Apple Mac Pro and OS X Leopard (Preview)

[Jessterw]

At the WWDC Apple has revealed the (rather unsurprising) Mac Pro and a preview of Leopard, the next version of OS X.

The Mac Pro looks like the previous PowerMac G5 but now packs a Dual-Core Xeon processor.

Leopard has some new features in it that could be useful, but the number one item on most Mac users' wishlist doesn't appear to have been met... Brushed Metal still lives

[Taz]

Leopard looks good Shame they didn't include RAID 5 on the Mac Pro though

[KeiFront]

me starts saving , no improved finder in Leopard though

[Jessterw]

Well here are my thoughts on Leopard:

Mail
I like the concept of the Notes and To-Do features, but I'm not sold on how effective it will be yet. The integration with iCal that is there is a must, and I already use Mail along with the Mail Tags plugin to manage my emails and any notes or to-dos related to them, so I can see myself using these new features if they allow me to attach them to related email message(s).

Spaces
Couldn't help but think of this as Virtue Desktops without any of the slick effects (rotating cube, fade, wipe, etc.), but possibly a bit more stable/less prone to glitches. Nothing new here though, just another workspace manager.

Time Machine
Again, nothing specifically new here, as this is just a restore mechanism like that of Windows (which has been enjoying it for awhile now). The differences appear to largely be in the implementation. Well, that and the cheesy sci-fi b-movie interface


There are some other nice new features, such as the collaboration ones in iCal and in iChat (where Brushed Metal is now dead). That lack, as stated, of an improved Finder is not unexpected, but yeah, it's still Finder and it still sucks. Boot Camp, Front Row, and Photo Booth now come standard it seems, which is nice but not particularly exciting news. Which is the problem with Leopard as it stands - there's nothing to get excited about. Granted we're still just short of a year away from its release and Apple could very well be keeping other new features and changes tucked away. This was, after-all, just a developer conference.

Still, I think a lot of Mac users might come away from this a little disappointed that Apple hasn't given or shown more in the way of features that make Windows Vista look like another "Fisher Price" OS.

[Gurm]

I'm looking forward to OSX Le Tigre.

It'll be soft yet deadly, like the tigers of France!

[Elie]

I think OS X Leopard will be miles ahead of Vista, I wonder what MS is thinking now? A complete rewrite? LOL

[Jessterw]

The problem isn't so much that OS X has ever been miles ahead of Windows XP or now Vista overall. Rather it's that Microsoft is basically inept at implementing features in a manner that translates to a better user experience from the start. Windows has some great features and even some that beat out their counterparts on other platforms, but where Apple excels at taking features and implementing them within a professional, user-friendly GUI, Microsoft does not. MS excels at creating functional, utilitarian interfaces that do little to excite the user.

Let's take the restore feature now present in Windows XP and (I would assume) Vista. It's a great feature that largely seems to work as needed. Compare that to OS X Leopard's upcoming Time Machine restore feature. Sure it's superfluous graphically, but it actually offers a better user experience because it works on both a system-wide and application/location specific basis. At the WWDC the audience laughed and cheered when they saw it - you wouldn't witness such a response if an audience was shown Windows' system restore feature.

Microsoft really needs to invest more in translating good features into effective user experiences. They often come close, but have consistently failed to take that extra step needed.

So far though, I'm less than thrilled with the end-user experience that Leopard is offering over what we already have in Tiger.

Le Tigre if you have the localized French version of OS X 10.4

[Gurm]

It was a Zoolander reference.

[lecter]

The main issue on everyone's mind seems to be that unless Apple will release some major new features for the OS between now and 2007, few will consider upgrading because there simply will be too few really NEW things.

Still looks very decent, though

[Jessterw]

Well that's just it, there are a few known major new features, but they're the behind-the-scenes type features that everyday users tend to ignore/be oblivious to. The 64bit support in Leopard is a major feature, for instance.

Jobs made a joke of there being some new features they couldn't/wouldn't show just yet but that they wanted to make sure everyone knew were there. Apple isn't going to play all their cards just yet with Vista looming on the horizon (maybe).

The Apple/Mac faithful (largely the developers and creative types) will upgrade, but yes, the average user might not. Though, many average users (or just users in general) won't have to worry about upgrading as they will eventually be getting a fresh copy on their newly purchased Macs.

[Elie]

What "WE" the consumer have to convince Apple, is to make OSX Leopard available for PC's, not just Mac's, that way they will grab a greater share of the market!!

Not everyone is going to buy a MAC, but I bet you 40% (or more) of PC users will go and buy OSX just for the sake of trying a different OS other that Windows and Linux.

[Jessterw]

It'll never happen. Apple doesn't make money on OS X. Keep in mind that OS X is Mac OS X and that Apple is in the business of selling hardware and, to a larger extent, an experience.

But rather than go into that, it's simpler to just say that there is no value, to Apple, in a version of Mac OS X that runs on just any hardware. Apple isn't after the OS market so much as it is after the PC market.

[Elie]

They are sure doing a great job at a market they are not after, OS's and various other software suites!

Still... they may be only a hardware company, maybe they can learn a few things from Microsoft of how to become a software company and be profitable.

Apple will have an edge by selling propriatery hardware as well as creative software/OS's for all platforms.

Anyway, a dream that will likely not come true

[Jessterw]

To say that OS X doesn't make Apple money does not necessarily mean there is no profit in it or the various other software products Apple makes. Software is a big business for Apple, but is secondary to the hardware business.

Apple is like Windows and Dell/HP rolled into one, or, in many ways, like Sun Microsystems. Though in many more ways, Apple is like none of the aforementioned. Apple is an 'experience' company, or without the fluff, a platform company. The platform is the product and that product is no longer separate from, but rather now a superset of PC hardware.

There's a little more going on in it, but John Gruber explains the situation rather nicely:

http://daringfireball.net/2006/04/asinine_and_or_risky_ideas

[Wombat]

Still... they may be only a hardware company, maybe they can learn a few things from Microsoft of how to become a software company and be profitable.

The only parts of Microsoft that are profitable are the Office sales and OS sales. These are only profitable because of the monopoly pricing. Every other division of Microsoft loses money.