Is it just me... or does this sound really boring so far?
Sounds like small software updates. So far no compelling reasons to switch. I seriously hope there is more in store for an OS that has been in development for over 2 years than safari, spotlight, ical, and ichat.
I'm seriously hoping for a new kernel... maybe finally I can convince my clients to use Xserves instead of fedora boxes for mysql and postgresql...
I'm seriously hoping for a better 3d graphics library than Open GL 1.0.
Lets see some speed improvements and i'm all about it. But so far... rumors are a snore. This can either be really good or really bad... either apple has been really tight lipped because they have great things in store, or tight lipped because there is nothing to talk about. Guess we'll see in a few days.
While I'm on the subject, I'll beat it to death some more (yes, I know every one else has had their turn, but dang it, I wanna hit the pinata too!) I'm really anoyed that the only option for a tablet pc is a TabletPC. really annoyed. I'm in college and fliping a full laptop out onto an 8x10" desk in a lecture hall, while sardined in with 300 other students, while trying to balance a 3 inch thick chemistry book on my left knee, a 3 inch think 3 ring binder (which is open... stinking pages tear out every time I try to turn them!) in the crook or my left elbow, gripping a pen between my teeth, click stick eraser behind my right ear, highlighter behind my left, a pencil (has to be automatic, can't spare any room for a sharpener) in my right hand, while trying to manipulate my ti-89 with my left thumb and pinky...... I don't think so. pretty nice that a tablet can combine the notebook, pencil, pen, highlighter, graphing calculator, and computer all into one, plus supports typing (convertables) AND pen input (for getting those dang anoying sketches in.. you know, the ones that suck when you try to draw them with the track pad?), makes them VERY apealing. Especially for a student in a science curriculum when they include the Core2Duo. 64 bit multiprocessor number crunching! Anyone want to simulate three dimensional vector motion of paramecium in a vacuum? eh, well, me neither, but you get my point, eh?
The rest of the world may not be ready for tablets yet, but I think the educational market is. With the tremendous range of software available today, computers have the potential to be tremendously useful. For myself, the only thing that has stood in the way is that pointing on a 2x2 track pad, clicking, and learning complex keyboard shortcut to an already complex task (music notation, math equations, etc) is a terribly non-intuitive method. I may have been raised on computers, but dang it, theres no silicon in my blood yet! Still partly human, and mostly harmless. But that's just because of the tools I have to use.
The industry seems to be going in the right direction, and if Apple chose to step into this arena, we would see some fantastic innovation, I think, just due to the competition alone. There is no alternative to a windows tabletpc that I'm aware of (short of supergluing a Cintiq to a macbook pro), and I think we would be better off WITH some other options.
at the risk of dating myself (i'm only 32, goddammit!) fax machines had a hell of a time taking off too, because, surprise, surprise, BOTH people needed a fax machine. and they are still priced kinda high (though i always kick myself for not just buying one when i suddenly have to send a twelve page fax and have to drive to my local copy shop to do so)...
Um.. There is like a $20 fax/modem card for PCs (though you might also need a scanner) and umm... fax/modems built into older Macs and the new USB modem(fax as well I think) for the new Macs. But you might need a scanner...
OK, I guess iChat is a close second for uselessness. I mean, now that Skype does video, who is going to bother with iChat? Skype works cross-platform, and has a vast user base. And why is it that iChat is worse than practically any other client out there?
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call.
Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call.
Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
I honestly have no idea what people are complaining about. I use iChat to do video conferencing with AIM users, .Mac users, and even Jabber users. I have a Linksys router, and so does everyone that I video chat with.
These seem like updates, not a new level of OS. It better not exclude Power PC's just yet, but if it does, seems like it'll be no big loss.
You're kidding, right?? The vast majority of Mac users are still on the PPC side of the fence. Why would you want to alienate that target group and say that 10.5 will be Intel only? Honestly, I don't expect an Intel Only version until at least 10.7, probably even later than that.
