Panther is released this year....what next?

[SiliconAddict]

OK so I admit my knowledge in how Apple handles OS's and future development is highly limited since I've just started getting interested again in the Mac after a 10 year sabbatical. Actually the only Apple I’ve ever owned was an Apple ][e.

I did have one question. In the Windows world its not uncommon for MS to demo tech they may put into future versions of Windows. (The Windows Hardware Engineering Conference is one key demoing location.) One example off the top of my head is GUI manipulation not through a mouse but hand gestures that are captured by 2 cameras on either side of the display. Another is the graphics engine that will be used in Longhorn when it comes out.

I was curious if Apple ever releases bits of info on the technologies it plan to implement in future versions of its OS? Sort of a sneak peak. Or if its always uber top secret which I can somewhat understand with the way some un named companies snatch and grab their ideas. What it basically boils down to is that I’ve been reading what MS is doing with longhorn here: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_preview_2003.asp

And was curious if anyone had any idea what Apple has up its sleeve.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[mnkeybsness]

apple is pretty "über top secret", as you said it, about their future releases. they also don't want to get anyone's hopes up for something that they may just abandon.

 

[Powerbook G5]

I am sure a big part of it is a certain company that would snatch up any idea just to have it because Apple thought of it...makes me wonder if Apple were to put out hints of stuff they don't intend on or that are just plain stupid just to see if Microsoft would copy it just to have it, too...then say publicly they just wanted to point out Microsoft's wonderful policy of copying anything and everything they see.

 

[alphaone]

Tiger! ROOOOAAAARRRR!

 

[MacsRgr8]

Pussycat. meow!

 

[szark]

Originally posted by MacsRgr8
Pussycat. meow!

That's the upcoming version of OS X for handheld devices...

 

[MacsRgr8]

 

[tjwett]

i just folloowed that link and was checking out some Longhorn screenshots. um...yuck? it looks like ass. they still can't get font smoothing to look right? eek, when that thing gets released in 2005 it's gonna look VERY outdated. Microsoft has all that tech and money at their disposal and all they work on developing is licensing and piracy protection. shame.

 

[tek]

have you seen the reccomended requirements???

required 3d accellerated graphics card using 32-bit colour
reccomended graphics card with minimum 128mb video ram
display supporting minimum of 1024x768

god knows what the CPU requirements will be. I'm guessing bare minimum 3-4Ghz, reccomended 5Ghz(by then), with 1gb of ram...



and i wonder where this design could be inspired from

I can see the TV ads now...

"And you thought XP was bloated?" will probably be their catchphrase

 

[idea_hamster]

Originally posted by tek
"And you thought XP was bloated?" will probably be their catchphrase

And rightly so! What a bunch of useless crap. Flapping windows when you move them? That's what they want their processor to do?

At least they admit that it'll take them until 2005 to "embrace human factors like [Microsoft has] never done before". But it still creeps me out that they call it "Life Immersion" -- very battery-in-a-pod Matrix-like.

If this is their best, I think that Apple is going to be just fine.

 

[bobindashadows]

Yeah, 128 MB of vram? that's the essence of bloat right there...

 

[ColdZero]

Originally posted by idea_hamster
And rightly so! What a bunch of useless crap. Flapping windows when you move them? That's what they want their processor to do?

Yea, they should be wasting it on doing genie animations when you minimize.

have you seen the reccomended requirements???

required 3d accellerated graphics card using 32-bit colour
reccomended graphics card with minimum 128mb video ram
display supporting minimum of 1024x768

Kinda sounds like quartz extreme..... And the base requirement is 64mb of vram, which isn't that much today in the PC world. And in 2005 it will be common place. I'm actually glad that microsoft has made these requirements, as it will spur growth in the PC world to move beyond really old computers that companies just upgrade a little bit. It will get rid of a lot of legacy hardware that is just causing problems.

 

[tek]

who's gonna provide the cash for the small businesses to upgrade. Some will simply not be able to afford new computers, and would have no use for them apart from longhorn i.e if they are just used for word processing etc. say 1000 pcs used for word processing/spreadsheet work. that's a LOT of new computers to buy..

 

[ColdZero]

If all they are doing is word processing and spreadsheets, then they most likely don't need longhorn and will stay with 2k or whatever they are running. The people who will benefit from running longhorn will put out the money to purchase new PCs if it will make them money. There are still companies that haven't moved from 95 or 98 for their computers, because it works for what they need.

 

[stoid]

Hehehe that's great, my favorite part was where all the windows were random flying around the screen!

Windows almost makes more sense when viewed that way!

Seriously though, if I was maybe 8 years old that stuff might be neat. One difference between Apple and Windows, Apple generally comes up with useful applications of new technologies, Windows just tries to be a cute initation.

Hmmmm... I wonder if you can animate the blue screen of death..

 

[idea_hamster]

Originally posted by ColdZero
Yea, they should be wasting it on doing genie animations when you minimize.

I agree -- genie is annoyingly useless and I have it turned off. Equally useless is that "slow scale resize" that you get when you maximize a previously minimized window.

I suppose what irked me more than Apple's wasted code in finder that I can disable is what (I presume) is MS making this the "new look" of Longhorn. It's not a "feature" of the OS -- it's a useless conceit that wasn't in any way characterized as optional.

Hey, if it's something you can turn off, then they should go nuts. I just think that they should spend some time on that "Windows has performed an illegal function and must close" thing they've got going -- that's just as much a "feature" of their OS.