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Apple Pro Machines -- Still Coming?

mvc said:
Well, they certainly have been pushing the software aspect over the last couple of years, with all their new iApps and Pro Apps. Perhaps they are tooling up for the possibility of being primarily software focused long term.

It would be sad though, as it would probably mean the end of their exceptional computers (see posts above for Amiga comparisons).
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They are cranking out great software to make sure people buy their top end hardware. OSX is the lure to pay top dollar for the Mac, iTunes is the lure to the dear iPod. Apple cannot lose with this business model of total integration. If they specialise in software they will die along with MS.
 
billyboy said:
If they specialise in software they will die along with MS.
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If you believe that MS is going to die anytime soon, then you really need to look at them alot more closely.

They have thier fingers in EVERYTHING. Even if Windows suddenly lost its 95% marketshare, and Linux ruled the world, MS wouldn't be in ANY danger of going under. They still will make the world standard office suite, for example. Even if OpenOffice or some other project suddenly overthrew that, there's still so much more.

The XBox, for another example. Windows Media formats are, sadly, quite good, and used all over the place, and not just on Windows machines. They are killing Palm in the handheld market. They have dealings in media, both content and delivery. They have a bigger cash stack than Apple does, so they could stop making money for YEARS and still be arund, not that that will ever happen.

Anyway, point is that MS isn't going anywhere, like it or not. The old saying, 'No one was ever fired for buying IBM', is eventually going to read 'No one ever got fired for buying MS'.
 
nmk said:
And please, OS X doesn't count here. Number one, its runs on a different chipset so the binaries for most Linux apps wouldn't be compatible with PPC. Apart from that, the applications have to be ported to run with the X11 libraries to run on OS X.

I'm talking about a proper Linux distro here. One which would run all Linux software natively, but with an Apple GUI based on standard Linux technologies.
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What 'standard Linux technologies' are we talking about here? What would be easier -- transferring the entire Mac platform to an IBM PC-AT Compatible environment, or simply porting the existing Open Source software for OS X?

Both OS X and Linux are POSIX-compliant. They share the same gcc compiler, and have an incredibly similar build environment. The speed with which many large OSS projects have been ported to OS X is testament to this. OpenOffice, Firefox, X11 (Quartz-accelerated, no less), KDE, Qt, Apache, Samba, Tomcat, and hundreds of other fantastic tools, environments and applications.

What you're asking is to take OS X's 'Macness' -- the Cocoa and Carbon libraries and port them to Linux/x86 (even though we've already got a POSIX-ly correct Mach/Darwin UNIX). How will this help? You'd still have to get OSS developers to support these libraries even though they're on Linux/x86... Why should Apple go through all that pain to actually achieve very little? The same thing you're suggesting could've been said by Solaris users when Linux or Minix first arrived: "Why don't they just make Linux run on SPARCs and just extend what we've already got in Solaris?"

OS X is already a fantastic complement to Linux -- yet another example of how the UNIX paradigm is a great environment within which developers to work. At the moment, developers can code for their favourite Linux based toolkits, and those with the knowlegde are already able to bring those apps over to the Mac. The nebulous nature of Unix means that developers (should) be in the habit of keeping their code clean. Open Source collaboration tends also to keep the code maintainable. So, with many core toolkits/libs already present on OS X (kdelibs, xf86 libs, gcc, glibc, etc) porting software to the Mac is do-able in a manner that it never was before OS X.

Just to reiterate -- OS X's foundations are as compatible with Linux as it's ever going to be. Cocoa and Carbon aren't going anywhere. They're what makes the Mac a Mac. An Apple GUI coded with Linux technologies wouldn't work how the Mac works. The reason a Mac works how it does is because it's not based on Linux. The capabilites of a GUI depend almost entirely on the capabilities of the underlying system. Excellent though Qt/GTK+/etc are, they couldn't be substituted in place of Cocoa/Carbon without the Mac losing much of how it operates.

Besides, Cocoa and Objective C are absolutely beautiful environments to code in. Truly. It was years ahead of its time in the late 80s and through the 90s (when it was the foundation of the NEXTSTEP OS and, ncidentally, what Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web server and browser on). In many respects, it still is now.

IMHO, Apple are making positive moves. They've got the confidence (and the excellent technology) to present a really mature and capable environment to the computing world. Plus, they're striving for compatibility with other environments. They're also not scared to draw from the Open Source community (Samba, Apache, KHTML in WebCore, etc...), and are freely giving their contributions back to the Open Source world.

I couldn't care less what Apple's 'market share' is. As long as there's the money for them to keep going, it'll still be my platform of choice. Their applications are capable, compatible and open. Their technologies are clean, elegant and -- to quite a suprising degree, considering the 'proprietary' tag -- open. I get the best of Mac software, and I can run the best of Open Source software right alongside. I get Objective C and Cocoa, Qt, Python, Perl, mySQL, Tcl/Tk. I've got file compatibility, standards-based networking, Windows interoperability, and more than my fair share of best-in-class commercial software. And I can keep my finger on the pulse of the fruits of Open Source developers...

And to think I only switched a couple of years ago, having been a lifelong PC user, and indeed, I still am a Windows programmer and networking guy...

[edit: changed 1980's to '80's to 90's regarding NeXTSTEP]
 
billyboy said:
If they specialise in software they will die along with MS.
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I think that's unfortunately gonna be one of the longest death scenes since bollywood.

MS are going to be sticking around for the long haul, they're like a tick burrowing into the world's butt! :mad:
 
(re post by Chris / displaced)

Spot on. I moved to the Mac platform for developer tools and ease of use - I actually effectively downgraded in pure performance to do it, and I've never regretted it once.

