WWDC: 'Biggest Ever'?

[MacRumors]

MacUser.co.uk (http://macuser.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=43034) posts a brief summary of the rumors leading up to WWDC on June 23, 2003. MacUser adds their own source into the mix:

A MacUser.co.uk source reports that WWDC will be the 'biggest ever' and will feature significant hardware announcements

Traditionally, hardware announcements have not been considered "typical" for WWDC's, as the focus of the conference is developers rather than consumers.

[Freg3000]

Well, if the G5 PPC 970 is to be released, then it better be the biggest WWDC ever!

[rjstanford]

From the linked article:A MacUser.co.uk source reports that WWDC will be the 'biggest ever' and will feature significant hardware announcements, while according to eWeek, Apple 'is nearing the release of desktop systems featuring IBM's 64-bit PowerPC 970 chip'.
Makes it sound like eWeek was saying that they expected the 970 to arrive at WWDC instead of expecting it to be somewhat later...

-Richard

[DTphonehome]

This is shaping up to be one hell of an event! I'm as excited as I was before April 28th!

[vniow]

Oohh...this is going to be HUGE!!

[pretentious]

Now let see how long it takes for Apple Legal to bring MacUser down ;) :D

[P-Worm]

There should be noone save Bill Gates that is not looking forward to this.

P-Worm

[MacFan25]

Hopefully this will be a 'Big Event'. We may all be fooled though. :D

[Sayer]

Choo-choo, here comes the ClueTrain.

Developers need to know about new hardware, preferably with some focused attention in a forum where we can actually talk to Apple people or have them talk to us about what the new hardware will do/what we need to do to work with it.

WWDC is PERFECT for this as a venue for releasing new hardware, even if only a few show-boxes are brought out. the People working on the software end are right there at WWDC and you can actually talk to them. No waiting for a developer tech note to filter out 2 months later.

How else can we make new software that takes advantage of the new hardware if we are getting to see said new hardware at the same as Joe Consumer (who will complain that Software X isn't 64-bit/optimzied for the 970 or its bus/RAM subsystems)?

This is a brilliant move on Apple's part. Finally all the gears mesh.

You can bet the big boys (MS, Adobe, Quark) have the new hardware and early builds of either gcc 3.3 (or whatever) and some libraries to work on the new CPU (if there is one) and/or new bus (if there is one).

When new AirPort base stations came out with an external antenna port, there were already external antennae made for it (go Dr. Bot).

When FireWire 800 came out there were already bridge-chips for the new standard and we quickly saw announcements of new FireWire 800 devices (while not capable of saturating even a FireWire 400 bus, the new chips keep FireWire 800 from throttling down to the lower speed so you do get more bandwith overall).

Please think a little before making blanket statements about the side of the computer industry you are not involved in.

[redAPPLE]

we all know, the next generation hardware will come rather sooner, than later...

personally, i still believe, they will be previewing the processor and maybe the case, but then i believe, they will say "coming soon". there was a report somewhere, that the keynote would be quite short or somehthing, that's why some speculated, that they can't show all they want, even they really wanted to...

of course, i would love Apple to deliver the promising goods, the earlier the better.

actually showing a 970 will not even surprise me.

iTunes for Windows... that would surprise me. but well, that's another story.

looking forward to WWDC though.

[dricci]

Looks like this will be a great year for Apple, new Processor, new OS (Panther), much OS 9 software finally being OS X native, and even getting some ports of Windows only apps. a very good year! :D

[JoeRadar]

Originally posted by Sayer
WWDC is PERFECT for this as a venue for releasing new hardware,

Certainly this is true when (1) there is a radical departure from the existing line and (2) it will affect a large number of developers.

A major change to the CPU (32-bit to 64-bit, or PowerPC to x86) is a perfect example. Apple will want as many developers as possible prepared and excited to develop for the new architecture.

FWIW: When I registered for my hotel the other day, I found that the original hotel Apple was using for the WWDC had sold out. I take this as a good sign.

