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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced Tuesday that it will unveil its latest version of Mac OS X during CEO Steve Jobs' scheduled keynote address at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.
Apple declined to release details about the upcoming iteration, nicknamed "Tiger," although Ron Okamoto, vice president of worldwide developer relations at Apple, told MacNewsWorld that last year's WWDC directly contributed to Tiger's most significant advancements.
"Last year was gigantic in terms of attendance," he said. "It was also important to the developer community, and that's why we're going to be able to release Tiger."
New Attendees, New OS
An influx of new developers has bolstered Apple's ability to crank out yet another version of OS X, Okamoto said. If Tiger goes on sale this year, it will be the company's fifth version in five years.
This is in marked contrast to competitor Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which has only released one new version of Windows -- Windows XP -- over the same time period. The next major release of Windows, codenamed "Longhorn," has been through several delays and seen its release date pushed back to 2006 at the earliest.
Jobs is expected to kick off this year's WWDC, which runs from June 28th to July 2nd, with Tiger's introduction. Last year, Jobs showed off over 150 improvements to the operating system, including better file synchronization, when he introduced Panther to conference attendees.
Vocal Majority
Okamoto noted that the developer community surrounding Apple has increased in
the last couple years, attracting developers from the open source 
, Java and Unix communities.
"Guys like these have been attracted to OS X because of its ease and simplicity," he said. "Last year, we wanted to make a push for developers, and, as a result, we've gotten much more feedback."
Apple used the voluminous response it obtained since the last year's WWDC to put together Tiger.
According to Okamoto, developers tend to be vocal about what they like in the operating system and even more vocal about what they do not.
Such suggestions have aided in turning the Mac OS into a whole new cat.
Cat-Like Moves?
When Apple launched Panther last year, much was made of Microsoft's sluggishness in getting Longhorn out the door. Tiger's release might bring that discussion back to the forefront.
However, IDC analyst Roger Kay told MacNewsWorld that comparisons between Tiger and Longhorn might not be as direct as they initially seem.
"They're saying that they can move faster because of their architecture and release a major revision of their OS every year," he said. "And it seems like their competitors can only do the same thing once in half a decade."
But what Apple calls a major release may be closer to a point release at other companies, Kay said. Despite the cute kitty nicknames, the actual names of the most recent OS versions, such as 10.2 and 10.3, indicate that even Apple considers the versions to be point releases, Kay said.
"The fact that they give them cat names may make it really big news in their eyes," Kay said. "But it's still a point release."
Waiting Game
Whether Apple will unveil a retooled OS remarkably similar to Panther or reveal an overhaul that will have developers clamoring to work on it, remains to be seen.
Either way, Okamoto is confident that Tiger will be the kickoff to a developer event that goes beyond discussion about the nuances of the latest OS version.
This year's WWDC will feature about 200 technical tracks, including hands-on labs and expanded coverage of enterprise IT, application technologies, QuickTime and digital media, and the OS X core.
Okamoto predicted that the growing developer community will bolster Apple's efforts in the coming year, just as it did over the past year in preparing Tiger for the spotlight.
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