Apple in 2006
Like most Apple years, 2006 is shaping up to be an eventful one. The Intel transition is working out, people are watching videos on their iPods and the anti-climax of the February event is but a distant memory.
But here is what Apple may have in store for us in the next 10 months:
Mac 10.5 Leopard
Everyone has a wish list of features they expect from this one, some of which have been requested since 10.1. Expect eye candy and show-off changes, especially since there is a good chance it will be out before Windows Vista. The media mileage to be gained is significant.
Intel Inside Everything
By the end of the year, or much earlier, we will have Intel inside everything. No surprises there, and since the transition has been smooth so far not much else is expected in this area. The desktop Macs and especially the iBooks with Intel processors may even be released without the traditional Apple fanfare.
OSX Boots on Anything
This will happen. As much as Apple tries to protect their OS, sooner or later the hackers will prevail. This is the way of the world, but the battle is sure to get interesting as Apple believes it has a lot at stake.
Video iPod
You have already heard the rumors, seen the fake pictures, think you have seen real pictures, and bought “High School Musical” for $9.99 from the iTunes store. Just so you could watch it on your cool 4-inch, touchscreen, virtual jog-wheeled display with Bluetooth headphones. They are all rumors at this point, but one such rumor says we may see it as early as May. Of course, it may never happen. but if it does, it will be this year.
iPod Phone
One more from the old rumor files, the iPod cellular phone has multiple corporations in multiple industries anxious. With rumors of deals in Taiwan and Wall street analysts predicting its appearance within the year, Apples trademarks of the terms Aloha and Mobile Me suggest that an iTunes ringtone store may not be too far in the future.
A True Movie Store
I know you can buy “High School Musical” for $9.99 at the iTunes store, but one unknown Disney flick that nobody bought does not make a movie store. Deals with studios may be even tougher than the ones Apple made with the record industry and the price per movie is still a big issue. A variable price model, which would be a major about-face for iTunes, makes more sense for the movie store but only time will tell how that plays out.
A True DVR
The Mac mini is almost a digital video recorder, but not quite. Expect Apple to move that machine closer to the center of the living room with ever iteration. Part of the problem is that the mini is being advertised as a computer. At some point, when Apple thinks it is ready, it will be advertised as the single box that will connect your house.
The trouble for Apple, however, is not that they do not have enough things in the pipeline but that each of these developments are either expected or old rumors. The trouble with old rumors is the Star Wars Prequels effect- no matter what you do, the end result cannot meet the expectations. People have had too much time to speculate, pontificate and generally voice what they think Apple should be doing.
The only way Apple can break out of this effect is to release a product that has not been rumored- the blindsider.
The Blindsider
You know it’s coming. We have seen it happen many times before. That product that nobody is talking about, the rumor sites have not heard of and that will either change an industry or die an ignominious death.
Revolution or bust- such is the way of Apple and part of the reason why we love it.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Comments
Konfabulator ripped off Apple. Hypercard was the precursor to HTML so then everything and anything on the net was taken from Apple.
Also, MS ripped off Thomas Crapper. Not sure how but are associated with $hit!
In ancient Rome, scribes wrote on papyrus with a thin metal rod called a stylus, which left a light but readable mark. Other early styluses were made of lead. Today we still call the core of a pencil the “lead” even though it is made from nontoxic graphite. Therefore, there are a few ripoffs here:
a) Palm copying the stylus. Bastards!
b) Xerox using paper. How dare they!
c) Adobe for using the pencil image for one of their icons in Photoshop. Just cheap!
d) Ok this isn’t really a point but I mean hey, pencils aren’t made out of lead?!! Who has ever heard of “graphite” poisoning. I’ve been lied to all my life. I’m pissed!
BTW, the valium is still working!
Oh look what I just found:
http://www.macosxrumors.com/articles/2006/03/23/leopard-to-include-vmware-like-virtualisation-software/
No vendor likes to be seen playing catch-up - and in this situation, that is precisely what MS are doing. Catching up is still catching up even if both vendors steal someone else’s idea.
That may be so, but that was not your original point. Otherwise, we could come up with a tandem list of features Apple has stolen from Windows (like alt-tab application switching) as well as vice versa. I doubt that your conclusion, that it’s MS playing catch up, would change in the slightest.
There’s no getting around this simple fact. You made an ignorant swipe at Microsoft stealing html-based apps from Apple, not realizing that Apple had actually stolen the idea for html-based apps from someone else. But when that was revealed, you had to suddenly concoct a myriad of caveats on why: a) what you REALLY were talking about was implementing OS features, even if they were originally stolen from a third-party, and b) that Apple didn’t actually steal Konfabulator at all.
But like most shills, you end up speaking out of both sides of your mouth.
Case in point:
They didn’t and, at the end of the day, had nothing to sell to Apple except an idea - which is at least based in part on a borrowed idea from an old Mac OS, just implemented differently.
History is full of examples of people who look at a product and see a better way to design, manufacture or sell it.
You do not, however, afford this inane bloviating about “ideas” to Microsoft, offering instead your conclusion that they are simply following in the shadow of Apple and trying to fool everyone (apparently by not stealing Konfabulator first). “Who are they kidding?” Remember that?
