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I'm not so sure about the whole dropping-PowerPC thing - seems a bit early for that, as a significant percentage of existing Macs currently in use (possibly even the majority?) are PowerPC. I was thinking that OS X 10.7 would make more sense for leaving PowerPC behind. I guess we'll see how accurate this rumor is next week.

Jun 04, 08 - 08:47 am Comment from: ragarcia

C'mon, at least five or six new features are going to be needed if they are going to do a major upgrade on the number.

Otherwise, they might as well just call it 10.5.6 or 10.5.7...whatever they are up to when they release it.

Without new feature most people will not pay for the jump.

Jun 04, 08 - 08:53 am Comment from: Maginary

I'm not buying this rumor, at least not the part about making a 10.5 version a 10.6 release for Intel only. No way, not a chance. Besides, M$ has turned up the heat with the announcement (even if, and odds are good, it's vaporware) of Windows 7.

There must be mention of 10.6 at this conference. As I've stated here before, it's out of character that 10.5 has been in the wild this long without some word on the next big thing...something's brewing, and it ain't just a recompile.

Already in early 2009? No way. Or maybe Apple would give it as a free update then.

Jun 04, 08 - 08:54 am Comment from: MaLvado

Retire any PowerPC system.

It will be 4 years by the time 2009 comes around that Intel is the roadmap.

or ignore 10.5.6 since you can't install it anyways.

Jun 04, 08 - 09:01 am Comment from: Touch

It will be the same Leopard system but with a new multi-touch interface for the itablet.

"I'm quite pleased with the pace of new operating systems every 12 to 18 months for the foreseeable future," Jobs said. "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."
– Steve Jobs commenting on the release of Mac OS X Leopard in October 2007

Could this be Apple’s response to Microsoft’s recent demos of Windows 7 which is expected as early as late 2009? Interestingly enough, Windows 7 sports a suedo dock and includes multi-touch even though that term is copyrighted by Apple.

So despite the backlash Apple will get from users who run legacy systems, the company has an obligation to maintain its lead over MS. Even if 10.6 doesn’t make it’s debut next week, it is safe to assume that it is well underway in Apple’s labs.

Seems too soon to drop PPC support. G5's are still viable, quick chips. Hell, my G4 Powerbook still runs Leopard well.

Too soon. I'm thinking by 2010, the PPC will be dropped. That's more realistic because MANY Mac users are still PPC people.

Intel Macs now outnumber PowerPC Macs in use by a wide margin, so I won't shed a tear when Apple drops support. Most power users upgrade every 3-4 years anyway. If you are running a legacy OS, there is nothing wrong with using Leopard as your OS. Most legacy users don't spend the money on software or hardware upgrades anyway.

Jun 04, 08 - 09:06 am Comment from: CandTsmac

It's too early to dump PowerPC. The late 2005 dual core's still have great life in them, especially when using RAID storage.

This would be accelerating the pace of innovation too far. Eventualy people will resent it. Too much too fast, making all purchases great and small feel like a total letdown in hindsight.

Well you know what I mean.

Jun 04, 08 - 09:12 am Comment from: Jay-Z

I don't see this happening at all. If anything, recently OS X releases are now 18-24 months apart, which I think is a good timeframe. Also, no way they would ever release a major system update without new features. Makes no sense whatsoever.

I would, however, like to see them bring multi-touch to the Mac, ideally through a mouse with a touch surface.

At least this is something to talk about for the rest of the week OTHER than the 3G iPhone.

Frankly, I find possible laptop changes or a tablet or new displays to be more exciting than an upgraded phone.

Sounds like a great idea...

Just watch the flock from Vista return to XP, and you can already see that making the 10.6 move on stability and security as one that will win customers

Jun 04, 08 - 09:14 am Comment from: obtusegoose

I guess I won't be upgrading to 10.6. I've got a dual-processor G5, and I have no plans on getting a new Mac. Leopard runs quite well on it, thank you.

Increase in stability and security?? Then do it in 10.5.4. Milestone without features? I don't think so. There are some really bored analysts out there today. iPhone Japan announcement should have boosted AAPL, but it is not interesting enough. People today lack wisdom, hands down.

Wait...I'm expected to pay for no new features, just better security and stability, and dropped support of my PowerPC machines...? What company are we talking about again???

there's no way they would drop PowerPC support. that's bogus

Jun 04, 08 - 09:19 am Comment from: HolyMackerel

This must be frustrating MS no end since they need new ideas to innovate. And they don't want to risk adding features that Apple doesn't endorse yet MS will have to keep supporting in their legacy code for years to come.

Of course Apple have new features, but we wont get a whiff of them until January 09.

They will not drop PPC, but they will keep developing it secretly just in case, just like they did with Intel.
You never know what processors will be in use 5 years from now.

Nothing new is coming this quick other than perhaps a very early preview.

