| Monday, May 6, 2002 |
13:48 - Steve Jobs' WWDC Keynote
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0205/06.jaguar.php
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Wow. Now that is what I call a keynote. Too bad we couldn't see it live or streamed...!
First of all, the showmanship and theatrics: he came on stage in a cathedral setting, with funeral music, and a coffin; he took out a copy of OS 9. He then delivered a "touching eulogy", saying that he's sure "he's looking down on us with the same smile that he had when he booted up all these times". Yes, rest in peace indeed, brave little OS.
Apple has officially committed to writing not one more line of code for OS9, except for customer-critical bugs (I would assume). That's because... well, time to start quoting, I guess.
"Jaguar is packed with incredible new features that Mac OS X users are going to love, including our iChat instant messaging software," Jobs said. "Jaguar takes the world's highest-volume UNIX-based operating system to the next level, adding amazing new technologies never before seen in any operating system."
The long-rumored Inkwell technology will let Mac users enter text using a pen in any application that accepts text. In talking of Inkwell, Jobs joked that finally Apple had gotten something out of all the technology it had invested in the Newton handheld device that never caught on with the general public.
Ah hah. This is something that we've been rumoring about for a long time, but it's never seemed really plausible-- I mean, is it something people need? And what kind of input devices are on the market-- or will become available? I hope this isn't stillborn. And I hope it doesn't make Apple the butt of "Eat up Martha" jokes all over again.
iChat is a new AIM-compatible instant messaging software that's built into Mac OS X and integrated with the new Mail and Address Book applications. It's compatible with AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), America Online's instant messaging community that has over 150 million registered users. Jobs said it would allow seamless instant messaging between Mac.com members, AOL members and AIM users. Mac users can use their existing Mac.com names with iChat or get a free Mac.com name quickly if they don't already have one, he said.
"We're very excited about bringing Mac users into the broader AOL community with the first fully compatible integration of another user base with AIM and AOL Buddy List users," said Bob Pittman, Chief Operating Officer-elect of AOL Time Warner, in a statement. "This will make it possible for Mac users to communicate within our network using their existing Mac.com identities. We look forward to working together with Apple on other innovative offerings."
The Mac OS X version of iChat will purportedly let users quickly see and change their online status and communicate with buddies from the menu bar. What's more, the Mail application in Mac OS X will show the online status of buddies, so users can turn e-mail exchanges into real-time chats. In addition, the new system-wide Address Book will manage buddy information including name, handle and photo along with the rest of their contact information.
iChat uses "dialogue bubbles" and buddy photos to present instant messages in a graphically conversational manner. iChat invitations pop on the screen using transparency and animation effects. Users will also be able to automatically discover and chat with other iChat users on their local Ethernet or AirPort networks, according to Apple.
...Innnnnteresting. I can't help but wonder if this is a panicked response to Windows Messenger-- after all, integrating a chat system into the OS is something that has always seemed like a weird idea to me, and in XP it's particularly slimy because it's designed to kill ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, and all the others because it's not compatible with any of them. iChat would appear to be AIM-based, which might mean-- well, okay, I don't know what it might mean for ICQ users. If it works well, though, hey-- I'm in.
QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Broadcaster will be integral parts of Jaguar. Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said that by combining QuickTime 6 with the free QuickTime Streaming Server and QuickTime Broadcaster, "Apple delivers the world's first complete media solution for creating, streaming and viewing MPEG-4 content."
He said that key features of QuickTime 6 -- which is completed but not released due to MPEG-4 licensing issues -- include: a video codec for encoding and decoding MPEG-4 video content; Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), the next generation audio format; adherence to the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) 1.0 specification; MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 playback, which is ideal for content creators who wish to preview and share work throughout the production process; DVC Pro (PAL) support; an updated user interface for easier access to QuickTime content; and skip protection enhancements.
This is a big relief. We need QT6, I've been saying for a while, because otherwise MPEG-4 won't gain enough strength to stave off Microsoft's "Corona" release of WMP. It had appeared that Apple would be waiting indefinitely to release, because MPEG-LA didn't seem to be willing to bend. But now Apple is committing to a release date, and I wonder what that means-- did they work out the licensing? Are they just "giving up"? Do we get the encoding codec in iMovie for free, or do we have to pay the licensing fee?
Jaguar will also come with Rendezvous, Apple's proposed new industry standard for automatic discovery of computers, devices and services on IP (Ethernet, AirPort) networks. In other words, the technology will let Macs automatically recognize other computers on a wired or wireless network and share files with each other or, theoretically, with other digital devices. In his keynote, Jobs demoed streaming music files off of another Mac connected through an AirPort network.
