Next-generation Mac OS
Hi there,
well, I'm quite sure about one thing:
Time will come for Apple to quit Mac OS X. Instead, they'll ship a next-generation Mac OS containing functions such as 3D windows. And probably this Mac OS will be released a bit earlier than Windows 7 -- early enough to let Microsoft look really uncool.
But how will they call it? Mac OS XI? Sure not.
What's your opinion? Not just about the name, about that whole next-gen Mac OS.
well, I'm quite sure about one thing:
Time will come for Apple to quit Mac OS X. Instead, they'll ship a next-generation Mac OS containing functions such as 3D windows. And probably this Mac OS will be released a bit earlier than Windows 7 -- early enough to let Microsoft look really uncool.
But how will they call it? Mac OS XI? Sure not.
What's your opinion? Not just about the name, about that whole next-gen Mac OS.
Comments
Hi there,
well, I'm quite sure about one thing:
Time will come for Apple to quit Mac OS X. Instead, they'll ship a next-generation Mac OS containing functions such as 3D windows. And probably this Mac OS will be released a bit earlier than Windows 7 -- early enough to let Microsoft look really uncool.
But how will they call it? Mac OS XI? Sure not.
What's your opinion? Not just about the name, about that whole next-gen Mac OS.
As I have said all along Leopard is an evolution of Tiger not a revolution. There are many things that Apple has to consider when developing a next generation OS..first it has to be compatable with all Macs (Power PC/Intel) plus a wealth of third party programs. I believe that at some point in time Apple is going to release two types of new OS..one for Intel Mac's and one for Power PC Mac's.
He's not talking about Leopard... He's talking about the next huge change after Leopard. Like when Apple went from OS 9 to OSX.
Hey, you say it, dude!
...
well, I'm quite sure about one thing:
Time will come for Apple to quit Mac OS X. ...
When Apple released it, Apple said that MacOS X would be the basis of its OS for the next 20 years. That was in 2001. We have 14 years to go before there is any reason to expect a next generation OS. To the contrary, Apple is expanding the reach of OS X with the MacTV, the iPhone, and the next iPod is rumors are correct. MacOS X has a lot of life left in it--more than a decade if Apple stays its course.
MacOS X has a lot of life left in it--more than a decade if Apple stays its course.
I actually don't think there are many places they can go. The more an OS gets used, the more legacy support you have to maintain. Now in 10 years time, no doubt the computers will be fast enough to handle any kind of emulation so it may not be a huge issue but I still don't see any reason to do anything drastic.
OS 9 had to go, now we have OS X, which is a system that is just a further build of systems that have been around for decades already. I don't see an OS 9 -> OS X style transition ever happening with Apple again.
I'd like Apple to switch back to flat, non-shadowed graphics that are faster and more responsive. No more 3D other than what I'm rendering.
I feel exactly the same. I was just staring at the small drop shadows in Tiger today and thinking how much I was going to miss them in Leopard. Tiger is bad enough when you have two images open in the same program and are trying to compare them side by side but with leopard it's just ridiculous. All I can hope for is that there is a file somewhere you can edit the drop shadow size like you can edit the Dock color. I hunted everywhere and couldn't find one - I fear it may be a hardcoded OpenGL effect like a black plane that is just blurred.
Hi there,
containing functions such as 3D windows. .
3d windows would be a huge downgrade for me
I actually don't think there are many places they can go. The more an OS gets used, the more legacy support you have to maintain. Now in 10 years time, no doubt the computers will be fast enough to handle any kind of emulation so it may not be a huge issue but I still don't see any reason to do anything drastic.
OS 9 had to go, now we have OS X, which is a system that is just a further build of systems that have been around for decades already. I don't see an OS 9 -> OS X style transition ever happening with Apple again.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, in 1899.
Yep, all development of future OSes will be minimal as nothing could possibly improve that much on what we have...
And it looks like they will need at least 18 months to 24 months for every iteration of OSX. Therefore it will be another 8 - 10 years before it comes.
That is of course unless they decide to release OS Eleven in 2011.
Mac OS X is so modular that even Mac OS 11 (or whatever will come beyond X) will be based on tweaks of existing modules and new additions. If holographic displays become affordable one day, I'm sure Apple will simply add HoloQuartz 5D EXTREME to their OS for people with these displays. The OS will simply output a 2D display for people on 2D monitors and a new 3D display for the new 3D paradigm. If Voice Recognition ever becomes important...Apple will simply tweak the current voice recognition module or throw it out and replace it with something much better.
Even hardware architecture changes won't force out huge leaps in OS development.
In fact, the only thing that could is a switch from the binary system we know today to some new mysterious system involving more than an on and off state. That could spawn some bizzaro development.
All these functions need to be brought into the control of the Desktop. Drag and drop to add text, no separate window needed. Edit in place - no more editing files locally and having to FTP them somewhere - the browser will be read/write. Font and Size and Style menus, no more crazy formatting tags which are a regression back to 1983. An OS function, on a key combo, that will trigger a "go to the next page" on any website; no more clicking some "next page" widget that is never the same on two websites.
UserID and password fields should be standard, so that the local machine can send them as an API call to the web app, not paste them into some random text field by heuristics.
You get the idea.
