Apple’s Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system built on technology developed at NeXT (Steve Jobs’ side-project) from the second half of the 1980s until early 1997, when Apple purchased the company.
Mac OS X (currently Leopard) is far and away the best operating system I have ever used. Without getting too technical… Leopard is the fastest, most reliable, stable and powerful Operating System available today.
Apple releases upgrades, enhancements and new features to its Operating Systems in the form of scheduled updates and new version releases. All OS X version releases have been named after big cats, which you can see in the table below. And usually OS releases are approximately one calendar year away from each other.
Leopard was supposed to be unveiled in June 2007. However, as development rapidly progressed on the iPhone, Apple shifted focus solely onto the iPhone to prepare for the iPhone’s June launch. Apple moved engineers and developers over from Leopard specific teams and groups and urged everyone to focus ONLY on iPhone development. This caused the Leopard release to be delayed and released the following October of 2007.
With WWDC approaching in about 10 days, we are only around 4 or 5 months away from a new Apple OS X version release. We are over the half-way, (first half of the new release year, 6 month period) which makes the new Apple OS release countdown inevitable.
I’m getting all tingly inside just thinking about it.
(Given that Lion 10.6 is released in late October)
Loading ...| Date Released | Version # | Big Cat Name | Full Apple Operating System Release Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 officially released versions so far | |||
| March 24, 2001 | 10.0 | Cheetah | Mac OS X version 10.0 Cheetah |
| September 25, 2001 | 10.1 | Puma | Mac OS X version 10.1 Puma |
| August 23, 2002 | 10.2 | Jaguar | Mac OS X version 10.2 Jaguar |
| October 24, 2003 | 10.3 | Panther | Mac OS X version 10.3 Panther |
| April 29, 2005 | 10.4 | Tiger | Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger |
| October 26, 2007 | 10.5 | Leopard | Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard – current |
| 2nd Half 2008 | 10.6 | Lion ? | Mac OS X version 10.6 Lion ? |
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11 Comments to “Mac OS X Lion. Time to start getting excited ! [poll]”
For me… It’s difficult to try and think about new features I would want to see. I’m more or less the type of guy that thinks of a feature I could use for very tiny, tiny niche things and that is what I would build in to the OS.
For example, maybe what you said in the Poll answers about changing the Finder’s Font Size. I think that might be nice, or the ability to change the icon size in your Finder’s SideBar ? Maybe make them bigger and smaller, like a tag cloud of a blog ? Only you could control it ?
That would be pretty amazing.
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I prefer to sit back, relax, and wait for Apple reveal the feature that I can’t live without, but didn’t even know I needed.
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HAHAHAH ! Harvey… You are Exactly the customer Steve wants !!!!
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Apple stated in the past that it was going to a 18 month cycle on new 10.x releases, so i doubt we see anything in 2008, you’re looking at 1st-2nd quarter 2009 before 10.6 hits
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Brian, if you look at the table of OS releases in the post above, it seems as though Apple TRIES to shoot for a 12 month cycle of OS releases. But, they sometimes inevitably get delayed.
It would definitely make sense if Apple waits until MacWorld ‘09 to talk about, announce or unveil OS X 10.6.
But, they could definitely announce it before the end of 2008.
Remember when Steve was like “And there’s 52 weeks in 2008!” – Well, he said that at this past MacWorld, almost hinting at crazy releases all year.
We haven’t really seen much this year, so OS 10.6 WOULD BE HUGE !!!!!
I WANT IT NOW !!!!!
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I understand, but Steve Jobs himself said they are not keeping on the release every 12 months schedule anymore. he’s the one that said 18 months from now on…
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I’m ready for a ROARING LION NOW !!!!!!! just give me something apple. Come on !!! What a slow year its been !!!
I’m still waiting for a stable release of Leopard.
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All’s I want from Apple is my two front teeth!
[Sorry - couldn't help it. 'Tis the Season!]
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Just finding all these blogs and all this great info on snow leopard and the new Macbook. I have to make my loan $$$ last so I have to look at the big picture and go with the middle choice in my Mac’s. I just got a new 24″ 500 GB HD 2.8 Ghz iMac I wanted to get the 3.06 Ghz and 1000 GB HD but could not justify the extra $500 for it that money got me a great workhorse Laser printer (Brother HL-5052DN) 256mb card for the printer, a D-Link DIR-655 Gigabit Wireless router and a Scanner (Epson V500) with that extra $500 bucks. But with my next student loan I am getting a 2.4 Ghz Macbook Adobe CS4 Master Suite, MacSpeak software, A Nikon SB 600 flash unit, a Pair of 1 Terabit HD for storage for my Photo’s and Video, and lastly a Flash/Exposure meter. I hope that I am getting it in mid January 2009. I hope that Apple release 10.6 by then. As a 55 yr old College student and a old diehard PC user – but was Saved Healed and Converted to the Almighty Mac in 2005 using Tiger (10.4.11). I never stopped looking and seeing how great a iMac was using Leopard (10.5.6). I hope they allow with 10.6 to have more Ram memory then just the 4GB limit. I Know you can use 6GB in the Macbooks but the 4 GB Chip is $500 bucks…. where getting 4 gb chips sets (2×2 GB) are going for about $60-80.00, that’s what I paid for my iMac memory (which saved me about $110.00 from Apple). Anyway I still think Mac’s Rock 1000% better then even my home built PC system I had built back in 1996. It was a 486DX2 64MB of RAM, 4 – 450MB Hard Drives with a Adapti Controller card with 32 MB of RAM on the card, Plus for a video card I had a 128 MB ATI Video card Do not remember the # of it but it cost me $250 bucks. with using Photoshop 6 it screamed. My frend brought it from me for $2500. It was a Graphic Designer’s system. So you all got great Info with Pro’s and Con’s which I love. Happy Christmas and a Marry New Year. Kristyanna Krisyinfo@sbcglobal.net
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I don´t like the order of the big cats, a jaguar is bigger than any leopard, incluiding a panther, next would be the tiger and after all, the LION, I´m wating for the lion….
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