Macworld UK has a great quote from Frank Cassanova:
"We're just absolutely thrilled inside the company, everything is going great. We can't wait for the WWDC because that's another whole area of excitement. All sorts of good news will happen at the conference," he promised.
Macworld asked: "So, people who are expecting good things at the conference will not be disappointed?"
"No, they will not be disappointed," Casanova said, firmly."
Macuser getting in on the act several days ago. They correctly called the 'non-appearance' of the iMac2 when everyone expected it. Funny. That didn't turn up until 6 months after. But this time...Macuser seem to be chiming in like everyone else. And there's Macworld as well...if Frank says 'firmly' we won't be disappointed...that 'what people expect' won't be 'disappointed'...then...who are we to argue?
Personally, I'd be happy to see Steve demo' 'Panther' and a 'G5'. That way...we KNOW they're imminent. 3 months tops. Heh, ehr..that usually when Apple ships anyhow, right?
On this day in 1951, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert demonstrated and dedicated UNIVAC I, the first electronic computer for commercial use, at the Census Bureau in Philadelphia. Using magnetic tape for data input and output, the computer could retain up to one thousand digits, read data at 10,000 characters per second, add, subtract, multiply, divide, sort, collate, and calculate square and cube roots. Mauchly and Eckert manufactured and sold fifty UNIVAC computers in all.
From all the murmurings and hints being dropped. Here's my .970 cents:-
We are not going to see PowerMacs with the 970 in the current form factor that we know them to be.
Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades. Think of it like the Xserve, except that here you would have to make the initial investment for the big Cabinet and keep adding the blades as and when required.
This machine would be designed in a way that it would be great for Apple's traditional markets, ie: Graphics Arts, Designing, Publishing etc and also a great platform for the Business arena (Database, Server Apps, Storage solutions etc.)
If they are really serious about making any serious inroads into the Business computing arena (in the traditional sense), what would Apple need?
1. Expandable
2. Cheap to Operate
3. Reliable (With redundancy built In).
This is assuming Apple are real serious about the 5% market share.
My guess is the PowerMac will die and then Apple's product matrix would end up as follows:
1. Blade based Station/servers - Big Business/Graphics Arts/Video/Sound Apps/Animation etc
2. Laptops/portables - Business/Education
3. Cube/Tower type Monitorless unit (for switchers who have already made investments in monitors) - Education/Business/Home
4. Imac - Home/Business
5. Xserve/2Userver etc - Business
There is a lot of overlap between Items 2 to 4 as different users do have different requirements.
In the end, think about it, will a Power Mac with the 970 do any kind of justice to the investments that Apple has made into it's Software acquisitions and the 5% stated goal?
And there's Macworld as well...if Frank says 'firmly' we won't be disappointed...that 'what people expect' won't be 'disappointed'...then...who are we to argue?
Then again I've got a feeling that Frank hasn't been hanging out here actually reading some of the over the top WWDC speculation or he might have never made such a comment.
Then again I've got a feeling that Frank hasn't been hanging out here actually reading some of the over the top WWDC speculation or he might have never made such a comment.
D
That's the thing...some people are expecting the second coming of baby Jebus. Jobs will go into labor...on stage!
I think I've figured out a way to figure out what Apple is releasing, ahead of time. Here's how it goes:
Make claims; serious sounding claims. Random, recently created usernames making claims. Make sure each one's claim is different from the others, without being outlandish; occasionally, even being extremely conservative.
When Apple legal requests that a certain piece be stricken from the boards, that means you're getting *close.* At least, it may mean you're getting close. If they read this then they'll be onto the pattern, but may crap their pants over realizing that they won't be able to track down legitimate claims over huge guesses so easily, if this pattern actually becomes popularly used. Kinda sounds like a big political game, when I think about it...
But then, to know what isn't true is simply to not have a request made to remove your post, yes? So pretty much everything here could be considered as NOT how it's going to go, unless the person speaking was unsure enough of their own claims in wording, to not seem to warrant a threat to Apple's overly prudish secrecy.
So maybe that's it; all the claimers who really know, should become unsure and put in little symbolic hints, while all the Fake claimers become really stoic and sure about their info! *hmm..* Well if this happens I suppose MacTheKnife will no longer be seen with awe, having lost his uniqueness...Where is that old coot anyhow?
