Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed that the next version of Mac OS X--10.6--will be code named Snow Leopard. The focus of this new version will be more toward incremental improvements [1] to the operating system, though a number of these "enhancements" seem pretty substantial by themselves.
For one, Snow Leopard will optimize for multi-core processors by leveraging on a new technology called "GrandCentral." Memory limit also will be raised to 16 TB, though the most interesting feature is probably the inclusion of Open Compute Library (OpenCL). OpenCL commands allow programmers to tap into the processing power of the GPU. Out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 [2] is also quoted, but it is unclear how it will be implemented. Reports indicate that Mac OS X 10.6 is expected to ship [3] "in about a year."
For more on Mac OS X 10.6:
- check out this TG Daily article [4]
Links:
[1] http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9963979-1.html
[2] http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/06/09.14.shtml
[3] http://www.macrumors.com/2008/06/09/mac-os-x-snow-leopard-to-focus-on-performance-quality/
[4] http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37868/140/