FWIW: Now that Apple lawyers have started to take aim, it seems that there is some truth to the speculations. If the rumors were way off the mark, the lawyers would probably ignore them.

[jcdenton]

Originally posted by JoeRadar
FWIW: When I registered for my hotel the other day, I found that the original hotel Apple was using for the WWDC had sold out. I take this as a good sign.

Or it means that there's a hotel's worth of people as gullible as we are... :D

It's good that Apple Legal is finally playing a hand, though.

[nagromme]

Now when WWDC turns out to be hardware-free, or Panther is shown strictly under NDA, or the first 970s aren't twice as fast as a G4... everyone will say Apple is stupid or doomed for letting everyone down. And yet Apple never promised anything for WWDC, it's all rumors--some with some basis, some downright false, and most of them simply feeding off of one another. Apple only promised a private, limited preview of a future OS release.

I do agree that it will prove to be a BIG year for Apple in the end. But I don't know how wrapped up we should get in whether WWDC is or is not the big turning point. I hope it is--it would be wonderful for Apple and its users! But if not, so be it. I'll survive until the fall and so will Apple.

And even if it IS a big turning point at WWDC, the general expectations are SO high that no matter what, a large number of people are going to be very let down. But not by Apple's fault. We must steel ourselves to accept this.

[Freg3000]

Originally posted by redAPPLE

personally, i still believe, they will be previewing the processor and maybe the case, but then i believe, they will say "coming soon". there was a report somewhere, that the keynote would be quite short or somehthing, that's why some speculated, that they can't show all they want, even they really wanted to...


Actually, the last I heard about the keynote was that is was actually lengthened, from 1:30 to 2 hours. A good sign IMO.

[cb911]

this may be not only the biggest WWDC, but also the biggest Apple event in a long time. one of the ones i've definitely watched the closest! :D

[adamfilip]

It Better be Big.. i hope there is a Video Broadcast of the entire Keynote (i bet the feed will be super swamped tho)

i took the day off just for this event.. i love when the mac community gets all ralley'd up about this kinda stuff

im a nerd i know.. but so what ! :)

[Captincork]

does anyone know what time it will be(eastern) when the keynote starts. I have finals that day and can be home by 11:30 so if there is a webcast i would love to watch it

[Thresher]

This is kind of odd.

eWeek.com and ZDNet are both reporting the same information. I doubt that they will feel the same pressure that these smaller sites do.

Tech-report.com had a post merely mentioning all of the other posts and were asked to take that down as well.

There are two British sites that also include this information.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by Thresher
This is kind of odd.

eWeek.com and ZDNet are both reporting the same information. I doubt that they will feel the same pressure that these smaller sites do.

Tech-report.com had a post merely mentioning all of the other posts and were asked to take that down as well.

There are two British sites that also include this information.

They're both owned by the same company

[dhaveconfig]

Their 'source' quoted this?

you think perhaps their source may have been the bloody email from Apple to WWDC attendees ?


This will be Apple's biggest WWDC ever, featuring:

- Extensive coverage of "Panther"
- A first-ever Enterprise IT Track
- An expanded QuickTime Track that covers content creation and delivery
- More than 170 detailed sessions, labs, and feedback forums
- Expert guidance from Apple's technical architects and lead engineers
- A unique opportunity to network with your peers in the Mac community


sheesh...

[mymemory]

Originally posted by redAPPLE
we all know, the next generation hardware will come rather sooner, than later...

It is comming later!

I hope there is a new aditions to monitors too, like composite or s-video imput.

[mactastic]

Somethings brewing... this just has the aura of being huge. There is so much information swirling around right now, who knows what will really happen. Its gonna be a whole lot of fun going back over the rumors this time and seeing who called what correctly and when. Boy are there a lot of rumors this time. What fun!

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by Freg3000
Actually, the last I heard about the keynote was that is was actually lengthened, from 1:30 to 2 hours. A good sign IMO.

My itinerary confirms that it is 2 hours.

