Mac OS X 10.6 to debut at WWDC 08? Not a chance.


I woke up this morning to a flurry of rumor talk because of the “information” that TUAW received yesterday.

According to the rumor Steve Jobs is going to reveal the plans for OS X 10.6 at WWDC 2008. Not only that – but the next version of OS X will feature ZERO new features, instead focusing on “stability and security”, a preview build will seed to developers, it will go gold in December 2008, and be on sale in January of 2009 at Macworld!

And monkeys will fly out of my butt.

Now, I’m not saying that its impossible that Jobs will mention 10.6 – that’s certainly a possibility, but the idea that it will have no new features, and be released in January is just too much for me to swallow.

First off, Leopard was only released in October of last year. After it was delayed because they couldn’t get it finished. You’re telling me that in 6 months they’ve put something together that is significant enough to be a major release? I don’t think so.

Plus, the idea that Apple is going to release a major operating system with no new features is just plain silly. Who’s going to buy that? Sure, some will, but not near the numbers that just plunked down their money for Leopard less than a year ago. I know we’d like to believe that being more secure and being more stable would actually sell and operating system – but we all know that isn’t true. Features – bright, shiney features – sell new versions of OS X…and you can bet 10.6 will have at least a few.

Another major part of this rumor is that 10.6 will be Intel only and will signify the end of the Intel transition. I think its a safe bet when OS X10.6 is released that that will be true – but I think its much more likey that we’ll see it announced at WWDC 2009 – with several new features, than it is to see it next week.

What do you think?


Kossi Adzo

Kossi Adzo is a technology enthusiast and digital strategist with a fervent passion for Apple products and the innovative technologies that orbit them. With a background in computer science and a decade of experience in app development and digital marketing, Kossi brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the Apple Gazette team.

12 Comments

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  1. I agree that it can’t possibly have 0 new features, but I think it’s possible to introduce it in January. It wouldn’t be a big deal actually. There were other releases like that before. It’s normal.

    Mac OS X
    10.0 March 2001
    10.1 September 2001 (a few months later)
    10.2 August 2002 (less than 1 year later)
    10.3 October 2003 (1 year and a little later)
    10.4 April 2005 (1 year and a half later)
    10.5 October 2007 (2 years and a half, originally planned for 2 years)

    I guess it got slower with time.

    So yeah, 15 months of development is not big deal for Apple. It’s normal.

  2. it’s not that impossible… think about it: Steve Jobs said not so long ago he liked to see a new OS every 12-18 months, if it comes out in january, it’s just what he wants. And on what other occasion could he give such an announcement? I think this is a real possibility… on the other hand, i don’t believe in the ‘no feature’ -rumor. i love the week before wwdc: excitement! lol

  3. “And monkeys will fly out of my butt.” That would be pretty funny site! I think this is the first time I have ever heard that phrase I’ll have to remember this one.

    According to the release date history that Lucky lists it is possible we could see a new release in January but who can really tell the future. Maybe those that can make monkeys fly from there butts. :)LOL

  4. I don’t disagree that 10.6 will mark then end of the PPC support, but there’s no way that Apple is going to release an OS just for that. No way. And since there has not been so much as a single rumble about any new “possible” feature additions, I highly doubt that anything they add to 10.6 couldn’t just as easliy be released in 10.5.4.

  5. “Security and stability” sounds like an incremental change . . . maybe 10.5.4 will be announced Monday. I’ve only been a Mac user (and fanatic) for the last 4 years . . . but I have to agree with Michael that an major OS X change usually means new features, or increased performance, not “security & stability”. I gladly plunked down the money for a Family Pack for 10.5. I doubt I would plunk down more of my hard earned money (in a worsening economy) for no additional features, or performance.

  6. I disagree that 10.6 will not support PPC. When the Intel Macs shipped Apple was pretty clear that the next two OSs would be PPC OSs. They tend to support hardware going back at least 5 years with OS releases. They will NOT be abandoning 3 year old hardware with an OS release (if it comes out in 2009).
    They MAY say goodbye to G4s, but I doubt that as well.

  7. no way any new OS will be released in Jan 2009. there’s far too much going on with the iPhone right now!

    Also no way Apple is going to annoy millions of PPC users either.

    Jan 2010 for next release, here’s hoping for a tablet before then!

  8. The average time between releases of OSX is roughly 13.4 months (I did the math), which means that if it comes out in January it would be giving Apple about 15 months to code it. This doesn’t seem unreasonable to me in the least.

  9. Perhaps Mac OSX Snow Leopard would become the first Mac OS for… PC ?

    It’ll justify to release a major OS change, without PPC code inside and that there would be any new feature (for Mac user…)

  10. Well, i love apple and mac os X, but to see an os comeing out that is roomered to have no new features?? i can’t believe that. it’s not like apple to call something like that a mager releace. if it was supposed to have no new features and just security fixes, they could have just have made a security update. as for this roomer that we are about to say bye to ppcs, i know one person with a powerbook G4 running mac os x 10.2 jaguar, and another who is running mac os x 10.3 panther on a ibook G3 witch cost him nothing at all. niether of these people like to keep very up to date with oporating systems but when you get that far behind, even they have to admit that it is time to move on. but now, they will have to get a new computer each because they can’t keep up to date with snowlepard if the roomers are true.
    as for this being the first os for PC, firstly, mac make most of there money from hardware not software.
    i looked on the apple website and they are now celling an imac with 3.06GHZ processer for £1739,. add onto that custumised hardware, you have a computer that is around £2000. about $4000. mac os x lepard costs 89 pounds for the upgrade. if they made snowlepard for pc as well as for macs, what do you think will happen, everyone will buy pcs and install mac os x on them to save there own money.
    also, the thing that keeps mac so secure is the lac of super-mass production. mac os x lepard has 1% of viruses made for it but windows takes up the other 99%. this is because windows is in extreme mass production and everyone uses it.
    mac computers have a system that makes it posible to take the thing out of the box, plug it in, and fire it up, set up accounts and your ready. this goes for after you have installed the newest os on your mac. when you install windows, your drivers might not be working propilly, you might not have them installed or there just might be a falt and then you can’t do anything until they are put right. that can cost about 78 pounds to fix at places like PCworld.
    i am a voiceover user, the builtin screen reader in mac os x lepard is great. but if there is one thing i can really praze apple on, it is makeing the install of the os accessable. microsoft windows vista cheats in the way that you can abort booting from the cd and install within windows xp but it takes longer. if you didn’t know that you would have to boot from the cd and ask for sited assistence from someone else, you would be, to use the turm loosly, a bit scrooed. the windows installs don’t even let you run narator for gods sake. even something as bad as that would be a help.
    back to the point.
    Summary: mac is so big because it is small. In even more simple turms, the mac platform is secure because not many people use it.
    thanks.
    richard.