The big unknown is: what feature set will it have? Streaming media in some form seems a given, based on rumours of negotiations with the big labels.
Syncing, of course, since Apple sells a variety of devices. Email? They have offered an email service for years, but that doesn't mean they couldn't drop it with this new revision. Web hosting? They don't sell iWeb any more.
Backup? Is the cloud really the best bet for backup? You can't put all your files up there because computer networks are just too slow at this point in history. That just leaves your most important files, but they are also the ones you most want to keep private, and most wary about uploading to someone else's server.
Apple has been trying to figure out what, and what not, to use the Internet for for years. And the amount of hype surrounding this suggests they may think they have finally figured it out. So I for one am quite excited to see what they have come up with.
Maybe iCloud is an entire platform for delivering content and cloud-based applications from Apple and 3rd parties. The first "consumer cloud operating system?"
Yes, why would it be so emphasised at a developer conference, if it couldn't be programmed at? Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.
iDisk has always been slow for me. A typical web server can send me an entire page: graphics, ads and all, in a third of the time it takes iDisk to transmit a simple directory listing with like 10 files. It is B-R-oken.
That Cloud icon is kinda strange. The metal suggests a safe?
I quite prefer the current one.
Agree. My first thought was that the grey (silver?) cloud icon looks like a weather forecast icon - "tomorrow, grey and overcast".
At a minimum they should overlay it with something to distinguish it -- maybe an "i" in the middle (for iCloud), or overlay a music note or a "play" arrow -- anything so it's clear that it's *not* the icon for accuweather.com!
I was going to say the same thing after seeing the banners. The Lion + iOS 5 + iCloud icons banner implies that iCloud is also a platform. Obviously, that's just speculation, but this *is* WWDC. That would be the most logical event to announce a new platform.
That is an interesting thought but it's not clear how it would work. You can obviously virtualise an entire OS remotely but you get lag and the experience isn't good. You could also run a desktop-class app like a web page.
Take Aperture for example, you could transfer the UI files to a Windows machine and have some small engine to render the UI natively. Then all the functional code is run on a remote server with UI updates posted back to the Windows machine. This can be done with Pages, Numbers etc so that Apple doesn't have to make native versions for Windows/Linux.
It could also be some browser-based OS where apps have HTML 5 front-ends with server back-ends.
iCloud seems like it will certainly be more than a further iteration of MobileMe given the resources Apple are putting into it.
The Intel E7 series of processors are very expensive. The cheapest single 10-core chip is $2,500 so a dual 10-core Mac Pro would be well over $6,000. The more likely scenario is that they use the 8-core chips coming in Q4 2011, which are the same class of processor they use now.
The use of metal in the cloud icon may suggest some new hardware to work as a replacement for the XServe such as a dual-purpose, redesigned Mac Pro but I don't expect new CPUs.
Wow, I'm out of date. Off-powers-of-two processors used to mean crap stock of better chips. A three or six core processor would simply be a four or eight core die, respectively, that had broken sectors that were simply shut off.
Quote:
The Mac pros are overdue for an update... and I fully expect to see dual 10 core as an option.
I fully expect Apple to keep using the same chips they've always been using, because people can actually afford them. Which, for Sandy Bridge, means the Xeon E5 2P Server set of chips due in Q4 2011. We'll see. Particularly since the Mac Pro's being redesigned to become more like a server. Or so they say.
Life is fun; don't waste it stressing or complaining. Smile and take a break for a minute. Listen to life going on. Life is good!
Hey Smiles, I love your sig. The only thing I'd add is to "Wake up and smell the coffee!" One of life's better pleasures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freshmaker
Engadget's headline for this cracked me up for some reason.
"Apple's iCloud logo revealed...it's a cloud."
Yeah, I saw that. My reaction was: No shit Red Ryder. Clueless headline writer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quillz
But the question is, could you have watched Apple's keynotes before 1997?
The keynotes are exciting because Jobs is a very charismatic person. I think people would watch a Steve Jobs keynote no matter what company he worked for or what he was selling.
Good point. I'd need something stronger than a joint to listen to Sculley & Crew.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
WOT
Is anyone here old enough to remember when the Winer Wagon was a vehicle -- not a gesture in a Twitter?
Wasn't that the Wiener Wagon, some truck that sold Oscar Meyer Hotdogs?
Or did you actually mean "Winer" Wagon, that old jalopy driven by none other than Dave Winer (creator of Think Tank, which you sold to me* way back when).
*What Apole-related stuff didn't you sell me?
Years ago a humorist named Roger Price wrote a series of books containing his drawings called Droodles. One of these showed a puffy cloud that had a depression in the middle. It was called "Cloud upon which a chubby angel sat." If you colored it gray, it became a piece of ABC gum. If you colored it red it became a fireman's suspenders as seen through a burn hole in his shirt.
