Apple Announces Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2007

[Stella]

Its called WINE.

Apple could well contribute towards this project and integrate it into OSX.

I very much doubt Apple would start from scratch - way too much effort. Very much along the lines they did for Webkit - that came from Konq ( KDE browser ).

4. An app to run Windows apps without Windows installed.

 

[guzhogi]

I'd like to go, but don't know if I can afford it. Since I'm the computer tech at an elementary school, maybe the district would pay for part of the cost? Would be cool.

 

[Rocketman]

Apple has another trick up their sleeve. The iPhone is going to be huge. Here's another reason why:

Cingular is going to change their rate structure very shortly and give consumers a 50% overall reduction. It will come out very soon.

It'll be another boon to Apple before launch.

I have been watching the cellular rate plans AT&T has been announcing. They announced free in-network calling systemwide. They have a family plan now similar to Verizon. All your cellular enabled computers and phones on one bill and service pool?

AT&T does not pre-announce technology deployments, but edge 1.0 has been out for, what, 5 years now? I wonder what EDGE 2.0 will bring?

Cellular is still a deal where particular locales are simply better with one provider over another, but there has been talk of the systems interacting more to provide better coverage for all their existing customers to reduce tendency to switch, making the sales proposition more sticky. I wonder if that initiative has gotten any traction yet? It would make all carriers a form of MVNO.

I don't get cellular trade mags. But what you see in IEEE Spectrum is exciting as 802.16 wimax is real and being deployed.

Rocketman

 

[Porchland]

Maybe they will announce that the iPhone will be unlocked and will be compatible with someone (anybody) other than Cingular. (at least Sprint) and we can get one without that crap contract.

There have been numerous news reports that the deal with Cingular/AT&T is exclusive for (depending on what you read) anywhere from two to five years, so that's a big NO on the unlocked phone. Plus, why would Apple announce the iPhone deal as exclusive to Cingular/AT&T just to undo that at WWDC?

 

[shrimpdesign]

Not to be Debbie Downer, but June??? Leopard has been taking quite a long time, Steve Jobs' "Top Secrets" had better blow the pants off everyone. I feel like this is Windoze 2007/Longhorn/Vista all over again...

Oh please.

Vista took Microsoft 6 years, counting from the release of XP. We've been waiting a little less than 2 years for Leopard.

It's not like Apple even missed a deadline like Microsoft did, Apple said Spring 2007, and as far as anyone knows, it's coming in Spring 2007.

Whiny baby.

 

[The Scotsman]

Does anybody know if there is a site that gives you the lowdown on wwdc keynote speeches for the last 2-3 years. Might give us an idea if there is any patern in wwdc launches. Am i right in saying last year leapord was first previewed at wwdc. or was it a special event after the wwdc. I was in australia traveling so not sure.

 

[Stella]

Vista, as well as being a software development disaster is a significant change from XP -> Vista.

However, there will be lesser changes between OSX 10.4 and 10.5.

Apple's development is more of an incremental style, where as microsoft has been much more than 'incremental' - I'm talking about Windows 98 -> XP -> Vista.

So, its no wonder Apple can push new versions of OSX out the door quicker. Apple aren't being as ambitious as microsoft ( which is a Good Thing, IMO ).

Personally, I got really really fed up of Apple's 15 month-ish OSX releases - I'm glad there has been a longer period between 10.4 and 10.5. It got too much. Yes, I didn't have to upgrade, but unlike microsoft who keep their apps backwards compatible, Apple do not ( i.e., iLife, Safari etc ), so therefore I would be able to use the latest and greatest.

Oh please.

Vista took Microsoft 6 years, counting from the release of XP. We've been waiting a little less than 2 years for Leopard.

It's not like Apple even missed a deadline like Microsoft did, Apple said Spring 2007, and as far as anyone knows, it's coming in Spring 2007.

Whiny baby.

 

[Porchland]

Then you're looking for CrossOver Mac (depending on the version of WP you are using, at least one version is not compatible).

Thanks! I didn't realize such an animal was already on the market for running Windows apps on a Mac.

The fact that it's out there, though, makes me think it's even more likely that Apple will incorporate the feature into Leopard. Widgets and Cover Flow were already available in the market before Apple added the functionality to OSX (widgets) and iTunes (Cover Flow).

 

[arn]

Does anybody know if there is a site that gives you the lowdown on wwdc keynote speeches for the last 2-3 years. Might give us an idea if there is any patern in wwdc launches. Am i right in saying last year leapord was first previewed at wwdc. or was it a special event after the wwdc. I was in australia traveling so not sure.

Linked from the article:

http://guides.macrumors.com/WWDC

 

[Avatar74]

Has anyone considered the possibility that Leopard's delays may have something to do with the potential emergence of a multitouch Mac?

After seeing the Jeff Han demonstration at TED, and the iPhone, and noticing the feature sets in Leopard being more and more inclined toward a three-dimensional UI environment, I spoke with a former Apple engineer who interacted with vendors, developers, customers, etc. as part of their product development.