Cocoa is without a doubt the best application framework on the market today. .NET & C# is a joke in comparison.

All of the other traditional Unix and Linux development tools are on OS X too, so it is truly a universal development platform. I can also use RealBasic to compile real, effective and native windows apps, with or without touching a PC.

Apple is doing the right thing, for both itself and the consumer - producing high end, high quality machines, peripherals and software. I wouldn't like to see them doing anything else.
 
mvc said:
I think that's unfortunately gonna be one of the longest death scenes since bollywood.

MS are going to be sticking around for the long haul, they're like a tick burrowing into the world's butt! :mad:
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True :)

What can kill MS is their own products however - the biggest competitor with each release of Windows is the previous release of Windows. MS can't produce compelling reasons to upgrade, so people don't - that's why they want to sell subscriptions rather than boxes, so people don't get a choice. The main reason MS does well is because they're so hard to get rid of in a corporate environment - especially when everyone stores their "Mission Critical" data in Excel spreadsheets. (Don't get me started!)

Apple on the other hand is producing compelling and innovative new features with each iteration of OS X at the moment - which is fantastic for everyone on the platform.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
The old saying, 'No one was ever fired for buying IBM', is eventually going to read 'No one ever got fired for buying MS'.
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This is plane wrong. I personally gave the kick to a person who used Windows NT for the mission critical web service. Win may be dominant in desktop, but no-one in it's right mind would use it in mission critical web services. Abovementioned service had a lot of problems over a time before we rewrote it in java. After that - no problems anymore. Nothing, nil, zero.
 
TBR said:
Well it's lunchtime Tuesday and no updates yet :(
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I really feel like a fool, updating my apple store tab, hoping to get that message 'We'll be back soon', sign of update coming up. That would relieve some of the pent-up frustration felt in those forums. And I'm not even in the market for a new machine...

:eek:
 
NicoMan said:
I really feel like a fool, updating my apple store tab, hoping to get that message 'We'll be back soon', sign of update coming up. That would relieve some of the pent-up frustration felt in those forums. And I'm not even in the market for a new machine...

:eek:
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Fear not, I guess the update (if any) will be announced later in the day for us UK people -- it's still 4 or 5am or something in Cupertino :)

(all confuserated because of the switch to BST... but at least the evenings are nice & sunny)
 
displaced said:
Fear not, I guess the update (if any) will be announced later in the day for us UK people -- it's still 4 or 5am or something in Cupertino :)

(all confuserated because of the switch to BST... but at least the evenings are nice & sunny)
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correct, california is GMT-8..

so in my case (belgium) is gmt +1, subtract 9 hours and there you have it, 4u38 at night.... they're still doing dodo, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 
displaced said:
Fear not, I guess the update (if any) will be announced later in the day for us UK people -- it's still 4 or 5am or something in Cupertino :)

(all confuserated because of the switch to BST... but at least the evenings are nice & sunny)
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Yeah it is only 4AM in Cupertino, but doesn't apple usually release something new at 9AM?

So 5 hrs to wait and hope :Smiley Praying:
 
vouder17 said:
Yeah it is only 4AM in Cupertino, but doesn't apple usually release something new at 9AM?

So 5 hrs to wait and hope :Smiley Praying:
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Crap, I forget about the daylight saving.. this weekend we had to set our watches one hour in advance...guess it's somewhere mid april in the US?

Klaus
 
Date

Hail the o mighty apple update god!!!!!!!!!!!!


Only 5 hrs and 31 mins left!



BTW: Right now it is March 30, 7:29 AM EST :eek: :eek: :eek:


I can just imagine Mr. Jobs pacing his room, with his watch to his face :rolleyes:
 
Gianrico said:
I hopèe to see some good news before the WWDC. I noticed a strange thing. Let you see this site: http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/Power+Macintosh/g5+minitower/wag100/wag10000/

They have all the configuration at backorder status. Usually they have some machines in stock.

:confused:
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They are only backordered(b/0) with the Dual 1.8 GHz model......All the others are either Available or only have one in stock.....Although the Dual 2 being available on April 2 is a bit strange...... :confused:
 
compusa

Hmmmm.....Just checked the Compusa inventory from their website of the G5s.......The Dualies seem to be in stock in most stores, although not all....And the Single 1.6 isn't at ANY store, it says "Coming Soon". It doesn't even have the form where I can put in my Zip code and it can check the store.....Just "Coming Soon". I checked and to my disbelief, coming soon does not necessarily mean "coming soon". According to the Compusa website "coming soon" only means that they do not have any in stock ANYWHERE. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


"It's beginning to look a lot like Pro Day;Everywhere I go"


(Sings song happily while pushing RELOAD every second on the Apple Store Page) :p :p :p :p
 
AppleJustWorks said:
Hmmmm.....Just checked the Compusa inventory from their website of the G5s.......The Dualies seem to be in stock in most stores, although not all....And the Single 1.6 isn't at ANY store, it says "Coming Soon". It doesn't even have the form where I can put in my Zip code and it can check the store.....Just "Coming Soon". I checked and to my disbelief, coming soon does not necessarily mean "coming soon". According to the Compusa website "coming soon" only means that they do not have any in stock ANYWHERE. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


"It's beginning to look a lot like Pro Day;Everywhere I go"


(Sings song happily while pushing RELOAD every second on the Apple Store Page) :p :p :p :p
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Don' depend too much on stocks of apple resellers.. try going to macmall.. they have more than thousand units in stock of some G5's..
 
@applejustworks

maybe you're right :)
perhaps he reads now our posts and decides to release something. "hello steve!" :D
 
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