Apple testing new OS

Snow Leopard is an Apple desktop and server operation system which is currently in the development process will succeed the sixth release of Mac OS X 10.5 aka Leopard. Apart from all those 300 changes and enhancements featured its predecessor the new one will not focus on new end-user features, but rather on improving performance, efficiency and reducing its overallfootprint.

Though "Snow Leopard" was first previewed at last June’s Worldwide Developers Conference, developers got a last test build of Mac OS X 10.6, back in the beginning of December.

But last week Apple has finally tapped a handful of choice developers to test third party application support against its operating system in a sign the software is nearing a stage of refinement and optimization.

For this moment only a few details are available, an information source said that the user interface is largely untouched. There are a few bug fixes for the Finder, and the build is said to have more stability and speed. Developers are still being asked to focus on printer drivers, third-party apps, and Exchange support.

Though the preliminary release is expected to be as early as March, Snow Leopard may need a bit more time before it is fully ready for release. As it's known that the new release focuses on multi-core processing, chances are good that the release will coincide with new desktop hardware, expected to use newer four- and possibly eight-core processors from Intel.