It's a foregone conclusion in his and my mind that Apple is testing working prototypes of a 3-D user interface on a multi-touch tablet Mac. It's just a question of when they'll be ready. Their product development cycles are, according to him, about two years.

I think iPhone is a tactical product in a larger business strategy seeking to leap way ahead of Microsoft and completely redefine, again, the way people use computers. And while I'm very skeptical of the possibility, I do find some suggestions in Leopard's known features (like time machine, cover flow, spaces, etc.) that they may be closer to launching a multitouch Mac than anyone could anticipate.

They certainly surprised the world with the Intel-ready dual binaries of OS X which analysts thought would take another two to three years just to develop and test AFTER Apple announced plans to move to Intel processors.

 

[Jwalker9]

Cingular service

Cingular is going to change their rate structure very shortly and give consumers a 50% overall reduction. It will come out very soon.

Okay, off-topic question for you guys
I have been a verizon customer for the past few years, but my family contract just expired on the 2nd. My wife understands that I have to have the iphone and thus we have to switch to Cingular. My question is, should i continue with Verizon under no contract for the next few months before the iphone, or should i go ahead and switch to cingular now so that i can get my wife a new phone and me a free one to tide me over til June? Shes got the crappiest phone on the market and i feel bad making her wait another 5 months for another one when if it werent for the iphone on cingular, she could have a new one now. Any advice on when to switch? If they are rumored to discount service prices, that would make a big difference.
Thanks

 

[Avatar74]

Okay, off-topic question for you guys
I have been a verizon customer for the past few years, but my family contract just expired on the 2nd. My wife understands that I have to have the iphone and thus we have to switch to Cingular. My question is, should i continue with Verizon under no contract for the next few months before the iphone, or should i go ahead and switch to cingular now so that i can get my wife a new phone and me a free one to tide me over til June? Shes got the crappiest phone on the market and i feel bad making her wait another 5 months for another one when if it werent for the iphone on cingular, she could have a new one now. Any advice on when to switch? If they are rumored to discount service prices, that would make a big difference.
Thanks

Well, waiting to switch might allow you to finagle a better deal. Once Cingular has you they have you... and you don't have the bargaining power of being a customer they want to pull away from being with their competition.

I just don't know how much bargaining power you'll have on the iPhone given the unusual particulars of the Apple-Cingular deal.

 

[guzhogi]

I'm the kind of person who feels that sometimes you have to break backwards compatibility to move forward, but also feel changing something just for the sake of change is stupid. If it ain't broken, don't fix it unless the benefits far outweigh the costs.

One thing I'd like to see is an operating system built from scratch. Don't use any old libraries or anything. I'm sure a lot of software libraries, SDKs, whatever, haven't changed much since they were created. Just in the last 5 years (maybe not even), we've gotten multiple graphics cards set up in SLI mode, multi-core 64-bit procs, hi-def video & audio, cable/dsl modems and a whole lot of stuff. I wonder how efficient the software we use is. I wouldn't be surprised if we could get double the framerates in Doom if we rewrote all the software from scratch. Plus, with cable & dsl modems, internet and network connections are a lot more reliable and faster. Networking protocols like TCP/IP were designed for dial-up connections which tend to be slow and unreliable. If we rewrote the software, we should get a lot better throughput. I know, this would take years to do and hard to get it to everyone. Just curious what it would be like if we did that.

 

[dernhelm]

Computers not machines. Unlikely iPhone is 64 bit. Please correct/surprise me. The claim will be true for a few minutes/days until iPhone ships

Rocketman

iPhone? Don't you mean ATN?

But in any case, I agree with the previous poster, 64 bit is a development concern, and they will use this WWDC to announce that their entire computer hardware line is now 64 bit compatible.

That will actually be a really big deal.

I also think they will announce a specific iPhone ship today, with a better than 50% chance that they will say shipping TODAY. It will be interesting to see if the recant their position a bit and have developer kits for the iPhone. It doesn't look like they will, but it certainly feels like the right thing to do, and I think there is a chance that Apple will realize that.

Other than that, there will be a whole Leopard going on. And that will be exciting in itself.

 

[Peace]

Linked from the article:

http://guides.macrumors.com/WWDC

This shows that WWDC usually is a "preview" of the next bump of the OS.If this is correct and stays in line with past WWDC's 2007 will have a preview of 10.6 or 11.0.Which tells me Leopard will be out before WWDC07.

 

[gugy]

Okay, off-topic question for you guys
I have been a verizon customer for the past few years, but my family contract just expired on the 2nd. My wife understands that I have to have the iphone and thus we have to switch to Cingular. My question is, should i continue with Verizon under no contract for the next few months before the iphone, or should i go ahead and switch to cingular now so that i can get my wife a new phone and me a free one to tide me over til June? Shes got the crappiest phone on the market and i feel bad making her wait another 5 months for another one when if it werent for the iphone on cingular, she could have a new one now. Any advice on when to switch? If they are rumored to discount service prices, that would make a big difference.
Thanks

I am in the same boat. My contract with Verizon expires end of February and I'll wait and pay month to month until we get more info regarding what type of plans and cost of switching to the iPhone before move to Cingular.

