Not so long ago, a lot of us suggested that the Mac Pro, the expected successor to the Power Mac, would probably be announced in August during the keynote at the WWDC. It makes sense, since the newest updates to Intel’s chip line will be in full production.

But wait just a moment! Maybe we’re missing something. You see, it’s clear that the next great version of Mac OS X, code-named Leopard, heads the August agenda. Apple has said as much in a recent press release, which is why you’re going to read lots and lots of stories about what might appear in the new release, along with various and sundry wish lists.

I know I’ve given mine, but what about the remaining members of Apple’s Mac lineup? With consumer desktops and consumer and professional notebooks out the door, only the release of the latest members of Intel’s revised chip family might have held up the new Power Mac and, of course, the Xserve.

You can expect that Apple wants to get the products out as soon as the new chips are in production, just as they did when the Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro were announced in January. Yes, even though they’re only small customers to Intel, dwarfed by Dell and HP, Apple didn’t find itself placed at the end of the food chain. Apple is clearly the prestige customer for the world’s largest chip maker, and I have no doubt this was part of the deal that made them switch processors.

This week, intel introduced its Woodcrest processor, which is officially known as the Dual-Core Xeon 5100 series. Topping at at 3GHz, this is a high-end 64-bit chip that’s earmarked for both servers and high-end workstations. You can be certain that Apple has already gotten prototypes and that it is developing ways to harness the extraordinary power of this new chip, and certainly an Xserve would be as good a place as any to place it.

So with the chip shipping now, and designed for “high-volume server, workstation, communications, storage and embedded market segments,” according to Intel, what is Apple waiting for? Yes, you read that correctly! The word “workstation” is used there, and the Power Mac G5, in the past, has been compared to a Xeon-equipped workstation.

So with the new generation chips at hand, is there any reason for Apple to wait much longer before completing its Intel migration? That magic 3GHz point ought to be particularly tempting, in light of the failed and embarrassing promise Steve Jobs made about delivering a Power Mac G5 with that rating within a year after the initial model was introduced.

In announcing the new chip, Intel claims “135 percent performance improvements and up to 40 percent reduction in energy consumption over previous Intel server products.” Does this mean that the Mac Pro, the expected name of the Power Mac’s successor, won’t need liquid cooling? I wouldn’t know, and I wouldn’t pretend to possess secret information about the status of Apple’s design scheme for its new desktops.

But I will say this: Unless there is some unexpected delay in developing and testing its professional model, I don’t see any reason for a further delay. Accordingly, I’m going out on the limb here, and I may end up being the fool as a result. But that doesn’t matter. I fully expect that Apple will announce the Mac Pro and a brand new Xserve before the middle of July.

I expect both will have form factors similar to the existing designs, largely because the customers who buy such computers aren’t as style-conscious as those who buy the new MacBook or an iPod. They simply want something that delivers the computing horsepower and reliability they need for their work. If cooling requirements are more modest, of course, Apple might find room for more internal drives, but I’m not taking any bets.

Of course there is another factor that Apple has to consider: With Adobe’s Creative Suite and other applications still not ready in Universal form, early adopters of the new Mac professional desktops will have to rely on Rosetta emulation for large portions of their work. Now if Intel’s claims of tremendous performance improvements are true, and the Xeon 5100 series can trump a Power Mac G5 by a comparable margin, you will experience only a negligible performance loss with, say, Photoshop. But Universal applications will just soar.

As to Adobe, one might expect that, with the Intel transition done, they’d have their work cut out for them in delivering a Universal Creative Suite. Maybe they can even advance their timetable, but I’m not going to go that far. Besides, my crystal ball is getting a bit cloudy, and I need some sleep.

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Over the next few weeks, lots of tech people will vie for your attention with their grab bags of wish lists for the next Mac OS X upgrade. Some suggest that Apple might even ditch the feline code-name, and use something with greater marketing potential. On the other hand, they’ve made a big deal of this naming convention, so this seems rather doubtful at this stage.

There will be plenty of talk about fixing the Finder, smoothing Spotlight’s interface, revising the Dashboard metaphor, and other issues. But I have another matter to talk about on this occasion, that of the software bundling. You see, there’s this company in Redmond, Washington that’s struggling hard to deliver a long-delayed operating system, and they’re going to include lots and lots of stuff. Apple is going to have to pull out all stops to compete.

Sure, Apple has some neat extras with Mac OS X, such as iChat, Mail and Safari, but a lot of what they do is focused on that collection of digital lifestyle applications that must, like batteries in some electronic appliances, be purchased separately. This isn’t to say that paying $79 for the latest annual update of iLife is a bad deal. As more and more applications are added to the suite, and features expanded, it’s actually quite a bargain.

On the other hand, this is war. Apple has its first opportunity in years to really boost market share. The holiday season is theirs, and it’s quite probable that Leopard might even beat Windows Vista to the starting gate, even though Microsoft protests it’s still on schedule for a January 2007 consumer release.

So here’s a game plan: Make all subsequent iLife upgrades free, tethered to the operating system. That way everyone who uses Leopard and its successors will be on an equal playing field. You won’t have to buy a new Mac to get them free, nor buy an annual revision to stay up to date with the latest and greatest. Sure, Apple might be losing a potential income source, but hear me out! I think more copies of Leopard will be sold as a result, and I suspect a lot of you wouldn’t object to paying, say, $159 for the privilege if it included more goodies as part of the package. And, yes, this should be a Universal installer, so you won’t have to buy a separate upgrade kit, or use a different DVD, depending on whether you have a PowerPC or Intel-based Mac.