These seem like updates, not a new level of OS. It better not exclude Power PC's just yet, but if it does, seems like it'll be no big loss.
Just wait for Monday. The rumor-sites don't have real clues for over a year now. Even if some of these "rumors" are true. Apple does have some bigger features in the basket, not mentioned in this article.
Resolution Independence: the technology is completely there since Tiger. Just a GUI is missing. The new mouse-driver for the Mighty Mouse has the zooming feature, which now looks a little unsharp when zoomed very large. This feature will clearly benefit from Leopards integration of Resolution Independence (imagine this feature with crisp clear graphics and text). Another incarnation of this feature will change the screen-Dpi (small UI-elements=more space/big, but perfect crisp high-res UI=less space, but high res scaled UI)
If just a fraction of the rumors I heard about the new spotlight-metadata-integration is true, this will be a big leap forward for Spotlight. Not just boring google-support and a little faster, but revolutionary. Spotlight-integration in Tiger was just absolute basic.
Full NTFS support almost for sure.
But, there will be no (!) multiple Desktops. Sorry guys.
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call....Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
Oh, man, try '92-94. Himem.sys and SoundBlaster IRQs. Heh, I remember those. On topic, I have had generally good success with iChat video chats with linksys/ other routers.
Is it just me... or does this sound really boring so far?
Sounds like small software updates. So far no compelling reasons to switch. I seriously hope there is more in store for an OS that has been in development for over 2 years than safari, spotlight, ical, and ichat.
I'm seriously hoping for a new kernel... maybe finally I can convince my clients to use Xserves instead of fedora boxes for mysql and postgresql...
I'm seriously hoping for a better 3d graphics library than Open GL 1.0.
Lets see some speed improvements and i'm all about it. But so far... rumors are a snore. This can either be really good or really bad... either apple has been really tight lipped because they have great things in store, or tight lipped because there is nothing to talk about. Guess we'll see in a few days.
I think the rumors we are hearing about are just the things that will be demoed. There are probably going to be over 200 improvements in this version, too. If you remember when Tiger was released, a lot of us were happier and more excited about the new features that you only found out about by reading Apple's website.
Now, I hope they make iSync work between two Macs without using .Mac. I want to be able to sync my two Macs together without .Mac.
Really, is there a more useless iapp than iCal? I have tried very hard - for many months - to use this pft, but finally gave up. The tiny little squares where there's room for writing like... nothing... the total lack of flexibility... I mean is Apple for real about this app? Or is this some kind of grand joke?
<SNIP>
Before they start adding a bunch of useless bells and whistles, how about getting stuff that's already in Tiger to actually work? Because Safari sure doesn't work. I absolutely hate the pinwheel that's generated everytime I follow a link, the hangups, the crashes, the instability... thing is, I like Safari better than FF, but technically FF works a lot better for me... and sadly, there's nothing for OS X that works as well as FF on Windows (though to be fair, I should try Camino before going on too much about this).
<SNIP>
I totally agree with you. I really would like to see better integration with iCal, Mail, address book etc... Now don't everyone jump on me for this but seriously I would like to see a consolidated interface a la Entourage or Outlook. In fact - all three apps could be kept as separate for people who like that and there could be an additional app that is basically just an interface that ties everything together. Apple definately could learn from Entourage in this regard in my opinion. I also agree with the other poster who said they would like to see better Exchange support in iCal - all of the aforementioned apps should support it I think.
Another note of agreement on Safari. While I for some unknown reason still tend to default to Safari out of habit - I am working hard to train myself to use Camino more regularly. I personally think it is far superior to FF which is in turn superior to Safari. With some of the new tools being developed for Camino (see pimpmycamino) it can be very nicely customised too. Apple needs to either overhaul Safari or simply adopt Camino (it is after all a Mac only browser) and build plug-ins to it. Microsoft got into trouble for forcing IE on everyone - Apple should learn from this and consider supporting one of the other superior browsers.
well if you think about it, what was new with tiger? dashboard, er, thats all i can think of atm, but it paved the way for a lot of other stuff, like, er, photobooth? oh i dont know, but other people will, they can carry on lol
Oh, man, try '92-94. Himem.sys and SoundBlaster IRQs. Heh, I remember those. On topic, I have had generally good success with iChat video chats with linksys/ other routers.
