The original concept for WozNet was hatched way back in 1978 when Steve Jobs asked Woz "Dude? Where's my bong?" The "Personal Computer" was just a small side project for the Woz until he was ready to launch his true brainchild.
I have heard rumors of Apple working on an Office suite which includes a word processor called "Document" and a spreadsheet app cleverly called "Spreadsheet". It seems as though they are going to test and hopefully perfect the most important feature in TextEdit first, reading.doc files.
Once they have the bugs worked out, they will release Document which will be able to open.doc files perfectly and resave them into Document's native XML format. Document will hopefully be available for Mac OS X and Windows.
Microsoft's.doc format has a death grip on the business world. Unless there is an affordable alternative that can read.doc files it isn't going very far.
The word processor is the only piece of the office package that most users need. Apple should make just Document for the PC and make it affordable. It will introduce many PC users to how software should be written. Like the iPod it will be a trojan horse that will hopefully cause them to consider a Mac for their next purchase.
Unless something drastic happens and forces Apple's hand, OSX will not be on i386 any time soon.
What is more important in the short term is Safari for Windows.
Many web sites are still being designed for Intenet Explorer for Windows only. If you aren't using the most popular platform, your not admitted. Microsoft has been winning the browser battles but not the war. The OSS community and Apple have clearly shown that they can innovate in this space. However only Apple has the marketing muscle to try and battle IE.
IE for Windows accounts for 90-95% of the hits for most of the web sites that I am involved with. For some developers those #s justify developing for a single platform. If Apple can get 100% of Mac users to adopt Safari we may see a 1% shift. However if Apple can get 25% of IE for Windows users to switch to Safari for Windows, the playing field will quickly level.
As a Mac user it is still frustrating to not be able to visit or use certain site and not have plugins available for non IE browsers. Apple can help their long term position by leveling the internet playing field and thus making migration to a non Windows platform that much smoother.
WebCore will be ported to the PC for use in iTunes so most of the work has to be done anyway. Apple needs to bring more of it's software to the PC platform. Enough so that users get to experience how software should be done. But not so much that they have no reason to switch.
I agree that there is a lot of pent up demand for the PowerMac G5. But I also believe that there is also a lot of pent up demand for Apple's 15" Aluminum PowerBook.
Apple's desktop and laptop sales will get a shot in the arm this year.
Pixlet is designed for HD quality video with good compression. How many FinalCut Pro users are working on iBooks?
QuartzExtreme is not dependent on the CPU but on the GPU. There is no reason why Apple couldn't continue to use G3 processors and upgrade the video hardware to support QuartzExtreme.
Rumor has it that the next generation of G3 processors will also have AltiVec. This will extend the lifespan of teh G3 line of processors.
The G3 has 2 major factors going for it low cost and low power. The G3 will continue to find a niche in Apple's product line. Perhaps we will see it in future iPads or other consumer lifestyle devices.
eBook is this another idea waiting for Apple to do it the right way. If anyone can design the best eBook reader it is Apple. Perhaps using some of the new screen technologies being developed such as flexible displays, OLED and digital paper. They already have an OS built around PDF.
Rather difficult to use. My hand hurts.
I don't like the floating letters. I think it would be a lot faster if the next iteration of letters appeared and I just hovered the mouse over the appropriate letter.
In many respects it reminds me of the OS X dock.
It is a far leap from amino acids to life. I am still baffled by those who think that life just happens. The Earth's atmosphere today is much more hospitable to life but we still do not see amino acids coming together and organizing into complex proteins or anything resembling life. This can't even be done in the laboratory.
It is contrary to the 2nd law of thrmodynamics.
I don't believe in spontaneous generation. The odds of it happening are beyond astronomical.
Isn't that how Scientology started? L Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer who was taken just a bit too seriously. Kinda like the whole Jedi thing and now Matrix too.
Apple currently has several wholly owned subsidiaries such as: FileMaker - database sw Emagic - audio production hw & sw PowerSchool - student information system sw
These subsidiaries are all primarily software companies that were purchased to round out Apple's offerings on their platform. Steve has long touted Apple's strength being it's ability to control and integrate both hardware and software.
