Apple’s changes to OS X in Leopard affected more than the basic desktop experience. The aesthetic changes permeate the applications and utilities of the operating system. Even applications that aren’t written specifically for Leopard take on the new look-and-feel to some extent. Here is a brief tour, in pictures, of how some of the bundled OS X application changed between Tiger and Leopard.

The Finder

The first major difference in the Finder is the total absence of brushed metal. The new Finder looks more lightweight, and it fits in with the overall OS X aesthetic much more naturally.


The Tiger Finder


The Leopard Finder

I am not a fan of the new folder icons, but I wasn’t too fond of the old ones either. Fortunately, they’re easy enough to change. The overall look is better, and I think the new sidebar is an improvement over the former. There’s not much else to say beyond that.

iCal

iCal also receives some slimming in the window department as it too loses the brushed metal motif that once adorned it. Some elements, such as the day-week-month buttons, are moved around, and I think the new calendar pane is easier to read.


iCal in Tiger


iCal in Leopard

Editing events in iCal has always been a bit of a hassle with an Event Drawer that would pop in and out as you selected events to edit. Now iCal will pop an editing dialog right next to the event in question. This new approach, while only slightly varied from before, makes adding and editing events a much quicker process.

Safari

Safari hasn’t changed much, but it’s yet another application to lose brushed metal in its chrome.


Tiger Safari


Leopard Safari

Safari has also gained security features that check for possibly malicious sites, and the interface for that feature is pretty neat.

Printing

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the improved printing sheets in OS X Leopard. Historically, it’s been easy for developers to use OS X’s standard printing services, but the results were usually pretty sparse. The Leopard printing sheet is much more robust that its predessesor’s, and it even previews the document without having to launch Preview (a feature Microsoft and Adobe have been offering in their applications for some time).


Printing in Tiger


Printing in Leopard

This improvement may be late to the party, but it’s welcome nonetheless.

Conclusion

This is hardly a comprehensive look at the visual differences between Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard, but I hope it gives you a good idea of how Apple is improving the unified nature of the system’s user interface. It’s easy to pick nits over little details, but it’s obvious that Apple’s team has sweated the details when designing Leopard’s interface. It now feels like a unified system rather than a collection of utilities and applications. Hopefully, Apple will continue to prioritize the user experience as it continues to refine its operating system with the impending release of Snow Leopard next year.

Tags: macintosh, leopard, tiger, os x

As noted in the last post (which was longer ago than I care to admit), by the time Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was in the hands of users, the OS X interface had grown quite inconsistent. While not as glaringly distracting as the default Windows XP interface, it did seem evidence that Apple’s reputation as having an eye for detail was growing misplaced.

Leopard seeks to fix the growing divergence of UI elements, but some of the design decisions seem strange. Here are some comparisons and thoughts regarding some of the obvious interface changes between Tiger and Leopard.

The First Impression

For OS X veterans, the default Leopard desktop is immediately recognizable for it’s complete lack of blueness when compared to past OS X desktops.


TIger on my G5 and Leopard on my MacBook

Some of the change simply comes from the addition of a new desktop image, but other elements add to an altered user experience.

The New Dock

Tiger’s Dock


Leopard’s 3D Dock

The Dock has gone from a translucent rectangle to a glossy, reflective, three-dimensional plane. To me, it’s an extremely visually distracting piece of UI, and some icons don’t work well with this new Dock. (Read a detailed analysis of this issue here.) The Leopard Dock is a fantastic tech demo, but it fails from a usability perspective. Fortunately, a little command line work can restore the Dock to a more usable, two-dimensional state.


Leopard’s hidden 2D Dock. Much better.

The Leopard Dock also adds a new feature called Stacks, which bring their own share of positives and negatives to the OS X experience. I want to spend some more time of this feature, so I’ll be dedicating an entire post to Stack sometime later.

The Menu Bar

The menu bar in Tiger came under some criticism for its glossy appearance, even garnering some unkind comparisons to Windows XP. (Sorry if I’m criticizing XP too much, but I really don’t like its native UI.) The Leopard menu bar is a complete contrast to its former self.


Glossy and bright in 10.4


Translucent and subdued in 10.5

You can see the desktop through the menu bar with a slight Gaussian blur applied in Leopard. On the downside, while this menu bar is easier on the eyes, the translucency works better with some desktop backgrounds than others. Fortunately, you can make the menu bar opaque in the Desktop and Screensaver preference pane.

A strange side effect of this darker menu bar is that the menus themselves look out of place up against it.



The menus themselves look slightly nicer than in Tiger. The rounded edges are a nice touch, and the complete absence of pin-striping is welcome. I have to admit, though, that the slightly more translucent menus of earlier Leopard builds were even nicer. I know this seems to contradict my statements about the menu bar, but they were never quite that translucent.

Where’s the Love?

In the next post about Leopard’s interface, we’ll look at how some specific OS X applications have changed. It will be quite a bit more positive than this post, I promise. Windows and sheets have both been reworked in Leopard and with some very nice results.

Tags: macintosh, leopard, tiger, os x

In what is probably my latest OS X adoption ever, I finally picked up Mac OS X Leopard a month ago. As my Tiger overview demonstrates, I’m hardly a master at writing overly technical documents about a new operating system. However, I’m fascinated by some of the subtle and not-so-subtle user interface (UI) changes that have come with Leopard.

A Quick Retrospective

The interface of Apple’s Unix-based operating system has been in a state of constant flux since its introduction to consumers in 2001, and every release has seen changes to various parts of the UI. For some history, check out Steve Jobs introducing the new interface in Macworld 2000.



The bizarre thing about watching that video (outside of being reminded of what a pain dialog boxes used to be) is that OS X looks very little like that demonstration eight years ago even though many of the underlying principles remain intact. Take Mail and Finder, for example. Here’s how Mail evolved between OS X 10.2 and 10.4.


10.2 courtesy of GUIdebook.


10.3 courtesy of GUIdebook.


10.4 on my PowerMac G5.

Mac OS X 10.2 still looks very similar to Steve Jobs’ prototype of Aqua, but the interface begins to evolve in 10.3. Mail in 10.3 sports embedded widow controls as opposed to the floating jewels in earlier versions. Additionally, the pinstripes that once dominated OS X windows and menus are greatly subdued. Finally, Mail in 10.4 adopts an entirely new unified window style, loses the drawer, and sports a new style of pill-shaped toolbar buttons.

The OS X Finder has also seen its share of changes between OS X 10.2 and 10.4.


10.2 courtesy of GUIdebook.


10.3 courtesy of GUIdebook.

If examining screenshots, I have to admit that I’d be hard-pressed to tell the 10.1 Finder and 10.2 Finder apart, much like Mail. However, the visual change to 10.3 is jarring. Mac OS 10.3 Panther marks the height of Apple’s infatuation with brushed metal, and metal windows seemed to randomly litter the interface. Again, note how widgets have gone from floating to embedded. In 10.4 Tiger (not pictured), the Finder retains the brushed metal look, but it’s slightly slimmed.

Where Is This Going?

By the time Mac OS X Tiger was released, the UI was an inconsistent jumble. While Apple had been slowly phasing out old ideas like pinstripes and drawers, several new interface ideas were being introduced – without a consistent pattern. With the introduction of unified windows in Tiger’s version of Mail and a dark version of the same window in iTunes 5, OS X apps could sport any one of four windowing styles. Combine this with a variety of toolbar options, a new HUD palette, and completely custom interfaces like those found in applications like GarageBand, and you have a system interface that is growing more and more fragmented.

In the second segment, we’ll take a look at how Leopard takes great strides in unifying the user experience of OS X as well as its share of interface oddities. Get ready for lots of pictures!

Tags: macintosh, leopard, tiger, os x

Apple finally turned their attention to my favorite part of their product line – the MacBooks. I’m always a sucker for the iMacs, but I’ve never owned one. iPhones and iPods are cool gadgets, but I have come to believe that laptops are the best things Apple does, so I was excited to see the news from Cupertino earlier today.

MacBook Air

image © Apple, Inc

The MacBook Air keeps its repuation for being an incredibly thin and light laptop while losing a few of the limitations of the previous generation. It’s still very short on connectivity, featuring only a single USB port, an audio-out port, and a Mini Display Port, which replaces the Micro-DVI port from the previous model. The new display port can support up to 2560x1600 pixels as opposed to the former 1920x1200 pixels.

Driving this new display port is a much more robust Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor which utilizes 256 MB of the systems 2 GB of memory. The internal processor has been largely unchanged, but internal storage has seen a massive boost over previous models. The last generation of the MacBook Air offered either an 80 GB HDD or a 64 GB SSD. Now it features either a 120 GB HDD or a 128 GB SSD. The new MacBook Air comes in $1,799 and $2,499 configurations with a few BTO options.

Update: I was wrong about the processors not being changed. While the clock speeds remain basically the same, the MacBook Air now uses Intel’s 45nm Penryn processor that runs cooler and has a faster FSB than the Merom processors in the older model. I apologize for the error.

MacBook + MacBook Pro

image © Apple, Inc

I’m combining the MacBooks with the Pro models because they are now so similar. What you see above is the new MacBook. The MacBook Pro is a bit wider and has visible speakers. That’s it when it comes to visual differences between the two models. The new MacBooks now feature the same embedded and backlit keyboard. They have new glass LED displays, and upgradeable components are now much more user-accessible across the board. The new MacBooks also feature a new glass buttonless trackpad that supports a variety of multi-touch and gesture commands.

Internally the MacBooks feature 2.0 or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processors with the Pro models going up to 2.8 GHz. The MacBooks have 160 GB or 250 GB HDDs with 2 GB of memory standard. They also feature integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics processors with 256 MB of shared memory. The MacBook Pros have storage options of 250 GB or 320 GB with 2 GB or 4 GB of memory. The Pro models also come loaded with two Nvidia chips, one discreet and one integrated, that you can switch between depending on whether or not your MacBook Pro is plugged in. The discreet graphics card can come with 256 MB or 512 MB of dedicated memory.

Apple has dropped the matte displays, which was probably inevitable, but the head-scratcher is the lack of FireWire on the MacBook. The Pro model has a FireWire-800 port, but the consumer MacBook doesn’t even feature a FireWire-400. I find that odd. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros run from $1,299 to $2,499. Also, you can watch a video detailing the design and manufacturing process of the new MacBooks right here. It’s worth watching just to hear Jonathan Ives pronounce aluminum.

Other News

• Apple has retained the white plastic MacBook for a $999 entry model. It features a 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo and 1 GB of memory. I’m guessing this will just be around until Apple can get the new manufacturing process cost-effective enough to drop prices on the aluminum MacBooks. Curiously, this model retains the FireWire 400 port.
  
  
• Also, Apple revved the 17-inch MacBook Pro with a stronger processor, more memory and storage, and an updated graphics processor. However, it retains the old casing, making me wonder if this model too might be on its way out.
  
  
• Finally, Apple made an addition to their Cinema Display lineup with a 24-inch model that takes on the industrial design of the new MacBooks and the iMac. This display is specifically targeted toward MacBook users with its standard MagSafe connector and Mini Display Port as opposed to more standard interfaces. This is the first Apple Cinema Display to use LED backlighting and to feature an integrated microphone, iSight camera, and speakers.

That wraps things up for this round of MacBook updates. Except for the lack of FireWire on the consumer MacBooks, I can’t find anything to gripe about, so it must be a good update!

Tags: macintosh

Don't give me credit for the title of this post. Apple made it up.

Anyway, new iPods and a new version of iTunes today hit the world today. Most iPod lines were just gently refreshed. Shuffle got a new paint job (polite applause), iPod classic got a larger hard drive (strained applause), iPod touch got some small enhancements in the way of integrated volume control buttons, a built-in speaker, and a price-cut (grateful yet restrained applause), and iPod nano got another complete makeover (enthusiastic applause).

I think the nano has undergone more exterior revisions more quickly than any other product in Apple history. I have pictures of them all around here somewhere. I'll have to make a post about it. Anyway, the new iPod nanos features a new curved aluminum and glass enclosure, is even thinner, and comes in nine colors. It also features a accelerometer that can activate Cover Flow when tipped to the side, or it will activate shuffle mode when shaken.


image by Apple, Inc.

The nanos come in 8 GB and 16 GB models and cost $149 and $199 respectively.

Alongside the new iPod naos, Apple released iTunes 8 to the world, featuring Genius technology that will generate entire playlists based off of one song. (The technology will also make iTunes Store recommendations, naturally.) HD television shows have come to the store along with a return of NBC programming. Finally, iTunes 8 brings a grid view to the interface, which is a very pleasant way of sorting your music.



The grid view groups music by genre, artist, album, or composer. When multiple albums are grouped together in grid view the icons behave much like Events if you are familiar with iPhoto 7.

All-in-all, no real surprises here. As an aside, Kevin Rose predicted exactly what iTunes 8 would look like back on Sunday. His other predictions were spot on as well.

Tags: itunes/ipods

The iMac shipped for the first time 10 years ago today (well, actually yesterday by the time I finish writing this), and it quickly became the product that would define and reshape Apple. Since its debut, some products like the iPod and iPhone have eclipsed it in terms of mass appeal, but the iMac will always serve as an emblem of Apple's product philosophy. Here are some links celebrating the iMac's tenth birthday.

• Ars Technica: Hello (again): Apple's iMac turns 10
• Macworld: Eight ways the iMac changed computing
• Wired: 10 Years of Cuddly, Friendly iMacs

As sleek as the current iPhone-inspired design of the iMac is, I think the lampshade iMac G4 is still my favorite. It was charming in a way few technology products manage to be. I also liked the eMac despite (or perhaps because of) its shuttle-nose contours.

The iMac is the product that saved Apple when it was about to collapse in on itself, and it was the first Apple product I owned. Here's to many more years of great designs and great computers.

Tags: apple inc, macintosh

With the release of the iPhone 3G, Apple's developers has given [dot] Mac a long-needed overhaul and have rebranded the effort as MobileMe. Email addresses that used to end with "@mac.com" now end with "@me.com" (though the former still works), "web.mac.com" domains can now use "web.me.com." However, "homepage.mac.com," like this site uses, does not translate into a me.com domain.

The services offered through MobileMe are targeted at both Mac users and PC users, particularly those who have an iPhone of iPod touch – a probable reason why the [dot] Mac moniker was dropped from the branding. MobileMe is designed to help keep things like email, contacts, and calendars synced between your computer(s) and iPhone/iPod touch while also providing a venue for sharing photos and limited backup options.

Logging In

There's nothing really special here unless you are a former [dot] Mac user. The login screen for [dot] Mac was terrible, and this is a huge improvement. Moving on.

iDisk

iDisk has been improved in many ways, using a column view rather than the old list view. Drag-and-drop works as expected between folders as well as the sidebar. Anyone who is used to the Macintosh Finder will feel right at home here. Down in the bottom left corner, a progress bar shows how much space is used on iDisk, and you can conserve space by creating compressed archives of items of folders. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful getting this feature to work while testing.

Mail

Apple's web-based email interface is uncannily similar to their desktop email client. Like iDisk, if you are familiar with Apple's desktop application, the web application will seem right at home. Mail has extensive preferences, including junk-mail filtering, aliases, and the ability to check other accounts as well as automatically forward me.com mail to other accounts. Drag-and-drop support is pervasive throughout Mail.

Unfortunately, I ran into a significant bug using Mail. When I deleted a message, many times other messages would be deleted as well. Needless to say, this renders Mail pretty unusable until Apple irons this problem out.

Contacts

Contacts serves as MobilMe's answer to Mac OS X's Address Book application. After a slight delay, my contacts synced with MobileMe. Contacts can also import and export vCards, which are used by Address Book, Outlook, Thunderbird, and other contact managers. Adding and editing contacts manually is a simple task, and I did not run into the deletion bug here that was present in MobileMe's Mail interface.

Calendar

Calendar is very similar to iCal. (Notice a theme here yet?) Syncing went smoothly. Calendar supports day, week, and moth views. Adding and removing events is a breeze, but I didn't find a way of importing or exporting calendar data outside of using iCal, which makes me wonder how useful this service will be to Windows users.

