Mac OS 10.6 = MultiTouch
For some reason, I have this feeling that Mac OS 10.6 will be MultiTouch. With the new job postings Apple has published, along with the latest patents they are requesting, it just makes sense.
I see it like this:
Apple talks about a few tidbits at WWDC about 10.6 but nothing major.
WWDC 2009 - they anounce the details of 10.6, shipping in October, giving developers four months to get their applications updated with the new framework. Explaining that writing for iPhone/iPod Touch is a near seamless experience.
I see it like this:
Apple talks about a few tidbits at WWDC about 10.6 but nothing major.
WWDC 2009 - they anounce the details of 10.6, shipping in October, giving developers four months to get their applications updated with the new framework. Explaining that writing for iPhone/iPod Touch is a near seamless experience.
Comments
For some reason, I have this feeling that Mac OS 10.6 will be MultiTouch. With the new job postings Apple has published, along with the latest patents they are requesting, it just makes sense.
I see it like this:
Apple talks about a few tidbits at WWDC about 10.6 but nothing major.
WWDC 2009 - they anounce the details of 10.6, shipping in October, giving developers four months to get their applications updated with the new framework. Explaining that writing for iPhone/iPod Touch is a near seamless experience.
Probably what's going to happen and we'll have to deal with the inevitable 10.6.1, 10.6.2 and 10.6.3 updates. Leopard was NOT handled well from a developers perspective.
I agree I think MultiTouch expands. Not at the desktop level but rather further evolution starting with Macbook/Macbook Pro
I envision that the Trackpad will grow larger to enable more Touch functionality and when soon when OLED displays become cheaper Multi-touch will integrate with a graphics display touchpad and it'll be contextual. For instance the you may be manipulating some data and upon clicking "save" you'll get the normal dialogue box but there will always be some touch options on the Touch trackpad display.
For quick and easy management the Touch trackpads will enable a new level of efficiency
I am going to predict that multitouvh wont happen until OS 11. ....
You do understand that the iPhone and the iPod touch run OS X 10.5, don't you? Perhaps not.
I am going to predict that multitouvh wont happen until OS 11. I think OS 10.6 will be called Lion and be the last of the OS X's.
OS X is so modular that if 10.6 is the last OS X it will be so by name only...I predict that the OS foundation will remain for at least another decade or more.
Things are going to get very interesting in the next couple years. Apple does not want to let Microsoft come first with their Multi-Touch OS.
Desktop computer apps require vastly different UI, data storage, complexity &c than mobile apps do.
Amorya
But keep in mind that touch screens aren't an optimal input method for too many tasks. So while it will likely be "in" the OS, it won't make too much of a difference. Multitouch is great, but it doesn't really change the usability tradeoffs involved with present input technologies.
Is the hardware cost of a touch screen worth it (yet) just to resize pictures?
"In" the OS? Certainly.
But keep in mind that touch screens aren't an optimal input method for too many tasks. So while it will likely be "in" the OS, it won't make too much of a difference. Multitouch is great, but it doesn't really change the usability tradeoffs involved with present input technologies.
Is the hardware cost of a touch screen worth it (yet) just to resize pictures?
I'm sure Apple will find some justification for it.
By justification, do mean something along those lines?
One thing that I hope multitouch will do though is resurrect adventure games. For 10 years I've had to deal with the game market interest shifting towards FPS and 3D games...this is fine but things in life are cyclic so I have great hopes that adventure games (or 2D gaming in general) will make a triumphant return with multitouch.
For controlling a FPS, multitouch devices are subobtimal. For controlling a "point-and-click"-type adventure game ala Sierra or LucasArts though multitouch is perfect...for kids especially. I don't own an iPhone or iPod touch yet but I have a feeling that's how the ScummVM interpreter works on them. I'm guessing you can just touch to where you want your LucasArts game character to move and touch the 'action' buttons.
Hell...modern adventure games could make full use of multitouch gesturing to control some elements on the screen. Pinch in to close doors, pinch out to open them. Make a circle with your finger around an object to pick it up or use it. Multitouch gaming makes some sense but there's still the problem of doing this on a large screen...people will not like spending more than 5 minutes with their arms extended to the screen. And smudging up your 24" with bodily greases is dumb.
It's too big a jump to call it 10.6...
Introducing Multi-touch system wide will be such a paradigm shift that Apple should call it OS 11, or Mac OS Touch (or something). ...
Um-m-m, no. As I said above, multi-touch is already in the OS because it is required for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The public version of MacOS X 10.4 went from PPC-only to PPC+Intel, all within a point release. MacOS X 10.5 is Universal Binary. Under the skin, it is supported by a certified UNIX 03 version of Darwin. The MacBook now supports gestures. In the grand scheme of things, multi-touch is really not that big a deal. We may have it before the end of the year.