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by Captincork
does anyone know what time it will be(eastern) when the keynote starts. I have finals that day and can be home by 11:30 so if there is a webcast i would love to watch it

San Francisco time it is 10AM-12PM so that makes it, what, 1PM-3PM EDT?

It is 3 hours difference, isn't it? Sorry, being Australian I am not totally up with my US times.

[dhaveconfig]

madadminadam, are you one of the Australian AUC attendees too?

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by dhaveconfig
madadminadam, are you one of the Australian AUC attendees too?

My appologies, AUC?

[dhaveconfig]

AUC- Apple University Consortium.

They gave out a bunch of scholarships to Australian uni staff and students to attend WWDC. That's how I'm going...

Just wondering if you were one of us, but I guess not...

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by dhaveconfig
AUC- Apple University Consortium.

They gave out a bunch of scholarships to Australian uni staff and students to attend WWDC. That's how I'm going...

Just wondering if you were one of us, but I guess not...

LOL... I remember that now that you mention it but you were right to guess not. :)

Saying that, Apple is paying my entry, we just have to pay flights and hotel while Apple organises it for me.
:)

[GetSome681]

Originally posted by Sayer


When new AirPort base stations came out with an external antenna port, there were already external antennae made for it (go Dr. Bot).

When FireWire 800 came out there were already bridge-chips for the new standard and we quickly saw announcements of new FireWire 800 devices (while not capable of saturating even a FireWire 400 bus, the new chips keep FireWire 800 from throttling down to the lower speed so you do get more bandwith overall).



You said some things good, yet the last part makes no sense.

1. Airport extreme isn't some wonderful thing that apple came up with. It's an IEEE standard - 802.11g. It's not like the specs for 802.11g weren't out there for a while before apple introduced Extreme.

2. Hello, how about FW800 being another IEEE standard. This has nothing to do with apple "releasing" it.

You are correct in showing off the new hardware to all the developers. I'm just not sure if your two examples above were two examples of apple doing the same thing (showing it off to them early) previously, because that's just not true.

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by GetSome681
You said some things good, yet the last part makes no sense.

1. Airport extreme isn't some wonderful thing that apple came up with. It's an IEEE standard - 802.11g. It's not like the specs for 802.11g weren't out there for a while before apple introduced Extreme.

2. Hello, how about FW800 being another IEEE standard. This has nothing to do with apple "releasing" it.

You are correct in showing off the new hardware to all the developers. I'm just not sure if your two examples above were two examples of apple doing the same thing (showing it off to them early) previously, because that's just not true.

If you had read correctly you would have noticed that the previous poster was pointing out that Dr. Bott had an antenna when the Airport was released meaning that Apple gave them a heads-up.

[suzerain]

The original iMac was introduced at the WWDC in 1999. And that's a consumer machine! I believe that year it shipped in August or so, after Macworld NY.

But, it's definitely not without precedent for Apple to make a huge hardware announcement to the developers.

In this case, the announcement is even more important: Apple's machines are slow, and developers will certainly want to know all about the new architecture in case their applications want to maximize efficiency on the new processor.

At this point, I'm 95% convinced 970s are at least going to be introduced, if not immediately available. Will they be in PowerBooks, or duals, etc. and so on? I don't know.

But we'll see something with a damned 970 in it. :)

[madamimadam]

Originally posted by suzerain At this point, I'm 95% convinced 970s are at least going to be introduced, if not immediately available. Will they be in PowerBooks, or duals, etc. and so on? I don't know.

But we'll see something with a damned 970 in it. :)

It's a shame the 970 isn't a dual core like the 4, now THAT would be nice.. then a dual PowerMac would really fly.

I can't wait to see how the 450MHz bus stacks up against the Intel 133MHz bus.

I hope they do a demo at WWDC with a PC on one of the new 800MHz Intel Chipsets and the 970 900MHz Chipset.

