to go. As time goes on, it’s becoming more and more clear that he was hinting that Apple would be updating something every week of the year. So far, it has held true.

In previous years, Apple updates were big. When a product was updated, it usually had a different look. Look at the iMac G3, iMac G4, and iMac G5 as a prime example. Little speed bumps were infrequent. Since Apple’s transition to Intel, there have been many more speed bumps, but not as many case changes. The iMac is the only product that has seen a case change since the introduction of Intel. The Mac Pro has held the same case since its PowerMac G5 days. The MacBook Pro has had the same case since the PowerBook G4. And the consumer level notebook, now named the MacBook, has been a white plastic slab since the iBook G3 back in 2001.

So why has Apple seemingly changed course? I believe the reason is twofold. First, Apple’s main computer idea is self-containment and thinness. At this point in time, there is no way to keep the specs of any of their computers while at the same time making them thinner. The iMac has pretty much achieved the goal of being “just a display.” Hence the last update keeping the same form factor and just changing the material the iMac was made from. Also, Intel is putting out chip updates much faster than the PowerPC chips ever came out. And Intel isn’t waiting around. They have announced that they are going to actively slam their new chipsets into the market leader seat, by cutting off the old chips, instead of phasing them out as before.

Overall, these updates are better. I like having little speed bumps more and more often. Though a case change is always fun, right now (with the exception of the MacBook), all of Apple’s computers are both beautiful and functional, something that other companies have caught onto but still haven’t perfected.