Apple Inc.’s latest operating system software, Snow Leopard, will go on sale this Friday. The Mac OS X version 10.6 software will debut at Apple’s retail stores and authorized resellers nationwide. Apple’s online store is now taking pre-orders.
Snow Leopard’s release comes days before its promised September launch. It precedes by two months the launch of Microsoft Corp.’s next operating system, Windows 7. Among Snow Leopard’s improvements is built-in support for Microsoft’s Exchange Server software, so Apple programs for e-mail, calendars and contacts could become more useful in corporate settings.