Holy crumbs. This is certainly a surprise. Apple is effectively proposing the first major extension to TCP/IP infrastructure since DHCP-- a new piece of functionality that we wouldn't otherwise have seen until IPv6, which effectively means "never". Dayamn. This will be something to watch.
Also, what this tells me is that the networking layer in OS X is under heavy development still. It's very versatile and cool as it is, but this is proof that Apple can see a huge landscape of potential directions they can take their software, and they're striking out in all sorts of uncharted directions. This is outstanding news.
The next major rev of Mac OS X will also offer big changes to the Finder, such as spring-loaded folders and new instant searching. It will come with Sherlock 3, a major revision to Apple's Internet search and services engine. Quartz Extreme will be a hardware accelerated Quartz graphics and compositing engine. Jaguar will also come with: Unix Tools, "the latest Unix advancements," including FreeBSD 4.4 updates, the new GCC 3 compiler, IPv6 and IPSec; and Windows Support, for increased compatibility with Windows networks with SMB browsing and sharing as well as built-in PPTP VPN security.
Squeeel! VPN/PPTP! Cutting-edge FreeBSD stuff! IPv6! SMB browsing! Spring-loaded folders! Built-in instant searching in the Finder! Multithreading and automatic thumbnail generation! And hey-- here's another quote from the keynote coverage about "Quartz Extreme":
Quartz Extreme: Takes the compositing engine in Quartz, and accelerates it in graphics cards. Combines 2D, 3D and video in one hardware pipeline via OpenGL. "Everything on the screen is being drawn in hardware by OpenGL." Requires AGP 2x and 32MB of video RAM.
It is not possible on older graphics cards like RAGE 128 cards, said Jobs -- that means it'll work on newer iMacs and eMacs, but not on older machines, he emphasized. AGP 2x and 32MB video RAM are required for this new technology. Jobs said this puts Apple two years ahead of "the other guys."
Geez! This stuff is going to fly. Guess I'd better go get myself a GeForce4 card after all, huh?
Some stuff on Mail and Address Book:
Mail. Sophisticated rules added. Auto merge mailboxes (multiple accts merged into a single mailbox). Cross mailbox searching. Color highlighting. Security features added. VPN client. Spam filtering. QuickTime support.
Address Book: Jaguar also features database technology which can be used for any app, system wide. Tied into Bluetooth. LDAP searching built in too.
Sweeet. I knew Mail was due for a major update; it's been a placeholder till now, as cool as it is. Now it will be a real contender. And the new Address Book stuff sounds like it'll start being something I can actually use. I wonder if it can be integrated with my Palm desktop DB?
Universal Access. Zooming supported via Quartz. Screenreader -- cursor over text will read it to you. Full keyboard access. Visual notification. They're all available to developers in APIs in Jaguar.
Spatchka. Kaopectate. And other such Russian expletives. More kickass cool stuff under the hood that most users probably won't see-- but it will make great bragging material. "Look what myyyy computer can do!"
Education customers will also get enhancements: Network management improved, and simple finder for kids. NetInstall enables admins to boot off network image and install and build that machine, completely automatically. Special needs users will see many enhancements. USB printer sharing, also.
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Jaguar Server: Net Install and Net Boot support. Every single server can install off of that. Built in Open Directory (LDAP). Server-optimized Java Virtual Machine.
I suspect these announcements are related. Centralized net-booting and installation management, awesome... a Simple Finder for kids? Cool, bound to be better than the Launcher. I admit OS X hasn't seemed to me like much of an educational/kids' OS. But they're addressing that, now. Hearty applause.
Jobs: "A week from tomorrow there'll be some news on the server front." May 14th: Apple introducing a dedicated server, rack mount model.
And this is where Apple announces to the world, "We're here, we're queer, and we're not goin' away!" They're moving the chess pieces into place and making a play for a piece of the server pie. And I know a lot of people who have been waiting for precisely this. I cannot wait to see this announcement. Come on, May 14th...
You know, when they hyped the MacWorld iMac announcement with lines like "Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond", something like this was what I was picturing. Cool stuff all the hell across the board. It's like Apple has suddenly blown the lid off all the blue-sky, pipe-dream rumors that we'd all learned to stop taking seriously, because the real announcements would always turn out to be a lot more pedestrian-- 10GB iPods and new Cinema Displays, ho-hum. Cool, yes, but not mad cool.
But this is Caligula pimpin' mad cool.
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