Apple Getting Busy on Mac OS X 10.7 to Combat Win7

[Michael Essany]

Apple isn't letting any grass grow beneath them in terms of future operating system upgrades.

While most of us are still acclimating to Snow Leopard, Mac Rumors is reporting information today that could soon have us preparing to familiarize ourselves with yet another new version OS X.

Evidence has surfaced that Apple is already working on the next version of OS X, presumably to be designated Mac OS X 10.7. The information comes from an entry posted earlier today in a database of changes to the open source "launched" framework, which oversees booting of Mac OS X and administers processes running on the system.

The "smoking-gun" giveaway is the error message discovered in the entry. The text string reads "11A47," which, of course, is a reference to the Mac OS X build number being used. Apple should have known someone would eventually catch on, as the company has a bad habit of using “a numerical prefix indicating the major release version, followed by a letter code indicating the minor release version and a numerical suffix indicating iterations of that version throughout its development.”

Particularly exciting to some, the '47' suffix indicates that Apple is up to something, though there is no way of telling how long it will be until the upcoming OS refresh will be formally unveiled. But when it does finally arrive, grand expectations await - particularly since the last OS upgrade didn't pack a big enough "wow" factor for a lot of Apple fans.

While 10.6 incorporated many "under the hood" changes, however, some have speculated that we may see more radical end-user changes in 10.7.

Thanks to the arrival of Windows 7, Apple has to stretch beyond basic security and stability issues with their next operating system. Being "radical" on the user interface could prove the company's only effective way to stand out and differentiate from the competition.

Image via Softpedia

[realjaja]

combat? whats there to combat? win7 is great but its no osx.

[jdys_1991]

The real WOW, will start now. (Once the new OSX is out)

[Currawong]

Erm, Apple have always started development on the next Mac OS X soon after a major release. Plans for the OS stretch years into the future.

[xxdesmus]

Yeah...um the next version of OSX will not be competing with Windows 7.

It'll actually be competing with Windows 8. That would be like saying Windows 7 is competing with Leopard (not Snow Leopard). This title doesn't make any sense, but at least the body of article does.

[bbillh77]

I will be waiting

[klouud]

Yeah... whats there to combat? Apple has a WORKING OS and Microsoft doesn't. Thats what it comes down to. I don't care what kind of bells and whistles Microsoft puts on their new OS's the bottom line is that Apple has a good product and Microsoft doesn't.

After Vista my faith in Microsoft = 0%
I am now an Apple customer for life.

I would rather spend more on something that I know will work then get a deal on something that breaks all the time. My computer that natively runs Vista had 3 major crashes with absolutely no provocation from me, the last of which I had to send the CPU back to hp - Its wasn't hp's fault, it was Microsoft's.

Case and point - Microsoft shot itself in the foot and pushed every Windows user that was on the fence to violently fall on the Apple side.

tim

[MikePA]

Typical Apple fanboy response, and you blaming a hardware problem on software reveals how much your opinion is worth. I run both OSX (iMac and hackintosh) and Win7.

[mikerlx]

I have a Dell PC with Windows XP and love it and a MacBook Air with Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and love it. Whats the point in all this competition if they work? Besides why would anyone speculate 10.7 when how many years did Leopard exists like 4-5 years? I doubt we see 10.7 for at least 4 years from now.

[hancoma]

Thus the war begins....useless.

[sphangman]

newsflash .. sun rising tomorrow morning after setting tonight ...
how is this news .. ? unless apple has decided to not release any more osx's of course they are working on the next one already ...

[madczech]

already 10.5 beat windows 7 by miles! :-D

[GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL]

They haven't even managed to master 10.6 and they're doing this.. okzzz.

I was just using Win7 on my Macbook, I'm accustomed to OS X but Win7 is extremely solid. I would be using it now via Bootcamp if it would just partition my drive.

[kaaroFC]

Great, but i wonder what the new features will be...I hope all computers become touch sensitive...

[hollow0]

Yeah... whats there to combat? Apple has a WORKING OS and Microsoft doesn't. Thats what it comes down to. I don't care what kind of bells and whistles Microsoft puts on their new OS's the bottom line is that Apple has a good product and Microsoft doesn't.

After Vista my faith in Microsoft = 0%
I am now an Apple customer for life.

I would rather spend more on something that I know will work then get a deal on something that breaks all the time. My computer that natively runs Vista had 3 major crashes with absolutely no provocation from me, the last of which I had to send the CPU back to hp - Its wasn't hp's fault, it was Microsoft's.

Case and point - Microsoft shot itself in the foot and pushed every Windows user that was on the fence to violently fall on the Apple side.

tim

Windows 7 really isn't all that bad. You should give it a chance. The only issue i've had with 7 is printing from print servers. Other than that it's working very well. I use both OSs on my MacBook.

[ggab]

Yeah... whats there to combat? Apple has a WORKING OS and Microsoft doesn't. Thats what it comes down to. I don't care what kind of bells and whistles Microsoft puts on their new OS's the bottom line is that Apple has a good product and Microsoft doesn't.

After Vista my faith in Microsoft = 0%
I am now an Apple customer for life.

I would rather spend more on something that I know will work then get a deal on something that breaks all the time. My computer that natively runs Vista had 3 major crashes with absolutely no provocation from me, the last of which I had to send the CPU back to hp - Its wasn't hp's fault, it was Microsoft's.

Case and point - Microsoft shot itself in the foot and pushed every Windows user that was on the fence to violently fall on the Apple side.

tim

Wait...so you're saying that my Windows 7 PC that hasn't been rebooted in weeks and never crashed on me is a non working OS? Wow, thanks for cluing me in.

[tudtran]

Dude
10.7 better be free cause I just pay for the Snow Leopard

[ty22]

Windows 7 really isn't all that bad. You should give it a chance. The only issue i've had with 7 is printing from print servers. Other than that it's working very well. I use both OSs on my MacBook.

I tried Windows 7 on my mac and I gave it a chance. Don't get me wrong I am a very gentle person when it comes to computers and a patient one. And I can say that Windows 7 is just as bad as Vista (which I had) and all it did was freeze and eat my battery..... yep thats Vista. I gave it almost a week and reinstalled it to see if it would help and nope..... its still a bloated os with a new coat of paint and outdated, bad technologies.

[rhekt]

apples snow leopard isnt competing with windows7 its dominating. remember snow came out before 7. sounds like a trailing effect.

[nighthawk283]

Win7 takes the win of Coarse