Eighteen days . The bit hung over the auditorium like murk on a frigid San Francisco 24-hour interval . Although Steve Jobs spend most of his clock time during his keynote address discussing the next variation of Mac OS X , the impending tone ending of the iPhone colored every facial expression of the presentation .
It did n’t avail that Mac OS X Leopard was introduced at last year ’s Worldwide Developers Conference , making large part of this year ’s sitting feel like we ’d stepped into Leopard ’s Time Machine and emerged 12 month originally . At one point this class ’s league was mean to be a coming - out party for Leopard , but Apple ’s sore rush to set the iPhone for its June 29 date with fortune signify that Leopard would have to wait until October .
Yes , Apple did unveil more novel Leopard feature , some of which were n’t even part of the fellowship ’s noetic property a yr ago . Cover Flow , which last year was a clever iTunes add - on by a coder named Jonathan del Strother , is now a wholly owned part of not only iTunes , but also one of the four standard view options in the newfangled Leopard - variation Finder .
There ’s no incertitude that Leopard will be , in many ways , the big overhaul of the Mac OS decade user interface since it was first launched . Apple appear to have settled on a undivided windowpane style — the one in iTunes 7 — and that selection alone will provide some delicious consistency to the Mac interface . The summation of Stacks to the Dock threatens to make the Dock a pivotal part of the Mac interface , rather than a minor tool for software launching and switch .
I ’m a little less sold on the fresh semi - guileless menu bar , which Apple insist will adapt to be legible no matter what backcloth picture you place on your desktop . I do n’t mind my menu bar being opaque , and I do prefer to actually be able to read the text on it . Likewise , the “ methamphetamine shelf ” that the new Dock sit around on looks pretty , but I ’m not certain I wo n’t be driven harebrained by the ridiculously processing intensive reflection effects when you move a windowpane next to it .
But the fact remains that the majority of the Leopard announcements made during Jobs ’ savoir-faire were features we ’d already hear about before — although not always with quite the same whirl . Take Boot Camp , a Leopard lineament that ’s been useable in beta form for 14 month . It has n’t change much , and its one notable new feature — the power to put your Mac in a “ safe nap ” mode so that you’re able to switch back and forward between operating organisation without a full restart — was seemingly number on Apple ’s WWW site by mistake and off .
Even without that potentially snazzy new feature , Steve Jobs spent some time discussing Boot Camp , mostly to underline what it was n’t : a killer of Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion . Those two syllabus , both of which let you run Windows side by side with your Mac , have always had a bit of a dark swarm hang over them : there ’s always been the possibility that some future version of Boot Camp might offer the same lineament , for complimentary , as a part of Mac OS X. But Jobs gave Parallels and VMWare a big verbal hug , calling Boot Camp “ a dandy complement ” to those plan . It was n’t exactly a newfangled feature , but it was news .
In any event , as nice as it was to get a few more tidbits about Leopard , the next rendering of Mac OS X was not remotely the live topic of discussion in the halls at Moscone West after Jobs ’s address . It was that machine that was due precisely 18 day after the tonic , the iPhone .
The iPhone track down a version of Mac OS X. And since the twenty-four hours it was announced , Mac developer have wonder : will there be a mode for them to write software that runs on the iPhone , much as they do for the Mac ?
Apple ’s access to the subject has evolved over metre . In January , it all sounded quite improbable . By early May , the company was “ wrestle ” with the affair . By the end of May , Steve Jobs was suggest that Apple would find a room to permit developers write software for the iPhone by the end of the year .
In that supporting context , the annunciation that Jobs made Monday at WWDC expire over like a lead balloon . To be comely , the suggestion that queasy would - be iPhone developers can pen snazzy World Wide Web software that would act upon on the phone ’s build - in Safari vane web browser is n’t a bad one — it ’s actually a clever workaround that most developers would have paint a picture themselves if they had gotten the luck .
No , the trouble is that as snazzy as Web applications can be these solar day , they ’re still not a substitution for the real thing . If they were , why would Apple bother write full - blow programs for the iPhone ? Why change over Mail to run on the iPhone if Google Mail in a web web browser will put to work just as well ? Because it wo n’t .
There ’s no deny that 18 years before the iPhone ships is not the ideal time for Apple to provide developers with a complete route map of how to write software for this brand - fresh machine . Apple ’s clearly been sprint for six months just to get the iPhone quick for the world to see . And I have little question that , in a few months , the companionship will be ready to talk to developer about room of writing more robust software to run on its new child .
Apple ’s a company that often has faultless timing . Unfortunately for them , the confluence of WWDC , the iPhone ’s release , and the delay of Leopard has resulted in a wooly-minded message to developers this calendar week . However , I have a sneaking suspicion that when we look back on this calendar month in a year or two , nobody will remember the WWDC 2007 keynote . Instead , it will be what happen on June 29 that will — for dear or bad — specify Apple ’s year .