Then of course we need a kick-ass speech recognition app for OS X, like Naturally Speaking, but with full OS integration.
The Next Big Thing will be smooth integration of Web with the local machine. This won't be an Apple-only thing, but right now we use the $2000 computer as if it is a dumb terminal, clicking objects that are unique to each web site.
All these functions need to be brought into the control of the Desktop. Drag and drop to add text, no separate window needed. Edit in place - no more editing files locally and having to FTP them somewhere - the browser will be read/write. Font and Size and Style menus, no more crazy formatting tags which are a regression back to 1983. An OS function, on a key combo, that will trigger a "go to the next page" on any website; no more clicking some "next page" widget that is never the same on two websites.
UserID and password fields should be standard, so that the local machine can send them as an API call to the web app, not paste them into some random text field by heuristics.
You get the idea.
Then of course we need a kick-ass speech recognition app for OS X, like Naturally Speaking, but with full OS integration.
I, for one, do not like and would not stand for a computer I had to 'talk' to. That would make for the most annoying workplace I could imagine. My only exception: Once AI or something resembling AI is sufficiently robust, I would like to be able to hand off mundane tasks to my computer/assistant for it to crunch while I continued with other higher-level tasks...for that I wouldn't mind talking into my mouse.
Why? There are some reasons for that.
There are no more Big Cat's names available. Or at least none that are widely enough known.
Uhmm, Lion? Cougar? Lynx?
Apple's customers need some freshmeat. Plus Apple would do best to take a giant leap forwards to keep Microsoft behind for ever.
Yeah, change for change's sake!? What needs improving then, and how would apple improve that in one giant leap which inevitably means time spent by users learning the new interface? Time is money, change costs time. So you first need to justify any change by real-world usability improvements vs the time it will cost people to adjust to said change.
The "X"'s fashion is far beyond its zenith.
Oh, is it? Describe some new 'fashion' that would be better??
Uhmm, Lion? Cougar? Lynx?
Yeah, change for change's sake!? What needs improving then, and how would apple improve that in one giant leap which inevitably means time spent by users learning the new interface? Time is money, change costs time. So you first need to justify any change by real-world usability improvements vs the time it will cost people to adjust to said change.
Oh, is it? Describe some new 'fashion' that would be better??
When OS X shipped in 2001, there was no iPod (which started only later in October and of course was almost unknown by then), there was no TFT iMac and Apple's computers followed the "white + color" philosophy. Shortly later, Microsoft continued with Windows XP and XBOX, as other companies did. The "X" became as fashionate as the "i". Now times have changed. The usage of "X" decreases, and all Apple products have gone through cycles, with computers aiming now to be high-end pro-looking consumer products.
Apple is always surprising. I have no idea what the "new fashion" will look like. But it will come soon. Definitely before Windows 7 ships.
I know that what most of us want is really fast computers and that most of us would disagree with 3D windows. But who says? It's almost sure that Microsoft will introduce 3D windows (like in Sun's Project Looking Glass) in Windows 7. If Apple has an other idea until then that is even cooler, more practical and lesser power-comsumpting -- OK, excellent! If not - let's wait how Apple realizes the idea (which is the most important question every time Apple announces new products), and how powerful the hardware is by then.
As for the Big Cats: "Lion", well, maybe. "Cougar" will never be used as it is zoologically identical with Puma. And "Lynx" simply doesn't sound big and powerful enough - or at least not enough to be the name of the next Apple operating system.
When OS X shipped in 2001, there was no iPod (which started only later in October and of course was almost unknown by then), there was no TFT iMac and Apple's computers followed the "white + color" philosophy. Shortly later, Microsoft continued with Windows XP and XBOX, as other companies did. The "X" became as fashionate as the "i". Now times have changed. The usage of "X" decreases, and all Apple products have gone through cycles, with computers aiming now to be high-end pro-looking consumer products.
Apple is always surprising. I have no idea what the "new fashion" will look like. But it will come soon. Definitely before Windows 7 ships.
I know that what most of us want is really fast computers and that most of us would disagree with 3D windows. But who says? It's almost sure that Microsoft will introduce 3D windows (like in Sun's Project Looking Glass) in Windows 7. If Apple has an other idea until then that is even cooler, more practical and lesser power-comsumpting -- OK, excellent! If not - let's wait how Apple realizes the idea (which is the most important question every time Apple announces new products), and how powerful the hardware is by then.
As for the Big Cats: "Lion", well, maybe. "Cougar" will never be used as it is zoologically identical with Puma. And "Lynx" simply doesn't sound big and powerful enough - or at least not enough to be the name of the next Apple operating system.
Lynx also sounds too much like Linux.
When Apple released it, Apple said that MacOS X would be the basis of its OS for the next 20 years. That was in 2001. We have 14 years to go before there is any reason to expect a next generation OS. To the contrary, Apple is expanding the reach of OS X with the MacTV, the iPhone, and the next iPod is rumors are correct. MacOS X has a lot of life left in it--more than a decade if Apple stays its course.
But technology moves so quickly, you have to wonder if Mac OS X will be able to keep up. Who knows what is going to happen in the next 10? Mac OS X is really good at handling online (the whole Web 2.0 shizzle) though. And how many big cats are left? Surely not enough to make it to Mac OS X 10.10?