The coolest thing they could do was to have a sort of low key introduction. Imagine a computer game show with Apple showing a bake of of DOOM III between the fastest Pentium 4 and powermac with dual 2.5 970 stoping all over the P4 not only in games but also mp3ripping video compression and what have you. For the mac freaks Apple do not need to make it big. If the 970 is as superior as it seems to be to the G4 the 970 in it self well cause a feeding frenzy of gargantuan proportions <hr></blockquote>
For a variation on that low prolile launch, just have a couple of Apple suits start turning up to major LAN parties with their beast box... give little to no information about it, but just drop jaws...
So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)?
<strong>It's a difficult question whether they should announce Macs-970 early or not. It's obvious they should start shipping them right now! Well, the sooner, the better. If MacJedai knows what to say, we are, in fact, waiting for IBM rather than Apple. I suppose half a year is enough to develop a new chip set and design a new motherboard for PPC970. We want only mass production.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The chipset has already been designed, and has been tested in MBs since 3Q '02 in both single and dual configs.
<strong>So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)?</strong><hr></blockquote>
To me it really depends on when the machine will be ready. If it is within 2 months than I say sure. If it is several months away then it certainly wouldn't help Powermac sales. It would be nice if Apple at least said that the planned on using the chip in the future. I can not believe the people who post on these boards and do not think that Apple will use the chip. Unless they can easily convert OS X and its major programs to the x86 world very quickly, what choice do they have. They can use a chip from IBM that represents a major increase in computing power from the G4 or they can continue to use the Motorola offerings.
Can anyone really believe that they may not use it? That is just plain ridiculous. Of course the will and they will get that machine to market as soon as possible.
If IBM could commit a good number of processors to Apple that could be put into machines that would ship in late September or early October, should Apple announce the 970 Power Macs at Macworld this summer?
Apple should at the very least give an indication of their direction by publicly stating which direction they intend to go. As the owner of a shop with equipment that needs upgrading, I will not buy the current crop of macs because it will be cheaper to upgrade my current equipment (and make it all just as fast or faster than the newest macs). Long time mac users have been burnt in the past by buying one-off models that are quickly found to be full of unsupported technologies (NUBUS anyone).
With the upcoming hypertransport buses coming down the pipe and the question of which processor Apple will use after the G4, a lot of people in my position have been kept waiting too long. I know of many shops in my city that used to laugh at windows boxes and now have at least one to do the heavier processing tasks. Not to mention trying to find a serious aftermarket RIP that will run on a powerPC let alone OSX.
Apple should at least publicly state which direction they intend to travel so people who are making these decisions are not left hanging with no information to make their decisions with. The beige box route is very flexible and well laid out, but the mac side is cross your fingers and hope it's not just another bump. As much as I want to continue to use apple equipment they need to put forth a road map to let their buyers know what to expect in the future. They don't need to commit to dates, and think of the benefits it would extend to the developer community. They might actually be able to plan ahead instead of playing catch-up to the new releases.
<strong>... but I do think that if the 970 is to ship this year Apple will tell developers about it at WWDC. Unless they want to be prick and only tell the major players. Haven't they pissed developers off enough already? </strong><hr></blockquote>
They might tell us at WWDC, but I would expect more of a "here's what to worry about with our 64 bit OS, 10.3". That or Apple has figured out a way to make everything transparent, and they won't need to tell us anything, to keep the surprise longer.
PS: They haven't pissed me off. I understand the need for not broadcasting plans for the future.
[quote] So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)? <hr></blockquote>
They should ship a huge locked box to all Apple stores. It would have some kind of either lock timer or a numpad interface. If it was a timer, at the end of MWNY, after introducing the new PowerMacs, all the Apple store boxes would magically be unlocked. If it was a numpad, he would tell the Apple stores the password (unfortunately, a password of 970 would probably be easily guessed). Inside the stores would find 10 new PowerMacs featuring IBM PPC 970s. This way they could prevent leaks whilel still allowing Apple stores to have the hardware ready to sell.
<strong>They should ship a huge locked box to all Apple stores. It would have some kind of either lock timer or a numpad interface. If it was a timer, at the end of MWNY, after introducing the new PowerMacs, all the Apple store boxes would magically be unlocked. If it was a numpad, he would tell the Apple stores the password (unfortunately, a password of 970 would probably be easily guessed). Inside the stores would find 10 new PowerMacs featuring IBM PPC 970s. This way they could prevent leaks whilel still allowing Apple stores to have the hardware ready to sell.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Not a bad idea, although the Powermac 970 are not ready yet: people at Apple have encountered bus issues in the first versions of their motherboard...
<strong>So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think they could have a small session at WWDC and tell "developers" about the coming hardware changes and ... oh guess what everyone else will know too. Just like the dual.
The effect will be "apple is coming out with kick ass computers" without announcing a product that has to ship.
It is obvious that Apple will hold a secure, tightlipped, and small meeting with the developers so Alias|Wavefront, Boris, etc. will have 64-bit versions of their products in development in time for the release. And hopefully one of the attendees will, say, take a photo of the proposed Mobo and maybe do something very strange, like sell it on eBay, perhaps.
<strong>It is obvious that Apple will hold a secure, tightlipped, and small meeting with the developers so Alias|Wavefront, Boris, etc. will have 64-bit versions of their products in development in time for the release. And hopefully one of the attendees will, say, take a photo of the proposed Mobo and maybe do something very strange, like sell it on eBay, perhaps.
