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Apple Delays Leopard to October
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 12, 2007 05:52 PM
from the sad-panda-err-leopard dept.
from the sad-panda-err-leopard dept.
SuperMog2002 writes "Apple Insider has the sad news that Mac OS X Leopard has been delayed until October. Apparantly software engineers and QA had to be reassigned to the iPhone in order to get it out on time, costing Leopard its release at WWDC. For now the original press release from Apple can be found on the 'Hot News' part of their site, though Apple did not provide a permanent link to the story. 'While Leopard's features will be complete by June, the Cupertino-based company said it cannot deliver the quality release expected by its customers within that time. Apple now plans to show its developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship the software in October.'"
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IT: Why Apple Delayed Leopard for the iPhone 453 comments
Ernest DeFarge writes "Apple recently announced that they've pulled several key programmers from the OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and assigned them to the iPhone in order to get it done on time. In doing so, they delayed Leopard for 4 months. Does that mean that the iPhone is more important to Apple than Mac OS? Or is it just capitalizing on the current state of Apple's fanbase?"
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Answers From Steve Jobs at Apple's Shareholder Meeting 162 comments
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Sun CEO Says ZFS Will Be 'the File System' for OSX 384 comments
Fjan11 writes "Sun's Jonathan Schwartz has announced that Apple will be making ZFS 'the file system' in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. It's possible that Leopard's Time Machine feature will require ZFS to run, because ZFS has back-up and snapshots build right in to the filesystem as well as a host of other features. 'Rumors of Apple's interest in ZFS began in April 2006, when an OpenSolaris mailing list revealed that Apple had contacted Sun regarding porting ZFS to OS 10. The file system later began making appearances in Leopard builds. ZFS has a long list of improvements over Apple's current file system, Journaled HFS+.'"
[+]
Apple Confirms No (Default) ZFS In Leopard 362 comments
javipas writes "Despite recent rumors about the possible inclusion of ZFS as the filesystem of choice for MacOS X 10.5 'Leopard', an Apple executive has denied this possibility. Brian Croll, senior director of product marketing for the Mac OS has as much as said 'ZFS is not happening ... Croll declined to comment on statements made last week by Sun Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz, who said the use of ZFS would be announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Upon further questioning, Croll would only confirm that Apple had never said ZFS would be a part of Leopard. A representative with Sun did not have any immediate comment.' Users of the future operating system will have to keep working with HFS+, a filesystem that is almost ten years old now." Update: 06/12 19:57 GMT by KD : An Apple spokesman contacted InformationWeek with a correction, which they ran as a comment on their original story: What Apple meant to say was, "ZFS would be available as a limited option, but not as the default file system."
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October? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.animal-assist.org/donate.html)
warning: The above content may test positive for sarcasm and/or could be a failed attempt at humor and as such should be taken with a pound of salt.
Re:October? (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember when people were complaining about Apple putting out a full-priced major release every year.
I probably would have made the same call. Leopard will be a good product - a competent, incremental improvement on an existing product - but it won't open up any vast new revenue streams like the iPhone (hopefully) will.
Re:October? (Score:5, Interesting)
The iPhone is not to blame. They just wanted to say "iPhone NOT delayed" at the same time as they announce that Leopard is delayed. The first thing I thought when I saw Leopard in October was does that mean iPhone in October, also? It is running OS X Leopard one would assume, not Tiger. So they are saying don't worry you'll get your iPhone.
You could more easily make the case that the Intel switch caused the Leopard delay. Didn't releasing an entirely separate clone of Tiger on Intel architecture tax their Mac OS X team and QA resources more than building software for the iPhone?
Anyway, iPhone is going to be nothing but good for OS X. It may double the user base in five years leading to more development money and also greater compatibility. For example, every iPhone user is a WebKit user, so if CEO's are demanding iPhone compatibility from their corporate Web sites then they are demanding Mac compatibility and indeed W3C compatibility also. Right now they want to see it run in Explorer that is not good for anyone.
> BTW: anyone think this is a way to head off the "Mac nano" aka Apple TV running Mac OS X?
The CPU in the AppleTV is an Intel Pentium M 1 GHz that has been under clocked so it runs cool because it is the GPU that does all the work in AppleTV, displaying swoopy graphics and decoding an H.264 video stream. You also can't upgrade the RAM, there are many other problems with making this into a Mac. It is only half a Mac at best.
