Collaborative Features in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)?

[DStaal]

How much anyone want to bet that this is just integrated CVS?

CVS is already installed as part of the dev tools at least; and it might even be part of the normal install. It does everything mentioned, but it is a pain to get set up. If Apple would come along and put a slick front end, both user-level and API, on it, that would be great.

(It could also be any of the CVS replacements that have been written as well, of course.)

 

[lmalave]

Huh? How can you use Outlook to have two people simultaneously edit a document?

How is anything outlook does related to real-time collaboration. It is a calendar, and repository - that's pretty much it.

You can't do it with OutLook, but you can do it with net meeting.

In fact, you can share *any* application window, or your whole desktop. The difference from what Apple is doing is that with NetMeeting, only one person has the "real" copy of the document, and everyone is editing that single instance of the document. What Applie is apparently implmenting is real-time synchronization of a document between multiple parties that are collaborating on the document.

 

[rayz]

Huh? It's nothing like Outlook.

If you'd used SubEthaEdit you'd know that. Or just watch the AbiWord wordprocessor demo posted earlier - it's like that but without the horrible network dialogs as it uses Apple's Bonjour tech to find people. It's not just sharing a calendar on an Exchange server, it's realtime editing of documents and data across a network with no server involved.

Sounds like the Collaboration thingy in Vista

Is there really a call two or more people editing the same document, at the same time?

 

[aftk2]

Apple's tried this before.. doesnt anyone remember Publish & Subscribe from System 7? it was nice, but nobody figured out what to use it for.

Heh, that's actually what I thought of too, along with other abandoned Apple technologies like OpenDoc. With everyone being such a fan of Mac OS X these days, sometimes it feels like strengths of the Mac pre-OS-X are ignored, which is too bad: some days I feel like I could get more work done in OS 9 than OS X, in spite of its crashing every 3-4 hours (and provided I could take Expose with me.)

 

[andrewm]

Is it retarded that Im more excited to see the new UI/Finder?

I feel the same way. I want to see the 'wow!' features, but what I really want to know is how my UI will have been improved. (Let's *not* start a flame-war, shall we, but I really hate the current Finder. Couldn't they Cocoa-ify it, like PathFinder?)

 

[MacMyDay]

I like Coding Monkeys too, but for slightly different reasons

On another note, this sort of technology would certainly help in regard to editing CSS/XHTML files without any confusion taking place.

 

[cgmpowers]

my two cents...

I

 

[cgmpowers]

My two cents..

I for one would like iCal to support this online updating. I've been out and about in the world and wanted to add a date event and had to wait until I get home to do so. It'd be very nice to get to a browser and add my event on the fly. But then again, if my iPod was capable of that, I'd be also equally happy.

For the boot camp finalization. What if fast user switching enabled you to fast OS switching? Log onto the MacOS then switch users and log into the WinOS and then switch back and forth when you need too. That's my dream senerio.

Christopher

 

[APPLENEWBIE]

Can someone explain Virtualization, versus emulation, versus dual boot?

Just like the header above.....

 

[mozmac]

Yeah, I can't wait to see a new Finder and more reliable (and FASTER) networking.

 

[AstroPlain]

Gobby

Don't forget Gobby, which is completely open source. It runs on Mac OS X with X11, and at one time I had considered writing an Cocoa interface for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobby
http://gobby.0x539.de/

 

[boncellis]

I feel the same way. I want to see the 'wow!' features, but what I really want to know is how my UI will have been improved. (Let's *not* start a flame-war, shall we, but I really hate the current Finder. Couldn't they Cocoa-ify it, like PathFinder?)

I've read so many posts calling for the same thing since about 2003. I really wonder what goes through Apple's collective mind when they hear that suggestion--one I wholeheartedly support. What could be their rebuttal, seriously?

Collaboration seems like something that was bound to happen--maybe even some form of built in versioning software could be included in the future. But I agree with andrewm, I'm waiting for the killer features. And no, dual-booting isn't really "killer" in my mind, more like a necessary evil.

 

[MacVault]

Is it retarded that Im more excited to see the new UI/Finder?

Not retarded at all - I agree, Apple better revamp the UI/Finder in Leapard because the more I use Windows XP the more I think the current OS X GUI SUCKS!

Also, how is Apple integrating this "document collaboration" feature unless they also build something for us to make documents in? Such as an Apple Office suite.

 

[SeaFox]

Another Post At Mac OS Rumors Says Leotard Won't Ship Til Next Summer '07. That's quite a discrepancy. Wonder why?

I thought Leopard was supposed to be out in the late fall, this push into early next year would be quite deliberate I think given Vista has now been posponed till early next year (assuming it actually ships).

 

[latourfl]

In fact, you can share *any* application window, or your whole desktop. The difference from what Apple is doing is that with NetMeeting, only one person has the "real" copy of the document, and everyone is editing that single instance of the document. What Applie is apparently implmenting is real-time synchronization of a document between multiple parties that are collaborating on the document.

