Jobs says Apple’s current OS update schedule to continue


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Steve Jobs spoke with the New York Times about Leopard, saying that this latest release of OSX would form the basis for another cycle of continuous operating system upgrades, which could last as long as a decade.

“I’m quite pleased with the pace of new operating systems every 12 to 18 months for the foreseeable future,” said Jobs. “We’ve put out major releases on the average of one a year, and it’s given us the ability to polish and polish and improve and improve.”

This is, of course, in stark contrast to Microsoft’s Windows, which only has new releases every several years. Their current OS, Vista, has a (some would say confusing) variety of choices to pick from when selecting the version to buy. OSX, however, only comes in one flavor, and you get the “Ultimate Edition” of Leopard for only $129 – vs. $250 for Vista Ultimate.

The next version of Windows, dubbed “Windows 7”, will be coming in 2010, which should give Apple time to release at least 2 more updates to OSX based on their current out put.

Frankly, I love the almost annual updates to OSX. Every year (or so) we get significant improvements on our systems, and new and exciting ways to use our Macs.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

4 Comments

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  1. I think an update every 18 months would be perfect. Back when we got one every year at WWDC it was almost a waste buying the new OS knowing that a new one would be out in a year (and let’s face it, $120 is a lot of money for a lot of people).

    18 months would be quite a bit better.

  2. Yea, every year is a bit excessive, but lets be honest, not even Apple can do that, I’m happy with every 2 years or so.

  3. More time is well advised. They should make sure that future upgrades have fewer glitches than Leopard, otherwise you just get into “windowitis.” My MacPro was running perfectly on Tiger. I’m, sorry I changed because now I am getting all kinds of weird anomalies, like the mail client simply shutting down, and overall loss of processing speed. My motto for the future is don’t change as long as your current system is running well – the rest is just advertising hype – just like Windows.