Is that a Lion lurking in Apple's invite for a "Back to the Mac" event on October 20? It looks like a brand new version OS X. I hope they call it Simba. But what else?
The surprise could be a revamped MacBook Air. At least, that's what Daring Fireball thinks:
A "sneak preview of the next major version of Mac OS X", and, I'm just guessing here, the brand-new way-cooler MacBook Air.
The other update that is long overdue is iLife. However, it seems unlikely that they will introduce a new Mac OS X (which will take at least one hour to present), a new "way-cooler" computer, and iLife. We'll find out a week from today.
So, there's a new big cat, judging from the image, a "Lion". I believe they're going to show it, regarding Sir Buchannan's opinion. What can we expect?
Some blogs are talking about Finder improvements, new versions for iWork and iLife and new Macs, especially, laptops. I'd go for that improved Finder, much like these apps that came up as a replacement (such as TotalFinder or PathFinder). Finder is getting old and misses some key features, features that many advanced users are asking for for ages, like tabs and dual panes. I saw somewhere, don't remember where though, that Apple was, earlier this year, looking for a person to implement a "revolutionary feature in the core of MacOS X". I won't guess. In my opinion, MacOS X has achieved such a level os maturity that it's being more and more difficult to guess what Apple will do next.
As for iWork and iLife '11, there is a high probability that they will include new features, as they always do. Like is said for a while now, the inclusion of iDVD's functionality into iMovie (I approve) and a new mysterious app. I couldn't find any clues on this one, though...
New Macs... Well, I've never seen Apple keeping the same design for this long, for the iMac especially... I hope they come up with a new one. Laptops, though, need an update on hardware, and I'm sure they'll do it. MacBook Air, particularly, is almost ancient and badly outdated. Some also say that the iOS devices will get, or may get, syncing without iTunes. I, personally, don't believe that. iTunes has always been Apple's choice for this kind of stuff and, being iTunes 10 relatively new, I don't see why Apple would come up with a new kind of software.
What do you think?
The event will be addressed on wednesday, October 20th, 10:00 a. m. Pacific Time (18:00 in Portugal, GMT).
-João