They did this same thing with Leopard at a Dev Conference to get the developers in the loop of what's coming in another 12-18 months from now.

Of course there will be new features IF 10.6 is released. If anything, Apple fed that rumor to lower expectations.

Your G5s can still run Leopard. You won't be forced to upgrade so don't complain!!!!

Jun 04, 08 - 09:29 am Comment from: oh no my shorts

I agree with M@c and others, it's too soon to drop PowerPC support. There's nothing wrong with the last few revs of G5 systems. By going Intel-only and orphaning the G5, Apple would lose most of their installed base and alienate their most longstanding users.

Plus, we've seen how effective it was for Microsoft to foist an operating system that required massive hardware upgrades just to run... you don't think Apple wants to try that road as well, do you?

Jun 04, 08 - 09:35 am Comment from: DogGone

Apple are trying to get into new markets like business. New operating system releases sometimes cause problems and have to be validated. It's better to wait a bit longer (maybe end of 2009) for the release.

An early preview makes sense though. Leopard has been out a year now. Apple probably won't be handing out secrets since Redmond will just copy them.

A third of macs are still PPC. I can't see Apple dropping support for that quite yet. Although it probably would make development a lot cheaper.

The dropping of PPC makes sense average life of PC is 3 years and 5 for Mac systems, all of my Macs with the exception of my Work MacBook Pro are PPC but I don't need to upgrade these system they work fine as is and they are primarily being used by my kids who don't care about the OS version as long as the can play there games on the net.

Jun 04, 08 - 09:39 am Comment from: Bob

Well if this is true, then the only reason I could see them wanting to do this is to cave into the media companies concerns. Power-PC does not utilize the Trusted Platform Module chip whereas Intel's do. Hopefully this is not the case, but it would make sense.

Huh! This is a scandal! Apple hasn't yet made OSX to be compatible with my Mac IIfx 33Mhz and they already would drop PowerPC chips' support!
How come?
lol

@oh no my shorts
PowerPC Macs will long be better than PCs with XP or vista yet for years to go! No problem. G5 will run on, give the best they can, and die of their natural aging with yet providing, during several years, fair and secure service.

Jun 04, 08 - 09:45 am Comment from: Haiku

ZFS I Bet!
And That Res Independence!!
10.6 FTW!!!

sounds early.

and why would Apple call it 10.6 if there are no major new features ?

they have never done that before.

wow, MW: early !

so, i'm probably right !

10.6 is 2009, not this year. Unless Jobs is feeling his age and wants to get out as many releases as possible.

So they drop PowerPC support - I mean who is going to cry?

"Damn you Steve Jobs, that you have excluded me from buying the latest shinyest piece of software, I have to make do with the still-very-shiny-and-new Leopard instead! Spots are so last year, Damn you!"

I mean really - a new OS for the new Systems, please!!!

I think the idea is sound, so that OSX can avoid legacy bloat, and all the problems that it incurs. Why not just continue to support 10.5, as well, with needed security updates, and maybe a few new features.

Jun 04, 08 - 10:12 am Comment from: jeffv

It is nice to finally hear a rumor that is developer-centric. People forget that this is a developer conference.

The entire presentation will not be about increased speed and GPS in a new iPhone.

Jun 04, 08 - 10:15 am Comment from: Rich Apple person

If Jobs is going to announce next week you had better believe it is going to have some bells and whistles other than security patches. As for Power PC support being dropped I expected this, they just can't let Power PC chips hold back the innovation of OSX. Besides Power PC people can use Leopard without any problems

Can you imagine the speed of a lightweight OSX specifically designed for Intel chips? Add Nehalem, and we might have a huge leap forward.

Jun 04, 08 - 10:17 am Comment from: Spark

Some of you sound like you think your PPC Macs are going to quit running if 10.6 doesn't support them. If the rumor turns out to be true, just continue with 10.5.

You can have my Pismo when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!

Didn't Apple just buy a company that designs PowerPC chips?

Jun 04, 08 - 10:29 am Comment from: Famous Grouse

Maybe some developer roadmap information, but too soon for anything else. First, iPhone will hold everyone's attention, so there's no need to hype 10.6. Second, 10.5 hasn't been out that long, and third, 10.6 only has to beat Windows 7 out the door by a few months. If 10.6 comes early in 2009, then Apple will be under pressure to release 10.7 before Windows 7. Better to hold 10.6 and use it to bash Windows than get caught if Microsloth unexpectedly releases Windows 7 on time. 10.6 could conceivably drop PPC, if it comes mid to late-2009.

Also, the next version of OS X needs a new filesystem, which will be a semi-painful transition. This is a reason to get the developers on board early, 12 months or more before the actual release. I can't find the actual link, and Linus Torvold's blather aside, but HFS+ is getting rather long in the tooth. Let's see what we hear about ZFS and then judge how this might be rolled into 10.6 and 10.7.

