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Leopard At Macworld San Francisco? Intel and iTV (Viiv)?
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There is very little reason for Apple to release the next OS/X so soon.
Everyone is expecting OSX around Spring. Apple should give plenty of time for debugging and general readiness.
Tiger was a disaster at release - way too many bugs. Don't let this happen to Leopard.
Everyone is expecting OSX around Spring. Apple should give plenty of time for debugging and general readiness.
Tiger was a disaster at release - way too many bugs. Don't let this happen to Leopard.
What is Viiv? Marketing.
Viiv is Intel's "Home PC" equivalent of Centrino. It is a marketing term made up to describe something that already exists; only in order to use the marketing term, you have to use all Intel equipment. (They also have a business-PC equivalent, "vPro".)
Viiv is simply a label that PC manufacturers can slap on any computer that uses an Intel dual-core processor, Intel main chipset, Intel network chip, and has 'Media PC' capabilities (basically, any PC that uses Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition OS.) If Intel were to allow Front Row as an acceptable replacement for Media Center, and Apple were to use Intel network chips instead of whomever they use now, the iMac and Mac mini at least would qualify.
Intel just offers some web-based benefits to computers that qualify as 'Viiv' computers. Just like when the Pentium 3 first came out, they offered some web-based stuff to Pentium 3 owners, even though there was no technical reason why the stuff wouldn't work with other computers. (Like Skype's 10-person conferences that were artificially limited to Intel computers.)
Just like Centrino. Centrino just means Intel Pentium-M or Core (x) Solo/Duo processor, Intel chipset, and Intel wireless card. Apple doesn't use Intel wireless cards, so MacBooks and MacBook Pros don't qualify as Centrino. (As an example, I bought an HP laptop that came with a Celeron-M processor, but DID have an Intel wireless card. It was not 'Centrino' qualified. All I did was upgrade the processor to a Pentium-M, and now it passes Intel's Centrino test utility.)
Does this marketing work? Well, the jury is out on Viiv, it doesn't seem to hold the same cache as Cenrino. But, my dad works at a large nationwide company, and is the person who orders all new hardware and software, company-wide. When Centrino first came out, a VP told him he wanted a Centrino laptop because it was good. My dad told him that all their new laptops had Pentium M processors, and had third-party 802.11a/g hardware, when at the time, Centrino was 802.11b-only. So the hardware they were buying was BETTER than Centrino. This VP insisted that Centrino was better, because the ads in his executive magazines said so, so he wanted a Cenrino laptop. Well, the manufacturer that the company had contracts with didn't offer 'real' Centrino laptops yet, so my dad had to go order them from a different manufacturer, making this VP the only one in the company with his model of laptop. Well, a year later, when the laptop broke, he had to wait a couple weeks for a replacement, since they didn't have in-company spares, the way they did with the non-Centrino models.
Epilogue: Will we see 'Viiv' in Apple products? Not a chance. Apple hates using other companies marketing terms, just look at 'Altivec'. Apple invented their own term for Motorola's vector instruction set, rather than use Motorola's name. Apple can get support hardware (network cards) cheaper when they go through third party companies, the way they do now with both wireless and wired network cards, which would make their products not qualify as 'Viiv' or 'Centrino' anyway. Apple already eschewed 'Centrino', which would have brought marketing dollars from Intel; why would they use Viiv? There is no technical anything behind Viiv, just marketing. And Apple prefers to control their own marketing. (Plus, Viiv isn't even publicly known that well. Centrino was already a major 'brand', so if they weren't going to go with a known brand, why would they throw their weight behind an unknown one?)
Viiv is Intel's "Home PC" equivalent of Centrino. It is a marketing term made up to describe something that already exists; only in order to use the marketing term, you have to use all Intel equipment. (They also have a business-PC equivalent, "vPro".)
Viiv is simply a label that PC manufacturers can slap on any computer that uses an Intel dual-core processor, Intel main chipset, Intel network chip, and has 'Media PC' capabilities (basically, any PC that uses Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition OS.) If Intel were to allow Front Row as an acceptable replacement for Media Center, and Apple were to use Intel network chips instead of whomever they use now, the iMac and Mac mini at least would qualify.
Intel just offers some web-based benefits to computers that qualify as 'Viiv' computers. Just like when the Pentium 3 first came out, they offered some web-based stuff to Pentium 3 owners, even though there was no technical reason why the stuff wouldn't work with other computers. (Like Skype's 10-person conferences that were artificially limited to Intel computers.)
Just like Centrino. Centrino just means Intel Pentium-M or Core (x) Solo/Duo processor, Intel chipset, and Intel wireless card. Apple doesn't use Intel wireless cards, so MacBooks and MacBook Pros don't qualify as Centrino. (As an example, I bought an HP laptop that came with a Celeron-M processor, but DID have an Intel wireless card. It was not 'Centrino' qualified. All I did was upgrade the processor to a Pentium-M, and now it passes Intel's Centrino test utility.)
Does this marketing work? Well, the jury is out on Viiv, it doesn't seem to hold the same cache as Cenrino. But, my dad works at a large nationwide company, and is the person who orders all new hardware and software, company-wide. When Centrino first came out, a VP told him he wanted a Centrino laptop because it was good. My dad told him that all their new laptops had Pentium M processors, and had third-party 802.11a/g hardware, when at the time, Centrino was 802.11b-only. So the hardware they were buying was BETTER than Centrino. This VP insisted that Centrino was better, because the ads in his executive magazines said so, so he wanted a Cenrino laptop. Well, the manufacturer that the company had contracts with didn't offer 'real' Centrino laptops yet, so my dad had to go order them from a different manufacturer, making this VP the only one in the company with his model of laptop. Well, a year later, when the laptop broke, he had to wait a couple weeks for a replacement, since they didn't have in-company spares, the way they did with the non-Centrino models.