Well, it goes well beyond "having the real copy" of a document. NetMeeting apparently only allows a person at the time to control the document, therefore be able to edit, while Apple's solution apparently allows everyone to edit the document at the same time. It's like having the document on a huge whiteboard where everyone can write at the same time, whereas NetMeeting is like everyone sitting around a table, waiting for the sheet and pen to add their own editing.

 

[boncellis]

How about this as a "killer feature" for Leopard:

Rosetta 2.0: Now you can use any program in OS X--including Linux and Windows programs--without having to boot into that system.

After all, I don't want XP on my computer, but I need a program or two.

 

[tilman]

MS has a collaborative editor like SubEthaEdit ?

Microsoft OneNote 2007, available as a public beta, has some very impressive collaboration features. Sharing is possible with nothing more than a shared folder on the network. Updates are live - there are no Edit, Save, or Refresh buttons. It transparently keeps local copies of the files, so that you can continue to edit while offline. Synchronization to the shared storage is automatic when you reconnect. It would be great if this makes it into the next version of Office ont he Mac, too.

 

[tilman]

Can someone explain Virtualization, versus emulation, versus dual boot?

You can look this up yourself at http://www.wikipedia.org. Just read the first paragraph for each term to get an idea.

 

[dernhelm]

Heh, that's actually what I thought of too, along with other abandoned Apple technologies like OpenDoc. With everyone being such a fan of Mac OS X these days, sometimes it feels like strengths of the Mac pre-OS-X are ignored, which is too bad: some days I feel like I could get more work done in OS 9 than OS X, in spite of its crashing every 3-4 hours (and provided I could take Expose with me.)

Oooo, an addition 2 Karma points for referencing OpenDoc in proper context!

I actually did some OpenDoc programming back in the day. Not that I'd ever admit to that on a resume...

 

[dernhelm]

You can't do it with OutLook, but you can do it with net meeting.

In fact, you can share *any* application window, or your whole desktop. The difference from what Apple is doing is that with NetMeeting, only one person has the "real" copy of the document, and everyone is editing that single instance of the document. What Applie is apparently implmenting is real-time synchronization of a document between multiple parties that are collaborating on the document.

NetMeeting? Oh, you mean that Timbuktu rip-off...

Desktop/application sharing is a whole lot different than document collaboration, as anyone who has fought for control of the mouse on a server system with 3 other people timbuktu'd in can attest. That simply isn't what we are talking about here.

 

[BGil]

MS has a collaborative editor like SubEthaEdit ?

OneNote 2003SP1 does all that stuff:
Breakthrough experiences, like real-time note sharing. If you're the only person you know who has OneNote, then this is not of much use to you, but if you work with others, such as in a team, it is very powerful. We do our status meetings using this. One of us invites the others to a shared session, then everyone joins and adds their status to the status page - all at the same time. It is freaky to watch, since the whole page is filled in after about 2 min, with text and diagrams appearing all over the place. Then the whole meeting is way faster because you can read the status and not wait for each person to say all of it. Once I had to be at home and had to miss the meeting, and decided to join a shared session that was going on at work. I could see everything everyone else could see who was actually in the room, and could even add comments and ask questions silently by typing them into the shared note surface. Wow - try doing that over just the phone.
...
Shared Sessions – real-time peer-to-peer multi-user sessions (we had over 70 people once)
From the Onenote Blog here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2004/06/25/165609.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2005/02/22/378667.aspx

Windows/MSN Messenger does similar things with application sharing as do serveral other Microsoft products like ConferenceXP and Live Meeting/Net Meeting.
http://www.conferencexp.com/community/
http://www.microsoft.com/office/livemeeting/prodinfo/default.mspx

Very 2001.

 

[bloodycape]

So this is still kinda un-clear to me is this then like Office live, Messenger live and what not or is it totally different?

 

[Lollypop]

How much anyone want to bet that this is just integrated CVS?

CVS is already installed as part of the dev tools at least; and it might even be part of the normal install. It does everything mentioned, but it is a pain to get set up. If Apple would come along and put a slick front end, both user-level and API, on it, that would be great.

(It could also be any of the CVS replacements that have been written as well, of course.)

Maybe underneat it all there might be some bits of CVS, but there is going to be a lot of new stuff thats going to be added if its the case. As far as I know CVS doesnt really show the people that have checked out a piece of code in real time what the others are doing.

 

[encro]

So this is still kinda un-clear to me is this then like Office live, Messenger live and what not or is it totally different?

Imagine someone has a document open that they have made available for access to everyone on the internet. Everyone has the document open on their computer each making changes in real time. Each person is watching everyone elses changes happen while they are altering something else. Its nuts when you have 30 or so people doing stuff at the same time. Things happen so quickly

Now imagine that was a possibility in every application at API level.

 

[netdog]

How about this as a "killer feature" for Leopard:

Rosetta 2.0: Now you can use any program in OS X--including Linux and Windows programs--without having to boot into that system.

After all, I don't want XP on my computer, but I need a program or two.

I think they might want to rename that Grail