If you have a copy of Mac OS X and all you have in your Mac hardware budget is $300 then you are better on eBay. Any Power Mac G4 is a faster Mac with many other features also, like Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 400/800, multiple USB busses, PCI, optical drive, 2 GB or more RAM capacity, space for four hard disks.
Re:October? (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday September 23 2003, @04:07PM)
I'm curious how a machine with a 2 gigabyte limit on RAM will benefit from 64-bit code, since the main benefit of 64-bit code is to allow your machine to address more than 4 gigabytes of RAM. Seems to be you're never going to have that issue. Now, while I am being snarky, I'm also asking a serious question. It's possible that you know more than I do about this stuff and that there are some benefits to 64-bit code which do not have to do with memory addressing and of which I am not aware. If that's not the case, then it seems to be that you're not losing anything from having to wait for Leopard, other than a reason to complain.
Re:October? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't blame Apple for going down this road, because clearly they're hoping for another iPod style success. But, it's a crying shame, that just when they're perfectly positioned to take customer share away from Microsoft's crumbling OS empire, they turn their attention elsewhere. (And I'm no MS hater).
Re:October? (Score:5, Insightful)
They've released 10.1-10.4 on time, and pulled off the Intel transition months ahead of schedule.
And let's be honest, it's not as if Tiger doesn't stack up favorably to Vista, and Apple desperately needs Leopard to convince people to switch.
Re:October? (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.redbearnet.com/)
Sure do. I think that was about the same time when users kept complaining about having to buy another Mac OS X upgrade every year, and when the developers were complaining about having to keep up with Apple's breakneck development pace. Right about the same time I seem to recall Apple announcing that they would be slowing the pace of development to give everyone breathing room from here on out. Let's see, yes I do believe that was right around the time Panther came out or shortly thereafter.
Leopard will have some neat stuff and a little performance boost on 64-bit machines, but I'm pretty sure you won't die from being forced to use Tiger for another couple of months. I (for one) applaud them for making the decision to finish a proper QA cycle on the software that's going to run my computer, rather than pawning off some barely-out-of-beta crap on us at the last minute.
Call me when Apple sits on their asses for six years straight without bothering to bring out a single innovation, upgraded hardware or major OS release, while simultaneously attempting to foist a subscription licensing model on you that has you paying a yearly fee for the privilege of getting a "free" upgrade to a new product that doesn't materialize for over half a decade. Call me when Apple puts out a major OS release that isn't faster/better/more feature packed than the last one and doesn't continue to add value for owners of older Apple hardware going all the way back to the first iMac with a Firewire port (1999, that's eight years of Mac models that are officially supported by Apple's most current OS right now).
Anyway, I'd bet that Apple are just giving themselves some breathing room and we'll probably get a surprise announcement about Leopard being already done and available along with some new Mac models, hmmm, just in time for the new school year to start. Wouldn't surprise me one bit either way.
Re:October? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.redbearnet.com/)
Insert install DVD.
Restart.
Hold down C key after the chime to boot from disc.
Wait.
Select "Archive & Install".
Start installation.
Wait.
Reboot.
Live happily ever after.
The End.
Apple introduced the "Archive & Install" feature with version 10.2 (Jaguar), I think. It does basically what the older Mac OS installers did, renames your current system folder and installs the new version. I personally have never actually used it yet, what with being OCD about system entropy after years of traumatization at the hands of a certain other operating system that used to require reinstallation every six months in order to maintain performance. I prefer to start from scratch whenever possible, but that's just me.
From the comments I have encountered online over the last few years it seems that a great many people have used this feature with great success. Many people appear to have upgraded from 10.2 to 10.3 to 10.4 or from 10.2 straight to 10.4 without any trouble at all. It is also touted as an easy way to recover from bad system updates. I've read many accounts from people who nonchalantly Archive & Install all the time, anytime they encounter an issue like that. Apparently it's very fast and doesn't break everything, unlike when you're forced to reinstall Windows which usually wipes out your registry and turns into a nightmare. Fortunately all the user data and configuration information is properly separated from the main system folder and they don't use anything as monstrous as the delicate monolithic Windows registry, so things usually don't get broken just because you reinstalled the OS.
