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Apple Delays Mac OS X
Mad Browser writes:"MacNN is reporting that Apple has delayed MacOS X again until January 2001. They are also reporting that a public beta of OS X will be available this summer.
Jobs also said that WebObjects deployment licenses would go from $50,000 to $700. " QuickTime 5 is also tentatively going to be out this summer, as well.
Here's a (not so brief) history of Apple's attempts at a modern operating system:
A Brief History of Apple
Pink, announced in 1989, was Apple's first public attempt at producing a modern operating system. After IBM joined the Pink project, it was renamed Taligent and spun off as a separate company. Taligent meandered aimlessly, and was killed in 1995. In 1993, before the final death of Taligent, word began to leak out of Apple that a new OS project, codenamed Copland, was underway.
In 1995, with the death of Taligent and the imminent arrival of Windows 95, Apple began hyping Copland and its successor, Gershwin. Apple demonstrated Copland at WWDC, and promised full preemptive multitasking and protected memory support in Gershwin, with partial support in Copland. As the estimated release date for Copland slipped from 1995 to 1996 to 1998, it became apparent that Copland had gone very wrong. Copland was killed in 1996, and replaced by a plan to gradually add many of its promised features to the Mac OS. Many of the UI changes and some of the other, more minor changes were indeed added with Mac OS 8. Unfortunately, the much-needed preemptive multitasking and protected memory features never made it into the Mac OS (even Mac OS 9 lacks these features). The Copland strategy underwent a few more twists, but none had a major impact besides generating rumors and wasting Apple's resources. There were also rumors that Apple would acquire Be and use its BeOS as the basis of the new Mac OS, but this possibility was soon discounted.
Apple acquired NeXT in December of 1996. NeXT, founded by Steve Jobs after his ousting from Apple in 1985, had a modern OS called NeXTSTEP with many of the technologies Apple needed. With NeXT came Steve Jobs, who soon regained control of Apple and his former position as CEO. Apple announced Rhapsody, which was to be a port of NeXTSTEP to the PowerPC, with a Mac-ified UI and the Blue Box for running classic Mac applications. Rhapsody was renamed Mac OS X Server (to distinguish it from Mac OS X), and was Apple's first attempt at a modern OS that actually shipped. Mac OS X Server targeted the small to medium server market, and did reasonably well. Although easy to set up and use by server standards (a few Linux distributions are getting very good, too), Mac OS X Server is not suitable for use as a consumer OS. Interestingly, some of the development releases of Mac OS X Server would run on Intel-based systems in addition to PowerPC-based machines.
When it became apparent that Adobe and other key software companies were not willing to spend years porting their software to Rhapsody, Apple was forced to make yet another attempt at producing a modern OS suitable for consumers. Called Mac OS X, it combines the modern features and architecture of Rhapsody/OS X Server with a new UI (Aqua) and an application environment called Carbon that simplifies porting current Mac applications to Mac OS X.
Mac OS X combines elements of the current Mac operating system (Carbon, QuickTime), components of NeXTSTEP which are themselves drawn from other operating systems (Mach, portions of BSD), and entirely new components, such as Aqua and Quartz.
nice quip. Here's another one:
Linux UI reaches functionality of late-80's user interface!
Sunnyvale, CA - Linux has finally met the interface standards of the early 1980's. A proud crew of Linux developers stood inside their home-offices proclaiming the superiority of their latest efforts. "Our code stomps Windows 3.1!" one exclaimed over IRC. "Our interface is so good that those Windoze 3.1 users will be drooling with envy!"
"It's so good, that I only use the command line every 10 minutes!" gushed another. "In another 10 years, the command line will be obsolete!"
"The current release of Linux user interfaces is a great leap forward," said one unnamed developer. "However, there is still much work to be done. Our ten-button mouse driver still needs work, and we need some more donated hardware to finish off the teledildonics driver. Plus, the vast majority of users still can't figure out how to start up the desktop."
"On the other hand, progress is great! We just got some great work from a bunch of five-year-olds who took a Logo course at their kindergarten, and we're rolling a Logo-based UI engine into the next release. This'll allow kids to customize their user interface by using standard Logo primitives and turtle graphics. How cool is that?"
Industry analyists who cover the Linux market were overjoyed at the new GUIs. "The addition of a GUI that meets or exceeds Windows 3.1 is a fundamental value-add to the Linux solution offering, and makes Linux a strong contender in the low-end enterprise space" said Rob Towner, analyst at HypoMania securities. "And future plans call for one that meets or exceeds the 95 shell! That's amazing!"
