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Apple Announces iCloud and iWork For iOS

iONiUM writes "Through a press release ahead of WWDC, Apple has revealed that it will be releasing its own cloud service to rival Google and Amazon's. In addition, they will unveil the new iOS, and the latest desktop OS." Apple also announced the release of the iWork suite for iOS devices.

30 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Looking forward to Lion by hackertourist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Autosave, Version and Resume are major improvements, and long overdue for desktop OSes.

    1. Re:Looking forward to Lion by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Informative

      That depends on your definition of "systemwide." I doubt that every program that runs on Mac OS X will have autosave or resume functionality; it will probably involve some sort of hook into the system. Such a framework existed in KDE3, where KDE applications could all resume after KDE was restarted (and this probably exists in KDE4), and all KDE applications had autosave (as far as I know).

      Now, if Apple has written an operating system that enables autosave and resume for any application, even X11 applications, I will be very impressed.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:Looking forward to Lion by macs4all · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sure, versioning has been around forever. But autosave, and preserving system state through a restart? I've seen both done on a per-application basis, but not systemwide.

      Then I guess you missed Lisa 7/7 (also the world's first integrated office application(s)). That lighted power switch on the front of the Lisa? If it was running the LisaOS (instead of MacOS), pressing that button performed a system save and shutdown, and pressing it again did a restart and reboot. This two-part video here and here shows just how advanced the Lisa was. In fact, that (and the hideous price) was (were) the two main reasons the Lisas became landfill, instead of a household name. And there's no denying that it paved the way for the desktop/windowing metaphor.

      BTW, notice that even in the first incarnation of the Lisa OS, it allowed for heirachical folders. That feature didn't appear in Windows until Windows 95. Amazing.

      Designed starting in 1978. Released in 1983. I think they won.

      And before someone starts all that bullshit about "Apple stole Xerox PARC's work", let me say this: 1) Apple PAID Xerox for to use their work. And 2) Without the improvements (not the least of which was pulldown menus!) that some very talented engineers made, that preliminary GUI work would not have become really useable, let alone nearly ubiquitious.

    3. Re:Looking forward to Lion by TheCouchPotatoFamine · · Score: 2

      NOTE: Resume requires the application support it and be written specifically for it! It does NOT magically restart everything (networks, files, god, every resource needs to be reworked, i bet, so there are no deadlocks on the next start. Think about it!)

      --
      CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
    4. Re:Looking forward to Lion by node+3 · · Score: 2

      I have seen all of them on other OSes

      No, you haven't. Not desktop OSs at any rate.

      Autosave: I don't know a single OS that has it. Programs, sure, but not OSs.
      Versions: Aside from some snapshotting filesystems, I am unaware of any OS which has this either, although snapshots are similar enough. VSS is also similar, but much cruder. This is significantly more than having RCS (or similar) installed.
      Resume: The only consumer OS I'm aware of with this is iOS. I assume there must be some mainframe systems which have something similar.

      just not dressed up to look as pretty...

      They aren't merely "dressed up". They are implemented in such a way that every. single. person. who uses a computer can make use of them. This is why "oh, this other OS has done this for decades" falls on deaf ears. What good is a feature to someone if they can't use it?

      This is far from simply making them visually appealing. Of the three, only Versions has a "dressed up" UI. The other two just happen. For normal people, this is huge. For geeks who don't want to fuck around with every little detail on their computer, this is huge. For tinker-nerds who would rather spend time setting up their computer rather than using their computer, this is 'meh'.

    5. Re:Looking forward to Lion by pandrijeczko · · Score: 3, Informative

      I own an Asus EEE PC netbook that's a couple of years old now and I run Linux on it.

      The other day, I accidentally closed the lid while it was powered on and I was quite surprised to discover that Hibernate seemed to work quite well on it - up to that point, I'd never given Hibernate a second thought.

      After I sat down and thought about it for a while, I decided that if my life was so chock full of shit to do that 30 seconds to wait for my netbook to boot fully from a power on was far too long, then I probably need to go do some serious time management in my life overall.

      The point I'm trying to make is that despite the fact that the Hibernate feature works okay, I don't use it - let alone a Hibernation that also survives a reboot.

      People seem to place such importance on useless features that are only there because those same people don't organise themselves better - a bit of a paradox if you think about it.