Epilogue: Will we see 'Viiv' in Apple products? Not a chance. Apple hates using other companies marketing terms, just look at 'Altivec'. Apple invented their own term for Motorola's vector instruction set, rather than use Motorola's name. Apple can get support hardware (network cards) cheaper when they go through third party companies, the way they do now with both wireless and wired network cards, which would make their products not qualify as 'Viiv' or 'Centrino' anyway. Apple already eschewed 'Centrino', which would have brought marketing dollars from Intel; why would they use Viiv? There is no technical anything behind Viiv, just marketing. And Apple prefers to control their own marketing. (Plus, Viiv isn't even publicly known that well. Centrino was already a major 'brand', so if they weren't going to go with a known brand, why would they throw their weight behind an unknown one?)
I highly doubt that Apple would go with a complete system from intel. If they did there would be nothing to stop competetor's products from flooding the marketplace, once Apple spent their resources opening up the market for it.
Can you imagine if that had been the case for the iPod?
Well put, and great story!
Here is what Intel's own Website says about Viiv:
So... is there anything there that you can't do already with a Mac? No.
Marketing, marketing, marketing. Apple would do well to tell Intel where to stick their Viiv. Neither Apple's brand nor user experience needs strenghening by Intel.
SL
And 100% true. This is the same VP that earlier told my dad that when ordering new computers, not to get laptops for someone unless they already had a laptop, because if they didn't already have one, they obviously didn't need one. No exceptions. Well, my dad promptly cancelled the order for this VP's laptop, since he had a desktop at the time. When his new desktop arrived, and was put in, he went to my dad and asked why he didn't get a laptop like all the other VPs... "Well, sir, you said that people only are to get a laptop if they presently have one. No exceptions. You, sir, had a desktop."
My dad has the advantage of reporting to all 5 (or is it 6 now?) VPs, so no one VP can fire him.
(It also helps that he's been there for over 35 years, since just before I was born.)I would be so happy if "Leopard" was released at next year's Macworld. That would be so awesome of them and it would definitely kill some of Vista's launch hype.
PCs still have the Media Center application pretty much tied up. Until Apple provides a nice clean way to set up a Mac as a high-quality DVR, interactive programming guides and all, as opposed to strictly an audio/video playback machine, they're not going to be so competitive. I'm hoping for considerable upgrades (not to say overhauls) for Front Row in this respect.
Apple has yet to release any Viiv-branded product, although a $1 million contest announced at Intel's recent developer forum for the best Viiv design has regained some interest in the rumor.
very good point.
makes you wonder if its true as Apple never mentioned whats inside.
Oh No. Now I Have To Wait For MacWorld B4 Buying My 8-Core Mac Pro?
This is big if true. Would have to wait for MWSF January 9-12 to buy any Mac.
This is big if true. Would have to wait for MWSF January 9-12 to buy any Mac.
Apple has yet to release any Viiv-branded product, although a $1 million contest announced at Intel's recent developer forum for the best Viiv design has regained some interest in the rumor.
Apple is not eligible because it does not run Windows Media Center as the primary OS.... Intel even use the Mac mini as an example at the Intel Developer Forum
I don't care about the poster's credibliy either way.
I said after the Jobs 06 keynote speech, about the Leopard 07 release, in a post here, that it was UPOD, and that he intends to release it early, and timed with Vista. The whole Leopard mantra is Vista killer.
Period.
Rocketman
I said after the Jobs 06 keynote speech, about the Leopard 07 release, in a post here, that it was UPOD, and that he intends to release it early, and timed with Vista. The whole Leopard mantra is Vista killer.
Period.
Rocketman
I can say rather confidently that Leopard will not be ready in the immediate future. I am a developer running the latest seed (9A283... that's under NDA I believe but everyone knows...) and it is buggy as hell still. By buggy as hell, I guess I mean comparatively when thinking about 10.4.3+. Even if this was the final featureset (which I HIGHLY doubt... look for a new UI down the road), it needs quite a bit of polishing and bug fixes.
The Leopard Core will still be 32-bit upon release.
That is being done internally and through a select group.
A lot of the bugs you see have already been fixed..
Apple is waiting for more than bug fixes to release Leopard.
I believe it will be shown at MWSF2007 and released in February.
I think Viiv is more than that. Centrino and the like were labels slapped on, I believe Viiv is supposed to be a ecosystem...just as iPod/iTunes is an ecosystem...Intel just doesn't know how to make it happen.
You make valid points, and believe me I tend to agree...but I would suggest keeping an open mind that intel may have been shooting for something bigger with Viiv...mark my words...
Are you sure about this? I thought it was fully 64-bit, not 64 bit extensions.
But I looked at http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/64bit.html, didn't see any explicit confirmation on that.
Leopard being released to "steal Vista's thunder" is some Mac lover's wet dream. Apple hasn't set loose any revision of OS X under a big event, such as MWSF, so why start now? Let the features speak for themselves, not the dates. Apple would be wise not to screw this up and take a few months to get it right. The fact they can go from a preview to release in less than 12 months is enough to "steal Vista's thunder".
