WWDC 2006
Today was Steve Jobs’ big Keynote presentation (Quicktime stream) at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference out in San Fransisco. There was a lot of speculation as to what was going to be announced/released and good ol’ Steve didn’t disappoint. Let me run through a few of the highlights.
Mac Pro
The Keynote started with the release of the PowerMac replacement, the Mac Pro. Basically these things are beasts. There is only one standard configuration but, with all the built-to-order options, there are almost five million different set ups! The Mac Pro is available in DUAL 2.0, 2.66, and 3.0 GHZ Xeon “Woodcrest” 64-bit dual-core processors. That’s right, all the Mac Pro’s are quad systems. They can support up to 16 GB of RAM, 2 TB of hard drive space (4 x 500 GB), some of the highest end graphics cards, and the list just goes on.
Xserve
The next big announcement came to Apple’s server line, the Xserve. The servers are now available in the same dual Xeon set ups as the Mac Pro and feature a host of new features, including redundant power.
OSX 10.5 Leopard
The biggest portion of the show was devoted to unavailing a portion of Apple’s next OS release, Leopard. While Jobs prefaced the Leopard portion by saying a lot of the features that Leopard will have are still top secret (so Microsoft doesn’t start their copy machines too early), he did go onto show off ten features of Leopard. Here are some of them:
- Time Machine
This is probably one of the coolest apps I’ve ever seen. Basically it’s a backup/restore feature similar to Windows’ System Restore (except I bet Time Machine actually works). But, instead of restoring you’re entire system (although it is an option) you have the ability to restore individual files, open files you accidentally overwrote, restore deleted pictures, find lost Address Book cards and more. On top of that, the user interface of Time Machine is really cool. When you open the app you get this timeline starting with today going back to creation. You can zoom through time (and space) and find old copies of your system. If you don’t want to search, click the back arrow and Leopard will do all the work zipping you back to a time where what you are looking for existed. Click restore and it’s back to the future, so to speak. Very cool application.
- Mail
In the next version of Mail you will be able to use HTML-based email stationary, create to-do lists, and write/send notes to yourself. The notes portion I really like. I, like many people, send email reminders to myself (especially when I’m at work). Well the next version of Mail will automatically take that email and turn it into a note, which looks like a note scrawled on a legal pad. Kind of neat. - iChat
When Leopard comes out the version of iChat that comes with it will include some features it surely needs (tabbed chat, multiple logins, invisibility, etc) and some cool new features to take advantage of the built in iSight cameras. The coolest iChat improvement comes in the form of backgrounds. Without any green/blue screen you will be able to insert stationary or video backgrounds. All you do is step out of the picture, the iSight takes a picture of your background, you step back in and put whatever background you want into the picture. It’s all done on the fly and it’s pretty cool. You’ll also be able to give presentations over iChat using full audio and video and, at the same time, run apps, Quicktime videos, Keynote presentations, iPhoto slide shows and more. I probably won’t use it except to try it out, but it’s a nice feature for business collaboration. - Spaces
Apple has taken a cue from the Linix OSes and added virtual desktops to Leopard. You’ll be able to have four virtual desktops allowing you to keep groups of applications open together. For example, you can have Mail and Safri open in one space, switch over and have iPhoto and iWeb in another, switch over and have GarageBand and iTunes, and then iDVD and iChat in your final space. The cool thing about spaces is that when you click on an open program in your dock, Leopard will automatically switch you to the space that program is open in. - Dashboard
Apple released Dashcode, a system to help developers create Widgets for Dashboard and talked about Web Clip which will be built into Safri. Basically Web Clip lets you create a Widget out of any web site instantly. Want stock feeds, comic strips, web cams? Want them all to update in real time without telling it too? Web Clip does all this for you. This is a nice feature that I will use, a lot. - Spotlight
showed talked about new features in Spotlight, but didn’t show any of them off. In Leopard you’ll be able to search not just your computer but other Macs across your network as long as you have permission to do so, recent applications, files, etc. - Accessibility
Jobs showed off the Voice Over (screen reader) feature of Leopard and compared it to Tiger and Vista. Basically it’s increasable. I’ll never use it, but for the people who need a screen reader in order to use a computer, this is an amazing improvement. You really have to hear it to understand. Luckily Apple has given you a demo. - Core Animation
Remember that iTunes commercial a while back where the album covers built themselves into buildings? Well that’s all done in a new coding app called Core Animation. That album cover deal? It’s a Leopard screen saver. Time Machine is built with Core Animation. The potential evidently is pretty massive. It’ll be interesting to see what else Leopard does with Core Animation. - 64-Bit
Leopard will have full 64-bit support at all levels of the OS which will allow apps full 64-bit apps to run. Evidently 32-bit apps will be able to run side-by-side without translating, or using some other method. Not really sure how this all works but I’m sure the developers are excited. - Total Package
Leopard will ship with some programs that have been shipping with some newer Macs, as well as available for download, as part of the OS. These include Boot Camp, PhotoBooth, Front Row and more. While no real detail was given to what improvements these apps will see, or how Boot Camp 1.0 will work, Steve reassured us all it’ll be included with Leopard.
All in all it was a great Keynote presentation by Steve Jobs and crew. Even though there was no iMac update, or even a Conroe or Merom announcement, everything that was was unveiled was pretty sweet. I’m pretty sure the Mac Pro and Time Machine stole the show, and both were well deserving. I’ll now set my sights on Mac Expo in Paris next month — it’ll be the current iMac’s two year anniversary. Prime time for an upgrade if you ask me.