Details about the next version of Mac OS X 10.6, which will be called Snow Leopard, were revealed this week at the Apple WWDC developer event in San Francisco. Although most of what was discussed about Snow Leopard at WWDC is covered by the NDAs that all attendees must sign, Apple has also posted some
Snow Leopard information on their web site and issued a
Snow Leopard press release, making many of the new operating system's details now public information.
The biggest news about Snow Leopard is what won't be in it -- any new features. In an uncommon move for Apple, they're designating a major OS release that will consist of mostly under-the-hood improvements, and little if any user-facing enhancements. The only real exception to this that we know about so far will be the addition of Exchange support to several key Mac programs.
Snow Leopard is being promoted as the OS X version that will give users a consistent experience across all Apple products. The new iPhone 3G will have full Exchange support, so it certainly makes sense to add this support to the computer OS too, which is one of the major enhancements promised for Snow Leopard. In addition to Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and the Address Book, Snow Leopard will also be updating Safari with a faster JavaScript engine and QuickTime to a new version called "QuickTime X" which will support all modern codecs. Snow Leopard also promises to have a smaller footprint on your hard drive than previous versions of OS X.
Some of the other Snow Leopard improvements include optimization for multi-core processors, the ability to use larger amounts of RAM (up to 16 TB!), and a new multi-processing technology for developers called "Grand Central".
There has been no firm release date mentioned yet, though Apple has stated that Snow Leopard will be shipping within one year. So you may still have awhile to wait for this cat.