Other Notes

• MobileMe supports double-clicks on items as well as the delete key. Unfortunately, many other keyboard commands do not work.
• Shift-clicking to select multiple items works as expected as does cmd-clicking.
• When MobileMe is processing something, there is a small progress indicator at the bottom right of the sidebar.
• Dragging a message to the trash in Mail circumvents the deletion bug I encountered.
• I couldn't get photo uploading to work, so that's why the Photo Galley is not included here.

Conclusions

In all honesty, MobileMe is not very compelling at the moment. It promises great features, and it is beautiful to look at, especially when compared to other online calendar or email services. However, the bugs are deal-breakers. Photo Gallery refused to upload any photographs. Calendar offers no standard importing of exporting options, and deleting messages in Mail can result in unexpected behaviors. Hopefully, these issues are resolved quickly.

If you already subscribe to [dot] Mac, MobileMe makes sense to keep. It improves on the previous service in almost every way. If you use an iPhone or iPod touch in combination with a computer for managing messages, contacts, calendars, and messages, MobileMe might be worth subscribing to for the simple syncing features. Unfortunately, MobileMe can't compete with similar online offerings for general users until the kinks are worked out.

Update: It's important to note that Apple has apologized for the troublesome MobileMe transition and is providing all subscribers with an additional thirty days of service, free of charge.

Tags: mobileme, software

The WWDC keynote presentation has come and gone, and I think we can all agree that there is such a thing as too many software demonstrations! Other than that, here is the new stuff for today.

iPhone3G

Take pretty much any complaint against the the original iPhone – too expensive, no Exchange support, no third-party applications, no GPS, no 3G networking – and they've been addressed in the new version. Additionally, the software upgrades will be available to current iPhone users for free.



The new iPhone features Internet access over WiFi, EDGE, or 3G now, resulting in web pages rendering roughly twice as fast on the new model. For enterprise customers, Exchange support has been added, and businesses can even internally develop and distribute custom applications for iPhone. App Store for third-pary applications will launch soon, and the keynote featured many applications that will be available at launch.

I'm not going to cover every demonstrated application in detail, but we saw some games, a couple medical applications, a music creation tool, location-based apps, TypePad and eBay clients, and a couple news and video applications. Prices ranged from free to $9.99. In addition to application support, Apple is providing a way for these apps to give you notifications without extraneous background processes through a push notification service.

The biggest news here is arguably the price. When it was released, the iPhone cost $499 to $599. Now the two models cost $199 to $299.

MobileMe

I have to get this off my chest: that font reminds me of Windows Me. There, I've said it. Now let's move on.



MobileMe replaces [dot] Mac. It retains the same price point but adds a few new features and doubles iDisk storage. Webmail, calendars, iDisk, contacts, and image galleries have all received nice web-interface facelifts (with contacts and calendars new to the suite of tools), and information edited here is automatically synced to any Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPod touch set up with the service. Likewise, editing info on any of those devices causes it to be synced with the others.

According to MobileMe's transition FAQ, [dot] Mac subscribers will transition to MobileMe at no additional charge, and anyone with a mac.com email address or webpage will be able to keep using the same address for the foreseeable future. In all, MobileMe looks like a nice upgrade, but I'll miss typing "[dot] Mac."

SnowLeopard

Mac OS X 10.6 will be a departure from Apple's OS strategy of the past few years. Instead of showcasing a handful of impressive new features, Snow Leopard's development seems to be focused squarely "under the hood." It's all about making Mac OS X run better and more stable than ever. Little info about Snow Leopard has trickled out so far, but here's a snippet from an Apple press release:

Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

Personally, I think the Exchange support is going to be a big selling point. Speaking of selling, I wonder if Apple will retain the $129 price-point for Snow Leopard or if it will see a smaller upgrade price due to its less-ambitious feature set.

That covers it for today, but we'll probably see some more Apple-related announcements over the next several days.

Tags: apple inc, iphone, os x, snow leopard

March 21, 2001 marked the official release of Mac OS X 10.0 to much fanfare and gnashing of teeth. Yes, I meant to write that. OS X was a milestone Apple achievement. It delivered on their long-term goal to finally deliver a next-generation operating system to their users. It was a complete break from the aging monolith that was the classic Mac OS. It brought new technologies and a new user interface to the Mac-faithful. However, there were some bumps in the road during those first few months of life.


Apple gave the world the first real look at OS X when they released the $29 public beta in August of 2000. I was an early adopter, and ordered the beta almost the moment it became available on Apple's website. As soon as the software arrived, I performed a clean install on my PowerBook G3. There would be no reverting to Classic for me – it was OS X or bust! (I should mention that my iMac DV retained OS 9 for quite some time, so I did have a serious safety net.)

Those early days – while problematic at times – taught me about one of the most valuable resources Mac users have: independent software developers. In the early days of OS X, the shareware and freeware developers moved more quickly than the corporate giants in bringing their products to OS X. As I browse my Applications folder today, more of the programs contained within are from independent developers than corporations. To this day, those independents, by and large, make software that better integrates with OS X and feels more Mac-like than anything Adobe or Microsoft puts out.


With the release of OS X 10.2 Jaguar in August of 2002, my iMac upgraded to Apple's new operating system. By now, I was more comfortable in OS X than OS 9, and all of the applications I regularly use had OS X-native versions. In fact, many had dropped support for OS 9 by now. System 10 was the unequivocal future of the Macintosh operating systems, and there was no more point in holding onto the past.

10.3 Panther would be the last version of OS X for my aging iMac. By the time Tiger was released, we had a PowerMac G5, but we still had the PowerBook G3. I upgraded the PowerBook to Tiger, but quickly returned to the previous system when it became obvious that OS X 10.4 was jut too resource-intensive for my old laptop. It's still running Panther in my classroom, keeping all of our textbook music in iTunes. It's not many laptops that can say they are still in active service after eight years of use!


I haven't upgraded to Leopard yet. I'm guessing the PowerMac will stay on Tiger, but the MacBook Pro seems to be ready to move on. Things like Time Machine, Quick Look, improvements to Preview, Cover Flow, Stacks, and many other small touches are compelling. Apple really have brought OS X a long way since those first feeble steps seven years ago, and I'm excited to see where things go next.

Tags: macintosh, software, os x

Okay, I tried posting this last night, but three-quarters of the entry just outright disappeared upon export. Here's take two.

Tuesday's Macworld keynote speech by Steve Jobs was interesting and exciting in many ways. Unfortunately for Apple's stock, it seems investors were really hoping for a 3G iPhone. However, iPhone was hardly mentioned Tuesday, and the Mac took center stage. Perhaps this was Jobs' way of making up for last year's iPhone-centered keynote. Here's a quick rundown.

iPhone + iPod touch

iPhone and iPod touch both received software updates that can be downloaded through iTunes. iPhone received some GPS-like functionality to Maps, customizable home screens, Web clips (like in the Leopard Dashboard), song lyric support, video chapters, and multi-person messaging. The iPod touch receives Mail, Maps, Weather, Notes, and Stocks – bringing it to surprising parity with iPhone. The only downside of the iPod touch upgrade is a $20 fee.

A part of me still covets an iPod touch, and the new features make the device even more desirable. Now, if only they would release a 32 GB version at the price-point of the current 16 GB model...

iTunes + Apple TV

The big iTunes news is movie rentals. Rentals ring in at $2.99-$4.99 depending on definition and release status. Once a movie is rented, a user has 30 days to begin watching the film and 24 hours to complete a film once it's started. The 24-hour viewing window seems stingy, but I understand it's in line with comparable services. In addition to the movie rentals, Apple has signed a deal with Fox in which new Fox DVDs will also contain an iTunes-friendly version of the film on the disc. This is an interesting way to circumvent the whole DVD-backup issue. I wonder if other studios will hop on board with this initiative.



By focusing on movies, Apple has also made Apple TV a more competitive product. Once tethered to iTunes, Apple TV now has its own interface with the iTunes Store and can even download higher-resulution movie rentals (720p) than iTunes on Macs or PCs. The new user interface is very nice, and the pricetag is even nicer. A 40 GB model is available for $229 and a 160 GB model for $329.

If we watched more movies and TV shows, this might be a no-brainer, even with an XBox 360. Quite simply, iTunes has more content than XBox Live Marketplace and that content is priced better. Also, XBox Live Marketplace gives you a smaller window in which to begin viewing rented material. Out of the product announcements today, Apple TV may actually be the most competitive. (Here's a comparison of XBox Live Marketplace and Apple TV.)

Time Capsule

Time Capsule is the child of a high-capacity wireless hard drive and an AirPort Extreme base station. It's designed to compliment Leopard's Time Machine backup solution. Featuring a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive ($299 and $499 respectively), this is an interestingly positioned product. Quite honestly, if I were to pick up an Airport Extreme and a decent 1 TB external drive individually, it would come up to about $500 dollars. For that same amount, here's an all-in-one solution. Seems like a winner to me even if it does target a niche audience.

I even like the name.

MacBook Air

The most attention-grabbing product announced was the MacBook Air. Closed, it's 0.76" at it's thickest point, and it weighs only 3 pounds. Check out the commercial for a good illustration of just how small this thing is. The thing looks amazing at first glance and comes packaged with some truly innovative technology, but I don't know if it will actually be a success.

Much is riding on its appeal as an ultra-light notebook and its stunning looks. Other appealing features include a gesture-sensitive trackpad and an amazing technology called Remote Disc. In a shell, Remote Disc allows the MacBook Air to wirelessly read discs inserted in another computer! This is quite important as the MacBook Air has no built-in optical drive. (However, Apple does sell a $99 USB Superdrive for the MacBook Air.)

Unfortunately, the limitations of this product relegate it to a solely secondary computer position, which is unfortunate considering its price. MacBook Air starts at $1799 with a SSD version available for $3,098! Not only is it bereft of an optical drive, but the hard drive itself is pretty small. It has few ports, excluding even an ethernet port, and the battery is not user replaceable. Fortunately, if you purchase the $129 battery through the Apple Store, installation is free, but this still costs convenience.

I am enamored by the looks and some of the technology in the MacBook Air, but I don't really see its value over Apple's other laptops. Now if Apple released a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a similar form factor and multi-touch trackpad, I might be interested. On the other hand, it's not wise to try to predict the failure or success of an Apple product, and they may have a success on their hands here. One never knows.

images courtesy Apple, Inc.

Tags: apple inc, macintosh, macworld, iphone, itunes/ipods

I just noticed that QuickTime no longer has window borders. Is this new to the most recent point release, or have I been missing something? Anyway, I've been wondering how long it was going to take for QT to lose those bulky borders.


hello, borderless goodness

Tags: software

Safari is the default browser on my MacBook. I've tried several others, but I just keep coming back to. It has some intangible quality that just makes it enjoyable to use, so I thought I'd try out Safari on my XP machine at work. Since I use Safari at home, nothing about its core functionality came as a surprise to me. I'm used to how it renders fonts. I'm aware of its limitations. I know exactly what it does well and where it could still use growth. When Safari was released on Windows, those individuals who downloaded it did not know what to expect, and the initial reactions reflected that. Rather than focus on those details, I just want to write about what the user experience is like on XP in general.

Using Safari on XP is, in short, a strange experience. Apple does nothing to make Safari feel like a Windows application. In fact, they seem to go out of their way to make it look and feel as much like a Mac application as possible.



This is what Safari looks like on Windows XP – almost exactly how it would appear on Mac OS X. It's almost as if Apple is using their flagship browser as a not-so-subtle advertisement for their operating system. From the toolbar icons, to sheet dialogues, to the scrollbars, Safari stands out with its uniquely Mac experience. This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective.




Even the menus, toolbar buttons, and in-page drop downs look like the come directly out of OS X. Almost every interface element is customized to look exactly like the browser's Mac counterpart. Again, if you've ever used Safari on a Mac, then you will know exactly what to expect on Windows. Very seldom did any Windows-like elements appear while I used Safari on XP. One of those times was in printing. A standard Windows print dialog appeared, which was rather visually jarring. The other Mac to Windows difference I noticed is in the browser window's controls, which more closely resemble what you would expect on Windows in shape and position, though they were not the default XP controls.


mac controls and windows controls

In the end, what does this experience mean to Windows users? If you are looking for an application that provides a peek into the general Mac experience, Safari might provide an interesting insight. However, users merely looking for a browser to replace Internet Explorer might be put off by the sheer unfamiliarity of the interface. Quite frankly, Safari does not fit in on Windows, and this inconsistency seems intentional. It's as if Apple is sticking an ad for OS X in front of WIndows users every time Safari is launched, and that will likely prove off-putting to many individuals. In this case, I think Apple should have tailored Safari's interface to fit better into Windows, allowing users a more seamless experience, rather than making it so obvious this is a piece of Macintosh software.

As an experienced Mac user, I personally love using Safari on Windows. It's a far better experience than using Internet Explorer, and I can't get Firefox to function properly on our machines at work. However, experienced Windows users may be quickly turned off by the nonstandard interface, never giving the application a second glance because it is so glaringly out-of-place. The Windows browser market is a pretty crowded place, with IE dominating the casual users and Firefox entrenched with more tech-savvy users. Apple is going to have a hard time gaining a following in this market, and I think they are sabotaging their own efforts by not creating an experience that fits in with Windows more seamlessly.

Tags: software, safari, browsers

I like Paul Thurrott. Really. However, his recent post regarding some users having installation issues with Leopard is just unfortunate. In it, he begins by taking Apple to task for an unwise icon choice for representing PCs in Leopard.

"Apple is so lame and so childish that the icons it uses in Leopard for networked Windows PCs are CRT displays with a Windows blue screen of death. Normally, I'd see this for what it is--typical juvenile stupidity from Cupertino..."

He goes on to point out that some users are experiencing installation issues that also results in a similar blue screen.

"You see, Leopard has its own blue screen of death. And it's happening to an alarming number of people who buy the new OS and install it on their Macs...Have fun with those blue screens, Apple. My advice: Describe this as feature number 301. Heck, you might be able to wrangle 3 or 4 new features out of it."

The problem I have here is that he is acting every bit as childish and immature as he claims Apple is being with this icon (which I'm sure few users will ever even see). He also foregoes any fact-checking as to the root causes. He just reinforces bad stereotypes of Mac-bashers, a stereotype he usually doesn't fit. This tirade is below him.

Fortunately, John Gruber comes along to straighten the facts out regarding the mystery of the blue screen:

"But, as far as I can tell, there is no mystery involved. There is one and only one known cause for this problem: old versions of Unsanity’s Application Enhancer, a.k.a. APE."

There are some exceptions to this statement (which Mr. Gruber admits to in his write-up). However, by and large, this problem is created by Application Enhancer, which is used for unsupported system modifications. The problem turns out to be that several Logitech mouse users may have an old version of APE on their systems without knowing it.

"Logitech Control Center currently installs APE 2.0.3, but previous versions of their installer used older versions of APE, which versions render Leopard unbootable. This is particularly pernicious given that most people installing Logitech’s software have never even heard of APE or Unsanity, let alone realize that Logitech is installing it on their system."

Most Unsanity customers would disable APEs without prompting. We know we are messing with the untold depths of the system and need to undo it all before performing a major upgrade. However, the story is different for someone merely buying a mouse. The issue here is not how Apple let this flaw exist in their software. The issue is why in the world a respected company like Logitech relies on an unsupported system hack to make their hardware work with Mac OS X.

Just for fun, here's the controversial icon:


I include this for a couple of reasons.

1. So you can see what all the fuss is about if you don't happen to be a Mac user with Leopard installed and sharing Windows PCs.
2. Just to demonstrate how huge Leopard icons are. Yes, this is the actual icon.

Irony or potential humor aside, this small problem has gotten too much attention. Maybe if Windows included something silly like this, I'd be on the other side of the fence, but I'd like to think not. Anyway, the Leopard BSOD can be prevented by having the latest version of APE on your system or by disabling it altogether before installing, and I bet that icon will change within the first couple of point releases.

