Talking with Wolf Rentzsch after the CAWUG meeting today, I mused about the upcoming Snow Leopard release, which is mostly internal improvements relating to performance, and few user-facing features announced so far (the chief being Exchange support).

This is really about showing Microsoft how it’s done. Windows 7 will be Microsoft figuring out how to slim down the kernel, and reinvent Windows into some sort of manageable form.

Meanwhile, OS X is facing its seventh release (10.0 being the first). Instead of a huge torrent of new features, Snow Leopard takes a step back, puts on some polish, and puts more horsepower under the hood.

This is a good move on Apple’s part. It’s an indication that the firm foundations have been laid and built upon, the features are in place and solid. It’s a sign of success.

It’s basically a sabbatical. The first great act of OS X creation is complete, and Apple looked upon it, and it was good.