But, more importantly, what is so great about Mac OS X and Mac hardware is that it's so easy to make a complete bootable backup of your entire drive, a clone, onto an external FireWire or USB drive. Then even if something were to go horribly wrong with your upgrade you can just boot from that external drive and clone it back. Voila, you're right back where you started, happy as a clam and ready to try again after you figure out what you did wrong. Try that with a Windows upgrade.
Also I think that when you use Archive & Install you have the option of going to the Startup Disk preferences and choosing to reboot into the previous system folder. This can be done from any restore or install disc in case the machine won't even boot to the desktop for some reason. It's not a complete reversion since a lot of new applications will be installed with the new OS that may not be compatible with the older OS, but it can be useful.
In short, I don't think you'll have any trouble upgrading, although I would wait until the first update comes out. There are always a few issues that never show up until a new OS gets installed by millions of people, no matter how much beta testing and QA cycles you go through. Believe me, there will be plenty of people happy to blaze a trail for you and be the first to find any potential issues and help Apple fix them quickly. Even if you do have an issue, if you follow my advice and always do a backup clone on an external drive it is almost impossible to be unable to quickly recover from anything up to and including total hard drive failure, and go on about your business. AFAIC this ability to recover from almost any possible situation without being forced to reinstall applications, reset hundreds of personal preferences or restore user data piecemeal is one of the best features of owning a Mac, and a big reason that I recommend them to most of my clients (I'm a f
Windows fan reaction (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory (Score:1, Funny)
Re:You know what this means... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.noooxml.org/petition)
You need it to report OS X/Apple Software bugs anyway.
It is a preview release btw. Don't forget to send the reports and respect Apple NDA.
Re:You know what this means... (Score:4, Informative)
(http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mbeaumel/zoovage)
Damn (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 29 2003, @02:50AM)
Vista'd- to be up a creek without a paddle
Re:Damn (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, my preference would be to stay away completely, all things considered.
Not delayed, same time as always (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.unsanity.org/)
Re:Not delayed, same time as always (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
What's that huge sigh of relief ... (Score:2)
Looks like Vista will have a few more months to get its act together.
Re:What's that huge sigh of relief ... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://68.48.55.94:27015/)
Bill Gates had beans today. Nothing for you to see here, move along.
Re:What's that huge sigh of relief ... (Score:5, Funny)
Mod Me down, but I have something to say: (Score:3, Insightful)
Less pieces of shit, more big cats!
Re:Mod Me down, but I have something to say: (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/~anaesthetica/journal/ | Last Journal: Thursday August 30, @01:22PM)
Re:Mod Me down, but I have something to say: (Score:4, Informative)
> > The operating system named after pussies that runs on computers used prodominately by men who love cock.
> Well, I have to admit, my cock has grown on me over time.
Seriously, who the hell modded that informative?!
Re:Mod Me down, but I have something to say: (Score:5, Funny)
(http://glasseye.net.nz/)
Re:Mod Me down, but I have something to say: (Score:5, Informative)
Informative gives you karma. Funny doesn't. :/
--Rob
Sounds a lot like Vista (Score:1)
(http://www.damsys.com/)
I hope the iPhone is really worth it.
Maybe next time they can hire/train more developers; Apple sure can afford them financially.
Re:Sounds a lot like Vista (Score:5, Interesting)
Companies can only really focus on a few products, regardless of size, you just can't be everything to everybody, because the friction of beuracracy will just slow to standstill.
I think Apple are right to stagger development like this, it shows patience, understanding and maturity.
Re:Sounds a lot like Vista (Score:5, Insightful)
Same kind??? Your math is a little off. 4 months (Leopard) does not equal 3 years (Vista).
Leopard Delay - no big deal for most users (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.entangledstates.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday March 05 2002, @02:24PM)
I can wait comfortably for another quarter if it means that Leopard will be released as a better operating system than was Tiger when it was released initially.
The bigger concern would seem to me to be the developers who've pegged their next release on feature that are Leopard only. They're going to lose out on four months worth of income. Hopefully the new features in Leopard, especially the under-the-hood suff makes developing so much easier that it's going to be worth it for them.