After all, this is nothing. Does anyone remember the Panther File Vault bug that would eat your Home folder? Now that was worth writing home about.

Tags: macintosh, software, apple inc

The month I bought my first Mac was in one of Apple's last 1,000,000 unit quarters for a while. After the stagnation of the G4 and the relatively cautious adoption of OS X, Apple began to see its Mac sales drop into six figures again. As of Q1 2001, Mac sales dropped to around 660,000 units. Sure, they would later begin hovering around 800-900,000, but that was a strong psychological barrier. Even the spike caused by the introduction of the iMac G4 (still one of my favorite Mac designs) did not last. As the G4 chip barely broke 1 GHz, x86 processors soared up to and beyond 3 GHz, and Apple's machines were offering less and less value and performance for their prices. Even the release of the PowerMac G5 (which offered tons more performance than the G4) initially did little to spur demand.

FInally, Q1 2005 saw the first quarter in nearly five years where Apple broke the 1,000,000 mark with Macs – driven largely by sales of the iMac G5 introduced the previous fall. From here, things began to look up, and Apple announced its new partnership with Intel that same summer. Mac sales continued to grow through 2006 as Apple's computers became more desirable. Finally producing performance that lived up to the hype, Macs began to attract more users. Now, Apple has seen its first 2,000,000 Mac quarter.

While it's easy to point out that Dell or HP sell over two million units in a matter of weeks, remember that two years ago, Apple was struggling to keep above 1,000,000 units a quarter, and, prior to that, the Macs future was really beginning to look grim. (Let's not even drudge up 1997!) Furthermore, John Gruber notes that this success comes right before a new OS release – typically a time when people put off major hardware purchases. It will be fun (in a geeky kind of way) to see if Apple can maintain this momentum into next year. Who knows? Perhaps I'll be blogging about Apple selling 3,000,000 Macs during a quarter sometime soon.

Tags: macintosh, apple inc

Some of the visual asthetics of Leopard bother me in the screenshots. It's the way I am. I'm a UI junkie, and, while I like visual flair, I grow annoyed if the eye candy begins to detract from the experience as a whole. Once I get to use Leopard, I might change my mind, but right now I'm not sold on the new menu bar, the new Dock, or the way stacks fan out. Well, strike that last one. I gained some appreciation for that interface nuance earlier today.


image from apple.com

I always disliked how the stack curved slightly to the right, until I was working this morning and I noticed how my mouse hand drifts to the right when I try to go straight up. In fact (and I tested this against an enlarged screenshot, so you know its scientific), my hand drifted along basically the same arc the stack has!

In other words, this interface element that looks like useless eye candy actually has purpose. It's easier to intuitively navigate than a straight column. Once again, Apple shows its attention to detail even with an interface element that most users won't give a second glance.

Tags: macintosh, software, technology, os x, leopard

You know life is busy when a full day passes before I blog about new Apple products! The balance of the universe has been upset, but these product announcements seem spiffy enough to keep it in balance anyway.

iPod, iPod, iPod, and iPod

image courtesy Apple, Inc.

The iPod line saw some major updates, but the shuffle only received some color changes. On the other hand, Apple seems obsessed with radically altering the iPod nano (née iPod mini) every few months, and this release is no different. The nano now features video playback, games, video out, Cover Flow – basically everything its big brother features. Only these features are packed in an anodized aluminum enclosure that's just about 2" wide and less that 3" tall, about a quarter-inch thick, and weighs less than two ounces. Storage capacities have remained the same.


image courtesy Apple, Inc.

The iPod that started it all is now known as the iPod classic. It has all the features we know and love about iPod. However, Apple has ditched the plastic enclosure for aluminum, and the iPod classic is available in 80 GB or 160 GB(!) capacities. Something tells me the iPod classic name may be short-lived as it will someday be completely replaced by the big news of the event.


image courtesy Apple, Inc.

It's the iPod we Apple fanatics were hoping for the second we saw the iPhone. The iPod touch takes all the features of the iPod and wraps it in an iPhone finish. This thing is sleek, but one concession is storage. It comes in 8 GB and 16 GB configurations, and the fact that the iPod classic has ten-times the storage for a lower price is rather disconcerting. Really, though, it's a touch-screen iPod. That almost seems worth it in itself. Add in Safari, YouTube, and the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and they may have a winner on their hands. Expect this thing to be hard to find during the holidays.

Other News

• The iPhone saw a $200 price drop, and the 4 GB model will soon be extinct. To calm the angry mobs (read: early adopters), Apple is offering a $100 gift certificate to everyone who bought an iPhone before the reductions (and who are not eligible for the rebate).
• iTunes now features album ratings and ringtones.
• The iPod Hi-Fi is no more. That's a shame. I wanted one of these for presenting. I was just waiting for a price drop. Kinda ironic, no?

Overall, there is some good stuff here. The iPod touch is particularly exciting, and it again raises the bar for digital music players. The nano and classic are even better values than before, and the iPhone will probably see an uptick in sales based on the price reduction. More than any company, Apple knows how to create covet-worthy products, and they just continue to outdo themselves. I wonder what's in store for Apple Expo later this month.

Tags: technology, itunes/ipods

iWork '08 was released on August 7 with some improvements to the existing presentation and page layout applications and a brand-new spreadsheet application called Numbers. Over a series of three posts, I'm going to take a look at the new features introduced in this version of iWork.

• Keynote
• Pages
• Numbers

I will be the first to admit that I have a hard time wrapping my head around spreadsheets and spreadsheet applications. I find that Pages (or Word) does all I need for the tables and charts I usually need. Consequently, I rarely touch applications like Excel, so some trepidation went into writing this overview. However, the more I used Numbers, the less daunting the application seemed.

Usually, when you open a spreadsheet application, you see something like this:

a blank spreadsheet in NeoOffice Calc

This interface is daunting in its sheer lack of guidance. Of course, you could always follow a Wizard of some sort, but those can be equally as frustrating. It was with some surprise that opening Numbers (and choosing one of the offered templates) resulted in this:

Numbers' grade book template

Templates are present in Excel as well, but the simple flexibility of the templates in Pages makes them much more attractive to use.

Numbers takes an approach to spreadsheets very similar to creating a basic document. Sheets are arranged along the side as page thumbnails would be in Pages or slides in Keynote. Tables themselves are treated like objects and are each self-contained spreadsheets within your larger document. If you are comfortable with how the other iWork applications handle document objects, Numbers will feel pretty familiar. On the other hand, users who are very comfortable in Excel might need some adjustment.

selecting tables and basic formulas from the toolbar

Fortunately, this document-like approach makes it much easier to create spreadsheets that will print out predictably – something I've always had problems accomplishing the few times I've used Calc or Excel. For even further refinement, Numbers features a print view that is fully interactive and allows you to have complete control over how the spreadsheet document looks.

Working with data seems intuitive in Numbers as well. For example, if a cell is set up to calculate a formula, an editor appears atop to the cell when you select it (as opposed to being at the top of the screen or inside the cell where it might not fit).

editing an equation in cell E3

I also noticed that selecting a graph tied to the data in a specific table highlights the table, clearly indicating how the data is correlated. It's a small touch but a nice one.

the colors in the table match up with the graph

As far as Excel compatibility goes, I haven't been able to test the exporting quality, but NeoOffice Calc has had little success opening Numbers-exported Excel documents. Importing a very large Excel worksheet I have from school resulted in very few errors, and Numbers informs you of any issues when you import.

import errors

Numbers furthermore lacks support for Excel macros as well as AppleScript (a strange omission). I found little else to complain about, but I've read that performance suffers if you create large tables.

In all, Numbers adds a needed component to the iWork suite, and it does so with an approach that is both fresh and accessible. Serious power users and businesses might find the application limiting, but Numbers should capably fill the needs of most home users. I could write for quite a while about how simple conditional formatting and equation editing is, about how much easier Numbers is on the eyes when compared to other spreadsheet apps, or a plethora of other topics. However, I'll just wrap up by saying that I could actually see myself voluntarily opening and using Numbers – something I cannot say about any other spreadsheet application I've used before.

For further reading on Numbers:

• Mac Thought Crime: Numbers rocks: how I forgot about the review and ended up doing my budget
• Macworld Review: Numbers '08

Tags: software, iwork, opinion

iWork '08 was released on August 7 with some improvements to the existing presentation and page layout applications and a brand-new spreadsheet application called Numbers. Over a series of three posts, I'm going to take a look at the new features introduced in this version of iWork.

• Keynote
• Pages
• Numbers

Pages was packaged with Keynote in 2005 in the first iteration of iWork. Pages received decidedly mixed reviews, but Apple has continued to improve its page layout application over time, resulting in the most recent version.

Initially, Pages was not a word processor (like how most people use Microsoft Word). Rather it focused on page layout more akin to Microsoft Publisher or Adobe FrameMaker. Indeed, you could use Pages for simple word processing, and I have done so on many occasions. Unfortunately, Pages has offered such a fundamentally different approach to creating documents than Word that a perceived learning curve is in place. This harmed Pages popularity quickly.

Now, in version 3, Pages is truly reaching maturity as a product. However, compared with other documenting applications, its interface is very clean and uncluttered. Compare the screenshots below of Pages running on Mac OS X and Word 2003 on Windows XP.

x

A lack of clutter is not indicative of a lack of functionality, however, and Pages is packing a lot of enhancements and a few new features under its hood. The first thing I noticed was a detail that might skirt by most users – its install size. One would expect Pages 3 to be larger than Pages 2, but quite the opposite is true.

x

As you can see, Pages has lost considerable weight from one version to the next – dropping nearly 600 MB. (Also, Keynote has lost about 1 GB off its size. I wonder how they trimmed the applications' weights to such an extent.)

When the Template Chooser is brought up, there are many new templates to choose from, and they are now divided between "Word Processing" and "Page Layout."


Word Processing offers much more basic templates than Page Layout

Regardless of the mode you use, Pages behaves basically the same once you begin creating your document. Like, Keynote, Pages has had a toolbar facelift and has received Instant Alpha and Photo Frame capabilities. Pages has also gained a contextual Formatting Bar, and this little widget quickly makes the application much more usable as a word processor. Prior to this release, to change fonts, you had to open a separate pane, and all basic formatting options were most easily accessible through a pane called an Inspector. (On the upside, I personally grew very comfortable with keyboard shortcuts. On the other hand, this turned off several potential users.)

Now, similarly to Office 2007, a small bar is present beneath the main toolbar icons that customizes itself to the part of the document you are currently working with.


working with text


editing chart properties


editing a picture

This Formatting Bar is extremely useful and all but eliminates the need to resort to the Inspector for anything but the most tedious of settings. This is a welcome addition, and the only criticism I have is that the bar is very small. There seems to be no way to make the bar larger, and this could prove a problem for users with less than ideal eyesight.

Pages has also gained some more refined equation editing for charts that seems to come directly from Numbers, the new spreadsheet application bundled in iWork '08. In the Inspector, you can set conditions and basic equations with a simple click, and the formula editor automatically appears overs selected cells that are set to respond to formulas. I'm not sure if all of these features are new to Pages 3, but this is the first time I've noticed them – making certain tables much easier and more intuitive to generate than before.

setting conditional formatting


the new equation editor

Finally, Pages 3 features better compatibility with Word documents than its predecessors – even compatibility with Office 2007 Office Open XML files. This also applies to change tracking, which would not translate from Pages to Word or vice versa prior to this release. Now Mac users can use NeoOffice or iWork to interact with Office XML files. Ironically, a version of Microsoft Office for the Mac featuring this capability is not due out until early next year.

With Pages, Apple has made some relatively small changes that drastically effect its usability. In some regards, it feels like a new program altogether. I've been fond of Pages since its release and have used it pretty regularly. These enhancements will only serve to increase my use of and enjoyment with this application.

For more reading on Pages:

• Apple's Pages site
• Macworld: First Look at Pages '08

Tags: software, iwork, opinion

iWork '08 was released on August 7 with some improvements to the existing presentation and page layout applications and a brand-new spreadsheet application called Numbers. Over a series of three posts, I'm going to take a look at the new features introduced in this version of iWork.

• Keynote
• Pages
• Numbers

Keynote is the original member of what would eventually become iWork. It was released in 2003 and has seen three major updates since them, each bringing new functionality as well as general improvements.

One thing I noticed immediately in Keynote '08 was that the toolbar icons seem to have received some attention. I think this may be the first facelift the toolbar has received since the initial release. The toolbar is now unified, and the new icons are more illustrative than photographic.

Keynote '06 toolbar

Keynote '08 toolbar

The toolbar icons do not seem to be resolution independent, nor does the application icon support a 512x512 resolution, both expected due to the impending release of Leopard. However, digging through Keynote's packaged resources, I did find some icons for iChat Theater, which is a Leopard feature. Perhaps new icons will come in a software update. (I also noticed some other organizational differences in the package that I'll have to keep in mind when digging for resources.)

As far as visual enhancements to presentations go, Keynote '08 comes with a few new themes, transitions, and build effects, along with a new way of animating text and objects called Smart Builds.

You can see all the new themes above. My wife is very fond of Harmony, and I like Vellum and Industrial the most. I'm not too fond of Craft or Stock Book personally, but many of you will have different opinions. No Keynote themes seem to have been removed from the previous version in this upgrade, which is a first.

There are a few new 3D slide transitions: color planes, confetti, and swap, and there is one new 2D transition called Blur. New build animations include comet, confetti, drift, flame (which is terrible), and sparkle. Text builds contain all of these plus blast, bouncy, confetti, convergence, and squish. Some builds and transitions are amusing, needing to be avoided in professional presentations at all costs, while others like blur and drift can be quite dramatic.

Smart Builds create a sophisticated animation between objects – rotating or flipping between images. Really, seeing is better than explaining, so here's a video:

Click here for video

Another new visual flair comes by way of path animations, called Action Builds in Keynote. Basically you can determine a path for text or an image to follow, but the neat thing is that the object can change states while progressing along its path. For example, an image can change size or opacity during its transition. You can set items to move along a straight or a curved path. Again, showing is better than explaining:

Click here for video

Keynote has gained some interface refinements in a smart formatting bar (which I will talk more about in the Pages overview) and live image resizing within a mask – making the task of resizing masked objects far less tedious than the preceding version of Keynote. Also, you can now record your voice in sync with your slides and animations. Couple this with the fact that Keynote integrates with iTunes and Garageband, and you have a nice way of sharing your presentations with audio. The recording options are limited, but patience will yield decent results.

Another advertised new feature is Instant Alpha, which brings another image editing capability to Keynote (like shape masking and Image Adjust in the previous version). Instant Alpha is designed to quickly and easily remove backgrounds from photographs.

x

It's important that the background is pretty solid and distinctly contrasts from the main image. Otherwise, the results can get messy. It's a feature that works well enough to be a timesaver, but it can't altogether replace a more professional graphics app if you use alpha transparencies a lot. (Hint: using shadows can hide rough edges in the Instant Alpha transparency.)

FInally, it's possible to add special frames around images in Keynote slides outside the usual shadows and lines. In the object inspector, there is a Picture Frame option under "Stroke," and you will be able to choose from twelve different frames available to that theme. It's not a huge feature, but both my wife and I would have loved this option with some projects we did last year and earlier this year.



That covers most of Keynote's new features. Most of it is good stuff, and I've only run into a couple bugs so far. The only problem with all of these great improvements is avoiding going overboard when creating a presentation. If you have a Mac, you really should own iWork, and I think that will become more evident as we look at more of this application suite.

For more reading on Keynote's new features:

• Apple's Keynote Page
• Keynote User: Quick Keynote '08 New Feature List
• Macworld: First Look: Keynote '08

And don't forget to check out my iWork tagged Flickr photos!

Tags: software, opinion, iwork, keynote

Apple's press event today contained virtually no true surprises, but that doesn't mean there isn't some good stuff here for any tech enthusiast to get excited about.

New iMac

The new iMac is very similar in form to its predecessor but just a tad sleeker. They took a good design and made it better. Just for reference, here's a picture of the previous model and the new side by side.



