Apple’s Next Big Cat to Make WWDC Debut?

Written on June 04, 2008 by Nick Mediati and 22 people have commented

It seems just like yesterday that we were celebrating Leopard’s release. But if rumors hold true, we could be celebrating another big cat’s release come January 2009. According to a rumor first spotted over at TUAW, Apple may be planning to unveil Mac OS X 10.6 at next week’s WWDC in San Francisco, with a planned ship date in January 2009.

There have been some rumblings of 10.6 lately; some intrepid souls found references to 10.6 in the iPhone SDK installer, as well as in WebKit, the engine powering Safari. If this rumor is true, 10.6 would be released a mere 15 months after 10.5. While Apple has released major Mac OS X versions that close (and closer) together before, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a new version so soon.

Since we have a few days until Lord Jobs’ WWDC keynote, let’s play a quick game of Name That Kitty! My money’s on “Cougar.” I like the sound of it and have hoped Apple would go with it for a while now. What sayeth thou? Post a comment!

Related Entries:

Trackbacks/Pingbacks (Trackback URL)

Pingback by Mac OS X 10.6 auf apfelblick

Comments RSSComments

#1 Eric says:
I think it’s time for a change of naming convention. Big cats are a bit old hat now.
#2 Jason says:
“LoLCat”
#3 rich says:
Liger, innit.
#4 Galley says:
Lynx
#5 bertrand says:
minou
#6 2Shae says:
I wonder if it will get a visually update or perhaps multiple themes available.

If they don’t then I don’t really consider it as a “new” OS, but more like a Service Pack.
#7 Craig says:
The only big cat name as yet unused (since Puma and Cougar are the same species) is Lion, but that seems pretty boring (if not even cowardly), although as king of beasts it might be the final Cat name.

So we have to go to smaller cats like Lynx, Ocelot, Wildcat, Bobcat for a truly different species, and it makes little sense to move out of the family of big cats.

I’m at a loss, but I think Siamese is unlikely.
#8 Lee says:
Wait did I miss “Cheetah”? Was that before or after Jaguar…so confused. How ’bout “Patience” named after Catwoman?
#9 Patrick Wynne says:
I vote for a smaller cat: Chartreux
#10 Toni says:
I say Ocelot; I don’t care how big or small it is
#11 Lee says:
Looks like “Lion” is it…I do like Ocelot…unless we start going back and call it Sabretooth or Sabre? But that whole extinct thing might work against the marketing. I don’t care what they call it, I’m sure it’ll be the “Cat’s Meow”…just puuuuuurrrrfect!
#12 Shearn says:
Lnyx - it just sounds cooler
#13 Uncle says:
Sabertooth- the original big cat

or maybe Andres Gallaraga
#14 Craig says:
Sabretooth is freaking awesome.

But in order of coolness and likelihood of actually being used, I agree both Ocelot and Lynx sound cooler than Lion.

Even though it’s the last and king of the big cats (but not the biggest), something tells me that Steven Jobs is not going to go for Mac OS X Lion.

And Cougar is, I think, still possible.
#15 Nick Mediati says:
@ #13:
Andrés Gallaraga…I like that!
#16 AndyS says:
Man, I hope apple delivers. I just bought 16K of their stock yesterday @ 187. I wrote more about it here -
http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2008/06/oh-noi-just-bought-16k-worth-of-apple.html -
and am hoping they over deliver as usual. Hoping the new OS is better recieved than Vista (the last big software launch by Microsoft)

Andy
#17 Craig says:
Snow Leopard
#18 millions says:
Lynx or Cheetah. Lynx is by far the coolest cat name.
#19 jobs says:
Pussy Galore
#20 Grey says:
Cheetah’s aren’t big cats, but I suppose that Apple could ignore that…

My vote goes to Ocelot, mostly because it puts a smile on my face!
#21 Lee says:
Guess Craig is right…”Snow Leopard” is next. What about after that?….