Remember the MDD Cases at MacBidouille, but of course, don't forget the other things which were removed in the past without being accurate. And above all: Keep guessing!!
...Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades. Think of it like the Xserve, except that here you would have to make the initial investment for the big Cabinet and keep adding the blades as and when required.
I'm not a hardware pro, but my understanding of Blades is that they are a series of computers (blades) connected via a high speed backplane. If this is correct, then I would imagine that a Quad processor montherboard would be more efficient than 4 single processor blades, and less expensive as well. For most markets the blade would be overkill. It would be better to have a Motherboard with 2-4 daugher card slots, each daughter card housing 1-2 processors. This would make up for a max of 8 processors which should be able to handle any workstatioin tasks. If you need more power then the task should be run on a server.
... Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades..
"Over the Top" to be sure, but ties in nicely with the "long and narrow" modo rumor. IBM's announcement that it will have 970 blade for it's blade chassis seems to make this a viable form factor.
Not that I expect to see this at WWDC, but an interesting concept anyways.
I want my computer to be clevery disguised as a ceiling fan. Apple could sell 'em with two blades but you could easily add more blades. And...ummm...the screen would simply hang from the middle of the fan...like the iMac, except the arm would extend from the non-rotating part of the base of the fan.
Apple could debut the iFan with 2.5GHz 970s because the rotation of the fan would be enough to keep the processors cool at all time. The iFan would also keep you cool at all time.
You could turn your computer on and off with the dangling cord.
The harddrive could sit still, and the rotation of the fan would rotate the HD platters...and thus reduce the cost of HDs since they would need to implement their own rotation mechanism.
HDs could then be stacked one on top of the other in the cylindrical part that attaches the iFan to the ceiling allowing for virtually unlimited storage space.
Unbeknownst to most, HyperTransport isn't a faster bus to feed all the hardware parts...it is actually a feature of the iFan.
You can unhook the iFan from the ceiling, stuff the flat panel screen dangling from the base of the fan into a special Apple iBackpack and...bam...you've got your personal heli-pack to transport you everywhere.
Wow, now you guys are spinning yarn completely out of control.
And completely beyond all reason too.
I'd like to take a quick moment to run through some reasonable deductions from what we know about what might be happening at WWDC:
First, there's practically no chance that the 970s will be shipping at WWDC. We would have heard something by now. Besides, when's the last time Apple announced a product and had it shipping the same day? I thought so ;-) If eWeek is to be believed about the existance of Smeagol, then 10.2.7 won't go final until a few weeks after WWDC anyway. They always seed to developers before shipping. (However, that doesn't preclude showing 970's running 10.2.7 builds - they did this with the PB 17's too)
Secondly, Panther won't be going final until September - late August at the earliest. There's no way to start the seed process in June and get it out the door in July. Remember, Jaguar (which, if accounts are to believed, was much smaller an update than Panther will be) started third-party seeding even before WWDC, which was much earlier than it was this year. There's something called QA at Apple, and they want to make darn sure that their valued ISVs aren't left out of such a major update.
Thirdly, it would be really smart of Apple to ship 970s with Smeagol before Panther goes final. Why? The single biggest factor in QA for Panther will be testing existing software on 64-bit systems, and thus Apple needs to get 64-bit machines seeded pretty widely. There's no way to do this without letting the world know, and it would raise a huge chorus of complaints. This is the smart way to do a 32->64-bit transition, and judging from the way Apple has operated in the past I'd guess this is the way they're going to do it.
Lastly, the 970s are going to be really cool. Whatever other products Apple announces at WWDC - well, we can't tell. If they introduce a lower end Mac running MohaveMP's, I'd be happy too, but there's no way we can suppose about that from what we know now. However, we do know how Apple could accomplish a 64-bit transition without making the ISVs mad and with appropriate testing, and that allows us to hypothesize reasonably.
Comments
Originally posted by keyboardf12
WWDC Keynote Broadcast
HOOCHIE MAMMA!!!
Done deal. G5s for sure. No way they would broadcast this to regular consumers in Apple retail stores otherwise.
"We're just absolutely thrilled inside the company, everything is going great. We can't wait for the WWDC because that's another whole area of excitement. All sorts of good news will happen at the conference," he promised.