I'm not too sure what else to write about this upgrade. The specs are nice, and the prices are even better than before – especially on the higher end models. I've already written a bit about the new keyboard. I like the looks, but I'd definitely want to get my hands on one before purchasing. (But it would look nice attached to my old but reliable PowerMac G5...)

The only weird bit is the wireless version of the keyboard. It has no number pad. It's layout is basically that of a laptop keyboard – which is what I primarily use. However, some consumers and business folks might not like that.

the wireless keyboard

iLife '08

This came as a surprise to me because I really wasn't expecting iLife to be upgraded until Leopard came out this October. Among other improvements, iPhoto has gained the ability to automatically show or hide given photos in your library. It has a new organization option called "Events," and it has gained the ability to publish to a [dot] Mac web gallery with some sleek effects.

iDVD has received some new themes and better encoding while iMovie looks like a whole new application (with a new icon even). It can now manage videos (a la iPhoto) as well as create. iMovie integrates with [dot] Mac and YouTube, and it features a retooled interface for making movie creation even easier. I guess Apple felt like they needed to do something new with this app since Windows Movie Maker was so capably aping it!

iMovie

iWeb has seen some basic improvements in theme handling, and it now supports personal domains. It features Google Maps and Adsense integration as well as Web Widgets – showcasing content from other sites like Twitter, Flickr, etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the blogging component has received much attention based on the website. Finally, GarageBand comes with new arranging and automation capabilities as well as a new visual equalizer. Magic GarageBand is a new mode that allows you to quickly experiment with and create new music.

In all, the upgrades are pretty small, but the enhancements to iMovie seem worth the price alone.

iWork '08

This was another upgrade that I thought would not be coming until after Leopard (and one I'll be posting some more on after I finish downloading the 469 MB demo). It turns out, according to John Gruber, iWork installs the Leopard ImageKit for Tiger users. I wonder if any other apps can take advantage of ImageKit once it's there.

Keynote features new path animations (huzzah), new text effects, transitions, and themes, and it has a new feature called Instant Alpha that is supposed to remove the background from an image. I'm assuming the background needs to be solid, but I'll find out when I start playing around. Pages seems to have borrowed a trick from Microsoft with contextual toolbars. It also features separate modes for word processing and page layout, and its tracking feature is now compatible with Word.


the new contextual toolbar

The big news in iWork is a new spreadsheet application called Numbers that claims Excel compatibility. It features the same simple interface as Keynote and Pages, and it offers flexible ways to analyze variable in your data to see instantaneous results. I'm going to be doing a lot of spreadsheet work this coming school year, so this application really intrigues me.


Numbers

Other Updates

A few other products got quiet upgrades today. The Mac mini was boosted to Core 2 Duo processors and 1 GB of default memory. Airport Extreme received gigabit ethernet. [dot] Mac storage was bumped to 10 GB (from 1 GB) with 100 GB of monthly data transfer as well as new web gallery support and server-side spam filtering, which should make some iPhone users happier. Finally, the MacPro gets a new PCI RAID option for those of you with an extra $999 laying around.

All in all, it's been a busy day in Apple product news. My favorite bits are the iWork upgrade and the new iMac, but I'm also happy about the bumped [dot] Mac storage. I'll be back on in a couple of days with some iWork '08 impressions!

all images in this post are courtesy Apple, Inc.

Tags: macintosh, opinion, software

In 1999, Apple released a humble product called Mac OS X (pronounced "ten") Server 1.0. In look and feel, the operating system was very similar to Mac OS 8 (and 9), but, beneath the interface, the system contained some drastic changes that would eventually revolutionize the entire Macintosh software line. It eschewed the classic Mac OS nanokernal for the NEXTSTEP hybrid kernel, and it contained a hybrid of classic Macintosh features and NEXTSTEP features – even requiring an emulation layer to run classic Mac OS applications. This Mac OS was unlike anything that had come before it. In fact, it was really Mac OS in name only.

A Little Background

In 1986, two years after the introduction of the Macintosh and and the Mac OS, Steve Jobs found himself ousted from the company he helped create. Ever the entrepeneuer, he quickly launched into two new ventures – one was an unwanted animation studio that would become Pixar, and the other was a new computer company called NeXT.

NeXT computers were technnically advanced for their time. They were released in 1990 with 25MHz processors, 8 MB RAM, an ethernet port, 256 MB storage, and a 1120x832 display. In contrast, typical machines of the time would have had 16MHz processors, 640 kb RAM, no networking, 10-40 MB storage, and 640x350 displays. NeXT Computer is considered a pioneer in brigning networking to desktop computers. The first email programs and web browsers were developed for NeXT. Unfortunately, the NeXT hardware was doomed to failure (mainly due to prohibitively high costs), but the operating system would live on.

NEXTSTEP was released in the days of Windows 3.1 and Mac OS 7, and it stood out from its competition both visually and in capabilities.



Mac OS 7, Windows 3.1, and NEXTSTEP. These screenshots are all courtesy of Wikipedia.

NEXTSTEP was based on the Mach kernel and BSD. It featured object-oriented programming based on the Objective-C language. It was meant to be viewed on higher-resolution displays, and it included many software tools for networking and collaboration. Additionally, NEXTSTEP was the first general operating system to handle color standards, advanced sound processing, modern typography, and internationalization. It's interface featured real-time scrolling and window dragging as well as window notifications and transparency. Again, this was all in the early 90's, well before the world would be captivated by Windows 95.

NEXTSTEP faded into obscurity after the mass adoption of Windows 95, but it would find a strange rebirth in 1996 when it was acquired by Apple, and Steve Jobs returned to the company that had rejected him ten years prior.

Reinventing the Mac OS

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple through the NEXT acquisition, Apple had already put massive efforts into overhauling the Mac OS through the Copland and Taligent projects (though some Copland features were eventually incorporated into OS X). Both of these systems were laid to rest in the late nineties in favor of Rhapsody, an operating system based primarily on the OPENSTEP (neé NEXTSTEP) operating system. Rhapsody eventually became Mac OS X Server 1.0 which would lead to the public beta of Mac OS X.


OPENSTEP and Rhapsody (both courtesy GUIdebook) side by side

Though called Mac OS, system 10 shared little in common with the previous Mac operating systems outside some superficial interface elements. Like NEXTSTEP, Mac OS X is based on the Mach kernel and BSD Unix. They are both object-oriented environments based on the Objective-C programming language. Both feature a dock, system services, managed memory, and preemptive multitasking. In fact, if you crack open the UI of most Mac OS X applications, you will find files with the extension ".nib" contained within. NIB is short for NeXT Interface Builder.

Like Mac OS X Server 1.0 and the Rhapsody developer builds, Mac OS X is incapable of natively running applications written for previous versions of the Mac OS. These applications were relegated to a "blue box" called Classic, and they could not take advantage of Mac OS X's more advanced features. The Classic layer, effectively the final vestiges of the original Mac OS, lost support with the recent Intel-transition of Macintosh computers, placing the final nails in the coffin of the system that served Apple since 1984.


System 1.1 (from GUIdebook) next to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (from Apple)

As John Siracusa wrote last year (on the fifth anniversary of Mac OS X), "The Mac is dead. Long live the Mac." OS X is Mac OS in name only. Truth be told, Mac OS X is the never-released NEXTSTEP 5, for the system shares much more in common with that legacy than with the Mac OS legacy. Apple took a daring move with Mac OS X in that they completely pulled the rug out from under their current OS foundation and replaced it with something entirely new – a feat that other OS vendors have been reluctant to attempt.

As Mac OS X becomes a more mature product, it resembles NEXTSTEP more and more while retaining the style and simplicity Mac users have come to expect. NEXTSTEP and the classic Mac OS were products doomed to failure – the former for being too far ahead of the times and the latter for being to far behind – but Apple has created a powerful and stable operating environment from the ashes of both, similar to each but ultimately original and innovative.

Tags: software, macintosh, leopard, os x

A couple of interesting images related to forthcomeing Apple products have been floating around this week. (Well, they're interesting to me at any rate, so you get to hear about them.)

The first image that struck me was in Engadget's report on a new keyboard for the upcoming iMac revision. This falls firmly under the "rumor and speculation" category, but it seems inline with Apple's current design philosophy. One item of debate, though, has centered around the apparent removal of the apple logo from the cmd keys on either side of the keyboard. See the comparison shots below:

x
photos courtesy of Apple and Gizmodo respectively

Whether or not the second image is real, I'm surprised this cosmetic change hasn't already been implemented. Apple documentation seldom (if ever) refers to an "Apple" key while "cmd-" is commonly documented. Furthermore, Andy Hertzfeld writes about Jobs' intense dislike for the keyboard Apple logo on folklore.org.

From the article:

"There are too many Apples on the screen! It's ridiculous! We're taking the Apple logo in vain! We've got to stop doing that!"

After we told him that we had to display the command key symbol with each item that had one, he told us that we better find a different symbol to use instead of the Apple logo, and, because it affected both the manuals and the keyboard hardware, we only had a few days to come up with something else.

Therefore, if future Apple keyboards eschew the use of Apple logos on the cmd keys, it should really come as no surprise.

The second thing to pique my interest came way of Think Secret's posting of some recent Leopard screenshots. In the shots was a picture of the Finder's new Path Bar:


photo courtesy of Think Secret

I don't find this interesting because of a similar Windows Vista feature. Rather, it's significant because this is another NEXTSTEP feature to reappear in OS X. (Really, one of these days I'm going to write a very long-winded post about why I view Mac OS X more as NEXTSTEP version 5.x more than Mac OS 10.x.)

In order, the shots below represent OPENSTEP 4.2 released in the late nineties, two developer previews of Mac OS X, and the public beta version of Mac OS X released in 2000. Note that a path bar is visible in all screens except the Mac OS X Public Beta, where it suddenly disappears.

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these shots are all courtesy of GUIdebook

The new Finder Path Bar is definitely more minimal than those previous incarnations, but I think it is yet another indication of the influence Mac OS X's NEXT roots has on its continued development. Also, as Mac OS X continues to evolve, I think we're going to see a lot more small but welcome enhancements like these slip in under the radar. Now, if only they would fix the weirdness that is the Leopard dock...

It often strikes me as fascinating that so many advances at Apple owe so much to their roots, even as far back as the development of the original Macintosh more than twenty years ago.

Tags: technology, macintosh, leopard, os x

Steve Jobs outlined some more info about Leopard during his Keynote speech at this years WWDC, and Apple's website has even more. Here are some of the overall impressions I've gained.

Eye Candy Is Important

One of the big changes (improvements may be debatable) in Leopard is in the visuals. Everything seems geared toward visual impressiveness. This user interface (UI) is intended to make people look at Vista and think it looks clunky.

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all images from apple.com

I've read many power-users bemoaning the fact that visual flair is becoming too emphasized in modern operating systems, and it doesn't look like that trend is reversing anytime soon. Personally, I like visual enhancements so long as they do not come at a cost to usability. The only complaint here is in the menu bar. The menus look out-of-place when invoked.


it's translucent now

iTunes = Mac Experience

Apple wants iTunes users to feel right at home in the Leopard UI – iTunes being the only Apple interface many potential users have daily contact with. As a result, the majority of the system resembles iTunes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the revamped Finder.


image from apple.com

From the window design to the sidebar to Cover Flow, the Finder basically recreates the iTunes experience in file management. The message: "If you enjoy using iTunes, you will enjoy using a Mac."

Organize Your Way

Stacks, the Dock, smart folders, Cover Flow, Quick View, Spaces – all of this gives the user greater flexibility in how he or she uses a Mac.


a stack of documents (from apple.com)


Quick View in Time Machine (from apple.com)

It's all about giving you greater flexibility and more options in how and where you access your files, media, and applications. Content is king, and Apple is giving us many ways to experience, organize, and access that content.

One Size Fits All

Steve Jobs made a joke during his talk that Leopard will come in three editions – Basic at $129, Premium at $129, and Ultimate at $129. He thinks most people will buy the Ultimate Edition. The simple fact is that you don't have to worry about which version of the OS to upgrade to because there is only one. Ease-of-use is a hallmark of the Macintosh experience, and that simplicity begins with the purchasing process.

Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on Leopard in October.

Tags: software, opinion, macintosh, leopard, wwdc, os x

Both Ars Technica and TUAW are reporting that InputManager plugins will be disabled in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

from Ars:

"Apple isn't really broken up about it since InputManagers were often used for nefarious purposes anyway," our sources said, but the loss of InputManager control will break a lot of shareware and commercial software that currently makes use of that control. 

To tell you the truth, I've read about possible InputManager exploits, but I've never seen any "nefarious" plugins in the wild.

Now, in the original version of the Ars post (I wish I had a screenshot), there was speculation that this would break Unsanity haxies, but that info has been altered since then. Still, I thought I would shoot off an email to Unsanity and get a direct answer. Rosyna was kind enough to provide me with some answers, and I thought I'd share these with you here.

Q: You may not be able to answer this one, but can any of you confirm or deny rumors that InputManager plugins are broken in Leopard?

A: We cannot comment.

No surprises here!

Q: Whether or not the rumor is true, do you see the disabling of InputManager plugins as a good thing or a bad thing?

A: I couldn't say, honestly. If true, it'd cause a lot of useful software to be otherwise disabled.

Q: Would this impact APE in any way if it were true (hypothetically speaking)?

A: Why would it impact APE at all? APE has nothing whatsoever to do with InputManagers. Only two of our products (SCR, MEE) use Input Managers and both of them are quite free. Input Managers are cocoa only and are therefore not adequate for our needs.

At this point, my other questions were rendered moot. The short story is that APE is here to stay.

Of additional interest, the TUAW post has a comment with a questionable picture (comment #7) that refutes the total disabling of InputManager plugins, and an update at the bottom of the Ars post says this:

When you install Leopard, InputManagers are (currently) disabled by default, but they can be enabled when Leopard finds something of yours that uses an InputManager and presents you with a dialog box. You can currently enable them this way, but if you click "Disable" (which is the default option), they apparently go away for good. "That's what Apple says is the current behavior. They're not sure what the final behavior will be," says one developer. "Apple says they are deprecated, and in 'a future release' they will be disabled pernamently. They won't say if that release is 10.5.x or 10.6."

As far as InputManager-powered products go, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but it does seem certain that APE modules will be completely unaffected by this, which is good news for me as well as many other Mac users!

Tags: software, technology, os x

Unsanity's products always seem to spark debate in the Mac web-sphere. From some of the more vocal members of the development team to the rather roundabout ways their products interact with Mac OS X, they are a company that polarizes the community surrounding them. Negative attention is turning toward the company again as Apple is making it clear in their developer's mailing list that they officially do not support systems on which Unsanity's Application Enhancer is installed.

George Warner:

Our (Apple's) official policy is that we don't support APE'd systems. Period. The data miner that parses all the crash logs that are sent to us automatically ignores any report that has APE api's in the backtraces or dylb lists.

Likewise If DTS receives a crash incident with API in the backtrace or dylb list we will not investigate it. Our "standard answer" in this case is to inform the developer that we don't support APE and that we'll only be able to help them if they can reproduce the problem without APE installed.

The simple fact is that APE works some strange mojo on your Mac to do its magic, and some users resent that. Others point to serious problems APE can cause on systems. Just search for "Application Enhancer" or "APE" on the MacNN forums for a good idea of what I'm talking about.

Regardless of the risks, I have to admit to being an Unsanity customer since the early days of my Mac OS X adoption. I can hardly remember what it was like using OS X without APE installed and a couple of its companion products (called "haxies"). I have registered four of Unsanity's haxies, but I only actively use two. One product is ShapeShifter, a theming utility for OS X, and the other is FruitMenu – the utility that keeps me coming back.

After transitioning to an Intel Mac, Unsanity's haxies were seriously slowing my system down, among other factors, and I ended up removing them and the APE module from my system. No buyer's-remorse was involved. I had gotten years of use out of the products and was perfectly okay with leaving them behind. However, once Mac OS X 10.4.9 was released, allowing for a more efficient version of APE to be released, I found myself reinstalling these utilities primarily for a single feature of FruitMenu. Allow me to illustrate.