I think for some people, iChat does work. In which case, good for you.
But for a lot of people, bad things happen when you start a video chat.
And instead of getting a cool, Apple-like informative fail mode. iChat offers you an uninformative, unhelpful and confusing set of messages...
* named user failed to respond... (frustrating when that user is you, and you did!)
* insufficient bandwidth (when you have plenty!)
and so on.
Not working in certain hardware configs is forgivable, but failing with all the grace and charm of an AOL customer service representative is not.
Isn't the current support based on the Linux driver? When I look at the Linux driver support, they all say that the write capability is experimental at best.
I agree with the consensus that the "rumors" released so far don't amount to much. IMHO, that means Apple's got something big under wraps. I think we're in for some real "" next week.
What's so bad about iCal? It's good enough to have inspired Microsoft to create Windows Calendar for Vista.
Ha! iCal, Mail, and Address Book are piles of junk compared to Microsoft Outlook! Apple seems to have a way of over-simplifying these apps to the point where they're not very usefull or totally lack the features, integration, and smootheness found in competing apps, such as Outlook.
When will Apple grow these apps up and give us reall, solid, enterprise features with a smooth UI????
Ha! iCal, Mail, and Address Book are piles of junk compared to Microsoft Outlook! Apple seems to have a way of over-simplifying these apps to the point where they're not very usefull or totally lack the features, integration, and smootheness found in competing apps, such as Outlook.
When will Apple grow these apps up and give us reall, solid, enterprise features with a smooth UI????
i concur
there useless, specially mail, cant do a bloody thing...
Comments
OTHER than "MacOS X 10.5 Leopard"
Wasn't talking bout the name.
I have the same reaction to Vista. But with a shudder.
<chants> tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet......
Sounds like small software updates. So far no compelling reasons to switch. I seriously hope there is more in store for an OS that has been in development for over 2 years than safari, spotlight, ical, and ichat.
I'm seriously hoping for a new kernel... maybe finally I can convince my clients to use Xserves instead of fedora boxes for mysql and postgresql...
I'm seriously hoping for a better 3d graphics library than Open GL 1.0.
Lets see some speed improvements and i'm all about it. But so far... rumors are a snore. This can either be really good or really bad... either apple has been really tight lipped because they have great things in store, or tight lipped because there is nothing to talk about. Guess we'll see in a few days.
<chants> tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet, tablet......
#include <cmerant>
using namespace "offTopic";
int main()
{
/*
While I'm on the subject, I'll beat it to death some more (yes, I know every one else has had their turn, but dang it, I wanna hit the pinata too!) I'm really anoyed that the only option for a tablet pc is a TabletPC. really annoyed. I'm in college and fliping a full laptop out onto an 8x10" desk in a lecture hall, while sardined in with 300 other students, while trying to balance a 3 inch thick chemistry book on my left knee, a 3 inch think 3 ring binder (which is open... stinking pages tear out every time I try to turn them!) in the crook or my left elbow, gripping a pen between my teeth, click stick eraser behind my right ear, highlighter behind my left, a pencil (has to be automatic, can't spare any room for a sharpener) in my right hand, while trying to manipulate my ti-89 with my left thumb and pinky...... I don't think so. pretty nice that a tablet can combine the notebook, pencil, pen, highlighter, graphing calculator, and computer all into one, plus supports typing (convertables) AND pen input (for getting those dang anoying sketches in.. you know, the ones that suck when you try to draw them with the track pad?), makes them VERY apealing. Especially for a student in a science curriculum when they include the Core2Duo. 64 bit multiprocessor number crunching! Anyone want to simulate three dimensional vector motion of paramecium in a vacuum? eh, well, me neither, but you get my point, eh?