I could however see some of the following happen: ? WebObjects sold to FileMaker ? Webobjects becomes it's own company ? Alias/Wavefront acquired as W.O.S. ? AMD($2.6B) acquired by Apple($6.8B)
A Mac with the right software(iTunes) can do the same things.
Apple made an MP3 player because they could make it significantly better. I believe Apple could also make a significantly better PVR. I'm not saying that you couldn't get all the hardware and software together and do it yourself. Apple can deliver the total package.
Also if Apple wanted to expand into downloadable videos, I don't thing users would go for it clogging up their computer hard drives. A seperate hub device that stores all your movies, photos and music and allows them to be shared to your local network would be more appealling.
Imagine if the iPVR could recompress all the shows it's recorded for syncing with your iPod(320x240). Then you could have your video to go.
They need to develope something along the lines of Exchange Server so any XServe can offer these types of.Mac Services to a local user group.
I love iCal and Address book and would love to see my whole department using it. but I am not about to spend thousands of dollars to get a.Mac account for every individual.
Apple needs to offer these services on their servers. This would make them much more attractive to small businesses. iCal needs some serious work before larger orgs will adopt but it is suffiecient for most.
Have you even listened to one of the AAC encoded tracks? You probably also feel that current Audio CD sound quality isn't good enough either.
The vast majority of the consumers are not audiophiles. The quality is **excellent**!!
Next, you CAN use them like CDs because there is limited protectection. You can burn them on to as many CDs as you want which strips away the DRM as well. Yes there is a loss in quality, but as I mentioned the sound quality is excellent by most useres standards. You can also sync it with as many iPods as you want and 3 computers and stream it to your whole network if you please via iTunes and Rendezvous.
And If your system crashes and you loose all your music that is your fault. You can back up your files to CD or DVD using.......iTunes. Yup, It's built right in there.
While you are entitled to your opinion about the quality of the sound files most of your other comments are just wrong.
It looks like Apple has started to reap the rewards of the Safari project(and the work of the OSS community). The iTunes Music $tore appears to be using WebCore to render the pages. I can't wait for the revamped Help system. Hopefully we will see a lot more apps taking advantage of WebCore.
I'm curious if they are using WebObjects on the backend.
Without a Mac you can't see the iTunes Music $tore without going to your nearest Apple $tore.
You won't go to the Apple Store without seeing the iTunes Music $tore!!
Seriously! Go to the Apple Store this Friday night between 6-10 for the coming out party!
While Apple has not commited to porting Safari to the Windows platorm, I think it would have a major positive impact on Apple.
Many web sites are still being designed for Intenet Explorer for Windows only. If you aren't using the most popular platform, your not admitted. Microsoft has been winning the browser battles but not the war. The OSS community and Apple have clearly shown that that can innovate in this space. However only Apple has the marketing muscle to try and battle IE.
IE for Windows accounts for 90-95% of the hits for most of the web sites that I am involved with. For some developers those #s justify developing for a single platform. If Apple can get 100% of Mac users to adopt Safari we may see a 1% shift. However if Apple can get 25% of IE for Windows users to switch to Safari for Windows, the playing field will quickly level.
As a Mac user it is still frustrating to not be able to visit or use certain site and not have plugins available for non IE browsers. Apple can help their long term position by leveling the internet playing field and thus making migration to a non Windows platform that much smoother.
"...sounds more like some internal pissing match between the companies."
I belive you are correct Apple has scheduled a press confrence for the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB) confrence. They plan to unveil their vision for the future of video workflows. I can guarantee you Adobe has little to do with it.
Adobe probably feeling threatend is saying to Apple "don't screw with us."
Apple is saying "why can't we all just get along?"
I'm hoping Apple will announce that they are aquiring AliasWavefront from SGI or heck all of SGI. SGI is trading at under $1.50 per share with a total market cap of less lan $300 million.
SGI has many seasoned UNIX programers
SGI has many engineers with RISC processor experience
SGI has established markets in Government and Defense, Science, Manufacturing, Energy, and Media.
Did I mention Maya!
It is a shame Apple has waited this long. SGI has already started selling off many of it's patents including OpenGL(to Microsoft). Apple needs to get it's hands on this technology. Wouldn't Apple like to know how to build real supercomputers with 128 processors and 256 GB of RAM?