I think the current cloud drawing looks less like a nice puffy cloud and more like a piece of ABC gum. I really wish Apple would hire a different and more creative icon designer.
While Apple certainly has some big long term plans for iCloud, I can almost guarantee that what they announce on Monday will only have about three main features/functions. No more.
They'll keep it simple and understandable. Apple delivers these things slowly.
They'll want to deliver three things that hit three important (as they imagine it) functions where at least 2 of the 3 are something you want or need.
Now these might be functions taken to a new, much higher level of usability and ease. But I'm guessing there will be only three key things.
1. iTunes streaming/storage/digital locker of some sort.
2. Cloud syncing for a wide variety of data (calendar, bookmarks, photos, documents, etc.) across your Mac OS X and iOS devices. Maybe something like iSync + DropBox + MobileMe syncing on steroids. Possibly with APIs for 3rd parties to leverage.
3. Maybe some kind of web/cloud-based application functionality similar to MobileMe (iCal, Mail, AddressBook, etc.) + iWork + iLife. Maybe this is too big now.
Now there might be a "one more thing" in the form of hardware (e.g., TimeCapsule + iCloud and/or Airport Express/Extreme + iCloud) that adds a new level of performance or ease for users accessing iCloud.
But I suspect iCloud will be kept very simple and straightforward (to start) even if they have really big plans (probably similar to what many predications and speculations have already suggested) for the future. It's Apple's (and Steve's) style.
Comments
Apple's moto: Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Even MobileMe
If you turn on iDisk sync, MobileMe already works this way.
Except iDisk is so slow it is unusable. DropBox is superb.
Haven't seen all the banners posted every year, but this one needs a little pizazz
It is a little, direct. No "mystery" to it.
Syncing, of course, since Apple sells a variety of devices. Email? They have offered an email service for years, but that doesn't mean they couldn't drop it with this new revision. Web hosting? They don't sell iWeb any more.
Backup? Is the cloud really the best bet for backup? You can't put all your files up there because computer networks are just too slow at this point in history. That just leaves your most important files, but they are also the ones you most want to keep private, and most wary about uploading to someone else's server.
Apple has been trying to figure out what, and what not, to use the Internet for for years. And the amount of hype surrounding this suggests they may think they have finally figured it out. So I for one am quite excited to see what they have come up with.
Maybe iCloud is an entire platform for delivering content and cloud-based applications from Apple and 3rd parties. The first "consumer cloud operating system?"
Yes, why would it be so emphasised at a developer conference, if it couldn't be programmed at? Anyway, we'll find out soon enough.
Except iDisk is so slow it is unusable. DropBox is superb.
For me it's reversed.
One More Thing = New Mac Pros
Can't wait to get me one with 40 logical cores (dual 10 core hyperthreaded)!
(and yes, I can actually use them.... I just finished running my software on 12,000 cores!)
No chips exist. They can't be updated. It's not happening. Cores are updated in powers of two, so the next one should be 16 physical/32 logical.
Jony Ive's new contract started this year and, unfortunately, he negotiated himself out of WWDC poster duties.
This years posters were done at the nearby FedEx-Kinko's on Bollinger Rd.
HAHAHAHA! Nice.
One More Thing = New Mac Pros
Can't wait to get me one with 40 logical cores (dual 10 core hyperthreaded)!
(and yes, I can actually use them.... I just finished running my software on 12,000 cores!)
Show-off!
What's the confusion about?
Seems pretty clear:
http://www.cloudme.com/en
And toying around I made this:
http://tinyurl.com/3lrzng2
That Apple is going to mimic the Xcerion cloudme service??
That Cloud icon is kinda strange. The metal suggests a safe?
I quite prefer the current one.
Agree. My first thought was that the grey (silver?) cloud icon looks like a weather forecast icon - "tomorrow, grey and overcast".
At a minimum they should overlay it with something to distinguish it -- maybe an "i" in the middle (for iCloud), or overlay a music note or a "play" arrow -- anything so it's clear that it's *not* the icon for accuweather.com!
No chips exist. They can't be updated. It's not happening. Cores are updated in powers of two, so the next one should be 16 physical/32 logical.
Ummm... You are very wrong: http://www.intel.com/products/server...onE7/index.htm
There have even been announcements about new hardware using them:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/22434...rocessors.html
Further, there is nothing that says cores have to run in powers of two. Even AMD has chips with 12 cores right now:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/serve...-platform.aspx
The Mac pros are overdue for an update... and I fully expect to see dual 10 core as an option.
I was going to say the same thing after seeing the banners. The Lion + iOS 5 + iCloud icons banner implies that iCloud is also a platform. Obviously, that's just speculation, but this *is* WWDC. That would be the most logical event to announce a new platform.