If I'm working on a project for work or this site, I typically have several applications open at once, and I'll cmd-Tab between them as needed. I imagine you might have a similar workflow. Unfortunately, look what happens to the menus as applications change:

Menu headers jump around based on the length of the application's name. This is most noticeable with the File and Edit menus, which appear in nearly all windowed applications. This means if you are a clicker (like me), there is a moving target on top of the screen, especially in the case of Word in this illustration.

FruitMenu has an option in its Preference Pane to use applications' icons to denote the application menu in lieu of the programs' names. Take a look at how this alters the menu bar:

Now the menus remain much more static, thus improving the overall usability of the menu bar. The File and Edit menus stay exactly consistent. Some might raise the concern that it is not ideal UI design to use an icon for a menu because it is not immediately apparent that the icon is a clickable item. However, I would say Mac users are used to icon-activated menus due to the Apple menu in the left-hand corner and the various other menu extras that appear to the right (not pictured). I personally think that the usability gains granted by turning the application menu into an icon trump the negatives.

In short, this feature keeps bringing me back to Unsanity's APE modules. It really surprises me that this behavior isn't the Mac OS X default, and FruitMenu will stay on my system as long as it performs reliably. Between the release of 10.4.9 and Unsanity's resolution of APE's pre-binding issue, I perceive no performance lags on my modded system, so I guess I'm okay with some system mojo happening just as long as everything is sailing smoothly and I get to have my Menu bar the way I like it.

Tags: software, opinion, os x

Update 03/15:
The file I needed was not in my Home directory. It was in HD/Library/Preferences, not User/Library/Preferences! All I can assume is this file is located centrally so one activation code can be used regardless of how many user accounts are on the machine. I have overcome, but I still strongly dislike product activation keys.

Original Post:
I made the mistake of using Apple's Migration Assistant when setting up my MacBook Pro. I say this was a mistake because I was migrating information form a PPC Mac, and I found out later that migrating PPC to Intel in this method can cause performance issues on the Intel Mac – which it very noticeably did. Therefore, I backed up important information and did a clean install of OS X on my new system.

Very carefully I placed everything back where it should go (only to discover that I failed to back up some Keynote themes that were not in my Home directory, but that is easily fixed). So far, everything has worked very well, and the machine's performance is much better. Unfortunately, I have run into one snag:



Yes, my friends, what you see is a product activation dialog for iWork. For some reason, putting iWork back onto the machine – even after copying all related files I could find with a Spotlight search – resulted in them being detected as unlicensed.

Like any good person, I grabbed my product manual where I had affixed the serial number, and my eyes caught an unwelcome surprise. The serial number I had was my old iWork '05 number. The iWork '06 code was nowhere to be found. All I can figure is that I tossed the iWork '06 number on accident during a cleaning spree while saving the old one.

This is the only Apple software product I use that requires activation. iLife requires no activation. Even OS X installs without a serial number. Why then does Apple needlessly complicate matters here? By requiring product activation, Apple is basically treating their users like thieves, but they are being inconsistent about this treatment! Unfortunately, I am no thief. I am just really absent-minded once I get into cleaning fits. However, the result seems to be the same: I'm screwed.

The lack of iWork brings many of my projects, including portions of this site, to a screeching halt, but I hate the idea of buying software that I have already paid for, especially since a new version of iWork could be released any day now. My frustration with this is very high, and I am not sure how I am going to solve this. I can't find a section on Apple's site for lost registrations. No one has been able to point me to where this activation file might be hidden. (My pre-reformat system is still backed up to an external drive.) I don't know if I should just go buy a new copy of iWork or not.

I already didn't like product activation steps because of the mistrust they infer. Now I'm really upset by them. I don't like being treated like a pirate when trying to use a legitimately purchased copy of software. Sure, serial numbers have their place in online-distributed applications, but they are an unkind gesture in boxed software. This is one valid reason why.

Tags: software, iwork

Back during TED 2006, New York University research scientist Jeff Han blew his audience away with a demonstration of multitouch, "interface-free" computing. Although he claims the technology is far from new, it is unlike anything I have seen before. Take a look at the video:



If that didn't floor you, watch it again. Try interfacing that way with your tablet computer, your DS, or your smart-phone. Honestly, put the stylus away, and try to use multiple fingers on the display simultaneously. What happens? Either nothing occurs, or only one input is registered. This is one reason why touch screens have yet to catch on as mainstream computer interfaces. They offer no significant improvement over mouse and keyboard while retaining several drawbacks.

Contrast those interfaces with this. Jeff Han demonstrates ten simultaneous fingers and infers more could be detected. Look how smoothly everything works despite Mr. Han's apologies for how rough this technology still is. Fast-forward to January 2007 and the announcement of the iPhone. Jeff Han says that he is not surprised that Apple is the first to bring something like this out, but I seriously doubt the iPhone will be the only product in which Apple bundles this technology.

In fact, the track pad on the MacBook Pro I am using is sensitive to multiple touches. If I tap on the track-pad while another finger is resting on the pad, the computer registers this as a ctrl-click. If I slide two fingers across the pad simultaneously, the computer treats that input like a scroll-wheel – both vertically and horizontally. If I do this while holding down ctrl, the screen can zoom in or out, and I imagine that upcoming MacBooks may implement iPhone's "pinching" gesture for this same functionality (at least in apps like iPhoto).

Of course, iPods with a similar display and interface as the iPhone are a very safe bet. However, let's take this further.

• Resolution independence is a guaranteed feature of Leopard due out sometime between now and June. This allows screen zooming to be handled much more smoothly than is possible right now.
  
  
• Apple's interfaces are primarily designed to be accessible without resorting to secondary clicks or hidden menus. There are exceptions to this, but Macintosh user interfaces would need little tweaking to be "hands-on" ready.
  
  
• iPhone is built on OS X, and it shares some core technologies with Leopard. Therefore, core iPhone technology could be efficiently ported to Mac OS X computers.

Yes, this evidence is (very) shaky, but I think Apple is the right company to get us rethinking interfaces again. Apple controls the software and hardware of their platform, and this will make such a shift less difficult than if Dell and Microsoft (for example) were trying to implement a similar approach. It just makes sense for Apple to be the company that starts pushing this kind of technology.

Keyboards and especially mice are not well-understood by the masses. I'm always helping adults mouse around their screens and click the correct buttons. They were a good solution when they came out, but over twenty years have passed with no significant progress. Just as Nintendo has pushed the envelope as far as gaming interfaces go, Apple is a natural choice to elevate computer interaction to new levels. I'm ready for the next big thing. I just hope Apple begins pushing this technology sooner rather than later.

Tags: software, apple inc

While I was visiting Ars Technica, I noticed this ad:



Now the image quality is pretty crummy, that's obviously artwork from the new Beatles album on the iPod. Is this an accidental leak that Beatles music will show up on iTunes pretty soon, or is this a case of Circuit City trying to create product synergy in their ads? I'll let you be the judge. (Cue dramatic music.)

We just purchased a new MacBook Pro today! I don't have any unboxing pictures, but I will post some comparison shots in a couple of days. In this post, take a look at the difference seven years makes. In the middle column resides the specifications and price of my PowerBook G3 back in 2000. The column on the right reflects my new MacBook Pro.

I have to admit that I will miss the possibility of using both bays for batteries, but that's a small price to pay. What I can't get over is how different the prices are. Even if I had bought a top-of-the-line MBP, the price would have been $700 less! I wonder where laptop prices will be when it's time to replace the MacBook Pro in a few years (hopefully fewer than seven).

Disclaimer: I did not pay full price for either machine. Also, my PowerBook G3 has been upgraded to 512 MB of memory and a 30 GB hard drive.

Tags: technology, macintosh

The Macworld Keynote this morning was definitely an interesting one. The Mac seemed to be oddly absent in the presentation, and Steve Jobs really only focused on two products the entire time (though a third was updated today withoout fanfare).

Apple TV

The product formerly known as iTV made it's official public appearance. Baasically, this device acts as a bridge between the media on your computer and your TV. Of course, iTunes is at the center of this media ecology, but, for photos, Apple TV supports iPhoto on the Mac and Adobe Album and Photoshop Elements on Windows. The current model natively supports 480p and 720p TV resolutions. It has a built-in 40 GB hard drive, and it connects to the television using HDMI or componant cables. It can network with your home computer via ethernet or wireless network (including 802.11n).

The list of supported video formats is pretty limited (basically only anything iPod plays), but that shouldn't be too much of a problem if you use the device as intended. It's billed as an HD device, but it does scale down the content if hooked up to a standard TV. I imagine that, like iPod HiFi, Apple TV isn't going to be a runaway success, but it will carve itself out a healthy niche. It'll be interesting to see what future versions bring to the table. The Apple TV is available for $299.

Apple iPhone

I have to admit, after the Other iPhone came out, I was expecting something like "iPod cellular," but the name isn't the only surprise in the iPhone. The touch screen interface is just plain elegant in the demos, and it supports multi-touch input – a first for this kind of device. Also, the screen is crisp and clear, and the sensors which detect the device's orientation are a very nice touch.

The fact that this device is also the first to run a mobile version of OS X is also notable. It makes me wonder if Apple has any other devices in the "pipeline" that will make use of this slimmed down version of their operating system. The iPhone comes with 4GB or 8BG of internal flash memory, a 3.5" 320x480 screen, and it supports all modern wireless technologies (except 3G). The iPhone will be carried by Cingular and will carry a price-tag of $499 or $599.

Check out the official product page. The iPhone is beautiful, and I am not one to gush about cellular phones. I was seriously skeptical about this product, but Apple has really brought a unique offering into the crowded cell phone market.

The Undercover Updates

• Airport Extreme was updated today with a new form factor (think Apple TV) and support for 802.11n. I'm also pretty sure it's cheaper now at $179.
• Airport Express got a price drop. It's now $99.
• All Core 2 Duo Macs and the Mac Pros can take advantage of 802.11n. Via TUAW.

What Wasn't Announced

Where was the updated look at Leopard? I thought for sure we would get a tour of more new features and perhaps a new interface. iWork and iLife were totally neglected in this keynote, but these may get released alongside Leopard with some cool Leopard-only features to attract potential users. In fact the whole Mac part of this Macworld keynote seemed lacking. Okay, actually it was nonexistant. Regardless, I expect we'll be seeing some further announcements and product updates coming from the Mothership over the next few days and weeks.

Finally, as food for thought, did anyone else notice the Beatles albums in Steve Jobs' demos?

Tags: macintosh, technology, macworld, iphone

I can't say I've ever felt the need to enter into the realm of blog rebuttal before, but this article absolutely takes the cake. In many cases, I don't agree with anti-Mac articles, but I can, at least, see where the writer is coming from. In this case, Larry Bodine of Law.com writes an article that is so off-base and full of misinformation I just can't resist.

In the first paragraph, he claims to have purchased a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.7 GHz model. Then he tells the world how terrible it was to use his Mac.

I was suckered in by the hype about freedom from viruses, simplicity of computing and versatility. Instead, I bought a boat anchor that can't view Web sites properly, is not compatible with Microsoft Word and can run only dumbed-down versions of regular software.

Mr. Bodine makes four claims in this paragraph.

• "I was suckered." Twice in the article, Mr. Bodine talks about the enticement of a virus-free computer. However, nowhere does he clarify whether or not this is the case. The way he words his sentences makes it sound as if Macs are prone to viruses and spyware, which they are not. Intentionally or not, the author is being very misleading.
  
  
• "[It] can't view websites properly." Mr. Bodine gives no examples to back this claim up. Currently, I have 65 websites bookmarked. Some examples are IGN, Ars Technica, Homestar Runner, Fifth Third Bank, IUPUI Angel, IUPUI Oncourse, IUPUI OneStart, Flickr, and many others. Every one of these sites functions perfectly well in Safari. Admitedly, eBible.com has crashed Safari a couple of times, and I use Camino for that site.
  
  
• "[It] is not compatible with Microsoft Word." I have Microsoft Word on my PowerMac. As a matter of fact, so does he as he writes about his frustrations with Word later on. I don't know what he means with this claim.
  
  
• "[It] can only run dumbed-down versions of regular software." How do you define "regular" software, Mr. Bodine? Macs can run Adobe Creative Suite CS2, Final Cut Studio, Shake, Microsoft Office, Filemaker, Sibelius, Aperture, Dreamweaver, and many more. How are any of these "dumbed-down" products?

This article is shaky from the get-go, but it only gets worse the further you read:

"I'll be lucky to get half of the $4,552.71 I paid for the Mac on May 21, 2006."

You paid what? When? For which model? The lineup this Mac was a part of was replaced in October 2005. Granted, it remained purchasable on the Apple Store for some time after that due to the PCI-X compatibility issue, but the price is another problem. New, one of these retailed for $2,999 sans screen. I'll grant, a monitor purchase might have been necessary, but how much did this guy splurge? Money management must not be a forte because in May 2006, he could have gotten a more powerful quad-core G5 for less.

Edit: Since his original article, Mr. Bodine has corrected himself and stated he bought the Mac in July of 2005. How you make a mistake like that is beyond me, but I'll take his word for it.

"I was encouraged to make the switch by artists, ad agency employees and junior high school kids, even though I don't really create graphics, listen to iTunes or make movies."

So you bought a computer because it's popular in a line of work you're not involved in and because teenagers told you to. Tell me, do these teens speak to you often? Do you follow this rationale when buying things like cars? If I listened to my students' advice, I would be wearing faux gold chains, collecting Bratz dolls, trading Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and avoiding showers for days at a time.

"The signs of doom were there on day one, but I ignored them. I pretended that I liked the one button mouse. I quickly started using click + command keys (and other keyboard shortcuts). I really missed the little scrolling wheel in the center of the mouse."

Again with the dates. Yes, the one-button mouse was a hold-off for years, but it was dumped in October 2005. Apple now ships a four-button mouse that does have a scroll wheel with all of its desktops and workstations. Even if this Mr. Bodine did get the one-button Apple Mouse, he spent $4,500 on his rig and can't go buy a $20 optical mouse to plug in. (Incidentally, my Kensington mouse has four buttons, a scroll wheel, cost $20, and "just works" when plugged in.)

"I noticed it was slow; I saw that stupid spinning colored wheel a lot. The Mac would hang up; the TV ads said Macs didn't do that."

I see the beach ball occasionally too, but not often. I can still count the number of "hang ups" my PowerMac has had on one hand (even after about three years), and most of them are iDVD-related. I'm sorry his exponentially more powerful machine was so much slower than mine is. I guess mileage may vary.

"What drove me nuts was that I would open Word for Mac and couldn't delete files while I was in Word. There is no File | Delete option. So the documents took up space on my hard drive, until someone told me I had to find the document in Finder and then move it into the trash from there. This seemed stupid to me; I just wanted to highlight a file and tap 'delete.'"

This is true. you cannot delete files from within a Mac OS X save dialog, and MS Word uses a standard Mac save dialog. This problem is just a fundamental difference in design. Unfortunately, I've noticed that a few Windows users get frustrated on Macs because, on Windows, you can add and remove files and programs with absolutely no understanding of how your system is organized. The Mac Finder is organized very well, but too many people don't even know to use it if they have grown used to Windows' hand-holding.

"Word files transferred from the Mac were missing pictures. PowerPoint files transferred from the Mac would lose their formatting. PCs and Macs are not compatible, regardless of what they say."

This also happens PC-to-PC if the machines are running different versions or editions of Office. Personally, this has never bitten me, but I use Office only minimally.

"Things I could do with a PC in two keystrokes took four or five clicks with the Mac. To do a "fast print" required clicking File, Print, find Copies & Pages, click Paper Type/Quality, click Normal and finally clicking Fast Draft."

Like the Windows version of Office, there is an icon of a printer in the main toolbar. Click it, and the printer spits out your document – one click, not five.

"Doing a simple screen capture was an immense chore. On a PC you just press Alt and tap PrtScr. With the Mac I had to download and launch special programs to accomplish this simple task."