This is very exciting news. I am hoping that Document and Spreadsheet are Cocoa apps not Carbon code from AppleWorks. I also hope that they will adopt an XML file format for Document and Spreadsheet in keeping with Keynote's use of XML.
I also believe that Apple needs to make Windows versions of Safari and Document. Many websites are still IE on PC only. Having 2 million Safari on the Mac users out there isn't going to sway a lot of companies that they need to develop their sites to work with all browsers.
But if there were 20 million users of Safari on the Mac and PC things would change.
Same thing applies to Document. Microsoft's.doc format has a death grip on the business world. Unless there is an affordable alternative that can read and write.doc files it isn't going very far.
The word processor is the only piece of the office package that most users need. Apple should make Document for the PC and make it affordable. It will introduce many PC users to how software should be written. For those who decide that they need Spreadsheet and Keynote as well...
well that when they start considering getting a Mac. If Apple wants people to switch they need some bait. Most of the bait Apple has is only on the Mac platform and never on the radar of most PC users. If Apple were to start taking the battle to Microsoft's home turf, I think we would start seeing many more people considering Apple.
Why does slashdot have an option for posting as an "Anonymous Coward"?
Is it so psychologically bizzarre to think that someone might actually behave differntly in public? No. Everybody has inhabitions that keeps them from doing everything they want when they are being observed.
Do you pick your nose in public?
Do you pick your nose in private?
This is no different than someone who recognizes that they have a drinking problem asking his friends for help.
Perhaps you don't see pr0n as a vice.
Perhaps you have achieved a level of moral dissonance and self control far beyond us mere mortals.
What is equally distrubing is that these are probably the same people that think the rest of us have the same problem and must be saved from ourselves. They lobby to get laws passed because "someone must watch over us" to protect us from ourselves.
His concept is all about the individual choosing to change their own behavior. You choose to use the product. You choose who sees your log files.
Slashdot Mirror
The commercials are funnier than Apple's but there is nothing funny about restrictive DRM.
SubLicenseMusic.com
Get Screwed
The original concept for WozNet was hatched way back in 1978 when Steve Jobs asked Woz "Dude? Where's my bong?" The "Personal Computer" was just a small side project for the Woz until he was ready to launch his true brainchild.
Most of the management are Ex-Apple employees.
CEO = Woz
COO = Rich Rifredi
Marketing = Gina Clark
Product Development = Frank Canova
Sounds like the makings of a bad Sci-Fi movie.
I have heard rumors of Apple working on an Office suite which includes a word processor called "Document" and a spreadsheet app cleverly called "Spreadsheet". It seems as though they are going to test and hopefully perfect the most important feature in TextEdit first, reading .doc files.
.doc files perfectly and resave them into Document's native XML format. Document will hopefully be available for Mac OS X and Windows.
.doc format has a death grip on the business world. Unless there is an affordable alternative that can read .doc files it isn't going very far.
Once they have the bugs worked out, they will release Document which will be able to open
Microsoft's
The word processor is the only piece of the office package that most users need. Apple should make just Document for the PC and make it affordable. It will introduce many PC users to how software should be written. Like the iPod it will be a trojan horse that will hopefully cause them to consider a Mac for their next purchase.
Unless something drastic happens and forces Apple's hand, OSX will not be on i386 any time soon.
What is more important in the short term is Safari for Windows.
Many web sites are still being designed for Intenet Explorer for Windows only. If you aren't using the most popular platform, your not admitted. Microsoft has been winning the browser battles but not the war. The OSS community and Apple have clearly shown that they can innovate in this space. However only Apple has the marketing muscle to try and battle IE.
IE for Windows accounts for 90-95% of the hits for most of the web sites that I am involved with. For some developers those #s justify developing for a single platform. If Apple can get 100% of Mac users to adopt Safari we may see a 1% shift. However if Apple can get 25% of IE for Windows users to switch to Safari for Windows, the playing field will quickly level.
As a Mac user it is still frustrating to not be able to visit or use certain site and not have plugins available for non IE browsers. Apple can help their long term position by leveling the internet playing field and thus making migration to a non Windows platform that much smoother.
WebCore will be ported to the PC for use in iTunes so most of the work has to be done anyway. Apple needs to bring more of it's software to the PC platform. Enough so that users get to experience how software should be done. But not so much that they have no reason to switch.