That is an interesting thought but it's not clear how it would work. You can obviously virtualise an entire OS remotely but you get lag and the experience isn't good. You could also run a desktop-class app like a web page.
Take Aperture for example, you could transfer the UI files to a Windows machine and have some small engine to render the UI natively. Then all the functional code is run on a remote server with UI updates posted back to the Windows machine. This can be done with Pages, Numbers etc so that Apple doesn't have to make native versions for Windows/Linux.
It could also be some browser-based OS where apps have HTML 5 front-ends with server back-ends.
iCloud seems like it will certainly be more than a further iteration of MobileMe given the resources Apple are putting into it.
http://www.intel.com/products/server...onE7/index.htm
The Intel E7 series of processors are very expensive. The cheapest single 10-core chip is $2,500 so a dual 10-core Mac Pro would be well over $6,000. The more likely scenario is that they use the 8-core chips coming in Q4 2011, which are the same class of processor they use now.
The use of metal in the cloud icon may suggest some new hardware to work as a replacement for the XServe such as a dual-purpose, redesigned Mac Pro but I don't expect new CPUs.
Ummm... You are very wrong: http://www.intel.com/products/server...onE7/index.htm
Wow, I'm out of date. Off-powers-of-two processors used to mean crap stock of better chips. A three or six core processor would simply be a four or eight core die, respectively, that had broken sectors that were simply shut off.
The Mac pros are overdue for an update... and I fully expect to see dual 10 core as an option.
I fully expect Apple to keep using the same chips they've always been using, because people can actually afford them. Which, for Sandy Bridge, means the Xeon E5 2P Server set of chips due in Q4 2011. We'll see. Particularly since the Mac Pro's being redesigned to become more like a server. Or so they say.
Life is fun; don't waste it stressing or complaining. Smile and take a break for a minute. Listen to life going on. Life is good!
Hey Smiles, I love your sig. The only thing I'd add is to "Wake up and smell the coffee!" One of life's better pleasures.
Engadget's headline for this cracked me up for some reason.
"Apple's iCloud logo revealed...it's a cloud."
Yeah, I saw that. My reaction was: No shit Red Ryder. Clueless headline writer.
But the question is, could you have watched Apple's keynotes before 1997?
The keynotes are exciting because Jobs is a very charismatic person. I think people would watch a Steve Jobs keynote no matter what company he worked for or what he was selling.
Good point. I'd need something stronger than a joint to listen to Sculley & Crew.
WOT
Is anyone here old enough to remember when the Winer Wagon was a vehicle -- not a gesture in a Twitter?
Wasn't that the Wiener Wagon, some truck that sold Oscar Meyer Hotdogs?
Or did you actually mean "Winer" Wagon, that old jalopy driven by none other than Dave Winer (creator of Think Tank, which you sold to me* way back when).
*What Apole-related stuff didn't you sell me?
Years ago a humorist named Roger Price wrote a series of books containing his drawings called Droodles. One of these showed a puffy cloud that had a depression in the middle. It was called "Cloud upon which a chubby angel sat." If you colored it gray, it became a piece of ABC gum. If you colored it red it became a fireman's suspenders as seen through a burn hole in his shirt.
I think the current cloud drawing looks less like a nice puffy cloud and more like a piece of ABC gum. I really wish Apple would hire a different and more creative icon designer.
They'll keep it simple and understandable. Apple delivers these things slowly.
They'll want to deliver three things that hit three important (as they imagine it) functions where at least 2 of the 3 are something you want or need.
Now these might be functions taken to a new, much higher level of usability and ease. But I'm guessing there will be only three key things.
1. iTunes streaming/storage/digital locker of some sort.
2. Cloud syncing for a wide variety of data (calendar, bookmarks, photos, documents, etc.) across your Mac OS X and iOS devices. Maybe something like iSync + DropBox + MobileMe syncing on steroids. Possibly with APIs for 3rd parties to leverage.
3. Maybe some kind of web/cloud-based application functionality similar to MobileMe (iCal, Mail, AddressBook, etc.) + iWork + iLife. Maybe this is too big now.
Now there might be a "one more thing" in the form of hardware (e.g., TimeCapsule + iCloud and/or Airport Express/Extreme + iCloud) that adds a new level of performance or ease for users accessing iCloud.
But I suspect iCloud will be kept very simple and straightforward (to start) even if they have really big plans (probably similar to what many predications and speculations have already suggested) for the future. It's Apple's (and Steve's) style.
Except you're paying for MobileMe and I am using DropBox for free.
But in paying for mobile me, I get 20GB of space, that I can also use for a ton of other things too.
One more thing???
There is a covered banner!
One more thing???
So, er... what was that banner, then? If it was about iTunes Match, there'll have to be some screaming done.