Though the iPhone 3G is going to be the buzz for a while, Apple’s other WWDC announcement of pausing to do a proper optimization of OS X is great news as well.
First, from what I can see this wasn’t being demanded from users and developers, however all software benefits from some cleanup and optimization. Of course new features drive sales which is why you never hear an operating system sold this way. So Apple is breaking a few rules doing this. The price is as yet unannounced and we’re all hoping it’s half the cost of a full OS X update (or even free, which is doubtful).
Even though Snow Leopard is not about new features it actually has some core functions that basically are new features to me – notably Quicktime X, OpenCL, full native Exchange support and lots of improvements to core OS services like multi-core management. There aren’t a lot of details but I suspect after this weeks WWDC is wrapped more will be divulged.
Quicktime X is hopefully a long overdue re-write to what is essentially still a ported Carbon codebase. Honesty I cannot imagine what my work would be like without Quicktime – it’s been a powerful technology that has been overlooked over the years. I especially love old comparisons of Windows Media Player to Quicktime Player that never once even recognize that Quicktime is a set of APIs and the player is not what it’s all about. WMP plays stuff, but you could record and edit a feature with special effects in Quicktime if you knew how. Before OS X, Quicktime languished for a while until the iPod/iTunes boom, but even then the radical new features that Quicktime 3.x had at the time still seem great when compared to subsequent updates. Apple has brought Quicktime into it’s current 7.x incarnation pretty well despite the aging foundation it has, but there is more room to grow here.
Mostly I applaud an honest acknowledgement that the next revision is all about polishing and optimization. This will pay off in the long term and Apple seems to know it. It will also give developers a bit more time with the Leopard chapter which is good since many of the new features in Leopard are under the hood and not so evident to a user.
Update:
Gruber over at Daring Fireball seems to agree on the “no new features” not being entirely accurate.
Snow Leopard aka Mac OS X 10.6
Though the iPhone 3G is going to be the buzz for a while, Apple’s other WWDC announcement of pausing to do a proper optimization of OS X is great news as well.
First, from what I can see this wasn’t being demanded from users and developers, however all software benefits from some cleanup and optimization. Of course new features drive sales which is why you never hear an operating system sold this way. So Apple is breaking a few rules doing this. The price is as yet unannounced and we’re all hoping it’s half the cost of a full OS X update (or even free, which is doubtful).
Even though Snow Leopard is not about new features it actually has some core functions that basically are new features to me – notably Quicktime X, OpenCL, full native Exchange support and lots of improvements to core OS services like multi-core management. There aren’t a lot of details but I suspect after this weeks WWDC is wrapped more will be divulged.
Quicktime X is hopefully a long overdue re-write to what is essentially still a ported Carbon codebase. Honesty I cannot imagine what my work would be like without Quicktime – it’s been a powerful technology that has been overlooked over the years. I especially love old comparisons of Windows Media Player to Quicktime Player that never once even recognize that Quicktime is a set of APIs and the player is not what it’s all about. WMP plays stuff, but you could record and edit a feature with special effects in Quicktime if you knew how. Before OS X, Quicktime languished for a while until the iPod/iTunes boom, but even then the radical new features that Quicktime 3.x had at the time still seem great when compared to subsequent updates. Apple has brought Quicktime into it’s current 7.x incarnation pretty well despite the aging foundation it has, but there is more room to grow here.
Mostly I applaud an honest acknowledgement that the next revision is all about polishing and optimization. This will pay off in the long term and Apple seems to know it. It will also give developers a bit more time with the Leopard chapter which is good since many of the new features in Leopard are under the hood and not so evident to a user.
Update:
Gruber over at Daring Fireball seems to agree on the “no new features” not being entirely accurate.