OS X 10.5 Delayed
Following in Redmond’s footsteps, Apple has pushed-back the release of OS X 10.5, code named Leopard. This comes just a week prior to the popular World Wide Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, where Leopard is to be the center of discussions. Can we still expect to see the Leopard’s spots? It’s too soon to tell.
So is this a case of Apple’s ingenuity catching up with them? Or the slow-down in development releases that Jobs spoke-of a couple years back? Or worse yet, is Apple falling into the tar-pits that Microsoft seems to find itself in these past decades years? Regardless of the circumstances that bring us to this sobering realization, it’s a downer to say the least.
What? You in the back row, “BS” you say? Well I never!!
All joking aside, this sort of thing will most likely never happen at Apple. Mostly because Apple doesn’t publicize ship dates until they are nearly upon us. They wrap themselves in secrecy in nearly everything they do. Sometimes it’s great for them, like for instance, in these type of situations. Other times it can bite them a bit, as tends to happen when the wild and creative rumor mills churn into motion prior to a public Apple event. The rumors generated tend to be much more than is ever realistically possible, leaving expectations far too high to be satisfied by Mr Jobs.
By this time next week I’m sure we’ll have seen a couple ‘Holy Canoli’ moments from Steve’s demonstration of Leopard. A couple tidbits that will have many of us begging to turn over $129 at Apple’s earliest convenience. (Built-in Parallels functionality anyone?) There will undoubtedly be a sprinkling of expected enhancements as well, to appease the more down-to-earth amongst us. Possibly tabbed iChat or a better Finder implementation.
Will Jobs announce a release date? Typically I’d say ‘no’ without any hesitation. But at this point in time, I offer a very possible ‘maybe’. I only waiver because of the circumstances at this point in time: Microsoft’s Vista resides in Purgatory as it pushes release date after release date. Apple’s market share momentum can’t be ignored. It’s a great time to strike with another release of OS X to really put Microsoft in the weeds, a safe distance behind. But were something awful to happen, resulting in Leopard missing a publicized release date, Apple would suffer a serious set back.
So sit back with the rest of us and see what Steve’s got to offer. We’ve got big plans for covering WWDC next week - or so I’m told - so enjoy a front row seat with us here at The Apple Blog!
#1 Dorian says:What really ticks me off is the fact that most of the features that are expected for Leopard are ancient history. NEXT had all the features that OSX has back in the early 90’s! All Apple is doing is twicking the code and spoon feeding us the features one at a time to milk us like cows!
Did you know that you could record audio annotations to the mail app in NEXT. I bet that feature is going to appear in Leopard and everyone is going to say WOW! I say “Bull Shit”!
#2 Pecos Bill says:Since Apple has yet to even announce a ship target, how would you/we know it has been delayed? In recent versions, Apple states a rather wide range for the ship date anyway if they announce anything at WWDC.
I doubt you’re all that informed as Apple, in a rather rare comment, stated without question or doubt that Leopard will NOT have built in virtualization like Parallels.
#3 Nuno says:So, NeXT was “years ahead of its time” ?
What’s your point ?
Windows Lover !
#4 Cardwamp Gigglefactor says:> …to milk us like cows!
… Mmmmmmmmm.. milk cows
#5 tim says:Unless I’m completely missing the boat, the post is making its point by starting with a patently absurd situation. Problem is, the way it’s written, it’s hard to tell. But I don’t think the author intends us to believe that Leopard has actually been delayed, just that Apple would never put itself in the situation of having to make such an announcement, because it only announces dates when it really, really, really is sure, not just to generate some vaporware buzz. In fact, didn’t Apple over-deliver by half a year on the first Intel Macs?
Now *that’s* how to manage expectations!
#6 Max says:Um…this is the first time I’ve heard of a Leopard delay announced by Apple. Perhaps a link to an Apple webpage or AP article would help boost this claim…
#7 Nick Santilli says:Pecos -
You cracked it! (Or maybe you just continued reading what I wrote, we may never know.)
Apple has said before that they weren’t going to do something, and then they did. (Video capable iPod anyone?) So I wouldn’t count anything out. By the way, what’s your source of Apple’s statement there? I honestly hadn’t heard that.
Tim -
Yeah, my intent was a ludicrous statement for the sake of fun. My point was that the crazy claim is something Apple closely manages by way of limited - if any - publicized information.
#8 Nick Santilli says:Max - it’s not for real. it was to prove the point that Apple controls that sort of information.
#9 Myles says:How can an unannounced product be delayed? Leopard has not been announced, and no release date has been anounced. How can it be delayed?