I agree that there is a lot of pent up demand for the PowerMac G5. But I also believe that there is also a lot of pent up demand for Apple's 15" Aluminum PowerBook.
Apple's desktop and laptop sales will get a shot in the arm this year.
Pixlet is designed for HD quality video with good compression. How many FinalCut Pro users are working on iBooks?
QuartzExtreme is not dependent on the CPU but on the GPU. There is no reason why Apple couldn't continue to use G3 processors and upgrade the video hardware to support QuartzExtreme.
Rumor has it that the next generation of G3 processors will also have AltiVec. This will extend the lifespan of teh G3 line of processors.
The G3 has 2 major factors going for it low cost and low power. The G3 will continue to find a niche in Apple's product line. Perhaps we will see it in future iPads or other consumer lifestyle devices.
eBook
is this another idea waiting for Apple to do it the right way.
If anyone can design the best eBook reader it is Apple. Perhaps using some of the new screen technologies being developed such as flexible displays, OLED and digital paper. They already have an OS built around PDF.
Rather difficult to use. My hand hurts. I don't like the floating letters. I think it would be a lot faster if the next iteration of letters appeared and I just hovered the mouse over the appropriate letter. In many respects it reminds me of the OS X dock.
It is a far leap from amino acids to life. I am still baffled by those who think that life just happens. The Earth's atmosphere today is much more hospitable to life but we still do not see amino acids coming together and organizing into complex proteins or anything resembling life. This can't even be done in the laboratory.
It is contrary to the 2nd law of thrmodynamics.
I don't believe in spontaneous generation. The odds of it happening are beyond astronomical.
Microsoft is the big luxury cruise liner that "everyone" wants to be on.
Apple is the iceberg that they don't see coming. Thats because 90% of it is not visible to them(Open Source Software).
They won't know what hit them and even after they realize most will say it is safer to stay on board. Some will go down with the ship.
Isn't that how Scientology started? L Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer who was taken just a bit too seriously. Kinda like the whole Jedi thing and now Matrix too.
Apple currently has several wholly owned subsidiaries such as:
FileMaker - database sw
Emagic - audio production hw & sw
PowerSchool - student information system sw
These subsidiaries are all primarily software companies that were purchased to round out Apple's offerings on their platform. Steve has long touted Apple's strength being it's ability to control and integrate both hardware and software.
I could however see some of the following happen:
? WebObjects sold to FileMaker
? Webobjects becomes it's own company
? Alias/Wavefront acquired as W.O.S.
? AMD($2.6B) acquired by Apple($6.8B)
A Mac with the right software(iTunes) can do the same things.
Apple made an MP3 player because they could make it significantly better. I believe Apple could also make a significantly better PVR. I'm not saying that you couldn't get all the hardware and software together and do it yourself. Apple can deliver the total package.
Also if Apple wanted to expand into downloadable videos, I don't thing users would go for it clogging up their computer hard drives. A seperate hub device that stores all your movies, photos and music and allows them to be shared to your local network would be more appealling.
Imagine if the iPVR could recompress all the shows it's recorded for syncing with your iPod(320x240). Then you could have your video to go.
They need to develope something along the lines of Exchange Server so any XServe can offer these types of .Mac Services to a local user group.
.Mac account for every individual.
I love iCal and Address book and would love to see my whole department using it. but I am not about to spend thousands of dollars to get a
Apple needs to offer these services on their servers. This would make them much more attractive to small businesses. iCal needs some serious work before larger orgs will adopt but it is suffiecient for most.
Have you even listened to one of the AAC encoded tracks? You probably also feel that current Audio CD sound quality isn't good enough either.
The vast majority of the consumers are not audiophiles. The quality is **excellent**!!
Next, you CAN use them like CDs because there is limited protectection. You can burn them on to as many CDs as you want which strips away the DRM as well. Yes there is a loss in quality, but as I mentioned the sound quality is excellent by most useres standards. You can also sync it with as many iPods as you want and 3 computers and stream it to your whole network if you please via iTunes and Rendezvous.
And If your system crashes and you loose all your music that is your fault. You can back up your files to CD or DVD using.......iTunes. Yup, It's built right in there.
While you are entitled to your opinion about the quality of the sound files most of your other comments are just wrong.