Others were not so sanguine. "BFD. It's crap." posted one anonymous poster on slashdot. "The phrase 'Linux UI' is as much of an oxymoron as, well, it's just moronic. W1nd00z!"
This really isn't that big of a departure from Apple's previous stategy.
Before, they were going to release a final beta now and ship sometime this summer. However, they weren't going to bundle the OS with their hardware until January of '01.
The only difference now is that they're re-labeling that initial 1.0 release a beta and stilling bundling it with their hardware in January '01. To be perfectly honest, to anyone who has seriously used OSX DP3, this makes perfect sense. The user interface had a long way to go before it'd make a decent successor to OS9. If they had released anything even remotely like DP3 as a final product, they'd have been filleted by the Mac press and userbase.
It seems they have taken the criticism to heart, and might be fixing some of the stupider elements (ie. the dock) which possibly providing a replacement for some of the gaping holes (ie. the lack of an Apple menu or something similar). As a bonus, they released another beta today and will release another sometime this summer.
This is a Good Thing, IMHO. No use making people buy something labeled a release when in all reality it's a beta. There's no way Apple was going to have something release-quality within 6-8 months of DP3...
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
- Jeff
I got sick of waiting and developed a component object model for web application development in Java. It's called Tapestry and will be released as open source on SourceForge as soon as I can my damn company to open a port for ssh in our firewall!
... my first attempt wasn't good enough).
... but this is just one example of how Apple has screwed up; they've let thier best, most marketable technologies languish. They also have a habit of screwing thier supposed partners. Our shop is very, very happy to be able to do WebObjects style development without having to deal with Apple.
We're using it for development of customer web applications already and we like it. Don't have a good Object Relational bridge yet (to do it as right as EOF is very, very, very hard
You can find out more at:
http://tapestry.primix.com/tapestry
Off topic? Of course
From what I've seen at the time of DP3 and comparing that progress to the expected release date, I'd say give them the extra time and MacOSX will be that much better. It will also give the Darwin Open Source project more time, which means nothing but a more stable, feature rich OS. Besides, after buying MacOS9, I'd be kind of upset at it being obsolete after 6 months.
The Mac is good, but it could still use the work to be adequate for the future.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
how many times is someone going to bitch about having install over the internet, and how many times is someone going to have to point out this URL.../
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/support
Apple Puts Off Joining 20th Century Until 2001.
--
Have Exchange users? Want to run Linux? Can't afford OpenMail?
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
As loath as I am to admit it here, I like Apple. I prefer their hardware, and for some situations, I prefer their OS. My home machines are dual boot Mac/Linux PPC boxen. Which means I am looking forward to getting my claws on a BSD based MacOS.
As much as I'm drooling, however, from the angle of Apple's future, this delay is probably a very good thing. Rushing out the release before the OS (or the apps for it) are ready gives the press opportunities to slam it into the ground. The longer developers have to polish it, the better it will be when the wrappers come off. The more apps developers support it (with Carbon or Cocoa apps), the better the package feels to the end user. And, probably, the better the reviews come off.
A September release would be premature. As a developer, I know that without question... but I really wish I had the opportunity to hack with it a while before the release...
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
It is amazing how often Slashdot gets burned by the Mac Rumor Web Sites. From now on, I would suggest that Slashdot completely ignore the ignorant and always inaccurate MacOSRumors web site. The fool that runs the site was been missing the mark nearly 100% on the release of MacOS X and is causing untold damage to Apple by firing everyone up for a non-event such as the WWDC release of MacOS X beta. The only thing notable about MacOSRumors is when it actually gets something right!
What Apple did release was MacOS X DP4 which MacOS Rumors falsely claimed had already been released to "select developers".
Here is the actual text from MacOS Rumors saying that MacOS X Beta was going to be released today, er, um 90% chance it would be released today.
From MacOS Rumors:
Release of Mac OS X Beta to Developers: 90% Although sources have been unusually noncomittal about specific ship dates on Beta, the timing is right and the release is by all appearances very nearly ready to go.
Slashdot: Stick to the facts and please ignore the rumor web sites. They are an absolute waste of electrons!
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I hope they don't make Quicktime 5 a virus like QT4 was. When you install it, it takes it upon itself to 'attatch' itself to all audio & video formats. Uninstalling won't help. Everytime you want to use it, you get a nag screen asking you to buy it. The evil empire's Media Player doesn't do that!
Quicktime is just as bad as real player IMO. Quicktime and Realplayer should be apart of the antivirus software detection scehemes.