#10 Nick Santilli says:So for those who missed the point that I’m highlighting something that Apple doesn’t allow to happen, I edited the 2nd part of the article to read, ‘All Joking Aside’, rather than ‘Truth be told’…
#11 Scrofutti says:Or, maybe the point most people missed is that you’re just writing a deliberately sensational headline to fish for hits…
#12 Josh Pigford says:Yesss! You’ve figured it out! Nick…what has Scrofutti won?
#13 hackand says:Dorian, I say you need to do something to get that bitterness off of you.
And Nick, you could have named the article “What If…” or something like that and put the first two paragraphs in blockquotes to emphazise it’s not a reality, to avoid the “slower” guys that before having finished processing the text they just read are already commenting. A different title could also avoid the sensationalism theorists around. (because you really didn’t mean that, did you?)
#14 Sha Aker says:Hey Nick! Thanks for nothing with the misleading title and no substance to your words. Why are you wasting bandwidth? Wrap yourself in Vista!!!
#15 Nick Santilli says:hackand - with the rumors flying leading up to WWDC, it was more something that made me laugh, because there’s no validity to it (as some have pointed out, how can something be late if it hasn’t been announced?). Sorry to those who were misled/duped. (Though I suppose I was playing off the insanity that surrounds events like next week’s.)
Josh/Scroffuti - You just won a free copy of Leopard! Too bad you didn’t leave an email address. Now we can’t get it to you…
Sha Aker - And thank YOU for adding to the wasted bandwidth with your comment.
Good things, good things. Cheers.
#16 Steve says:Yeah, sure Dorian. NeXT did most of what OS X can do. But when I’ve gone back to use NeXT on occasion, it seems truly dated. Still cool, but dated. I’ll stick with OS X. What I want to see is tear off menus make a comeback in Leopard!
I know something else I’d like to see….for the love of all that is holy, put a damn frame counter in Quicktime already!
#17 Professor Nerdlinger says:Sorry this post is so late, well past it’s promise date; I was delayed by a colorful and playful yet annoying spinning beachball.
#18 Todd Sieling says:> Apple’s market share momentum can’t be ignored. It’s a great time to strike with another release of OS X to really put Microsoft in the weeds, a safe distance behind.
I think Apple is certainly ahead of MS in terms of innovation, but even an amazing Leopard release isn’t going to close that huge 80% or so difference in market share. Viva Mac, but MS is nowhere nearly done.
#19 dorian says:Next was way ahead of it’s time, so much so that some of the features on it are not available on Tiger. Check it out!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j02b8Fuz73A
Then tell me I’m wrong…
i.e. When X first came out, we needed Dave to connect to the Windows network, but next as you’ll see in the video already had it!
It has stuff like live links which update files IMMEDIATELY if someone in the other side of the world changes the original file. Adobe has this, but you have to save the file first.
The Mail app in Next had Sound built into it whereas you could record straight into it and send your response via voice.
and that’s just a couple of the features…
#20 dorian says:Sorry Steve I didn’t read all the way to your post till I had already submitted the last post. But, sure OSX is X times better looking, we’re talking about 15 years! of advancement here, but there are barely any new features. The presentation is better, but the cake is the same.
Aside from Widgets & Expose, - and widegets where partly used in OS9, there are really few innovations in OSX. Even Spotlight appears in NEXT, and that to me is scarry.
#21 tonio says:Dorian:
NeXT had features OSX still doesn’t have. So did OS9 (e.g. tabbed finder windows, a useful Apple menu). Guess what: OSX has features NeXT didn’t have — “barely any new features” includes: DVD Player, iChat AV, QuickTime (not new to Mac OS, but new to NeXT), Quartz Extreme … oh AppleScript, iLife, FrontRow, Safari/Webkit, Dashboard, Spotlight, more advanced typography, ColorSynch, Core Image, Core Audio, and various major additions and improvements to Cocoa (i.e. the NS class library) ….
Voice annotated email was a gimmick to show off the DSP. If there had been huge demand for it, it would have been in OS X; instead they concentrated on useful features most people would need — and usability. NeXT was brilliant and ahead of its time in many ways, but OS X is not just more usable and attractive, it’s a mature OS used by millions of mainstream users and hundreds of thousands of niche users. NeXTStep never had to support serious video editors, or DTP pros, or whatever, and so where it had *some* functionality in those areas, it now has robust, generally industry-leading features.
#22 dorian says:Some of the apps you mention are new, but Spotlight is in the video (see link below) you’ll see Steve typing stuff into a space and the info starts flowing in… Also, it had a built-in 3d engine made by apparently Pixar.
He shows of stuff that people would deffinetly find usefull. I think voice annotation would have not been a gimmick, I think many people would have used it, as long as PCs would have being able to play the file.