After all, you admit that you’ve never actually seen any “gadgets” or Microsoft’s implementation. All you know is that the IDEA is the same. But you now explain to us that ideas are only ideas, implementation is key. Well which is it?
This hypocritical double-standard is the trap that daringfireball falls into as well. Principle isn’t as important as defending Apple at any turn. So when Apple rips someone off, it’s about implementation. When Microsoft rips someone off, it need only be roughly the same idea and you, apparently, need not even have seen it.
I am happy to be dissuaded of my view that the daringfireball argument has merit.
I will posit once again that you will never change your mind. Much as the goal of your search of Konfab was about proving that Apple didn’t steal it (leading naturally to the only article anyone has ever provided in this discussion, you are not the first).
As I stated TWICE before in my previous posts, the fallacy of daringfireball’s entire premise is implementation over look-and-feel. BUT, the argument for Windows theft of the Mac OS was look-and-feel, NOT implementation, which we can all agree was entirely different in Windows.
So while in that case, Apple and its shills argue that look-and-feel ALONE is sufficient grounds for accusations of theft, now suddenly it’s not at all about look-and-feel, but rather the technology “under the hood.”
In other words, my issue with the daringfireball article isn’t the substance of the point they’re making, it’s that the point they’re making is ultimately meaningless. Not even they believe it.
Windows has ripped off Mac since Mac licensed its OS to Microsoft a ways back....
Well, according to sydneystephen’s arguments, this isn’t the case. While some of the ideas are the same, “you can’t patent an idea.” And the implementation of Windows was inarguably different, so it is therefore not a rip off.
And furthermore, since it was Microsoft who made the GUI popular with the public, it was in fact Apple who then ripped off the GUI from Microsoft. Sydneystephen again makes this point very clear. Making the “splash” is what counts. Who ever heard of the GUI other than Apple diehards?
Check out the daringfireball article for a more substantive argument about this.
mate. you are so out of line.
My original point was EXACTLY that - here is Microsoft with a “me too” implementation of a feature which Apple has widely advertised and which has been in the Apple OS/X since Tiger was released.
EXACTLY THAT. I have re-read my original post:
Oh, and did everyone else notice that Microsoft announced, without a hint of irony, that Vista will now include revolutionary “stand alone” html applications, to be known as GADGETS.
Who are they kidding?
Who are they kidding indeed. Whether or not Dashboard is a copy of Konfabulator, it is now a major feature of OS/X - major, and widely publicised.
I am sure we are going to see some industry comment on this.
All else in your response is a result of you missing the point in the first place and going on a mad rant about who copied who. It is not ABOUT who copied whom - it is ABOUT MS being forced to adopt a feature Apple already have, and ABOUT MS having nothing better to say about Vista than an announcement about a “me too” implementation of gadgets/widgets.
Why don’t you strip all the emotive language out of your posts, and rewrite your ideas in a logical, calm manner? It is my experience that those with the least to say usually say it in the most emotive and offensive language they can muster. If I ignore all the noise and leave only the content, I reckon your contribution to the the argument thus far has been nil…
Whether or not Dashboard is a copy of Konfabulator, it is now a major feature of OS/X - major, and widely publicised.
You keep trying to make the case that Apple stealing Konfabulator is irrelevent. It isn’t. To argue that Microsoft is playing catch up because they didn’t steal it first is beyond asinine.
And for all you know (which even you admit, isn’t much), Microsoft stole gadgets directly from Konfab. You’ve already said you don’t know: a) how they are implemented despite arguing (or rather, letting daringfireball argue for you) that implementation is key, and b) what they look like (which would, by definition, take the issue of look-and-feel off the table).
So if you don’t know how they’re implemented or what they look like, then what are you left with beyond the idea? Nothing. And you yourself have argued that the idea itself doesn’t mean anything.
The best you can do is show that Apple came up with the idea of stealing it first. But even that is a debatable point. Vista, after all, has been in development for a number of years, and Apple introduced its version of widgets only a year ago.
If I ignore all the noise and leave only the content
Ironically, you’ve done the exact opposite. While I’ll admit I make my arguments with less tact than some, that is not the same as not making an argument. It’s also not the same as providing little more that twisted logic with the sole purpose of defending Apple while linking to someone else’s articles to make your other points for you.
You, however, don’t see it (while agreeing incuriously with a shill like daringfireball) simply because I’m not speaking in Apple-apologist-ese.
You can get all sanctimonious and pretend like my emotive language is really an issue for you, but like everything else you’ve said, I’d argue it’s just as empty and full of crap.
mate, as an australian prime minister once responded to a heckler in the crowd who wanted to know his position on abortion.
“In your case, sir, it ought to be retrospective.”
In future, mate, with all respect, I am going to ignore all your rants on this site. At least until you learn that lack of tact is not to be equated with an inability to lay out a logical argument.
At least until you learn that lack of tact is not to be equated with an inability to lay out a logical argument.
Well yes, you just repeated what I said. Bravo.
