This was n’t a Steve Jobs keynote so much as an Apple tonic . The gamey - profile head teacher of Apple was n’t the entire circus , but rather just a ringmaster — and I ’m okay with it . More to the point , the opening salvo of this week ’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference was full of red meat and full-blooded potatoes for the Mac followers among us : the unveiling of a new professional background Mac and a brand - Modern version of Mac OS X. What could be serious ?
The Mac Pro
Back in July 2003 I go down to the Apple campus to get an in - deepness look at the brand name - new Power Mac G5 . In the past three years , a wad of people have forgotten just how much of the talking about the Power Mac G5 was about oestrus and wind . No , I ’m not talking about the endless flow of hot flatulency from Apple analyst and pundits . I ’m talking about the ventilation from those blazing - hot G5 processors .
In 2003 , Apple was come off of a debacle — the “ Mirrored Drive Door ” Power Mac G4 was being call up “ wind tunnel ” by the cagey classes , thanks to its ludicrously loud fans . The G5 was engineered by Apple to address that problem : the caller ’s engineer created a desktop enclosure with four disjoined thermic geographical zone andninefans so as to keep the G5 cool , yet quiet .
Flash forward to today and the change underneath that silvery case is staggering . Two dual - burden Xeon processors exist in a home that ’s half the sizing of the natural enclosure that the G5 ’s dual processor used . And the remain infinite is no longer empty but for the sake of airflow : it ’s packed with additional features . Space for two optical drives andfourserial ATA drives ? The old Power Mac G5 had to tuck all its store on its top shelf , far room from the flak down below . And the campaign in this new Mac Pro slide in on apt campaign rail , making them quite a bit easier to get to than the halter - hand scene inside the Power Mac .
More processor core , more ports — five glorious USB ports , four FireWire ports , two Ethernet ports — and all for a remarkably aggressive price . Every time Apple come out with a unexampled pro tower , it’salwaysthe “ fastest Mac ever . ” This Mac Pro may be the Mac with the good price / performance proportion in the platform ’s story . I ca n’t await to get my hand on one .
Leopard ’s launching
Is n’t there a great showbiz axiom about how you should always leave ‘ em wanting more ? That ’s how I felt about Leopard — no thanks to Steve Jobs ’ tease reference of several important confidential information - top secret Leopard features that the ship’s company ’s not quick to announce yet . As a scheme , it seems reasonable , since obtain back raw features mean that Apple will have some stuff and nonsense pass on over to make a with child splash when Leopard is close , either at Macworld Expo or at shipping time . Yet as a Mac substance abuser it tug me batty , because I require to get laid more .
Time Machine looks magnificent — although , of course , the proof will be in how well it actually works . But still , how typical of Apple is it to make an wanton - to - use user interface that changes the typical behavior of one thousand thousand of reckoner users ?
The Complete Package promulgation seems a act mysterious to me , but it hint that if you buy Leopard anddon’thave a system of rules that bears an Apple Remote , you ’ll be able to buy some kind of disjoined remote ascendence and gain control of Front Row . But I have to say , I was hoping that Apple was go to declare that everyone who buys Leopard gets a free copy of iLife .
It was great to see the announcement of Spaces — as someone who put this on my Leopard Wish List , I ’m emotional to see Apple financial support multiple workspaces with an interface that will take it beyond the province of the geeks and into the human race of everyday user .
Finally , I wanted to highlight a feature that did n’t even make it into Steve Jobs ’ very own top - ten list : anupgrade to iCal . I ’ve been using iCal for about a year now , and my enceinte frustration is that it ’s a one - path street . I can show other people my calendar , and they can show me theirs , but there ’s no fashion for several masses to control one calendar . With the Leopard version of iCal , which supports the CalDAV standard for calendar sharing , iCal ’s achilles heel seems to have melt . Huzzah !
Wrapping up
It ’s a caboodle to get your head around . We ’ll have much more about all this poppycock in the days to come . aright now a half - dozen or moreMacworldwriters are busily delve into the late announcements , so stick with Macworld.com for serious - astuteness looks at the Mac Pro and everything that we know — exclude those A-one - secret features ! — about Leopard .
( Corrected 8/7 , 7:33 p.m. : I get my Quicksilvers and my Mirrored Drive door mixed up . detest when that happens ! )