Cmd-Shift-3 captures the entire screen. Cmd-Shift-4 allows you to select a certain area to be captured. Press the space bar, and you can highlight specific elements such as an active window, the dock, or the menu bar. No third-party utility is required.

"I didn't even bother with the Mac's iCal or Mail, which required me to buy an @mac.com address. Instead, I went straight to Outlook for Mac."

Neither iCal nor Mail require .Mac accounts to function properly. It's a shame he left these alone. They are nice applications. (Microsoft is even imitating iCal in Windows Vista.) Mail's handling of junk mail is really quite good, and I like the option of bouncing messages I don't want. I get almost no spam anymore.

"For me the killer was the Web browser. Safari simply cannot read Flash. It is, quite simply, a second-rate browser."

Really? In the last 48-hours, I have visited Adobe.com, Ugo Player.com, Homestar Runner.com, and YouTube.com. All of these sites use Flash, and all of these sites look just fine in Safari. I wonder if Mr. Bodine checked to see if the Flash plug-in was installed. After all, even Internet Explorer won't work with Flash sites if the plug-in is not there.

"I even called Apple headquarters and asked when a better version would be available and was told that Apple is in no hurry to improve it."

I don't believe this for a second. First, he may be misrepresenting Apple's usual "we don't comment on future products" reply. Second, there are various enhancements for Safari planned for Leopard. Third, this blog provides very open information about WebKit (Safari's foundation) and it's development.

"On the suggestions of friends, I downloaded Netscape and Firefox, which were no better."

I have no comment on Netscape, but I'll let the Open Source crowd address him in regards to Firefox.

There is more to the article, but this really gives a decent representation of his flawed reasoning. The fact is, Mr. Bodine makes some claims that are sometimes outright wrong and others with no corroborating evidence. Despite his law degree and position as a tech advisor he seems lacking in basic fact-checking and computing skills. I doubt he really is, but this article makes him seem that way. I've even read one blogger that feels Mr. Bodine just made up his whole experience for the sake of traffic. I don't believe he's outright lying, but his way of telling the truth is not terribly honest-sounding.

I'm very glad many Mac users have offered to help make Mr. Bodin'e life easier, but I wish he would correct his article for integrity's sake. I don't care if he likes his Mac, but if he is going to advise people to avoid Macs, he should do so for legitimate reasons.

Tags: opinion

This is so neat, I have to share: In the Mac OS X 10.4.8 update, the Keyboard & Mouse Preference Pane has been modified to allow for automatic screen zooming (independent of Universal Access controls).



As you can see, if you hold down Control while using the scroll wheel, zooming is automatically enabled. Here are a couple of screen captures. One is a normal shot of the screen. The second shows zooming enabled.

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Also, once the screen is magnified, you can navigate around simply by moving the mouse. You can actually achieve a pretty intense magnification with this method, and it is another hint at resolution independence being a possible feature in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. (It's already available in Tiger but not at the user level.)

Furthermore, this is a pretty handy feature for presentations that include software demonstrations. Right now, enlarged icons and controls look fairly pixelated, but the use of resolution independent elements could make this feature even smoother. Imagine being able to demo iMovie or MS Word and smoothly zooming in on a feature you are elaborating on without having to visit a preference pane or using a static magnified screenshot.

Little touches like these make me like my Mac even more. Thanks to the great Daring Fireball for pointing this feature out. (You can see his blog in the screenshots.)

Tags: software, os x

Apple's event on Tuesday brought about an updated iTunes application among other announcements. Historically, iTunes has foreshadowed future trends in Apple's GUI from the brushed metal appearance of iTunes 1.0 to the darker unified look of iTunes 5, so I thought the new iTunes was worth a look.
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First up, I couldn't help but notice (as have many others) that the icon returns to the blue of iTunes 2, but the beam connecting the eighth notes is thicker than in previous versions of this icon. I'm glad blue is back. It was my favorite iTunes icon!
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Now right here is a shot of iTunes 6 & iTunes 7 side-by-side. (You can click these images for a larger view.)



Immediately, it is noticeable that iTunes 7 sports a much more subdued interface. Colors in general are muted, and it doesn't even use standard aqua scroll-bars and checkboxes. Also, some elements have been moved around, but it didn't take me too long to find everything (except the Visualizer button seems to be entirely gone).

The sidebar sports more defined categories than did iTunes 6. The headers (oddly) are in all caps, but they do a nice job separating built-in libraries from online elements and user-created playlists. Overall, the sidebar looks much cleaner than before.

Also new are some buttons that control how you are viewing your media. The first button is the classic iTunes list view; the second button shows a list with album art, and the third button is the new Cover Flow view (in which Apple did the "right thing" and bought out the developer who inspired them).

Below is a shot of the new Cover Flow view. It's a very nice way to view your album art, but I have noticed it can be a little glitchy when browsing too quickly.



On the store side of things, movie downloads and games are new features. So far, only Disney-owned studios are available for purchase, but that still makes for a devent variety of films to choose from. I'm not thrilled with the movie prices, but they aren't bad either. Here's a look at the movie section of the store:



As you can see, Apple implements the new Cover Flow view into the movie store. This is also true of the TV store, but the music store hasn't adopted this look yet. I found browsing through the movies and watching trailers rather painless, but I haven't purchased a movie, nor do I foresee myself doing so in the near future. In thruth, I don't understand all the excitement surrounding video downloads, but I'm not much of a TV-watcher or movie-goer as it is.

Here's the new game section of the store:



The addition of this section, I have to admit, was surprising to me. I had heard rumors about Apple hiring and contacting game developers, and iPod related games seemed a natural progression. I guess I just didn't figure they would start selling them through the iTunes Store. It is a pretty convenient way to make sure iTunes can manage all things iPod.

I've been using iTunes 7 for a couple of days now with no real problems. The only glitch I have run into is the fact that Cover Flow sometimes uses placeholders instead of album art if I scroll too quickly. Otherwise, this is a great update. I love the new view options (even if one does seem directly copied from Windows Media Player 11), and everything else seems to be pretty well polished.

As I said earlier, iTunes often seems to preview future trends in Mac OS GU, and I admit that I hope this continues. By and large, I like the direction iTunes is going with its UI. The muted colors and subtle gradients work, and I even find myself drawn to those "fuzzy" scroll-bars. The only thing about iTunes 7's interface that bugs me is how strongly it contrasts with the rest of Mac OS X. Hopefully, the rest of the Mac OS experience will continue to follow iTune's lead.


By the way, Paul Thurrott has uploaded a nice gallery of iTunes' new iPod interface. You can take a look at it right here. (Wow, I never thought I'd link him twice in one day.)

Tags: software, opinion

This is going to be my last post fawning over the new iMac, I promise, but I wanted to elaborate on the iMac price versus the Dell XPS 410 price two posts ago. Here's a table of the exact specs I chose for the Dell when compared to the iMac. Please note that I've highlighted where one machine has a clear advantage over the other.



Some notes to finish up with: There are intangibles involved. For one, the included software on the Mac is certainly more diverse, but what comes on the Dell is pretty necessary. In fact, the lack of any permanent Office software on the iMac is a gaping hole. Also, I included power consumption because that does have an effect on one's electricity bill. Furthermore, I just like products that require less power. (As an aside, the wattage on the Dell does not take the monitor into consideration.)

To address some of the Mac's apparent shortcomings, on the Apple Store, I added Apple's USB modem, iWork (for text and slide editing), and a 256 MB nVidia GeForce 7600 GT, and the price came to $2,252 – only $14 more than the Dell.

Yes, you can still get cheaper computers than Macs, but when it comes to spec-by-spec comparisons, Apple's prices actually are competitive for what they offer. No, they still do not compete in the bargain-basement market, but the price-to-performance ratio is much definitely more attractive than it once was, and the iMac is a great example of that improvement.

Tags: macintosh, technology, dell

Pretty much out of left field (and on a Wednesday at that), Apple has announced a couple of upgrades to their product lines.


First up is the ever adorable Mac mini. The only real change here is that you can now choose between 1.66 GHZ or 1.83 GHz Core Duo (Yonah) processors. The previous generation had 1.5 GHz Core Solo and 1.66 GHz Core Duo respectively. Prices haven't changed, but Apple now offers a 160 GB hard drive as a BTO option. I guess that's all there is to say about the mini.


Here's the real upgrade of the day. The iMacs have moved from Core Duo (Yonah) to Core 2 Duo (Merom) chips, and Apple has added to the low and high ends of the iMac lineup.

At the entry level, we now have a $999 iMac that has a 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo. The big sacrifices here come in the fact that the $999 model does not come with a remote (only a $29 add-on but still a bit of a bummer) and Intel integrated graphics. I think this machine is best suited toward someone thinking about a mini but can't BYODKM (Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, & Mouse). For those who have been keeping track, yes, this is basically identical to the previously education-only model.

At the high end, we have a 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo (upgradeable to 2.33 GHz) with a 24" screen. Even the rumor sites missed this one by one inch! (To their credit, the iMac does share screen resolution with the 23" Cinema Display.) Another improvement is the addition of an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card with 128 MB (upgradable to a 7600 GT with 256 MB), and the new iMacs can hold up to 3 GB of memory and 500 GB of storage.

Now, for fun, here comes the interesting math. Take a Mac mini; spec it as close as you can to an iMac; add a 23" Cinema Display. What does it cost? $2,073, and the 24" iMac will still have better graphics and a larger hard drive. For more fun, a similarly equipped Dell XPS 410 with a 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo processor is $2,238 (but it does have a faster optical drive and better video card to be fair). The 24" iMac is $1,999.

The Mac mini upgrade may be a simple step, but this iMac upgrade is very compelling – so much so that I could see it cannibalizing Mac Pro sales to some extent, but, honestly, the Mac Pro has moved to an entirely different tier of computing. As for me, I can't wait to get into an Apple Store to try one of these out!

Tags: technology, macintosh

Some pretty neat stuff came out of WWDC 2006's Stevenote today. I didn't get what I wanted to see (Merom-based MacBook Pros), but the announcements today made for a good show.

The Completed Transition

Apple's new workstation is a powerful machine. It contains two dual-core Xeon 5100 processors (a.k.a Woodcrest) in speeds of 2.0 GHz, 2.66 GHz, and (finally) 3.0 GHz with a 1.33 GHz frontside bus. It ships with 1 GB of memory, expandable to 16 GB, and 250 GB of internal storage, expandable to 2 TB. We have an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT PCI Express graphics card with many upgrade options, and the the option to have dual optical drives.

On the education store, I was able to strip one down to $1,962 USD (not including a display). On the other end of the spectrum, if you go for all the bells and whistles, you'll be out over $11,000 UDS (still not including a display). From what I hear, the pre-configured $2,499 model is pretty competitive, but it is definitely out of my pricerange!

Along with the Mac Pro comes a Xeon-based XServe, making for a speedy update to Apple's server solutions.

The New Cat In Town

The Steve also had a sneak-peek at Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on display. Many of the features demoed were far from Earth-shattering, but they do go towards making the Mac experience more fun for us veterans and more familiar to Windows converts. The updates to Mail, Dashboard, iCal, and iChat are evoutionary enhancements (except I think the backdrop thing in iChat is pretty cheesy).

The exciting stuff here is in Apple's implementation of virtual desktops, known as Spaces. I really didn't think this feature would be included. Sure, there are a few third-party solutions for virtual desktops, but, by and large, I doubt many people know what these are. Time Machine brings a much-needed backup utility to Mac OS X with the usual Apple flair, and Core Animation will make it a bit easier for developers to add some eye candy to their apps.

I can't say I'm excited about Leopard yet, but this was just a limited preview. In the future I'm sure we'll see resolution independence as well as a refined interface along with some features that aren't being talked about yet. Still, the Intel transition is complete. Leopard is progressing toward a Spring 2007 launch, and Apple is continuing to make being a Mac user an exciting experience.

Tags: macintosh, technology, wwdc, leopard, os x

Okay, seriously, in case you have been living under a rock lately, Apple has become much more competitive in their product prices since the switch to Intel processors (Mac mini notwithstanding). Although it may be an extreme example, this computer reviewed on C|Net is a great example of that.

Dell XPSM2010
Processor: 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo
RAM: 1 GB
Display 20.1" 1680 x 1050
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 256 MB
Hard Drive: 80 GB
Optical Drive: DVD-ROM DVD±RW
Weight: 18.3 pounds
Price: USD $3500

Apple MacBook Pro
Processor: 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo
RAM: 1 GB
Display: 17" 1680 x 1050
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256 MB
Hard Drive: 120 GB
Optical Drive: DVD±RW (Dual-Layer)
Weight: 6.8 pounds
Price: USD $2800

Note that the MacBook Pro, while sporting a slightly smaller display, uses the same resolution – producing a crisper image. Furthermore, Apple's laptop has a faster processor and more storage as well. Really, the only advantage this Dell has is in its graphics card. Atop these advantages, the MacBook Pro has other features such as a sudden-motion sensor for the hard drive, a magnetic power cord, and a backlit keyboard, not to mention that the Dell seems to be missing any burning capabilities. Correction: It has a DVD burner – just not dual-layer.

If I go to Dell's store and custom order the XPS with the same hard drive size and processor speed as the MacBook Pro, its price raises to USD $3925! I'll concede that you can get laptops cheaper than anything Apple has to offer, but, if you are looking for a machine with comparable specs and design, Apple's prices suddenly become very competitive.

Tags: macintosh, technology, dell

Wow. Just wow. Things must be really cold right here at the moment. Thanks to Boot Camp (have to love Apple product names, even the temporary ones), Intel Macs can now dual-boot Mac OS X and WIndows XP.

I have to admit to not knowing what to think of this. On one hand, this could generate a lot of consumer interest in the Macintosh as switching is no longer an all-or-nothing proposition. Furthermore, this could be great for the education sector. Think about it; you can now teach about all of the major operating platforms on one machine.

On the other hand, I remember talking once to a developer who thought creating a Mac port of her product was a waste of time because Mac users could always pay for a copy of Virtual PC + Windows to run her software really slowly, and that solution was good enough. This move could potentially encourage some developers to get really lazy. "You want to use our software? Just dual-boot."

Should Apple be able to retain the developers, this could be a good move. As I earlier mentioned, this could entice people who might otherwise view purchasing a Mac as a risky investment.

Despite the weirdness of this announcement, you have to love some of the barbs Apple dishes out to Microsoft on the Boot Camp product page:

On BIOS & EFI:

"Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries."

On Security:

"Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes."

(Actually, I would avoid the internet with the Windows partition as much as possible!)

In the end, in case you can't tell, I really don't know what to make of this announcement. The thought of running Windows on a Mac makes me want to wash my brain out with soap, but I can understand the appeal to others. I just hope the major Mac-supporting developers stay on board, and I hope the smaller developers like Delicious Monster, RealMac Software, Panic, and the Omni Group continue to make their awesome Mac-only products that help make this platform unique.

I guess I, like many others, will just have to sit back and see where this goes.

Update 4/6:
A favorite blogger of mine, John Gruber posted this interesting write-up on what this whole Boot Camp thing means for the Mac. The article is called, "Windows: The New Classic." (Warning: language.) Toward the end of the article, he makes an interesting observation about the Boot Camp icon (which seems spot on), and he includes one of my favorite recent geek jokes in the article as well:

"What's the difference between OS X and Vista? Microsoft employees are excited about OS X..."

Additionally, I mentioned the potential for the Boot Camp solution in the classroom. Actually, this looks like a much more interesting solution for multiple platform environments.

Tags: software, microsoft, opinion, os x

The following post is completely unreliable speculation based on the fact that I've been wanting to use the name "MacBook mini" in a sentence for some time now:

Some predict the processor in this machine will end up in the upcoming Macbook (successor to the iBook). I disagree. I say this processor will be in the MacBook mini. 11"-widescreen TFT, 1.2 GHz ULV Core Solo, 512 MB DDR memory, 60 GB hard drive, Combo Drive, Intel Integrated Graphics, $999 USD. A tablet version will be available for $1,299 USD. (Oh, and the enclosure will resemble the finish of the iPod nano!)

Oh, yeah. You heard it here first. (Initiate Emperor's New Groove-style dance.)

Tags: silly, technology

I used to be a Mac-hater – honestly. I remember thinking of the Mac as a "toy" that couldn't run most programs, nor would my files be compatible with it because it couldn't run Windows 95, which was, to me, the pinnacle of all things computing at the time. Please understand, I was in my teens at time, and Apple was in its darkest hours. All Apple press was bad press. Yes, I was a teen in the 90s.

I remember seeing this poster my freshman year of college and thinking,"How lame. That has to be about the most hideous computer I've ever seen."



Then I took a long hard look at my IBM Aptiva. It was no looker either. In fact, it took up a whole lot more desk space than that iMac would. Furthermore, I began using the Macs on campus more and more. I even found myself beginning to make excuses to use the lab PowerMac G3s (not the blue & whites) rather than my home machine. I began messing with the iMacs on display at CompUSA, and the pretty colors of the revised iMacs became all the more mesmerizing.

Finally, in 2000 I got my first Mac: a graphite iMac with a 400 MHz G3 processor. A G3 PowerBook soon followed and became home to all my college assignments. (In retrospect, I could have probably made due with only the PowerBook, but my limited computer knowledge of the time never suggested that a laptop could have replaced a desktop.)

Even after a couple months of experience on the machines, I have to admit I was not necessarily completely sold on being a repeat customer. Mac OS 9 was fun and all, but it didn't give me anything Windows 9x really lacked – well, other than not being completely hideous, a problem that plagues Windows to this day. However, I became sold the minute I got my hands on the Public Beta of Mac OS X. My iMac would not transition until Jaguar, but my PowerBook has been an OS X machine from the moment the Public Beta hit my doorstep.

Since then, I have used every release of Mac OS X. I am an iLife and an iWork junkie, and I am currently the proud owner of A PowerMac G5 (1.8 GHz SP, 900 MHz FSB). Surprisingly enough, the G3 PowerBook I mention in recent posts is that same G3 from 6 years ago, and that 6-year-old iMac? It currently resides with my wife's grandparents as their web browsing and email machine, and it probably still has some life left in it. The iMac is running OS X 10.3.9, and the PBG3 is running OS X 10.4.5. I wonder how many 6-year-old PCs are running XP SP2?

So will my next computer be a Mac? Do you really have to ask? My laptop is in bad need of replacement (as I've done everything in my power to run it onto the ground), and I've even resorted to packing my G5 up when giving important presentations. I just can't seem to trust my old PBG3 to make through an intensive Keynote slideshow anymore – something about the app requiring a G4 processor. Needless to say, the new Core Duo MacBook Pro is looking very attractive indeed.

Apple is turning 30, and I've been a Mac user for one-fifth of that time. Here's to many more years of "insanely great" products that dare to "think different."

Tags: technology

... To post about Tuesday's Apple media event.

To put is succinctly, Apple's announcements were, in the words of Steve Jobs, "medium-scale." There is nothing terribly exciting here, nor did the Steve, who appears much more subdued and laid-back in this presentation, make any pretense that the products announced were much more than evolutionary steps of the Apple product matrix.

The iPod Hi-Fi

Mr. Jobs probably put the most emphasis on this product, mainly because this is the only completely new product introduced Tuesday. In truth, despite my musical background, currently I know little about frequencies. All I know is that my music, from Dave Matthews Band to the Beatles to Mahler to Glass, all sounds fine in iTunes, so it would probably sound dandy with these speakers. I imagine this is a nice accessory, but at $350, it's a bit pricey – and that's coming from a die-hard Mac fan.

Regardless, it does fit the Mac aesthetic quite well. The fact that it works with the Apple Remote is welcome. Also, it does feature audio-in, possibly placing it in a position to be an add-on for someone wanting to get a Mac mini as a media center.

Intel Mac mini

I like the Mac mini. It's cute and functional, but I'll probably never own one myself. (However, I wouldn't mind pairing one up with a Smart Board in my classroom!) This Mac mini boasts some new features, most notably two extra USB ports, built-in Bluetooth and Airport, Gigabit Ethernet, a SATA hard drive, and Front Row/Apple Remote support. The downsides are a $100 price hike and an integrated video processor which will eat off system memory. Of course, buying more RAM when you order will alleviate this problem.

On the whole integrated graphics issue: first, there appears to be little room for a dedicated graphics card in this thing. Since Apple seems to be pretty strict about maintaining form factors lately, integrated graphics may have been the only option. Furthermore, it seems that this is still a significant upgrade to the G4 mini's graphics system despite the fact it isn't exactly geared toward high-end gaming. I'm interested to mess with one of these in our local Apple Store.

I imagine we'll see some new products in a few more weeks as April draws close. I'm personally hoping for some revved iBooks. (The MacBook Pro is way out of my league.) However, I do hope future iBooks – or will they be MacBooks? – do have a dedicated video card and not some integrated system.

Tags: macintosh, technology

Take a look at this:



iPhoto has abandoned brushed metal. This is also true of iMovie and iDVD (which also got a spiffy new icon). Each of these applications has adopted the "Them With No Name" that iTunes introduced last fall, retaining the slightly darker appearance of brushed metal, but smoother and without those thick edges brushed apps (like the Finder) have.

I wonder if iCal, Finder, and the other remaining brushed metal applications will all adopt this look by the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Only time will tell.

Tags: software

Well, perhaps that is an overstatement, but I can't remember feeling so giddy during a SteveNote presentation since the PowerMac G5s were unveiled at WWDC 2003 (and I tend to get slightly giddy during any presentation given by Steve Jobs).

First, I like the iLife and iWork updates. Sure, there is still no dedicated spreadsheet application in iWork, but the additions to Pages and Keynote look great. As far as iLife goes, iPhoto has me the most interested, though the enhancements to the other apps – particularly iMovie and iDVD – will be welcome, especially since I haven't updated iLife for two years now.

The new Intel iMac is cool. I like the current form factor, so retaining it wasn't a bad thing. However, it would be nice if there was some way of distinguishing it from the PowerPC iMac other than the specs on the box. Regardless, it seems to be getting quite the performance boost for no more cost. No complaints from this gallery.

What really floored me was this:



Say hello to the MacBook Pro. Alright, so no points for the name, but a hundred points for the computer itself. Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with the PowerBook G4 long ago, but this thing just stole my geeky heart. 1.67 or 1.83 GHz Intel Duo processor, 667 MHz frontside bus (as compared to 167 MHz on the G4), Mobility Radeon X 1600, optical audio, dual-layer DVD burning, built-in iSight, backlit keyboard – I could go on and on.

It's everything the PowerBook was plus one important factor: Power.

Questionably, Apple has removed the FireWire 800 port, which strikes me as odd, and, according to this Infinite Loop post, battery life is somewhat disappointing. It is worth noting, though, that these machines do not ship until February, and progress could be made on the battery front between now and then.

Regardless of these apparent shortcomings, there is little to complain about here. This is one nice laptop, and it is easily the most competitive laptop Apple has released in a while. Sure, a Dell would be still cheaper, but it just wouldn't be a Mac. Congratulations, Apple, the Intel transition is underway. Here's to hoping the next several months go smoothly!

Tags: macintosh, technology, macworld

I promised this post months ago, but I just haven't had the time to hash it out. Now seems as good of a time as ever since at least one of my grad classes is mostly caught up for the moment! This is by no means a comprehensive review of Mac OS X 10.4, but I hope it provides a decent overview and a good perspective on one person's experiences using this product.
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Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was released on April 29, 2005 to wide acclaim and wide criticism. As per Apple's recent tradition, the product was $129 ($69 for educators). There was much ado over "200 New Features" from Apple's PR, and there was general complaint and mockery regarding a $129 fee for a "point release" from the critical. The truth of Tiger is somewhere in the middle. You have to pick some pretty fine nits to find "200 New Features." On the other hand, Mac OS 10.4 is more than a general "point release."
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An OS By Any Other Name...

I've often said that Apple sells itself short in the nomenclature used for it's "X" systems. To illustrate this, some history:
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(At this point, some of my more tech-savy readers should skip ahead.) Mac OS X, pronounced "Mac Oh-Es Ten," is not really the tenth version of the Macintosh Operating System. The original Mac OS died with the passing of Mac OS 9. The current system is based on UNIX, and it is a marriage, sometimes inelegant and sometimes uncomfortable, of the Classic Mac OS and another OS project that was called NeXTSTEP. As such, Mac OS X 10.1 was really version one of a new product. (No, I refuse to count Mac OS X 10.0 as anything else than an expensive beta.)
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With each successive release, this product has matured considerably, so much so that screenshots of Mac OS X 10.1 look very foreign to someone used to working with Mac OS 10.4. In fact, these two systems look about as similar as Windows 98 and Windows XP. However, public perception can be that progress has been minimal because of how Apple has chosen to name their new operating system. It would be more accurate to view this product as Mac OS X Version 4 than as a simple point release.
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Installation and First Impressions

My system disks were of Mac OS X 10.4.0, and installation was breezy. It took a little over 20 minutes to install on my G5, but it took quite a bit longer on my PowerBook G3. After rebooting, there was some performance lag as Spotlight indexed my hard drive, but that was quickly resolved. I quickly played with as many toys as I could including Automator, Dashboard, Spotlight, and the snazzy new screen-savers! Everything worked as expected.
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My G5 seemed noticeably faster overall. I'm continually impressed how each Mac OS revision seems to make that machine snappier (even though it's a 1.8 GHz SP, which is supposedly adversely affected by 10.4). Startup time is also speedier. On average, my G5 takes roughly 30 seconds to boot. Unfortunately, Mac OS 10.4 has had the opposite affect on my PowerBook G3, and the poor thing seems to struggle under this system's weight. I guess I should have known I was in trouble when my old PowerBook was not on the initial list of supported hardware. (It appeared a few days later.)
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What about stability? So far, there have been no kernal panics. Actually, I have been fortunate enough to never have had one of these, and I have been an OS X user since the Public Beta came out. My PowerBook began my OS X experience, and my old Graphite iMac DV joined the X era when Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" came out. In addition to the lack of kernal panics on either my G5 or my PowerBook G3, I have experienced no system freezes, and the only application to "Unexpectedly Quit" has been Microsoft Word 2004 on my laptop. My desktop has had absolutely zero flakiness ... outside of some that was my own doing.
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My only real complaint is the fact that 10.4.1 and 10.4.2 (as well as some other miscellaneous updates) had already been released prior to my purchase of Tiger in late August, but the boxed version I got did not contain these updates, so both my desktop and my laptop had to download those updates after installation. I had kind of expected those updates to be "in the box" by then. For reference, 10.4.1 had been released May 16, and 10.4.2 had been released July 12. My purchase of Mac OS X 10.4 was on August 20.
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New Features

Dashboard: Dashboard is the flashiest of the new features, and it is the feature that will probably remain most associated with Tiger. Dashboard is a compnant of Exposé, which was introduced by Apple in 10.3 "Panther." Dashboard is a separate layer from the desktop that runs mini applications callsed "widgets." These widgets are one-trick ponies that can do things like track shipments, monitor the weather, control iTunes, convert measurements, and act as a calendar. There are thousands of widgets freely available for download on the Internet, and there are a few more sophisticated ones that cost a few dollars. Fortunately, Apple has included an interface for installing and managing widgets as of the 10.4.2 update.



By in large, I find Dashboard pretty useful. I used to run Konfabulator strictly in Konsposé mode, so Dashboard offered little adjustment for me. The screenshot shows my most frequently used widgets, and they all do the job well. My only gripe is with the general laginess of Dashboard when you open it the first time after login. Personally, I have to recommend a tiny app called Dashboard Starter if you think you'll use Dashboard a lot. All it does is launch Dashboard on login, thereby making the widgets more responsive once you are ready to use them.

Spotlight: Spotlight is the integrated system search feature of Mac OS 10.4. You can envoke Spotlight by clicking on a magnifying glass icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen or by using the keyboard command Command-Space. Spotlight searches while you type, which is fine on fast systems, but I wish there was the option for it to wait for you to hit Return on my slower G3 system. Most of the time, if I lose something, Spotlight can find it for me. However, on my PowerBook G3, I've noticed that about half of my documents never get searched, and I'm not sure how to correct that situation. I'm a pretty organized person and seldom lose track of where I have information stowed, but Spotlight has come in handy during those times I have lost track of stuff.

Here's what a Spotlight window looks like if you ask it to show you all results from the Spotlight menu. Could this be the future of the Finder?



Automator: Automator may be one of the cooler new features that few will discover and even fewer may use. I can't comment too much about Automator because I'm still learning about it. Basically, Automator is designed to bring one-step goodness to repetitive tasks. For example, you could apply a sepia tone filter to multiple photographs at once. You may want to assign Spotlight Keywords to multiple items, or you could name several files sequentially (August 01.pdf, August 02.pdf, etc.). There is a learning curve involved, but Automator is a nice example of how Apple sometimes succeeds in thinking outside the box. I think I'm going to really like Automator once I get used to it.

Here's a screen capture of one of Automator's sample workflows. You can add and rearrange steps using simple drag-and-drop.



Other New Features: QuickTime is now at verison 7 and supports a new high-definition codec. Unfortuantely, QuickTime 7 does not seem to be as responsive as QuickTime 6 was when viewing .mpg videos in a browser window (Safari or Firefox). Some new Finder features include Burnable Folders and Smart Folders. Both are quite useful, especially the Burn Folders, which allow you to set up a burn session without a CD or DVD actually being inserted in the drive. FIanlly, the built in RSS support in Safari is cool, but if you are used to a dedicated RSS aggregator (like NetNewsWire), Safari probably won't offer enough features to make you switch.

There are plenty more little touches that separate Mac OS X 10.4 from previous releases, but this gives an overview of some of the most obvious enhancements.

Under the Hood

More important than the superficial enhancements are the "under the hood" improvements to Mac OS X 10.4. These are the changes that most will never see or know about but that affect how the system and applications work. Apple refers to these as "key technologies," and they include such elements as H.264 support, Core Image, Core Data, and Core Audio. Core Audio was introduced in either Jaguar or Panther, and it created a robust set of integrated audio functionality right into the operating system that any application can potentially have access to. Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro is a good example of an application that takes advantage of Core Audio.

New to the Core Foundation Technologies are Core Image and Core Data. Core Data is over my head, but it meant to improve the data-model framework used by applications. Core Data is important to Spotlight's functionality, and it uses database concepts to organize and manage data from any application built to utilize it. This, like other Core Foundation Technologies, is aimed squarely at developers and making Mac OS X as attractive of a development platform as possible. Furthermore, Core Image, like Core Audio, provides developers with a respectable palette of image tools that can be seamlessly integrated into their application. Image Tricks by BeLight Software is a nice utility that is built entirely around the Core Image filters.

What does this mean to the end user? It means future Mac OS X applications can take advantage of all sorts of great technologies that would formerly have had to be integrated manually. Imagine a presentation application that could apply audio effects to sounds and music in the presentation, that could manipulate images right in the application by applying Gaussian blur and sepia tone filters without having to rely on a separate image editor, all while indexing every bit of content in your presentation for easy searching later. An application like this would be very possible utilizing Apple's Core Foundation Technologies (which makes me wonder what new features we'll see in Keynote 3). I don't understand half of the technical documentation regarding Core Foundation, but I do know that I've been impressed more than once by applications that make good use of these technologies.

Dashboard and Safari RSS are nifty and fun. Core Foundation Technologies are the stepping stones that will build the future of the Macintosh platform.
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The Interface.

See that cool screenshot? Yeah, Mac OS X 10.4 doesn't quite look that good. That screenshot is actually the product of two different interface modifications (iTuno and SmoothStripes Sunken Mod if you must know). Don't get me wrong, I really like the Aqua user interface, and I am a big fan of the new "Unified" look that Mail 2 sports. I just don't like how every other application seems to have a different version of Aqua applied to it. The Finder, for example, still looks basically like it did in the days of Jaguar, while iTunes has a drastically different appearance using similar elements, and don't get me started on GarageBand.