In any case, I realize you’re not interested in facts or reality, but here are some screenshots of Longhorn pre-beta in 2002.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/longhorn_alpha.asp
You’ll see a sidebar with XML-based apps, then called Tiles, later renamed Gadgets. This is before Konfabulator and a full two years before Apple’s Dashboard. In fact, Thurrott refers to the item as “Dashboard.”
To go back to your original point then, why would Microsoft need to make their announcement with any “hint of irony” IF they’ve had this idea in development for years and IF it’s entirely possible that Apple got the idea either from Konfab or maybe even Microsoft?
I have been with Apple since ‘82 and am still very loyal. But I gave up being a dimwit mac-evangelist when I realized that I have a plenty of hardware/configuration/networking issues with my macs. I can’t count the number of times I have thanked myself for purchasing the AppleCare warranty extension. Not to mention I found many features in Win that I wished were in OSX.
My attitude changed when I realized Apple is not always the “innovator” they claim to be; they very often are just an “integrator.” The thing that pisses me off about M$ is no longer their adoption of technology already adopted by Apple; it’s the fact that M$ is a dirty company that seeks to push everyone out of the market by keeping everything proprietary (e.g., Windows<->Mac/Linux file sharing is a disaster). Their greed only hinders the advancement of technology. Apple has too kept a lot of technology proprietary, but then plenty of industry-wide standards came from Apple, and are now integrated seamlessly into other OSes.
By the way, I remember reading last year that WeatherBug was available only on XP was because OSX could not run “miniature browsers” (or something like that.) This leaves me very confused. Should HTML gadgets on Vista just be concidered an existing feature in XP. Would someone please clarify? Thanx.
sydneystephen: Even though I find Beeblebrox’s “tact” absolutely appalling, you should admit defeat. He’s got your ass in a ringer. I love to see Mac-fanboys get put in their place.
mr numba1stunna… no i do not admit defeat - you guys are so focused on the detail you keep missing the point. Apple OS/X has a feature which Apple made a big deal about - Dashboard. Its out. It works. Its great. Who cares where it came from? Microsoft do not have this feature in a currently available operating system. They will have it - in Vista, in 2007 (maybe). My point is that Microsoft have made a big song and dance of having “gadgets” - but the show is over for them. Its old hat, old news. The irony, from my viewpoint, is that MS even bothered to announce it - havent they got anything better to say about Vista than they will release something that OS/X has had for months?
This is not a discourse on who stole what from whom - beeblebrox seems to think it is - and most of my subsequent posts have been, in vain, trying to return the discussion to my original point… It is all about the irony of MS ignoring the fact that they have been trounced by Apple here - i guess they could hardly say “Hey guys, we had this idea first - look how long ago we decided to do it. And, um, oh… Yes. Well we are still working on it…
Go here http://www.madison.com/tct/business/index.php?ntid=77535&ntpid=1
and you will see what I am getting at. Apple has MS on the run here - and the press are picking up on it. THAT IS MY POINT.
Now to beeblebrox’s argument - yes mr beeblebrox, dashboard is not an original idea. but it is nicely executed in dashboard and it is available. Vista is not. Even if you exclude Konfabulator and allow that it was an original MS idea - they still have not brought it to market. The market is excited about Apple, most of the scribes know about dashboard and widgets - info on widgets is all over the apple website after all. Who is going to get excited about Vista’s implementation of the same thing?
Here’s the first press comment i have found along the lines i am predicting… And remember, this article is about apple in 2006 - not about who stole what from whom…
(extracted from the article - see link above)
“Today, Apple’s well-honed, self-propelled reputation as David fighting the Goliath of Microsoft and the rest of the PC industry belies reality.
“Apple may still hold roughly only a 4 percent share of the worldwide PC market, but analysts say its current operating system set the bar for rival Microsoft with innovative features, including 3D-like imaging and a side pane for “widget” applications.”
Do you get my point now? There is no mention of konfabulator, but clearly the journalist has seen the press release for gadgets on Vista - her opinion? Its a “me too” implementation - and Apple has MS on the run.
I don’t see myself as an Apple apologist - I am an HP ASE, Microsoft MCSE and I have 30 years in the industry - none if it involving apple, except that I like my iPod, and i liked it so much i bought a G4 powerbook last year.
Right. Now guys. Get it… THE POINT IS THAT GADGETS AND WIDGETS ARE OLD NEWS AND NOT WORTHY OF A MICROSOFT PRESS CONFERENCE. Got it?
Thank you…
Woah… SydneyStephen: “In future, mate, with all respect, I am going to ignore all your rants on this site. At least until you learn that lack of tact is not to be equated with an inability to lay out a logical argument.”
Yeah, I realized this a while ago. Beeblebrox really just comes here to poke at anyone who happens to comment anything positive about Apple. Then he pushes them into an argument calling them an “Apple Apologist” or “Shill” and then gets off watching them get all angry.
I wouldn’t say I want him to leave, it’s kinda refreshing and funny to see his crazy comments sometimes. Just try not to hold his comments as meaningful (although sometimes they are.)
I love you guys.