Another significant change would be the policy to change you extra for QuickTime Pro. How many times do you want to access a feature, only to see that annoying item in the menu indicating you have to spend $29.95 for the upgrade to make it work? Here Apple is acting like the troubled Detroit auto makers who used to list everything, including air conditioning and even a decent radio, as optional equipment. It seems petty to cripple QuickTime unless you have the activation code. That sounds like something you expect from Windows, and I really wonder whether this is much of an income source for Apple.

As far as I’m concerned, you ought to be able to enjoy all the features without this nickel and dime policy.

So there you go. Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, with a $30 price increase, but adding iLife and QuickTime Pro as part of the deal. When you consider the possible upgrade costs of Windows Vista, and the amount of time you spend looking over the various versions to see which one is right for you, this will seem like an incredible bargain.

But there is one more thing: Those maintenance updates, such as 10.4.7, have become much too large for many to handle in a convenient way. Even though Apple, by losing the built-in modem on its computers, wants us to believe that broadband is simply everywhere, you and I know this just isn’t true. Tens of millions of Internet surfers in the U.S. alone are still using dial-up connections. In some rural areas, broadband is an unfulfilled dream, unless you want to pay extra for a satellite Internet hookup.

So how do you resolve the problem? One way would be to offer free quarterly update DVDs for the life of the operating system; that is, until the next version comes out. Another would be to offer an optional subscription program that could, perhaps, include your .Mac subscription. That would be yet another reason to sign up for some extra services.

Yes, there are indeed lots of things that ought to be fixed and improved for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. You know there will be lots of eye-candy too, so Apple can tout its standard repertoire of 150 or 200 new features. But this proposed package of extras may be the most compelling of all.

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You’d think that after nearly 14 months, updates for Tiger would settle down, but alas that’s not to be. On Tuesday afternoon, yet another update, rather a substantial one, appeared in the Software Update preference panels. As usual, the liner notes only indicate a fairly modest number of changes, but a Knowledge Base document is a lot more informative.

There are separate PowerPC and Intel versions, plus one for Tiger Server, but here’s the short list:

The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies.

It includes fixes for:

• preventing AFP deadlocks and dropped connections
• saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes
• Bluetooth file transfers, pairing and connecting to a Bluetooth mouse, and syncing to mobile phones
• audio playback in QuickTime, iTunes, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack Pro applications
• ensuring icons are spaced correctly when viewed on desktop
• determining the space required to burn folders
• iChat audio and video connectivity, creating chat rooms when using AIM
• importing files into Keynote 3
• PDF workflows when using iCal and iPhoto
• reliable use of Automator actions within workflows
• importing and removing fonts in Font Book
• syncing addresses, bookmarks, calendar events and files to .Mac
• compatibility with third party applications and devices
• previous standalone security updates

Depending on your situation, some of these changes are particularly significant. My main concern is the fact that Apple is still wrestling with network problems after all this time and all these updates. Even those irritating connection issues with iChat should have been resolved before this.

In fact, the entire Knowledge Base document lists over 70 “improvements” and that doesn’t include the security issues, which are detailed in yet another document.

The upgrades are positively huge and growing. The “Delta” updates from 10.4.6 weigh in at 64MB for the PowerPC version and 131MB for the Intel version. However, your Software Update list may deliver an update of a different size, which makes it doubly difficult to deploy that update on a network with different types of Macs. If you have older versions of Tiger, you’ll be eligible for the Combo updates, which are 192MB and 215MB. Considering that millions of you don’t have broadband connections yet, updates may be difficult if not impossible to retrieve; that is, unless there’s a nearby Apple Store, a cooperative third party dealer, or a friend with a fast connection.

Once again, I hope Apple will consider setting up a program where you can order monthly or quarterly CD or DVD updates to your operating system, maybe as part of your Mac OS X purchase, or as a separate subscription. I’ll have more to say about that subject in my next Leopard wish list.

Until the initial chatter about 10.4.7 is posted, though, it may be a good idea not to rush out and run the update on your Mac. True, previous Tiger updates have been pretty reliable for most of you, but there’s always the potential for trouble, particularly when so many fixes are involved. After a few days, it should be obvious if there are any show-stopping issues with the potential to affect you.

Some cautious troubleshooters suggest that you also take a few precautions before you run any update of this complexity. You may, for example, want to run the Repair Disk Permissions feature of Disk Utility before and after the update. Some recommend that FireWire devices be dismounted and disconnected from your Mac before the 10.4.7 installer runs.

You should also make sure that all Apple applications are placed loose in the Applications folder and not buried in another folder. While the installer ought to be “smart” enough to find the applications anyway, this is a precaution worth taking. As for myself, I recommend quitting all your other applications too, although I haven’t gone so far as to remove any peripheral devices.

My biggest hope, of course, is that all of the fixes in 10.4.7 will not deliver new problems, and also that Apple can concentrate now on working full steam on Mac OS 10.5 Leopard without any further sidesteps into the past. And, yes, Tiger will soon be the best, as are all operating systems that preceded it.

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