<strong>Of course not. Somebody would intercept Airport waves radiating from the conference and see exactly what is on every attendees' Powerbook screen... </strong><hr></blockquote>
Comments
The coolest thing they could do was to have a sort of low key introduction. Imagine a computer game show with Apple showing a bake of of DOOM III between the fastest Pentium 4 and powermac with dual 2.5 970 stoping all over the P4 not only in games but also mp3ripping video compression and what have you. For the mac freaks Apple do not need to make it big. If the 970 is as superior as it seems to be to the G4 the 970 in it self well cause a feeding frenzy of gargantuan proportions <hr></blockquote>
For a variation on that low prolile launch, just have a couple of Apple suits start turning up to major LAN parties with their beast box... give little to no information about it, but just drop jaws...
1. Have an Apple roadmap, with estimated time frames for hardware, software, and OS plans, or, since hell still feels hot;
2. Not announce products until they can be delivered immediately.
<strong>It's a difficult question whether they should announce Macs-970 early or not. It's obvious they should start shipping them right now! Well, the sooner, the better. If MacJedai knows what to say, we are, in fact, waiting for IBM rather than Apple. I suppose half a year is enough to develop a new chip set and design a new motherboard for PPC970. We want only mass production.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The chipset has already been designed, and has been tested in MBs since 3Q '02 in both single and dual configs.
<strong>So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)?</strong><hr></blockquote>
To me it really depends on when the machine will be ready. If it is within 2 months than I say sure. If it is several months away then it certainly wouldn't help Powermac sales. It would be nice if Apple at least said that the planned on using the chip in the future. I can not believe the people who post on these boards and do not think that Apple will use the chip. Unless they can easily convert OS X and its major programs to the x86 world very quickly, what choice do they have. They can use a chip from IBM that represents a major increase in computing power from the G4 or they can continue to use the Motorola offerings.
Can anyone really believe that they may not use it? That is just plain ridiculous. Of course the will and they will get that machine to market as soon as possible.
If IBM could commit a good number of processors to Apple that could be put into machines that would ship in late September or early October, should Apple announce the 970 Power Macs at Macworld this summer?
Apple should at the very least give an indication of their direction by publicly stating which direction they intend to go. As the owner of a shop with equipment that needs upgrading, I will not buy the current crop of macs because it will be cheaper to upgrade my current equipment (and make it all just as fast or faster than the newest macs). Long time mac users have been burnt in the past by buying one-off models that are quickly found to be full of unsupported technologies (NUBUS anyone).
With the upcoming hypertransport buses coming down the pipe and the question of which processor Apple will use after the G4, a lot of people in my position have been kept waiting too long. I know of many shops in my city that used to laugh at windows boxes and now have at least one to do the heavier processing tasks. Not to mention trying to find a serious aftermarket RIP that will run on a powerPC let alone OSX.
Apple should at least publicly state which direction they intend to travel so people who are making these decisions are not left hanging with no information to make their decisions with. The beige box route is very flexible and well laid out, but the mac side is cross your fingers and hope it's not just another bump. As much as I want to continue to use apple equipment they need to put forth a road map to let their buyers know what to expect in the future. They don't need to commit to dates, and think of the benefits it would extend to the developer community. They might actually be able to plan ahead instead of playing catch-up to the new releases.
Coitus
<strong>... but I do think that if the 970 is to ship this year Apple will tell developers about it at WWDC. Unless they want to be prick and only tell the major players. Haven't they pissed developers off enough already?
They might tell us at WWDC, but I would expect more of a "here's what to worry about with our 64 bit OS, 10.3". That or Apple has figured out a way to make everything transparent, and they won't need to tell us anything, to keep the surprise longer.
PS: They haven't pissed me off. I understand the need for not broadcasting plans for the future.
Yes.
Lemon Bon Bon <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />
<strong>They should ship a huge locked box to all Apple stores. It would have some kind of either lock timer or a numpad interface. If it was a timer, at the end of MWNY, after introducing the new PowerMacs, all the Apple store boxes would magically be unlocked. If it was a numpad, he would tell the Apple stores the password (unfortunately, a password of 970 would probably be easily guessed). Inside the stores would find 10 new PowerMacs featuring IBM PPC 970s. This way they could prevent leaks whilel still allowing Apple stores to have the hardware ready to sell.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Not a bad idea, although the Powermac 970 are not ready yet: people at Apple have encountered bus issues in the first versions of their motherboard...
Sources are saying Apple is a customer.
But...not until next(?!) year?
Tell me...say it aint so...
Lemon Bon Bon
<strong><a href="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2131244,00.html?rtag=zdnetukhompage"; target="_blank">http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2131244,00.html?rtag=zdnetukhompage</a>;
Sources are saying Apple is a customer.
But...not until next(?!) year?
Tell me...say it aint so...
Lemon Bon Bon
"It ain't so!"
I suspect they are reusing an old quote - one from late last year. Thus, "next year" = 2003.
<strong>So we're pretty much in agreement that if Apple can't ship the 970 Power Macs at Macworld, they should at least announce them (assuming the chips will be ready for the fall)?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think they could have a small session at WWDC and tell "developers" about the coming hardware changes and ... oh guess what everyone else will know too. Just like the dual.
The effect will be "apple is coming out with kick ass computers" without announcing a product that has to ship.
[ 03-01-2003: Message edited by: os10geek ]</p>
<strong>It is obvious that Apple will hold a secure, tightlipped, and small meeting with the developers so Alias|Wavefront, Boris, etc. will have 64-bit versions of their products in development in time for the release. And hopefully one of the attendees will, say, take a photo of the proposed Mobo and maybe do something very strange, like sell it on eBay, perhaps.
[ 03-01-2003: Message edited by: os10geek ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, that would never happen.
<strong>Of course not. Somebody would intercept Airport waves radiating from the conference and see exactly what is on every attendees' Powerbook screen...
Don't underestimate Apple's paranoia.