      --
      Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    6. Re:Looking forward to Lion by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2, Interesting
      First of all, I strongly doubt that Apple has written an OS that adds autosave or resume to every running application. If they did, I will be impressed; more likely, applications must use specific OS hooks to get these features. That being said:
      • Resume was in KDE3, and to the best of my knowledge KDE4 supports it; all KDE programs benefited from it, and even a few non-KDE programs. Considering how broad KDE was, KDE/GNU/Linux should qualify as an "operating system." You may disagree, but then the argument boils down to "what constitutes an OS?"
      • Autosave -- again, the KDE example, but not as extensive as resume. All KDE applications for which autosave was relevant had autosave.
      • Versioning -- this goes all the way back to ITS, so do not even try to claim that no OS before OS X had it. We are not talking about revision control; this was built into the filesystem and it was automatic.

      Again, if autosave and resume are truly available in every application, even applications that are not specific written for OS X (e.g. X11 applications), I will be impressed. I doubt that this is the case, because of the technical complexity involved in creating such a system, but I am open to the possibility of being wrong here.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    7. Re:Looking forward to Lion by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 3, Funny

      So...they reinvented hibernate?

    8. Re:Looking forward to Lion by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a bit disingenuous to compare Cocoa with KDE. KDE is just one of many user-facing layers on an OS, while Cocoa is *the* user-facing layer. There are a few others around for compatibility, and games bypass even these altogether, but adding a feature to Cocoa has much wider system benefits than adding a feature to KDE does.

      Except that the use-case for KDE is exactly that: you are using KDE, and nothing else (with the possible exception of Firefox). Yes, an educated user might be running non-KDE applications, but I can say the same about Cocoa: an educated user might be running X11 applications. Adding a feature to KDE would have a pretty wide impact for KDE users, and I would argue that this is comparable to Cocoa. The whole point of a desktop environment is be exactly that: your environment.

      Their entire state is saved, so restarting a program just reloads the memory

      Can you cite a source here? That is a very complex thing for an OS to do, on the level of a live kernel upgrade (i.e. upgrading a kernel without having to reboot). If this is what the OS is doing, and if the OS is doing it without requiring the application to make any special system calls to enable that functionality, it would be impressive.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    9. Re:Looking forward to Lion by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2
      • Resume and Autosave? In KDE.
      • Versioning? Dates all the way back to ITS.
      --
      Palm trees and 8
    10. Re:Looking forward to Lion by guruevi · · Score: 2

      I have tested Lion and it's only for Cocoa applications, not X11 or shell scripts just like KDE's feature only works for QT apps. For their Cocoa apps it's very simple to do, just change the underlying framework that handle the memory allocations and window drawings.

      And it's not really a hibernate feature either. Hibernate takes a snapshot of all the system's memory and puts in on the hard drive. Lion actually restarts the kernel fresh as well as most other core services (such as background services) however applications with a user interface get 'hibernated'.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  2. When will there be too many "i"s? by gilgongo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm a huge Apple fan, but even I think this stuff with the "i" branding is just stupid and faintly embarrassing. Every Apple product has a fraeking "i" before it's otherwise utterly unimaginative name? "iCloud" - FFS.

    --
    "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
    1. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 5, Funny

      They should call it "Apple Mac OS X Cloud 2011 Premium Home Edition R2 SP1"

    2. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by ArcherB · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm a huge Apple fan, but even I think this stuff with the "i" branding is just stupid and faintly embarrassing. Every Apple product has a fraeking "i" before it's otherwise utterly unimaginative name? "iCloud" - FFS.

      Well, they used to start everything with "Mac", but too many people would be saying "there can be only one" if they called it MacCloud.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    3. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by Obfuscant · · Score: 2

      Well, they used to start everything with "Mac", but too many people would be saying "there can be only one" if they called it MacCloud.

      Dennis Weaver would be proud that you remember him.

    4. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by slackzilly · · Score: 2

      iCloud will get lots of coverage in the press, because media loves Apple.
      Soon, the non-geeks will believe that Apple invented cloud computing.

      --
      - "If one man can create that much hate, you can only imagine how much love we as a togetherness can create."
    5. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by NameIsDavid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you ran the company, would you throw away the brand value of "i" just for the sake of being imaginative? When you here "i" anything, you know the product is Apple. Most companies would kill for that level of brand recognition.

    6. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would prefer everything be named with a version number, an animal name, and an adjective. That way when I look for software some people will list compatibility by the version number, some by the animal name, and some by adjective.

      If the adjective starts with the same letter as the animal name and an acronym is appended to the version number that is doubly awesome. Also if the OS would take pains to hide some or all of the descriptors...like that too.

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
    7. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by Duradin · · Score: 2

      Better than having a freaking water buffalo in front of everything.

