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Seth Weintraub

Apple versus Google

Snow Leopard name all about appeasing PowerPC customers

9 comments

TAGS:Apple, Leopard, OSX, snowleopard
IT TOPICS:Macintosh & Apple, Mobile & Wireless, Operating Systems

Apple's Snow Leopard announcement was a bit of a surprise to many. Not just because the new OS isn't going to support PowerPC or that there weren't going to be any new features but because there wasn't a new cat operating system introduced.

Well a whole new cat at least.

This whole naming safari is an exercise in branding. Apple is redoing its OSX software from the ground up...probably the biggest OS redesign since OSX series began in 2001. The code will be optimized only for Intel chips and it will be made much more efficient overall so that it runs well on low power CPUs like Apple uses in the MacBook Air.

However, this OS won't see any major additional features...so maybe it shouldn't really get a full name change?

True, but I think this is only a small part of the reason for the branding.

So what's in a name? Imagine it is a year from now and you have a top of the line G5 tower you bought in 2006. Everyone is upgrading their machines to Snow Leopard. But you are stuck with....Leopard. That isn't so bad is it?

If it were some other big cat, the psychological hit would be worse. "What are you runnin on that thing, Leopard or Snow Leopard?". Or "what are you running Leopard or Cougar?" It is much easier to digest the "sub species".

And if history is any indicator, Apple will continue to support Leopard in the same way is supports Tiger currently. Updates continue to come out for the older operating system even though its heyday has long since past. I expect Apple to treat plain Leopard the same way.

In fact, Apple could go a step further and keep the OS updates on the same numbering system. Snow Leopard could debut at 10.5.5S while Leopard is at 10.5.5.

This isn't as likely but Apple certainly is trying to keep its legacy PowerPC users happy....and not only in words.

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Speculating on Intel-only Snow Leopard?

Submitted by Terry on June 29, 2008 - 12:03 A.M.

It is illogical to assume that Snow Leopard will NOT run on PowerPC (G5s and possibly G4s), unless Intel's future architecture plans are so radically different that it would make cross-compilation too difficult to support.G5s are/were multi-core/processor chips; a single-core G4 is logically a "special-case" of a multi-core chip.

Of course, it would be a benefit to be able to drop the "testing and debugging" associated with supporting both architectures. But, from a marketing point-of-view, dropping support for the PowerPC while still retaining the "Leopard" moniker does not make sense. I'd expect a completely different sort of cat if PowerPC support is being dropped.

My guess is that Snow Leopard will continue to support at least the G5 architecture.

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Apple has said that Snow

Submitted by Seth Weintraub on July 1, 2008 - 7:03 P.M.

Apple has said that Snow Leopard will only run on Intel Hardware. Also in the Snow Leopard beta installer it says you must run on Intel Hardware. Lastly, the Apps that come along with Snow Leopard are compiled to run on Intel only.

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All in the family

Submitted by Tony on June 19, 2008 - 8:08 P.M.

Well aren't all the "big cats" just different branches of the panther species anyway? So maybe all of us OS X users should just stop being jealous of the latest release.

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"Top of the line G5 tower

Submitted by Silencio on June 19, 2008 - 12:13 P.M.

"Top of the line G5 tower you bought in 2007"!? You do realize that the Xeon-based Mac Pro was introduced in 2006, no? By the time Snow Leopard ships, the newest PowerMac G5 towers will be at least three years old, assuming they don't die from coolant leaks before that.

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correctamundo, corrected

Submitted by Seth Weintraub on June 19, 2008 - 12:46 P.M.

correctamundo, corrected

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"Imagine it is a year from

Submitted by Anonymous on June 19, 2008 - 12:06 P.M.

"Imagine it is a year from now and you have a top of the line G5 tower you bought in 2007. Everyone is upgrading their machines to Snow Leopard. But you are stuck with....Leopard. That isn't so bad is it?"

If you bought a "top of the line G5 tower" in 2007, even though Apple had stopped selling them in mid-2006 (and all other PPC Macs months before that), you're either (a) an idiot, (b) somebody who got a really good deal on old hardware, or (c) someone who bought a G5 for compatibility with your legacy PPC-only apps.

In any of these cases, I don't see why you'd care about running the latest OS.

If it's mid-2009 and your mid-2006 computer won't run the latest OS, you might be a bit bummed out -- until you realize that your computer is 3 years old, and let's face it, you knew since mid-2005 that Intel was coming, so the only reason you bought it was because you had to run legacy apps. "3 years" is significant here, but not because it's a short time to discontinue OS support for a computer. It's significant because it's how long Adobe/Microsoft/etc have had to fix their damn apps so you don't have to use a PPC any more. You get to upgrade. Smile.

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Sometime next year ...

Submitted by Terry on July 1, 2008 - 2:37 P.M.

So, next year, we bite the bullet! Upgrade! I am already in a situation where Office 2004 is flaky about quitting when running under 10.5.3. Perhaps Snow Leopard will put a stake through its heart, but I am definitely not migrating to Office 2008 without VB cross-compatibility. Adobe has said that there may be issues with its Studio 8 suite. I may decide to stick with Tiger.

But why not just than fix it? Has Apple has changed the Mac OS X API to the point where it has "broken" existing apps. Is the re-engineering of the kernel in 10.6 an effort to correct architectural problems?

I give thanks that updates to my vehicle's-engine management software do not require me to rebuild the engine or buy a new one. :-/

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They're probably trying to

Submitted by keV Orng on June 19, 2008 - 5:46 A.M.

They're probably trying to avoid being called "cougar" for as long as possible. I have a neighbour who's doing the same.

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Another reason for "Snow" Leopard

Submitted by Alasdair on June 19, 2008 - 5:15 A.M.

It just struck me that "Snow" Leopard is an in-joke.

From the consumer perspective, the visible features of Leopard 10.5 are "frozen" for 10.6 - where all the hard work will be behind-the-scenes and [apart from speed] not user-visible.

A frozen Leopard is a Snow Leopard, of course!

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