By Neil Hughes
Published: 03:55 PM EST (12:55 PM PST)
A new corporate job listing from Apple boasts of a "revolutionary" new feature for the foundations of Mac OS X that will "truly amaze everyone."
The new job listing
posted this week and discovered by
AppleInsider makes numerous references to a specific, singular feature said to be a part of the Mac OS X operating system. Of course, it declines to reveal what that feature could be, but the ad does use the word "revolutionary" on three separate occasions.
"Are you looking to help create something new? Something that has never been done before and will truly amaze everyone?" the job listing reads. "Are you excited by the prospect that what you helped create would be used every day by millions of Apple customers? Then come and work with us on the Mac OS X software engineering team to help build a new and revolutionary feature for Mac OS X."
The listing seeks a software engineer that has experience with developing Internet technologies and services, and also says that an 'exceptional candidate" would have experience with HTTP protocol and the architecture of large Web scale systems.
The posting could be interpreted to mean that Apple is beefing up personnel as it works hard on the next iteration of its desktop operating system platform, Mac OS X 10.7. So far, Apple has made no mention of its next-generation operating system.
Some were hopeful that Apple could show of Mac OS X 10.7 at this summer's Worldwide Developers Conference, even if just in the form of a
limited demo. Instead, that event was all about the iPhone 4.
To create the secret new feature, Apple seeks to hire a senior software engineer to help craft the software which will be a part of the "very foundations" of Mac OS X.
"We have something truly revolutionary and really exciting in progress, and it is going to require your most creative and focused efforts ever," the listing days. The company wants to hire someone who has a drive to tackle "really hard" challenges that "have never been done before."
An ideal candidate for the job has a degree in computer science and five years of professional experience in developing C/C++/Objective-C libraries or frameworks for use on end user systems. Applicants with experiencing developing for Mac OS X and UNIX are desired.
Evidence of work on Mac OS X 10.7 came late last year, just
a few months after the most recent version, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, shipped. AT the time, a new database entry for the open source "launchd" framework responsible for Mac OS X referenced "11A47." The numerical prefix of a Mac OS X build determines the version number, and 11A47 would imply an early version of Mac OS X 10.7.