Ah, and one more thing… I can’t believe that the machine moved those windows that fast while cruising at 33mhz…
But I do see that there are some stuff they have been working on after all, and maybe they’ll let all of their claw out in Leopard…
Here’s to hope…
D.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j02b8Fuz73A
#23 Scrofutti says:Actually, I did leave an email address. However, it seems to be having issues at the moment. I’ll expect my copy of leopard to be emailed to me as a disk image.
#24 Moof says:Your title sucks - sensationalist bulls*^#% meant for no other reason than to drive hits to this drivel.
#25 Clark Kent says:First and last time I visit this site. Yeah your headline ploy worked…it got me to your site. But I’ll never be back. Just more worthless journalism tricks.
#26 Josh Pigford says:Nick, I think people have gotten overworked about your little joke…thanks for killing off all of our readers.
#27 the_butthead says:Unless I am mistaken, and I believe I am not …
Apple gained access to all published WIN32/64 API’s by/or before the tail-end of their 5 year agreement with MS. Much of Vista has been long out of the bag.
Apple can do ANYTHING with said API’s and it is my guess that Apple will.
Apple will, in some manner, incorporate said API’s into the MacOS, potentially eliminating the need for WIN OS almost entirely. Or entirely.
Most/all WIN app’s will run utterly unmodified in MacOS. Or all.
And none of this is by chance.
None.
—
Many will disagree.
the_butthead,
Las Vegas, NV
#28 Eddie Hargreaves says:Actually, 10.5 HAS been delayed. At last year’s WWDC, Jobs said “we intend to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007, right about the time Microsoft expects to release Longhorn.” Now the timeframe has moved to Spring 2007, which completely rules out November, December, January and February and opens the door for April and May, two months that wouldn’t have been considered as “early 2007″
Of course, if Vista gets delayed again from January, then the prophecy of “right about the time Microsoft expects to release Longhorn” will come true.
#29 dorian says:I got to thinking that this is why Apple will not release Leopard. I actually think, that Apple believes that if they release all the feature to the public at this point, and they have to wait till Vista is released, it might turn people off by making ALL the features seem old. By keeping some of them unreleased, they keep the OS fresh. While Vista keeps getting older and older and…..
#30 John says:I am guessing that if the OS is, in fact, delayed that it would be due to Apple focusing on iTunes and the iTV (working name) products at the moment. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that they want to concern themselves with more than just Disney’s movies before they launch their video-on-demand product, which boasts features that are actually very similar to what Bill Gates annouced in the Xbox 360 and it’s abilities to connect to a service similar to iTunes, a PC, and a soon-to-be-released portable media player. It’s another “generation” starting up this very month. We have new consoles from Sony and Nintendo trying to appeal to our tech-spending, a new MS OS, and soon a new Mac OS- and it seems like many of these companies are trying to deliver the same exact all-in-one home entertainment experience, appealing to both geeks and the casually bored… But there is nothing new under the sun. No matter who ‘wins’ this so-called technology generation, we’re still settling for the same TV and video games we all grew up with, and we’ve all grown up more than they have… One would hope.
#31 MrMacShop says:Hey all,
Just to throw my 2 cents in…Apple Store staff (in the UK at least, can’t vouch for American colleagues) are being told to quote “Summer ‘07″ as “the very earliest” we’ll be likely to see Leopard.
Now, I don’t know whether Apple will suddenly spring an advanced release date on us, after all, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen them backtrack, but that’s what Apple Store employees are being fed over here.
This seems a touch odd to me, what with a summer release date missing not only the anticipated Vista release, but also the post-seasonal sales surge. So if anyone has any info to the contrary, pray tell.
All the best.
#32 Hannah says:Hi
I just ordered a new MacBook by phone (in the UK) and was told by the rather chirpy Irish guy that all Macs would be shipping with Leopard “by January” ie in the next few weeks… When I queried this, he didn’t give any explanation as to how he knew, but was confident enough in it to offer me a free upgrade later if it didn’t come out then. Which is nice
#33 amacc says:John
“I wouldn’t doubt for a second that they want to concern themselves with more than just Disney’s movies before they launch their video-on-demand product”
Steve Jobs owns 7% of Disney! He is the BIGGEST single share holder.
#34 max says:It plainly states that it will be released in spring at the bottom of the Mac OS X page on apples website.
