This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 142.204.109.165 (talk) at 19:58, 16 February 2006 (no need for both names). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 19:58, 16 February 2006 by 142.204.109.165 (talk) (no need for both names)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Operating system| Developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| OS family | BSD |
| Working state | in development |
| Source model | Closed source (Darwin foundation is open source) |
| Latest release | N/A / N/A |
| Kernel type | XNU (based upon Mach) |
| License | APSL and Apple EULA |
| Official website | www |
Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" is the proclaimed sixth major release of Mac OS X for Apple's Macintosh computers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated during his keynote speech on June 6, 2005 at the Worldwide Developers Conference, "We intend to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007, right around the time Microsoft is expected to release Longhorn (Windows Vista)." Leopard will support Macs with both PowerPC and Intel processors, although by release, Apple may only be selling Intel-based Macintosh computers.
Processor
Leopard will still be available for PowerPC machines, as well as new Intel machines. There is still no word about the possible decision to combine the two on one disc through the use of Universal Binaries, but little evidence exists not to believe so. The Apple DVD developer install kit took advantage of this feature, meaning a user can install the operating system on either a PowerPC or an x86 system using the same disc. Universal binaries will allow software manufacturers to make one binary which will be compatible with both platforms, greatly easing the transition into the Intel architecture. Leopard will most likely not be truly 64-bit because the Intel Core Duo chips are only 32-bit.
Rumors
Details about 10.5 likely will be revealed at WWDC 2006. Meanwhile, rumor sites are predicting key features of Leopard. They suggest that the new OS will feature a redesigned Finder that relies almost entirely on Spotlight search technology. The new Finder, supposedly codenamed "Chardonnay", would help users search through their files by different criteria (name, type/creator, creation date, modification date etc.) in real time, as they currently can in iTunes. It has also been rumored that the user interface will be similar to that of iTunes 6. This rumor was bolstered when the major applications in Apple's iLife '06 suite changed to that interface as well.
In each successive version, Mac OS X has offloaded more tasks (such as Quartz Compositor and Core Image) to the increasingly powerful graphics processing unit. Hence, theories speculate that Leopard may send video encoding (e.g. converting an MPEG 4 movie to iPod Video format) or even non-graphical tasks to the GPU as well. There are also rumors that Leopard will take full advantage of the vector-based nature of Quartz, enabling resolution-independent display.
Others suggest that performance was not the entire reason to switch to Intel. When Apple first began Mac OS X (codename: Rhapsody), they were already planning to make it compatible to x86, including a project called Red Box. Now that x86 Macs are actually shipping, speculation has intensified that the Red Box will become reality, allowing Mac users to run Windows applications directly in Mac OS X, without emulators.
See also
- Rosetta – an emulator for Mac OS X (included in Mac OS X 10.4.4) that allows Intel-based Macs to run PowerPC-native software.
- Apple Intel transition – more information on Apple's move from PowerPC-based Macs to Intel-based Macs.
Article Regarding "Red Box".
References
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| Mac |
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