In the meantime, I'll download a nightly of webkit (safari is the only real annoyance I have on my Mac) and get on with my work.
Re:Leopard Delay - no big deal for most users (Score:5, Funny)
Bugs me (Score:5, Interesting)
On the otherhand Leopard has had me excited. I have been wanting virtual desktops on OS X since it came out, the the third party implementations have all be lacking, so I am very excited about Spaces. I am also quite interested in Time Machine as I have never seen a backup system easy enough for my parents to use, and have never seen any backup system that makes it as slick and easy to find the correct revision of a backed up documents.
In addition, several of the apps I use are getting outdated as the developers no longer support Panther (including some Apple ones). And to top it all off, I'd like to get a new machine and was naturally waiting for Leopard to come out so I don't have to pay another $150 dollars in 6 months. So the delay is somewhat of a big deal to me. That said I would much rather have stable software than an early release date. That goes for anyone, not just Apple.
New Finder... (Score:2, Informative)
(http://www.goodcowfilms.com/)
Re:New Finder... (Score:5, Informative)
It has terrible usability design, with two "modes" (a Windows-esque 'browser' mode, and a Mac Classic 'spatial' mode), neither of which work correctly. The Spotlight UI, in particular, is almost criminally complex and quirky... a Linux/Windows user might not notice it, but to a Mac Classic user it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. People used to Classic are driven spare by the Command-N keyboard shortcut that used to create a new folder, but now creates a new window-- even in Spatial mode (which makes no sense.)
If you have make the horrible error of trying to open a network drive when the network it's on is no longer available (you know, like the huge number of people who use wifi on their laptops), Finder will freeze for minutes at a time. Finder will also freeze for several minutes if you have the audacity to drag-and-drop files to the desktop from some applications. DotMac will also freeze Finder for several minutes if it attempts to sync itself while on an un-reliable network. There's no multi-threading whatsoever.
Opening a window with a large number of images will frequently crash Finder as it creates thumbnails. And no, it's not a corrupt image file, because if I do the same view in Windows, Windows will create the thumbnails in seconds with no errors. When Finder's image previews do work, generating them is super-slow.
It's still missing features that were in Mac Classic, like tabbed folders. (Although to be fair, they have added Labels back in and Pop-Open drag&drop.) Text clippings are nearly useless, as you can no longer drag them directly into a word processor/edit field (like in OS 9), nor can you select and Copy text from them. Oh, and Finder will silently delete the contents of old Mac Classic text clippings, so I hope you didn't have a bunch of important passwords in one or anything... oops!
If you create a new file on the CLI, it still won't show up right away in Finder. You frequently have to 'prod' Finder into showing it, by closing and re-opening the window, or creating a new folder and then deleting it.
It's just bad. Given, a bad Macintosh file browser is still as good as the average Linux or Windows file browser, but that's not much of an excuse, especially for us old-school Mac users. I'd be happy if they fixed some of the more blatant bugs and added tabbed folders, even if it's not a total re-write.
Re:New Finder... (Score:4, Informative)
I'll agree with most of that, but the cmd-N = new window, not new folder is just the Finder fitting in with the rest of the OS, where it almost universally performs this action. I admit that it doesn't make much sense in the pseudo-spatial mode, but then, what does?
(Hint: Open Apple Menu > System Preferences...; Click Keyboard & Mouse; Switch to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab; click the + button below the list; choose Finder for the application, type 'New Folder' in the Menu Title box, and press cmd-N in Keyboard Shortcut. Lather, rinse and repeat for 'New Window' (note lack of the word 'Finder', the only difficult thing about this) and shift-cmd-N.
Re:New Finder... (Score:5, Informative)
So, it has some networking issues, and it really shouldn't default to opening new windows in browser mode. Otherwise, it's just fine. Despite the whining, it has made a lot of progress since 10.0.
The real reason for the delay - I totally swear! (Score:2, Funny)
Once these features are in place, Vista will pale before Apple's new code-named-Leopard OS, secret-code-named-Longhorn OS! Mwuahahaaaa!
Better late than buggy (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting that they had to pull engineers off OS X to the iPhone. Most likely, they needed to get the iPhone done in time to meet contractual requirements with Cingular, and there wasn't enough time to hire new staff and train them. It can take mont