It looks like Apple has started to reap the rewards of the Safari project(and the work of the OSS community). The iTunes Music $tore appears to be using WebCore to render the pages. I can't wait for the revamped Help system. Hopefully we will see a lot more apps taking advantage of WebCore.
I'm curious if they are using WebObjects on the backend.
iTunes 4 supports archiving to CD-R/CD-RW and now DVD-R too.
Without a Mac you can't see the iTunes Music $tore without going to your nearest Apple $tore. You won't go to the Apple Store without seeing the iTunes Music $tore!! Seriously! Go to the Apple Store this Friday night between 6-10 for the coming out party!
While Apple has not commited to porting Safari to the Windows platorm, I think it would have a major positive impact on Apple.
Many web sites are still being designed for Intenet Explorer for Windows only. If you aren't using the most popular platform, your not admitted. Microsoft has been winning the browser battles but not the war. The OSS community and Apple have clearly shown that that can innovate in this space. However only Apple has the marketing muscle to try and battle IE.
IE for Windows accounts for 90-95% of the hits for most of the web sites that I am involved with. For some developers those #s justify developing for a single platform. If Apple can get 100% of Mac users to adopt Safari we may see a 1% shift. However if Apple can get 25% of IE for Windows users to switch to Safari for Windows, the playing field will quickly level.
As a Mac user it is still frustrating to not be able to visit or use certain site and not have plugins available for non IE browsers. Apple can help their long term position by leveling the internet playing field and thus making migration to a non Windows platform that much smoother.
Choice is good.
I belive you are correct Apple has scheduled a press confrence for the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB) confrence. They plan to unveil their vision for the future of video workflows. I can guarantee you Adobe has little to do with it.
Adobe probably feeling threatend is saying to Apple "don't screw with us."
Apple is saying "why can't we all just get along?"
I'm hoping Apple will announce that they are aquiring AliasWavefront from SGI or heck all of SGI. SGI is trading at under $1.50 per share with a total market cap of less lan $300 million.
SGI has many seasoned UNIX programers
SGI has many engineers with RISC processor experience
SGI has established markets in Government and Defense, Science, Manufacturing, Energy, and Media.
Did I mention Maya!
It is a shame Apple has waited this long. SGI has already started selling off many of it's patents including OpenGL(to Microsoft). Apple needs to get it's hands on this technology. Wouldn't Apple like to know how to build real supercomputers with 128 processors and 256 GB of RAM?
This is very exciting news. I am hoping that Document and Spreadsheet are Cocoa apps not Carbon code from AppleWorks. I also hope that they will adopt an XML file format for Document and Spreadsheet in keeping with Keynote's use of XML.
.doc format has a death grip on the business world. Unless there is an affordable alternative that can read and write .doc files it isn't going very far.
I also believe that Apple needs to make Windows versions of Safari and Document. Many websites are still IE on PC only. Having 2 million Safari on the Mac users out there isn't going to sway a lot of companies that they need to develop their sites to work with all browsers.
But if there were 20 million users of Safari on the Mac and PC things would change.
Same thing applies to Document. Microsoft's
The word processor is the only piece of the office package that most users need. Apple should make Document for the PC and make it affordable. It will introduce many PC users to how software should be written. For those who decide that they need Spreadsheet and Keynote as well...
well that when they start considering getting a Mac. If Apple wants people to switch they need some bait. Most of the bait Apple has is only on the Mac platform and never on the radar of most PC users. If Apple were to start taking the battle to Microsoft's home turf, I think we would start seeing many more people considering Apple.
Is it so psychologically bizzarre to think that someone might actually behave differntly in public? No. Everybody has inhabitions that keeps them from doing everything they want when they are being observed.
Do you pick your nose in public?
Do you pick your nose in private?
This is no different than someone who recognizes that they have a drinking problem asking his friends for help.
Perhaps you don't see pr0n as a vice.
Perhaps you have achieved a level of moral dissonance and self control far beyond us mere mortals.
What is equally distrubing is that these are probably the same people that think the rest of us have the same problem and must be saved from ourselves. They lobby to get laws passed because "someone must watch over us" to protect us from ourselves.
His concept is all about the individual choosing to change their own behavior. You choose to use the product. You choose who sees your log files.