Questions Answered about the New Apple Version of the Mac Operating System
Now that Apple Inc. has blessed its users with a release date for the next version of Mac OS X — it’s the 26th, in case you didn’t hear — the next order of business for anyone planning to upgrade is to step back, take a breath, put down the credit card and think things through a little.
Is a move to Leopard smart? Your call, obviously. But assuming you give Apple a nod and your $129, here are the questions to ponder as you prep for the Friday after next. We’ll start with the basics first.
What is Leopard? Leopard (Panthera pardus) is both the name of a big cat and the code name for Mac OS X 10.5, the latest in a string of operating system releases from Apple that go by names from the family Felidae. The current operating system, Version 10.4, is Tiger, which was preceded by Panther, Jaguar, Puma and Cheetah, in reverse order. It is the first major release — in Apple’s eyes, that means a shift in numerical nomenclature of one-tenth of a point — since April 2005. It also marks the longest time between releases since Apple started rolling out Mac OS X.
As to why Apple CEO Steve Jobs and company insist on naming their operating systems after cats, you’d have to ask them. But with 41 species altogether in the family, there are enough to keep going for another 43 years or so.