[zac4mac]

I don't like the idea that Legal waited so long, maybe the hardware's not ready. Like Moto a couple of years back. At the very least, they have to show the 970 in action. However,if the 970s are ready, and they have duallies, I'll be a little deeper in debt within the week.
I'll not have a single, I realized that when the P/S in my Mystic duallie died a few months back. Had to rely on my 800iBook for a week . It's fast, but chokes running more than a couple of apps.

Z

[RandomDeadHead]

But we'll see something with a damned 970 in it.

Man I hope so!

Although the thought of a rioting Mac crowd marching to the nearest gateway store or bestbuy and leveling it pleases me greatly!:D

[redAPPLE]

Originally posted by Captincork
does anyone know what time it will be(eastern) when the keynote starts. I have finals that day and can be home by 11:30 so if there is a webcast i would love to watch it

here's a tip... concentrate on your finals... and if all goes well, you'll enjoy the webcast, if it is available...

good luck by the way.

[maradong]

i do hope so :D

[punter]

Originally posted by zac4mac
I don't like the idea that Legal waited so long, maybe the hardware's not ready.

Are you refering to apple legal requesting information be pulled off websites?

My theory is Apple left this information online for a long time to whip all us rumor mongers into a frenzy. It has certainly built up a lot of hype for the event, like some sort of free publicity.

Of course, I'm also hoping they are allowing us to foam at the mouth because they have something instal which will surpass our expectations!

[MacsRgr8]

It's kinda funny that even non-Mac/Apple-rumor/tech sites are "expecting" the 970 in Macs this summer.

Ths hype really is getting huge.....

[bigrock]

Originally posted by suzerain
The original iMac was introduced at the WWDC in 1999. And that's a consumer machine! I believe that year it shipped in August or so, after Macworld NY.



oh how wrong you are. the original iMac was released in august of '98, and the five colors came out in january of '99.

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally posted by bigrock
oh how wrong you are. the original iMac was released in august of '98, and the five colors came out in january of '99. oh how wrong you are. The original iMac (as suzerain said) was anounced in May of '98. It was released that August.

I don't think it was at WWDC, though it may have been.


edit -> proof: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/jobsimac.html

[bigrock]

Originally posted by eric_n_dfw
oh how wrong you are. The original iMac (as suzerain said) was anounced in May of '98. It was released that August.

I don't think it was at WWDC, though it may have been.


edit -> proof: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/jobsimac.html

i was not commenting on when it was announced, i merely corrected the date that it was actually released. i made not one mention of the announced date, therefore i was correct, and you need to read things before trying to jump on my ass.

[mod. edit: Name calling is not allowed.]

[fukuhela]

The more the rumors the more asure I get that we wont see any 970 CPU this WWDC. This is just another hype from all the rumorsites like we've seen thousand times before.

Mark my words.

:( :D

[3.1416]

Even ignoring all the rumors, there are good reasons to believe that the 970 is a strong possibility at WWDC. It neatly explains the rescheduling of WWDC, Steve's Motorola comments, and Apple's demands that sites remove G5 stories. Yes, this is all circumstantial evidence, but it all points in the same direction, and I don't see any pointing the other way.

[MacsRgr8]

Originally posted by fukuhela
The more the rumors the more asure I get that we wont see any 970 CPU this WWDC. This is just another hype from all the rumorsites like we've seen thousand times before.

Mark my words.

:( :D

"read my lips..."

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally posted by bigrock
i was not commenting on when it was announced, i merely corrected the date that it was actually released. i made not one mention of the announced date, therefore i was correct, and you need to read things before trying to jump on my ass.
You are correct - I saw 1999 and read 1998 in the original msg, sorry.

[G4scott]

I just got an e-mail from ADC with this:

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by bigrock
and if you're insulted or cannot handle mild insulting words like dumbass, well... you need to loosen up. this isn't the 50's and there are far worse things than someone saying dumbass.

Ok, cut the crap right now - name calling, however intended is not really encouraged. Personal attacks are not allowed. Drop both and continue the discussion - it continues and you'll be removed.

bigrock - consider yourself warned

D