BUT, for me the most important thing is make sure I can get a reception as good as the one I have from Verizon at my location. if not then forget it. What goods make the iPhone if I can't use it as a phone?
I had Cingular 5 years ago and it was crap, so I am not sure if they are any better now.

 

[cshehadi]

This shows that WWDC usually is a "preview" of the next bump of the OS.If this is correct and stays in line with past WWDC's 2007 will have a preview of 10.6 or 11.0.Which tells me Leopard will be out before WWDC07.

yeah - it looks like Tiger was previewed at the WWDC in 2004 and then released in April of 2005. Don't know when Panther was released, but it wasn't at the WWDC

 

[mandoman]

April NAB: Octo Macs, Final Cut Studio Upgrade
May Special Release: Leopard
June WWDC: Powerbooks

 

[Compile 'em all]

4. An app to run Windows apps without Windows installed.

Never gonna happen.

 

[dernhelm]

I'm the kind of person who feels that sometimes you have to break backwards compatibility to move forward, but also feel changing something just for the sake of change is stupid. If it ain't broken, don't fix it unless the benefits far outweigh the costs.

One thing I'd like to see is an operating system built from scratch. Don't use any old libraries or anything. I'm sure a lot of software libraries, SDKs, whatever, haven't changed much since they were created. Just in the last 5 years (maybe not even), we've gotten multiple graphics cards set up in SLI mode, multi-core 64-bit procs, hi-def video & audio, cable/dsl modems and a whole lot of stuff. I wonder how efficient the software we use is. I wouldn't be surprised if we could get double the framerates in Doom if we rewrote all the software from scratch. Plus, with cable & dsl modems, internet and network connections are a lot more reliable and faster. Networking protocols like TCP/IP were designed for dial-up connections which tend to be slow and unreliable. If we rewrote the software, we should get a lot better throughput. I know, this would take years to do and hard to get it to everyone. Just curious what it would be like if we did that.

Rewriting your IP stack would not only be silly and pointless, it would be a security NIGHTMARE!

You may well get some performance improvements from a software rewrite, but you'd also get a lot of regressed bugs and security holes. In software, starting over from scratch is usually a desperation move because the software was either unmaintainable or unbelievably difficult to extend.

Not so with Unix for the most part.

 

[Evangelion]

We don't know how "stripped down" the "mobile OS X" is. What if it lacks the concept of file and process ownership and user accounts? What if the iPhone hardware lacks an MMU (Memory managment unit) If so then a buggy application could not only crash the phone but take out some system files turrning the iPhone into a brick that needs to be sent back for service.

I have never seen that happen, and I have been working with various Nokia-smartphones for quite some time. Yes, I have seen dead phones, but they are dead due to hardware-failure, not because some piece of software bricked the phone. I have seen apps crash, but I have never seen them brick the device itself. Never. And no, I have NEVER seen an app cause problems with the network (another reason Apple mentioned for blocking third-part apps)

You say "unlikely" for some random bug to take out the firmware in flash. Yes. But what about Trojans? If anyone can make software, many people will and idiots will install junk on their phones. If the OS is as stripped down as above than security is imposable, not just hard but imposable. You can't let random software run on such a system

During the several years of working with smartphones, I have seen ONE phone get infected with a virus. And that was long ago. I haven't seen that happen again in a long time. So the risk is very theoretical indeed.

a Phone is different then a computer. People ecpect phones to work 100% for years. Phines are also "real time" devices. Here is a pretty good introduction to why a phjone is not a computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_operating_system

I fail to see the relevance. There are lots of third-party apps for Symbian, and they don't seem to cause any problems. If apple blocks third-party apps, the reason for that is either of these:

a) Apple does not know what they are doing. That is, they can't design a reliable embedded OS that allows third-party apps. Symbian has no problems here, and there are embedded Linux'es that allow third-party apps with zero problems.

or

b) Apple wants to keep iPhone 100% under their control

take your pick.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

This shows that WWDC usually is a "preview" of the next bump of the OS.If this is correct and stays in line with past WWDC's 2007 will have a preview of 10.6 or 11.0.Which tells me Leopard will be out before WWDC07.

I point to my earlier post on page 1 of this thread. I agree with your reasoning, but I just can't see how Apple would be ready to preview 10.6/11.0 that soon after releasing Leopard.

 

[thumb]

June WWDC: Powerbooks

woo hoo, finally the G5!!

 

[Peace]

April NAB: Octo Macs, Final Cut Studio Upgrade
May Special Release: Leopard
June WWDC: Powerbooks

Interesting you point out the NAB in Vegas..

I looked over the floor plans for this years NAB show and Apple has the largest presence floor-space wise this year.They have 3 booths.
One is 100'X120'
Two are 50'X50'.

The only other exhibitor to have more floor-space is Sony.

 

[cloudnine]

Jobs' iPhone keynote was great and all, but I really hope WWDC 07 has enough actual Mac coverage to make up for the huge void of Macintosh news at Macworld.

I second that... two announcements at macworld, neither of which were available that day. meh