    8. Re:When will there be too many "i"s? by dzfoo · · Score: 3, Funny

      I am Juan MacCloud from the clan MacCloud. I am El Hilandero... There can be only Juan.

      --
      Carol vs. Ghost
      ...Can you save Christmas?
  3. A guy can dream by redemtionboy · · Score: 2

    My biggest hope is that they'll finally announce their back to school sale and it will be a free iPad instead of an iPod this time around, as to one up Microsoft with the free Xbox360.

  4. Re:Let me be the first to foresee... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "iCloud... When it is down, that is actually a feature."

    When it's down, it's called iFog.

  5. Is that all ? by obarthelemy · · Score: 2

    Given how Apple likes to actually announce stuff at their shindigs, either they are priming us for a relatively empty one, or they have big news that will overshadow all that. Apart from them taking over Sony, I don't see what could be THAT big, though.

    --
    The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
    1. Re:Is that all ? by node+3 · · Score: 2

      Given how Apple likes to actually announce stuff at their shindigs, either they are priming us for a relatively empty one, or they have big news that will overshadow all that. Apart from them taking over Sony, I don't see what could be THAT big, though.

      Um... They outlined exactly what they are going to show off.

      iOS 5
      iCloud
      Lion

      These are all big, newsworthy things. The only thing that can be disappointing is if none of these will be available during June.

  6. Re:What are the odds by leamanc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Typically, Apple uses BSD boxen when they are not using OS X Server. Since OS X's kernel has some BSD heritage, that doesn't seem too out of line. I think they only time Apple stuff has been identified as being served up from Linux has been on third-party hosting services like Akamai.

    --
    :q!
  7. Re:What are the odds by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Honestly, I absolutely detest people like you. Based on your personal opinion of a few products, and the way a company is run by its upper >10%, you hope that a company that employs thousands of people around the world just up and fails? Sure, their products may not be the flavor you like, and you may disagree with their business model, but your sentiment, wether meant that way or not, Insinuates that you hope that thousands of people suddenly find themselves out of work, many of those in what amount to 3rd world countries, where the shitty pay they get from that business is still better than sitting in the gutter eating dog shit. Capitalism creates jobs, even if they are terrible jobs. But a terrible job may mean the difference between eating, and starving to death. No company is perfect, especially Apple, but in the real world, your sentiment that they just up and vanish is a wretched thing. So go take your 'anti-fanboiism' bullshit elsewhere.

    --
    I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
  8. MacOS X Server by ecotax · · Score: 2

    I doubt we'll see the XServe (or similar) back. But the announcement did mention that, basically, MacOS X Lion is the server version of MacOS X. It doesn't explicitly say so, but this must mean that there is no longer a separate server version of MacOS. Which is good news, because the server tools were already pretty decent (but too expensive) when I last used them, two versions ago.

    --
    "Money is a sign of poverty." - Iain Banks
  9. What has Apple actually revealed? by mr_lizard13 · · Score: 2

    They've cleverly given everything away, without actually giving anything away. The music streaming service was known about anyway, and every site had reported on the music labels being signed up. So on the one hand, confirming iCloud exists has given nothing further away than what the public knew already.

    But at the same time we still have no idea just now big iCloud will be. Could it be more than just music (I reckon yes). Will it be a replacement for MobileMe (fair chance). Might it include some iWork comparability (I wouldn't put it past them).

    These are questions which were being asked last year, last month, and last week - and following this announcement today they are still questions we don't know the answers to.

    --
    "We live in a global world" - Harvey Pitt, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman
  10. Re:What are the odds by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wish that were the case.

    I have no idea where you are in the world but if you're not in the UK (where you can watch it now on iPlayer on the BBC 3 web site), look out for the first in a series of documentaries called "The Secrets Of The Superbrands".

    The first one is about technology companies and Apple feature heavily in it.

    One particular disturbing scene (to me at least) shows fanbois sleeping rough outside of an Apple store in London overnight, not because of a new product launch the next day but because it was a NEW APPLE STORE opening the next day. Amongst the people queuing were fanbois who had flown in especially from Turkey, China and California.

    If that is not the behaviour of disturbed religious cultists then I don't know what is.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  11. iWork for iOS (summary clarification) by FunnyStrange · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not seeing this upthread, but might be redundant by now: The iWork announcement was for the "small" iOS devices (iPhone and iPod Touch). Those apps have been available for iPad (also iOS) for over a year. The update makes them universal. If you own them for iPad, they'll now work on the other devices (it's a free upgrade).