Apple confirms Mac OS X 10.3 ‘Panther’ will be 32-bit

According to The Register today, Apple has confirmed that its next major OS release, Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther,” will be 32-bit, but “tweaked” to support 64-bit addressing. “That’s the same technique implemented in Mac OS X 10.2.7, the version of the Apple operating system that will ship with the first 64-bit Power Mac G5s. Mac OS X 10.2.7, codenamed ‘Smeagol,’ is a 32-bit OS, but certain libraries and other elements have been recoded to allow it to make use of the 64-bit addressing provided by the G5’s 64-bit IBM PowerPC 970 processor,” writes Tony Smith in the report.