The rest of the world may not be ready for tablets yet, but I think the educational market is. With the tremendous range of software available today, computers have the potential to be tremendously useful. For myself, the only thing that has stood in the way is that pointing on a 2x2 track pad, clicking, and learning complex keyboard shortcut to an already complex task (music notation, math equations, etc) is a terribly non-intuitive method. I may have been raised on computers, but dang it, theres no silicon in my blood yet! Still partly human, and mostly harmless. But that's just because of the tools I have to use.
The industry seems to be going in the right direction, and if Apple chose to step into this arena, we would see some fantastic innovation, I think, just due to the competition alone. There is no alternative to a windows tabletpc that I'm aware of (short of supergluing a Cintiq to a macbook pro), and I think we would be better off WITH some other options.
Blah.
*/
return 0;
}
at the risk of dating myself (i'm only 32, goddammit!) fax machines had a hell of a time taking off too, because, surprise, surprise, BOTH people needed a fax machine. and they are still priced kinda high (though i always kick myself for not just buying one when i suddenly have to send a twelve page fax and have to drive to my local copy shop to do so)...
Um.. There is like a $20 fax/modem card for PCs (though you might also need a scanner) and umm... fax/modems built into older Macs and the new USB modem(fax as well I think) for the new Macs. But you might need a scanner...
OK, I guess iChat is a close second for uselessness. I mean, now that Skype does video, who is going to bother with iChat? Skype works cross-platform, and has a vast user base. And why is it that iChat is worse than practically any other client out there?
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call.
Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call.
Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
I honestly have no idea what people are complaining about. I use iChat to do video conferencing with AIM users, .Mac users, and even Jabber users. I have a Linksys router, and so does everyone that I video chat with.
These seem like updates, not a new level of OS. It better not exclude Power PC's just yet, but if it does, seems like it'll be no big loss.
You're kidding, right?? The vast majority of Mac users are still on the PPC side of the fence. Why would you want to alienate that target group and say that 10.5 will be Intel only? Honestly, I don't expect an Intel Only version until at least 10.7, probably even later than that.
These seem like updates, not a new level of OS. It better not exclude Power PC's just yet, but if it does, seems like it'll be no big loss.
Just wait for Monday. The rumor-sites don't have real clues for over a year now. Even if some of these "rumors" are true. Apple does have some bigger features in the basket, not mentioned in this article.
Resolution Independence: the technology is completely there since Tiger. Just a GUI is missing. The new mouse-driver for the Mighty Mouse has the zooming feature, which now looks a little unsharp when zoomed very large. This feature will clearly benefit from Leopards integration of Resolution Independence (imagine this feature with crisp clear graphics and text). Another incarnation of this feature will change the screen-Dpi (small UI-elements=more space/big, but perfect crisp high-res UI=less space, but high res scaled UI)
If just a fraction of the rumors I heard about the new spotlight-metadata-integration is true, this will be a big leap forward for Spotlight. Not just boring google-support and a little faster, but revolutionary. Spotlight-integration in Tiger was just absolute basic.
Full NTFS support almost for sure.
But, there will be no (!) multiple Desktops. Sorry guys.
I have to agree. It seems bizarre to me that every new Mac has an iChat camera - and yet the software that supports it is so utterly broken. A quick glance at the iChat forum reveals that hardly anyone without Apple routers at both ends can make a successful video call....Poor old Ralph Johns tries to help everyone - but getting iChat to work is every bit as bad as fixing an IRQ conflict on a 10 year old PC Soundblaster card.
Is it just me... or does this sound really boring so far?
Sounds like small software updates. So far no compelling reasons to switch. I seriously hope there is more in store for an OS that has been in development for over 2 years than safari, spotlight, ical, and ichat.