Macworld asked: "So, people who are expecting good things at the conference will not be disappointed?"
"No, they will not be disappointed," Casanova said, firmly."
Hear that Moki? We will NOT be disappointed!
Originally posted by keyboardf12
WWDC Keynote Broadcast
praise the goddesses....
Hrmm. Hopefully this will be confirmed by something at the Apple site.
*still skeptical*
I'm dying to see this 'big disappointment' that Frank Cansanova and Apple are so excited about...
(In fact, from C/net to eWeek to the sundry Rumour boards...heck...there's going to be more than enough face-catching-egg to go around...)
Lemon Bon Bon
Personally, I'd be happy to see Steve demo' 'Panther' and a 'G5'. That way...we KNOW they're imminent. 3 months tops. Heh, ehr..that usually when Apple ships anyhow, right?
Lemon Bon Bon
1951 UNIVAC dedicated
On this day in 1951, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert demonstrated and dedicated UNIVAC I, the first electronic computer for commercial use, at the Census Bureau in Philadelphia. Using magnetic tape for data input and output, the computer could retain up to one thousand digits, read data at 10,000 characters per second, add, subtract, multiply, divide, sort, collate, and calculate square and cube roots. Mauchly and Eckert manufactured and sold fifty UNIVAC computers in all.
We are not going to see PowerMacs with the 970 in the current form factor that we know them to be.
Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades. Think of it like the Xserve, except that here you would have to make the initial investment for the big Cabinet and keep adding the blades as and when required.
This machine would be designed in a way that it would be great for Apple's traditional markets, ie: Graphics Arts, Designing, Publishing etc and also a great platform for the Business arena (Database, Server Apps, Storage solutions etc.)
If they are really serious about making any serious inroads into the Business computing arena (in the traditional sense), what would Apple need?
1. Expandable
2. Cheap to Operate
3. Reliable (With redundancy built In).
This is assuming Apple are real serious about the 5% market share.
My guess is the PowerMac will die and then Apple's product matrix would end up as follows:
1. Blade based Station/servers - Big Business/Graphics Arts/Video/Sound Apps/Animation etc
2. Laptops/portables - Business/Education
3. Cube/Tower type Monitorless unit (for switchers who have already made investments in monitors) - Education/Business/Home
4. Imac - Home/Business
5. Xserve/2Userver etc - Business
There is a lot of overlap between Items 2 to 4 as different users do have different requirements.
In the end, think about it, will a Power Mac with the 970 do any kind of justice to the investments that Apple has made into it's Software acquisitions and the 5% stated goal?
It's 9 days now lets wait and see.
Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon
And there's Macworld as well...if Frank says 'firmly' we won't be disappointed...that 'what people expect' won't be 'disappointed'...then...who are we to argue?
Then again I've got a feeling that Frank hasn't been hanging out here actually reading some of the over the top WWDC speculation or he might have never made such a comment.
D
And maybe they bought Id software.
And Sun.
And SGI.
I've heard that MSFT is a bargain these days, too....
Over the top? me? You must be joking.
Originally posted by DaveGee
Then again I've got a feeling that Frank hasn't been hanging out here actually reading some of the over the top WWDC speculation or he might have never made such a comment.
D
That's the thing...some people are expecting the second coming of baby Jebus. Jobs will go into labor...on stage!
Originally posted by jccbin
And maybe they bought Id software.
M$ already has their talons on that one, buddy.
Make claims; serious sounding claims. Random, recently created usernames making claims. Make sure each one's claim is different from the others, without being outlandish; occasionally, even being extremely conservative.
When Apple legal requests that a certain piece be stricken from the boards, that means you're getting *close.* At least, it may mean you're getting close. If they read this then they'll be onto the pattern, but may crap their pants over realizing that they won't be able to track down legitimate claims over huge guesses so easily, if this pattern actually becomes popularly used. Kinda sounds like a big political game, when I think about it...
But then, to know what isn't true is simply to not have a request made to remove your post, yes? So pretty much everything here could be considered as NOT how it's going to go, unless the person speaking was unsure enough of their own claims in wording, to not seem to warrant a threat to Apple's overly prudish secrecy.
So maybe that's it; all the claimers who really know, should become unsure and put in little symbolic hints, while all the Fake claimers become really stoic and sure about their info! *hmm..* Well if this happens I suppose MacTheKnife will no longer be seen with awe, having lost his uniqueness...Where is that old coot anyhow?