Another possibility is that to fully enable support for HD-DVD, 10.6 will rely on DRM which will require intel chips....this might be the thing that leaves PPC behind....

Jun 04, 08 - 10:35 am Comment from: Jubei

Time to buy a new iMac by then.

Jun 04, 08 - 10:55 am Comment from: iestynw

It might well be true this.

Well, the part about dropping PPC support for 10.6 at least...

Leopard runs reasonably smoothly on my 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4, but it could be faster.
Plus, any new release will surely have more graphical bells and whistles than leopard, and will make it even slower for PPC owners.

The majority of apple macs out there (in current use) are intel-based. I'm sure I saw a statistic out there somewhere...

Doesn't bother me much anyway, I'll have a 2nd hand MacBook Pro by the end of this year.

How soon after the launch of Tiger was Leopard named/announced?

"Could this be Apple’s response to Microsoft’s recent demos of Windows 7?"

No. Apple doesn't respond to Microsoft. Apple leads Microsoft.

Jun 04, 08 - 11:10 am Comment from: nekogami13

Not all intel Macs are 64-bit capable.
So if 10.6 is 64-bit only, they would be dumping support for the core duo Macs as well as the PPC?

I doubt it.

Jun 04, 08 - 11:15 am Comment from: alansky

I mean, what do I know? But this sounds absurd. A major new OS X release that "will not include any new significant features"??? So it will be free, right? Who in their right mind would pay for this???

This rumor should keep Daniel Eran Dilger busy for a week.

Jun 04, 08 - 11:41 am Comment from: DLMeyer

Well, at least part of this RUMOR is just so much imagination. Might it be the "no PPC" part? The "no new features" part? The "Jan'09" part? Hard to tell.
I suspect the Jan'09 guess is on the mark.
I suspect the "no new features" suggestion is totally bogus.
That leaves the "no PPC" part. MicroSoft would be planning to dump support for such an old processor line. Can't possibly be powerful enough to do the new OS justice. But ... Apple brought out a new OS, better than the old OS, which was better than MS's NEW OS ... and it runs just fine on both G5s and some G4s! Guess I'd better start planning (more than just drooling) for an Octo-Mac. Or, at least, a MacBook to replace this tiring G4 iBook.

Jun 04, 08 - 11:54 am Comment from: Grigori

@ipodG8TR: "Windows 7 sports a suedo dock and includes multi-touch even though that term is copyrighted by Apple."

Come on, it ain't multi-touch, it's N-Trig DuoSense™!

I have a dual 1.8 G5 Tower with 4 gigs of RAM and a 23" ADC Cinema HD Display (built in 2003). I recently upgraded from Tiger to Leopard and have been very pleased with performance.

I had no problem with the phasing out of G3 for Leopard (though I still use a 500 mhz G3 white iBook running Tiger), and I think it would be reasonable to pull the plug on most if not all G4s for the next OS version, but abandoning the newer G5 systems would be wrong.

The Powermac G5 Quad was still being sold in the spring of 2006, less than two years ago. No way will the next OS version exclude G5s.

A couple thoughts -

If Apple is considering this, it means that there is a significant benefit to dropping PPC support, presumably in terms of performance or at least in programming and coding costs.

If 10.6 drops PPC support, it probably SHOULDN'T have any new features, so no one feels put off by it, or left behind. If that's the case, it also won't be a paid upgrade.

However, it would set the stage for future upgrades (beginning with 10.7) that will no longer be constrained by legacy hardware compatibility concerns (just as 10.5 no longer carries Classic support on the software side).

And by that time, we'll be 4 years or more past the PPC machines, so most people will be happily looking at upgrading. And Leopard will continue to work just fine (and probably continue to see security and stability upgrades), so those old machines will not lose much value beyond that related to their age and their hardware limitations.

If you think it through, this would actually be the best, smartest, easiest and safest way for Apple to make this transition.

Assuming, of course, that they have decided that it's Intel or die, and aren't hiding code for AMD or future IBM machines like they did for Intel when they wrote OSX in the first place.

I'm not at all surprised with 10.6 not supporting PowerPC.

I love my 1Ghz G4 Titanium PowerBook, but I knew that it would be obsolete a few years after I bought it. I have loved the continued Apple support, even when they moved to Intel processors. I knew that it was only a matter of time.

Now with Leopard, I started having problems communicating with my older white Airport base station. I barely got one bar with the TiBook leaning up against the base station, let alone in the other room. I loved Leopard, but I actually had to go back to re-installing Tiger. I was hoping that an update would fix that, but I'm not surprised that there hasn't been one.

You can look at it another way. That 10.6 (and later) will need a much faster processor that perhaps the older/slower PPC processor wouldn't allow. Apple keeps on moving forward and I will try to keep up as best I can.