#35 John Sawyer says:max (#34) is right–at the bottom of Apple’s Leopard web page, it says “Coming spring 2007″. But if anyone remembers most of Apple’s other OS X release dates, though that can mean any time between March 21 and June 21, usually Apple releases in the last few days of any announced timespan. But it seems Apple is timing Leopard’s release in some relation to Longhorn/Vista’s release to the general public (Vista’s business version is already available), so this may be another factor that alters Apple’s usual release pattern (translation: Leopard stands a chance of being released earlier than the last week of spring).
As for the influence of NeXT on OS X, check out this link for someone’s take on it; though he points the finger at Avie Tevanian as being the big pusher for NeXT being the basis of OS X (notwithstanding dorian’s observations about things in the NeXT OS that haven’t yet made it into OS X), Tevanian wouldn’t have been able to have that kind of influence unless Steve Jobs gave it to him–Jobs has been the moving force behind the NeXT/OS X merger (duh).
http://daringfireball.net/2003/07/the_good_the_bad_and_the_avie
#36 LinuxVegas says:As far as the new OS X from apple, which is not a simple upgrade, but rather a whole new set of code the will make better use of the intel chips thus, allowing you to do a true 64 bit multitasking, just like tiger is doing now.
But with Leopard we will see more tools for developers and amateurs alike willing to take time and make stable appz for the intel architecture. at the keynotes presented in las vegas, Jobs stated that Leopard will be launched in Spring 2007. if nothing stops the final packaging of the product that is.
Inside sources put the final launch around march 27, 2007.
Not bad considering that Apple has tried to block the actual day. Hope my sources can keep me up to date as to the final day when we closer to the march deadline for the development and marketing teams.
Apple is also considering adding more drivers for existing and up coming hardware which is also shared by windows machines. another proof that apple doesn’t just want to take the windows user market share, but they want to make microsoft the second choice for your personal computers whether for personal use or business. Apple has been getting hardware manufacturers to detail the future additions to the Mac family of peripherals & hardware. those hardware includes T.V. tunners, HD capable of course. along with many addon PCI Xpress flavors of the all too known PCI architecture we all love to hate. But Apple, just like anything Jobs wants to introduce to the Computer Industry, Will be dealing with the PCI-E interface, a rather smart move since Leopard will be able to take advantage of the new code in addressing the bus for more than just video, Such advantages will be in the research field and mission critical applications.
At this time all of this is beign worked out, but the future is real bright, not just for Apple’s stock holders, but for the consumers who yearn of a day without a bloated OS that crashes more than, well the crush test dummies or buster for that matter. You know Who I’m talking about.
2007 will be a very interesting year, considering the new deals beign made for the post launch of Leopard.
#37 Ariel says:yeah theres rumors that apple is intergrating stuff thats been around for a while, well you can say that but its not really true for example ichat, you can download a add on version online that they claim looks like the next ichat thats coming with leopard, but guess what its not only kind of wacky it makes you machine crash ramdonly, i tell you because i fell for it, also leopard is an upgrade not like some sites claim is a all new operating system, also release date its on time, as soon as you see apple release 10.4.9 update that mean there getting your machine ready for leopard and then you should see the site taking pre orders withing days for it
#38 dfc says:Yes back to milk cows….
& Yes we all have features now that will be in 10.5 upgrade (not OS XI),
Infact my os look years ahead of 10.5 anyhoot,
Yes we will still be aqua…
And yes third-party software manufacture’s will show them the way to OS X.VI
Ah the old days when I was localizing OS 6 & 7…
But OS X.IV or V still kicks buttocks Huh!!!! My latest up time on a machine that runs a heavy work load all day and into most of the night is 63 days… I’d like to see Vista or any other OS do that running Graphics, 2D and 3D + Film applications… Oh and I restart the machine, it actually does what I want not what it wants. I have another net machine and that is reaching 267 Days of up time and it surfs everyday all day.. Hmmmm… Hey widows lover… Put that in your pipe and let Apple smoke ya a little more… Oh did I mention tongue stuck out we not only have the faster better os faster better and sexier hardware that you guy are only constantly emulating, well trying too… What are you even doing here probably just dreaming Apple huh..
[By the way I agree with Ariel 10.4.9 will show the way...]!
Oh… And about NeXT wasn’t it, by the way, the other Steve not Jobs that made NeXT… the same guy that invented the apple os as well as the hardware… Jobs has always only been the salesman… Woz i’m sure is in the background so you cannot really complain about NeXT coz OS X is Woz’s OS as well.. And Steve is again just the Peddler… Frontman…
#39 Peter S says:I hate to break it to you - but Jobs not Woz was behind NeXt - in his years when he was ousted from Apple.
#40 john says:and why do you think apple acquired next in 97 for $500m ??????????????????
makes me wonder. there aint to next anymore next is apple.
#41 Joel says:Co announced that iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. “However, iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned