Wwdc - Page 3

I've heard mention of it...supposed to be for developers only, right?

Not everyone is an ADC describer. Thanks for sharing NETROMac.

And yes WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) is intended for Apple Developers, though sometimes its keynote address is also used for product announcements.

Oh I don't know. I'm sorry I bothered you

Does not sound to promising for a hardware announcement...

How is that ?

Well aside from this:


Which I believe is more aimed towards Mac OS 10 Server Panther, there is no mention of hardware. Am I right? \

Which is why it's called a surprise...

They've got something big planned... 32 To Be Announced slots on the WWDC schedule. Traditionally, those are filled with newly announced stuff from the Keynote.

I'd say this foreshadows the ppc970 intro at WWDC. Certainly Panther is not bigger than the jump from OS 9 to OS X.

Alternatively, "bigger" could simply be referring to the amount of exhibits planned.

Or maybe it's just PR drivel.

Exactly what I thought. I think Apple is trying to signal in a subtle way that this is not an event you would "wan't to miss". This is going to be something special, and I don't think they are talking about the physical size of the event. Well, we'll see in about 37 days.

May 17 1991, World Wide Web released on CERN machines

Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist on fellowship at CERN (the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland), presented the architecture for the World Wide Web to a CERN committee and released a version of the Web on CERN's computers.
Since 1989, Berners-Lee had been working on a hypertext system that would allow documents to "link" to each other easily. By 1990, he had created the basic parameters of the World Wide Web, which were posted on the Internet in the summer of 1991. Berners-Lee continued to develop the Web through 1993, working with feedback from Internet users. By late 1991 and early 1992, the Web was widely discussed, and in early 1993, when Marc Andreessen and other graduate students at the University of Illinois released the Mosaic browser (Netscape's precursor), the Web rapidly became a popular communications medium.

Apple is claiming that this WWDC will be the biggest ever (or may be).

In their minds, I'm certain that Panther is much bigger than the OS 9 transition. OS 9 is crud, scum, and well-forgotten scum to the NeXTies and its departure from the scene was/is a mere footnote to them.

All this is designed to bring developers to SF, paying developers.

WWDC represents about $3-5 million in cashflow for Apple, and about $3-8 million for the city/travel industries. That's worth a lot of hype to promote, don't you think?

They're combining teh QuickTime and WWDC conferences. Of course it's going to be bigger than ever.

So it is basically PR RDF.

nuff said.

Exactly. How many years have they said "This is one (event name) you won't want to miss!" or "This year will be bigger than ever" kind of slogans?

I believe that we will see something at the Create Expo or even Seybold which is in San Francisco in September.

I think Apple will want to start to do shoot offs of the PowerMac vs. Intel with Photoshop again. That kind of speed test would be sort of useless to a developer show. At Seybold? Bring it on! That is what people there want to see.

May 18 1982, New program from software pioneer

On this day in 1982, VisiCalc producer Software Arts unveiled a new program, TK/Solver, designed to let professionals use advanced mathematical formulas and tables. Although VisiCalc still held a dominant position, other spreadsheets had started to enter the market, and Software Arts needed new products to stay ahead. Unfortunately, Lotus 1-2-3, introduced in 1983, quickly overtook the spreadsheet market: Two years later, Lotus purchased Software Arts.

WWDC is bigger this year because of QuickTime LIVE! and a new Enterprise IT track.

So then, what should they say. "On June 23, WWDC 2003 attendees will be the first to explore the new capabilities of the next release of Mac OS X, codenamed "Panther." This year's conference is shaping up to be somewhat smaller than other conferences in Apple's history. Don't count on new hardware being introduced eihter."

Serously though, you're right that Apple often use these kind of slogans before an event. But you have to remember that the WWDC's in the recent few years have been quite important to Apple with the transition to os X, and trying to get all developers on board with that. It's important for Apple to show developers the capabilities of os X, and it also have been important for them to tell developers that this is where we're going, so you better go with us - remember the famous "the train has left the station" statement from Jobs. So for a few WWDC's now, Apple has both introduced new major revisions of os X and also introduced / previewed new hardware. This has never in any way been tied into the teasers before the conference.

I also think that Apple - even though they don't comment on it - knows that many developers suspects that new important hardware is going to be previewed/introduced at the event. And the "This year's conference is shaping up to be the biggest in Apple's history" statement is somewhat meant to emphasize this possibility. And if Apple HAS new hardware coming, and hardware that is very important for Apple's future, and they don't want to let the cat out of the bag completely, they have to make such subtle announcements. And I don't think they are referring to the physical size of the event.

And the yet to be announced sessions is also a sign that there's something coming. Or what is it about panther that is so new and special that it needs 32 separate sessions to outline? I don't know, but it has to be something very cool to warrant 32 sessions.

I guess we'll know the answer 36 days from now.

No! Developers aren't stupid, and if Apple lures them to the WWDC with the "This is one event you won't want to miss!" slogan and has nothing special to show them, they won't be fooled again. Apple knows this, and I don't think the $3-5 in cashflow for Apple is worth pissing a lot of developers off. I'm sure Apple sees it this way also.

I would think that some of the developers going to WWDC would have already seen a 970. Unless Apple doesn't seed machines anymore. They may be under a heavy NDA but if the machines are going to be released soon, they should have some out there testing software. Anyone have any idea how many developers do get these test boxes? I would think the likes of Adobe and Microsoft would get them but I joked recently on these boards that Moki had one and he said he didn't. His company seems like a mid-sized developer and may not get one early on.

I don't know about moki. I think he has been a little more "enigmatic" than usually lately

He did flat out deny it. I would have hoped he would have at least given a good government, "No comment", or "I can not discuss whether I have a machine or not."

That would have at least let us know he did without disclosing anything.

Good point Kurt So moki, you're sure you haven't a 970-box lying hidden in a closet somewhere ??

he said it months ago and a couple of days again: he doesn't have one.
no prototype, nothing.
you could ask him whether he has a beta copy of panther and there is something 64bitted in the code, (or something like that) but that will probally be under nda. so he won't tell you or say he can't tell you.

Oh come on man, I was only joking!

- Apple will introduce the 970 this year. This is (almost) certain.
- So the next major revision of OSX will support the 970 and its 64-Bit instructions. So Panther has to be ready for the 970.
- The first ones that need know about a new architecture are the developers. What better place is there to brief them than a developer's conference?

So I expect a preview of 970 machines. Anything else would really surprise me.

Once the new architecture is introduced, PowerMac sales will drop to zero because everyone wants a 970. So they will start to ship them 1 or 2 months after the WWDC.

If a 15" AlBook has the 970 they will start to ship it with the new Powermacs. They will update the 17" shortly after.

If the 15" AlBook is not 970-ready I think they won't introduce it at the WWDC. The 970 would steal a lot of thunder and make it look outdated. They will have to introduce it shortly afterwards then, since they missed the opportunity to introduce it before the WWDC.

Power Mac sales are only being sold to Mac users who need to run Macs because of software and 3rd party hardware investment, and need a Mac now. If the 970 was announced to be available in 2 months tomorrow, I wouldn't expect sales of the current Power Macs to drop off for at least a month. It's really that bad.

Barto

I remember when Apple announced the PowerMac G4 at Seybold. That same year they let developers know of new hardware technology but did not flat out say "we have a new PowerMac coming out this year and it is a G4..."

I think the same will happen with this WWDC, talk about 64 Bit and some of the other advantages of the 970 but not actually saying "yup we are announcing a 970 sometime this year"

I mean yeah it is a tough call if it will be announced or not but I guess I am just trying to keep my hopes down.

i know that
and i was not

always expect apple to do these things different, or slightly different than the occasion before.
last time they announced a new processor (the altivec thing), nobody was prepared for it, no altivec enhancement at all. so even photoshop was not G4 ready iirc. so the advantages of altivec where nihilated by the absence of suited software. this time it will be different. when they release the ppc 970 it will run 32bit apps and it's altivec enhancement without any problem. the only questions are:
will the next gen powermacs be released at wwdc?
will they be available per direct or do we have to wait for two months... ?

I agree with this part of Apfelsaft's post. I see no problem with keeping the prototyping in Cupertino and announcing at WWDC. If the 970 can run 32-bit okay, then use the conference as a springboard and generate the momentum for developers to help build the bandwagon that they will jump on later.

"developers aren't stupid"



Intelligence is only a thin shield against stupidity, often pierced from the INside.

Heh. I like that one, did you come up with it or where'd you get it from? I'd like to use it.

I have first-hand experience bursting that shield from the inside :-)

It just came to me as I was typing. Please use it as you wish.

I predict lots of developers will sit through lots of sessions on various programming topics. No, I guarantee it.

CONFIRMED: there will be developers at WWDC

....straight from the horse's mouth.

kroehl

May 19 1943, Churchill and FDR plot D-Day

On this day in 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt set a date for the cross-Channel landing that would become D-Day-May 1, 1944. That date will prove a bit premature, as bad weather becomes a factor.
Addressing a joint session of Congress, Churchill warned that the real danger at present was the "dragging-out of the war at enormous expense" because of the risk that the Allies would become "tired or bored or split"-and play into the hands of Germany and Japan. He pushed for an early and massive attack on the "underbelly of the Axis." And so, to "speed" things up, the British prime minister and President Roosevelt set a date for a cross-Channel invasion of Normandy, in northern France, for May 1, 1944, regardless of the problems presented by the invasion of Italy, which was underway. It would be carried out by 29 divisions, including a Free French division, if possible.

Well, if we DID, I couldn't tell you anyway... but we don't have a seed machine, and we are probably in the "small" category of developers anyway.

I haven't heard of ANYONE being seeded a machine outside of Apple actually.

That probably just means that Apple has successfully narrowed the seed program down to (teams within) corporations that they know they can rely on to keep a secret.

If Apple's already contracting motherboard production and mailing CPUs to Taiwan, there have to have been test mules out and about. It's just that the Fear of Jobs has been instilled into the testers.

Adobe's got them

-tink

Good, maybe they'll optimize After Effects to make up for that sleazy Orphange / Dell Ad

Hell, maybe they optimze ANY of their apps for OSX.

I recon that companies that are used to getting pre-release machines have good routines to hinder information from being leaked to the outside world. The big boys like Adobe and Macromedia have probably received pre-release machines for years and have a fairly good track record when it comes to leaks. Therefore Apple can seed them boxes and know that they'll be fairly safe. But I have to admire the boys that know, especially if they are mac-fans, for keeping the secrets from "leaking" out. People with access to these pre-release machines are probably only people that HAS to know. I dont see these boxes floating around Adobe's or Macromedia's offices.
Apple will most likely also narrow the list down substantially with more "important" products, like the new 970 MowerMac, by just seeding it to the most important developers. These companies is benefitting from having access to unreleased products, and I don't think they're willing to jeopardize this just for our amusement.
And the fear of loosing their jobs. I don't think these companies would look with kind eyes on employees leaking information about future Apple products. No, we're probably going to have to live with the fact that "real" rumors are an endagered species in the mac world.