I'm seriously hoping for a new kernel... maybe finally I can convince my clients to use Xserves instead of fedora boxes for mysql and postgresql...
I'm seriously hoping for a better 3d graphics library than Open GL 1.0.
Lets see some speed improvements and i'm all about it. But so far... rumors are a snore. This can either be really good or really bad... either apple has been really tight lipped because they have great things in store, or tight lipped because there is nothing to talk about. Guess we'll see in a few days.
I think the rumors we are hearing about are just the things that will be demoed. There are probably going to be over 200 improvements in this version, too. If you remember when Tiger was released, a lot of us were happier and more excited about the new features that you only found out about by reading Apple's website.
Now, I hope they make iSync work between two Macs without using .Mac. I want to be able to sync my two Macs together without .Mac.
Really, is there a more useless iapp than iCal? I have tried very hard - for many months - to use this pft, but finally gave up. The tiny little squares where there's room for writing like... nothing... the total lack of flexibility... I mean is Apple for real about this app? Or is this some kind of grand joke?
<SNIP>
Before they start adding a bunch of useless bells and whistles, how about getting stuff that's already in Tiger to actually work? Because Safari sure doesn't work. I absolutely hate the pinwheel that's generated everytime I follow a link, the hangups, the crashes, the instability... thing is, I like Safari better than FF, but technically FF works a lot better for me... and sadly, there's nothing for OS X that works as well as FF on Windows (though to be fair, I should try Camino before going on too much about this).
<SNIP>
I totally agree with you. I really would like to see better integration with iCal, Mail, address book etc... Now don't everyone jump on me for this but seriously I would like to see a consolidated interface a la Entourage or Outlook. In fact - all three apps could be kept as separate for people who like that and there could be an additional app that is basically just an interface that ties everything together. Apple definately could learn from Entourage in this regard in my opinion. I also agree with the other poster who said they would like to see better Exchange support in iCal - all of the aforementioned apps should support it I think.
Another note of agreement on Safari. While I for some unknown reason still tend to default to Safari out of habit - I am working hard to train myself to use Camino more regularly. I personally think it is far superior to FF which is in turn superior to Safari. With some of the new tools being developed for Camino (see pimpmycamino) it can be very nicely customised too. Apple needs to either overhaul Safari or simply adopt Camino (it is after all a Mac only browser) and build plug-ins to it. Microsoft got into trouble for forcing IE on everyone - Apple should learn from this and consider supporting one of the other superior browsers.
I think for some people, iChat does work. In which case, good for you.
But for a lot of people, bad things happen when you start a video chat.
And instead of getting a cool, Apple-like informative fail mode. iChat offers you an uninformative, unhelpful and confusing set of messages...
* named user failed to respond... (frustrating when that user is you, and you did!)
* insufficient bandwidth (when you have plenty!)
and so on.
Not working in certain hardware configs is forgivable, but failing with all the grace and charm of an AOL customer service representative is not.
C.
Full NTFS support almost for sure.
Isn't the current support based on the Linux driver? When I look at the Linux driver support, they all say that the write capability is experimental at best.
What's so bad about iCal? It's good enough to have inspired Microsoft to create Windows Calendar for Vista.
Ha! iCal, Mail, and Address Book are piles of junk compared to Microsoft Outlook! Apple seems to have a way of over-simplifying these apps to the point where they're not very usefull or totally lack the features, integration, and smootheness found in competing apps, such as Outlook.
When will Apple grow these apps up and give us reall, solid, enterprise features with a smooth UI????
Ha! iCal, Mail, and Address Book are piles of junk compared to Microsoft Outlook! Apple seems to have a way of over-simplifying these apps to the point where they're not very usefull or totally lack the features, integration, and smootheness found in competing apps, such as Outlook.
When will Apple grow these apps up and give us reall, solid, enterprise features with a smooth UI????
i concur
there useless, specially mail, cant do a bloody thing...
"This Wu's For You"
Classic!