Aqua has evolved greatly since the days of Mac OS X 10.0. It is much more subdued than it used to be, and pinstripes are pretty much gone. However, it seems that Apple has been improving the interface in bits and pieces. Unfortunately for users, this results in a very inconsistent visual experience. On the other hand, this may be intentional. Software developers seem to be moving to having different applications having distinct looks and feels (Windows Media Player and Office 12 anyone?). It's just not my cup of tea. Fortunately, applications like Unsanity's ShapeShifter make modifying the systems appearance fairly painless.

The Kitchen Sink & Conclusion

I know there are many aspects of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger I have failed to overview in detail. For example, I haven't talked much about H.264, nor have I said anything about the new metadata features that have worked their way into Tiger. iChat AV has gone untouched on my computer, so there was no use in even mentioning it, and accessibility features as well as the new parental controls are absent from this overview. 10.4 is a huge system filled with features, and there is no way I'm going to be able to cover all of them.

Tiger is another step toward making Mac OS X a more robust and feature-rich environment to work in. Some features like Dashboard are very visible while others, like Automator, may seem more daunting to the average user. Some features have been left strangely hidden, like the Finder's Slideshow functionality, while many of the other enhancements are at the system level, invisible to most people. Overall, I'm glad we bought Tiger, and I'm really looking forward to the enhancements and changes that will be brought by Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard in late 2006!

Tags: macintosh, software, opinion, tiger, os x

The first order of business is to wish my wonderful wife a very happy birthday!!!

I know I'm a bit late posting about the latest Apple media event. There's really not much to say. I can't comment on Aperture because that application is way out of my league. However, I do think it's interesting that Apple is trying to distance it from Photoshop as much as possible. As far as I can tell, the two applications have little in common. I imagine many people who invest a great deal of time in one will also find the other valuable. If you are curious for more info on Aperture, visit Apple's product page. It's a neat looking web page.

PowerMacs

My 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5 looks positively anemic next to these beasts. Like the iMac, we have moved to DDR2 SDRAM, though the PowerMacs remained at the same 533 MHz memory the iMac has instead of being bumped to 667 MHz. Sometimes I think Apple is going all conservative on me. In addition to the new memory, the PowerMac has adopted PCI-Express as well as some serious graphics cards, including (finally) a professional level card with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500. The dual ethernet ports are also worthy of note for anyone wishing to turn a PowerMac into a server.

The big news, of course, is dual-core. Some early reports are indicating that the dual-core 2.3 GHz model is slightly faster than the previous generation dual processor 2.5 GHz machine. (The previous machine had two single-core processors in it.) I'm sure the many variables listed above were also contributors to this performance gain, but it is promising. I was perplexed when I saw the "new" machines were running at a slower clock-speed than the previous generation, but it seems the machines still have quite a boost in performance. (Incidentally, this is not the first time a "MHz regression" has occurred. According to MacTracker, the final G3 PowerBooks were running at 500 MHz, but the first G4 PowerBooks came out at 400 MHz.)

In all, the new PowerMacs are a very strong lineup. If Apple's claims are true about performance gains, then Macintosh-based professionals may want to snatch one of these up before "the Switch" if their current machine is growing long-in-the-tooth.

PowerBooks

Um, were these updated? Seriously, I like the new screen resolutions. Hopefully, the future onset of resolution independent user interfaces will allow them to pack the pixels even denser in the future. The product line has also been simplified. All PowerBooks have DVD-burners, but only the two larger models get dual-layer burning. Both larger models have 128 MB dedicated graphics memory, backlit keyboard, and optical audio. Truthfully, the 15-inch model seems to offer the best value, especially at my educator discount.

Are these updates exciting? No. Did I expect more? A little bit. Regardless, my PowerBook G3 has seen better days, so I might be trying to justify getting the 15-inch model. We'll see... I feel myself being swayed by Apple's beautiful product pictures...

Tags: macintosh, technology

Apple's media event on October 12 was something else. A new generation of iPods, a revision to the iTunes Music Store to support video purchases, and a revised iMac made for quite the event.

iMac Media Edition

My first impression: "Wow. It looks even sleeker!" I have been in love with the iMac G5 since it was introduced, and this package is just great. The processors are 1.9 GHz and 2.1 GHz for the 17" and the 20" models respectively. These machines are the first in Apple's lineup to support DDR2 SDRAM and PCI - Express graphics. This provides a clear indicator of the direction Apple will be taking with the future Intel - based Macintosh computers. I'm interested in seeing how the Radeon X600 XT (in the 20") performs, but, in all, the new iMac should completely smoke my current PowerMac G5.

The integrated iSight with PhotoBooth is cute. I imagine PhotoBooth will ship with all new iSights once those are revamped. (According to Steve Jobs, the iSight in the new iMac is somewhat better than the iSight you can buy off the shelf.) It's a cute add - on, but it's nothing that would sway me as a consumer one way or the other. Still, PhotoBooth does stand out as another app that shows off the versatility of Apple's Core Image technology.

Front Row is very intriguing. Now please take notice, Front Row is the name for the media software, not the remote itself (which is available as a separate purchase for use with iPods). Front Row seems superficially inspired by Windows Media Center Edition, but I won't be drawing too many comparisons as I've had little to no "hands - on" experience with either product. As far as Front Row goes, I was impressed with how seamlessly it integrates with the core operating system. I liked the simplistic interface and the simple remote. This stuff has great potential.

How do I rate the new iMac? Let me put it this way: I need a new Apple laptop, but I want one of these iMacs.

It's True!

So here is the much anticipated iPod Video. I like that it is just called iPod. For a while, the iPod line was getting too confusing, but now it's pretty simple again. Simply put, this is an iPod first and a video player second. The screen, though larger than the previous iPods, is still pretty small, and battery life with video playback is pretty abysmal. Still, it's a first step that's bound to gain momentum with time.

iPod nanos and iPods now mach as far as styling goes. The new iPod is even offered in black (which i am the only person on Earth who thinks this thing looks terrible in black). Even the Shuffle fits in visually, but one could easily be confused for the new remote Apple is bundling with the iMacs. The new iPods are somewhat thinner than their predecessors, but the sacrifice is loss of FireWire support. We should have seen that coming a mile away, but it's still a little disappointing.

Personally, I feel no motivation to purchase one of these as a video device. Although I might investigate how well one might handle an interactive QuickTime movie. As a potential first-time iPod buyer, though, these are make a compelling upgrade to the previous generation, and I may beg for one of these come Christmas instead of a Nano.

Video in iTunes

Of course, this is just amazing – not so much as it is now as much as what it could become. Right now, you pay $2 USD for a low - resolution video of a music video, Pixar short, or ABC/Disney television episode. However, this has amazing potential. First, there's the whole deal that you can download the most recent episode of a show they sell the next day after broadcast. Second, there is a serious potential to revolutionize media distribution should we see higher resolutions and more content creep in over time. Right now, the video component of iTunes is pretty bare bones, but the potential present is amazing. Remember how small the iTunes Music Store started out? I'm no TV fan, but it will be interesting to watch this grow.

Conclusion

I'm personally most excited about the new iMac. That machine is just great, hands down. I like the new iPod, but the video aspect bears no weight in my like or dislike of the product. It's just a cooler, higher capacity iPod to me. Video is just some nice icing on the cake, but that's okay to think. After all, at least a couple of times in his speech, Steve Jobs referred to the video functionality as a "bonus." Video in the iTunes Music Store has amazing potential, but it will take time to be realized. This is only the beginning for legal online video distribution.

Most intriguing product? Front Row. Where is Apple going with this? Where can they go with it? Right now, it is tied to the iMac, but the key there is right now. "At this time, its only on the iMac," Apple's Greg Joswiak said in a MacWorld interview. Front Row may eventually become a standalone product, or it may eventually be integrated with all copies of Mac OS X. With this new media center software, will we be seeing Macs with TV - tuner capabilities in the future? Will these changes affect the features built into Apple's displays? Only time will tell.

Tags: macintosh, technology

... For brushed metal windows, that is. Perhaps I'm jumping the gun a little bit here, but the first thing I noticed about iTunes 5 is that it no longer sports a brushed window. It looks mildly like the unified approach that Mail 2 sports, though considerably darker. Still, it proves that there is hope for Apple and their windows yet.



Now mind you, I don't overly dislike brushed metal windows. In fact, Max Rudberg's Brushed theme for ShapeShifter used to get pretty frequent use from me. I just don't like the inconsistent use of brushed metal through Apple's applications. Hopefully, this is evidence that Apple is heading toward a more consistent Aqua interface in future OS releases. (Come on, you know you want to kill the brushed metal Finder, Apple!)

By the way, the iPod nano may just become my first iPod. That thing is (cue East Coast accent) wicked cool!

Tags: software, macintosh

Okay, this will be quick and dirty. I never thought to mention this in my previous article because this issue never crossed my mind.

Using Intel processors will not open Macintosh computers up to waves of viruses, malware, or spyware. The vast majority of malicious software you hear about in the news targets Windows. Stated even more clearly, these viruses and such attack the software, not the hardware. Therefore, as long as you do not install Windows on your shiny new MacTel (which would be silly), you should be no more prone to virus attacks and such than you are right now.

Feel better? Good. Now go take some deep breaths; play some Katamari Damacy, and don't worry about Macintosh security. It's still there.

Tags: security, macintosh, opinion

Now that I've had a couple of days to digest the information, I thought I'd post a few thoughts about the PowerPC to x86 transition Steve Jobs announced at this year's World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC).

Weekend Jitters

The weekend before WWDC, rumors were spreading around the Internet that Apple was in talks with Intel, and these talks were going to lead to an announcement that Apple would be abandoning the PowerPC architecture for the x86 architecture. Sure, these rumors had been around for years, but this time it was different. Publications with more clout and reputation at stake were reporting these rumors as solid fact.

The Macintosh community was abuzz with discussions. Forum topics would surpass a thousand posts in under an hour, and the debate kept returning to the same basic theme: Could this be for real?

I have to admit to being a nay-sayer. I thought Apple was going to use Intel's ARM processor in future mobile devices. I even agreed with Daring Fireball's article that speculated (far-fetched as it may sound) that Intel had wooed Apple with its own variant of the PowerPC architecture. Perhaps they could provide the speed in the PowerPC that IBM had so far failed to deliver. The thought that Apple would take an undertaking this large seemed unrealistic, especially after the rocky OS 9 to OS X shift.

The Announcement

Incidentally, I had been preparing some thoughts about how Apple had grown content with its current position in the market and how it seemed to be a company that was finished, for the time being, with going out on limbs. I knew just how wrong that line of thinking was when the headline came up on MacCentral reading: "The Rumors Are True."

What was most surprising wasn't the shift itself, though. What was surprising was how Steve Jobs made it seem like this was not a big deal, and developers would be able to easily take this shift in stride. More so, he even had demonstrable evidence that this was the case. Rosetta will be able to run PowerPC compiled apps on the x86 processors (with some caveats we'll explore later). Mathmatica was recompiled for x86 in about two hours, and the new version of XCode can dual-compile applications, so a developer can ship software that can run on both architectures on the same disc.

"Impressive. Most impressive."

The comprehensiveness by which this transition is being handled should not, in retrospect, have been so surprising. After all, Apple is a company that thinks and plans before it acts. Additionally, Apple had already weathered a substantial platform transition in recent history from which they could learn. As it turns out, Mac OS X has been running on x86 machines practically from Day 1. In fact, its BSD core makes it inherently portable. Some saw this day coming. Fortunately, Apple had planned well for it.

The Timing

One of the arguments against this dramatic change happening now was the fact that the OS 9 to OS X migration was really only just settling down, even though it has been five years since the introduction of OS X. Why would Apple force its users and developers through another tectonic shift in such a short amount of time? Furthermore, such a shift would require time, and PowerPC Macintosh sales will surely take a hit with the promise of an entirely new architecture.

Right now, Apple is a strong company, both in public perception and financially. Possibly, Apple's executives see this as a good time to undertake this task for precisely that reason. PowerPC was putting Apple's lineup (especially the expensive stuff) in a precarious position, and the performance gap between high end Macs and PCs had ceased to narrow. In time, it may have even begun to widen again.

As a side note: Remember the days of the G4 towers? Back when they were introduced, everybody still measured processor speeds by megahertz. As Intel moved past the 1 GHz barrier, Motorola was still providing Apple with G4 chips running at about 600 MHz. Until the introduction of the G5, Apple's high end lineup was looking very weak. It looks like this time, Apple is trying to avoid history repeating itself.

Yes, Macintosh sales will drop off for a couple of quarters. Hopefully, iPod sales will help offset that. We may even see some price-cutting on PowerPC-based Macintoshes in order to get them out of the warehouses. Fortunately, Apple will be taking these lumps from a position of strength. Had they waited another couple of years, the outlook may have been more grim.

Fear and Paranoia

Of course, there are some who proclaim this as the Death of Apple. (In fact, I wonder how The Mac Observer's Apple Death Knell Counter is doing right now.) The biggest fear is, of course, that people will widely adopt Window's emulators for their Macs and the need for Macintosh software and game development will come to a screeching halt. This reasoning is a load of dingo's kidneys. Emulators are a pain. They also rob you of the Macintosh user experience, and some can even leave you vulnerable to viruses and malware.

Take X11 for example. Every Macintosh user has X11 available to them to provide a graphical interface for UNIX based apps (which are all free, I might add). Now raise your hand if you know what X11 is. Keep it up if you have installed X11 onto your Mac. Okay, now keep your hand up if you regularly use X11. Alright, I see about three hands, and mine is not one of them. I messed with X11 some and decided it was too much of a pain. Thanks for the option, but I'll stick with my native Mac OS X apps.

Mac OS X is a fully independent platform. Most users will not want to bother with emulators or virtual machines, and those hardcore geeks or gamers who do will be a vanishingly small percentage. Mac developers will still be needed, and the market is not going to vanish simply because of an architecture change.

The Trade Offs

There are definite gains in switching to the x86 architecture. Mac users will probably see more rapid adoption of PC-first technology alongside Apple's innovations. Macintosh ports will probably take less time in the long run. Speed will be a definite gain, and we will hopefully see more and better updates to Apple's laptop line (which used to be the strongest aspect of their product matrix). It's very likely that there are even more advantages I haven't even thought of yet.

However, there are some trade-offs. The mystique and elegance of the PowerPC architecture will be a thing of the past to Macintosh users. Sure, Macs will finally have performance parity, but there will no longer be that hope of one day PowerPC Macs will speed past WinTel systems. From a subjective standpoint, the switch to x86 makes Macs a little less special now. (See this article for more.) I just hope those "Intel Inside" stickers don't get plastered all over the hardware!

(Is this a good point to mention the whole frontside bus issue? Sure, we'll be seeing 3.2 GHz Macs soon, but their FSB will drop to 800 MHz. In fact, I could not find a single Intel processor with a FSB that surpassed 1 GHz like the G5s do. I wonder how that will affect things. It's weird to think that my 1.8 GHz G5 has a faster bus than a 3+ GHz Pentium 4.)

Additionally, software will be spotty for a while – even with Rosetta. Apps that require a G4/G5 processor do not seem to work. AltiVec instructions will be lost, and Classic apps will not work. Actually, the whole Classic thing doesn't bother me in the least, but it might affect someone. Hopefully, companies will release patches for existing products (if that is possible). However, I bet that if I want an x86 native version of Sibelius for the Macintosh, I'm going to have to save my pennies for a new version. Just like the migration from OS 9 to OS X, there are going to have to be some major software purchases.

Conclusion

I was dismayed at first to read the news that Apple would be switching to the x86 architecture, but now I am cautiously optimistic. The road will be a bumpy one, but at the end of it, I will still be a Mac user. After all, it's really the operating system and the software that makes a Mac what it is. Furthermore, I'm sure Apple will retain its great industrial design (and PowerMacs will hopefully get to shrink some now). Everything that makes an Apple an Apple will still be in place, and I guess that's all that really matters.

Tags: intel, opinion, macintosh