While the 3G iPhone may have stolen the show at Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC 2008, Apple did sneak in a little bit of information on the next major release of Mac OS X 10.6  - dubbed”Snow Leopard”. While the past few releases of the Mac OS have been feature filled with tons of end-user goodies, this next release is expected to focus on improving the quality and performance of the OS. While not many details have been released, a few key features coming include “Grand Central” which will allow devevlopers to take advantage of multi-core systems, the entire operating system’s footprint will also be dramatically reduced - most likely to port over to the iPhone and AppleTV. The operating system would also be entirely 64-bit, theoretically able to support 16TB of RAM - which is right now unearthly possible on our macs.

Now, Apple has also stated that with Snow Leopard, will come Safari 4, and Quicktime X. Quicktime X, Apple has stated, will be able to handle all modern codecs and able to compete more with Internet standards. Presumably, iTunes X would also come out around this time. Safari 4 would run with faster javascript support and presumably a new javascript engine. Also included out of the box is Microsoft Exchange Server support. 

So, what can users expect? Well, we’re not going to get a revamped finder and Time Machine like we got in leopard, but we are going to have a more stable computer. There’s lots of debate on what the price could possibly be. While some argue that it should be free, that doesn’t quite seem like Apple. Instead, they might charge $29 or $49 - and include maybe one key feature to entice users to make the switch. While it would be better for users to adopt “Snow Leopard”, they would not want to do so at $130, with no new features for them to play with. 

I’d assume that Apple is aiming to fix leopard’s mistakes and move most of the Mac OS over to intel. It is widely rumored that Snow Leopard will be intel only. Notably, Snow Leopard is supposed to decrease the footprint of the Mac OS - which would make it easier to port over to the iPhone and other Apple devices such as the AppleTV. Also, with Quicktime X, Apple is probably looking to compete with Internet standards such as Flash.

“Snow Leopard” might not be the glamorous OS update, but it will be a crucial one. While only a few details have been released, preparations are already in the works - for a release date slated as “next year” and betas already seeded to developers. 

I’d like to know, what everyone thinks of Apple’s strategy with the next OS release, what you think needs to be fixed/added, and even what you think of that name - Snow Leopard!

See Apple’s Official Snow Leopard Page.