Remember the MDD Cases at MacBidouille, but of course, don't forget the other things which were removed in the past without being accurate. And above all: Keep guessing!!
Originally posted by fresco
...Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades. Think of it like the Xserve, except that here you would have to make the initial investment for the big Cabinet and keep adding the blades as and when required.
I'm not a hardware pro, but my understanding of Blades is that they are a series of computers (blades) connected via a high speed backplane. If this is correct, then I would imagine that a Quad processor montherboard would be more efficient than 4 single processor blades, and less expensive as well. For most markets the blade would be overkill. It would be better to have a Motherboard with 2-4 daugher card slots, each daughter card housing 1-2 processors. This would make up for a max of 8 processors which should be able to handle any workstatioin tasks. If you need more power then the task should be run on a server.
Originally posted by fresco
... Instead some Blade type of workstation that is big, heavy duty and designed in a manner where the user can add processing power by just adding more blades..
Seems reminiscent of my thread Blade Runner ~ Modular Mac from a year ago.
"Over the Top" to be sure, but ties in nicely with the "long and narrow" modo rumor. IBM's announcement that it will have 970 blade for it's blade chassis seems to make this a viable form factor.
Not that I expect to see this at WWDC, but an interesting concept anyways.
Aphelion ...
Apple could debut the iFan with 2.5GHz 970s because the rotation of the fan would be enough to keep the processors cool at all time. The iFan would also keep you cool at all time.
You could turn your computer on and off with the dangling cord.
The harddrive could sit still, and the rotation of the fan would rotate the HD platters...and thus reduce the cost of HDs since they would need to implement their own rotation mechanism.
HDs could then be stacked one on top of the other in the cylindrical part that attaches the iFan to the ceiling allowing for virtually unlimited storage space.
Unbeknownst to most, HyperTransport isn't a faster bus to feed all the hardware parts...it is actually a feature of the iFan.
You can unhook the iFan from the ceiling, stuff the flat panel screen dangling from the base of the fan into a special Apple iBackpack and...bam...you've got your personal heli-pack to transport you everywhere.
Originally posted by Programmer
Wow, now you guys are spinning yarn completely out of control.
right : long wait may produce nervous breakdown.
Originally posted by jccbin
And SGI.
SGI would be an excellent purchase for Apple!!
Hope it happens...were are those M&A people when you need them?
Originally posted by Programmer
Wow, now you guys are spinning yarn completely out of control.
And completely beyond all reason too.
I'd like to take a quick moment to run through some reasonable deductions from what we know about what might be happening at WWDC:
First, there's practically no chance that the 970s will be shipping at WWDC. We would have heard something by now. Besides, when's the last time Apple announced a product and had it shipping the same day? I thought so ;-) If eWeek is to be believed about the existance of Smeagol, then 10.2.7 won't go final until a few weeks after WWDC anyway. They always seed to developers before shipping. (However, that doesn't preclude showing 970's running 10.2.7 builds - they did this with the PB 17's too)
Secondly, Panther won't be going final until September - late August at the earliest. There's no way to start the seed process in June and get it out the door in July. Remember, Jaguar (which, if accounts are to believed, was much smaller an update than Panther will be) started third-party seeding even before WWDC, which was much earlier than it was this year. There's something called QA at Apple, and they want to make darn sure that their valued ISVs aren't left out of such a major update.
Thirdly, it would be really smart of Apple to ship 970s with Smeagol before Panther goes final. Why? The single biggest factor in QA for Panther will be testing existing software on 64-bit systems, and thus Apple needs to get 64-bit machines seeded pretty widely. There's no way to do this without letting the world know, and it would raise a huge chorus of complaints. This is the smart way to do a 32->64-bit transition, and judging from the way Apple has operated in the past I'd guess this is the way they're going to do it.
Lastly, the 970s are going to be really cool. Whatever other products Apple announces at WWDC - well, we can't tell. If they introduce a lower end Mac running MohaveMP's, I'd be happy too, but there's no way we can suppose about that from what we know now. However, we do know how Apple could accomplish a 64-bit transition without making the ISVs mad and with appropriate testing, and that allows us to hypothesize reasonably.