Eniregnat
Aug 7, 03:34 PM
It looks like the improvements to Universal Access (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/universalaccess/) alone will encourage me to upgrade. Finally better TTS voices! I just purchased two voices from Cepstral (http://www.cepstral.com/). I wonder if Apple will provide voices with an accent. I have grown fond of the British accented “Millie” voice. Luckely, I think the lybrary extensions that Cepstral offers are UB.
macenforcer
Aug 17, 12:08 PM
Wow, I'm really surprised by those photoshop tests. When those go universal I'm sure my jaw will drop
It will be exactly 25% faster in UB photoshop. How do I know? I tested in photoshop 7.01 in OS X and in XP on the mac pro. XP test was 25% faster. There you go.
It will be exactly 25% faster in UB photoshop. How do I know? I tested in photoshop 7.01 in OS X and in XP on the mac pro. XP test was 25% faster. There you go.
Gugulino
Apr 6, 01:00 PM
The quality of a blu ray film is superior to all forms of digital distribution over the internet, like iTunes for example and it is a huge improvement over DVD. I can't understand why people still stick with DVD. Like Apple! Macs have no blu ray disc tray, only DVD. I can not understand that!
When you have all these great HD Camcorders and great movie editing software on a Mac why you should burn a DVD and loose most of the quality. Sure, you can upload HD movies to YouTube or Vimeo directly from iMovie, but it is not the same quality as, if you would burn a blu ray. At least the Mac Pro should have an option for a blu ray disc tray and DVD Studio Pro should support blu ray authoring.
I hope Apple will do a step in this direction with the new FC Studio.
When you have all these great HD Camcorders and great movie editing software on a Mac why you should burn a DVD and loose most of the quality. Sure, you can upload HD movies to YouTube or Vimeo directly from iMovie, but it is not the same quality as, if you would burn a blu ray. At least the Mac Pro should have an option for a blu ray disc tray and DVD Studio Pro should support blu ray authoring.
I hope Apple will do a step in this direction with the new FC Studio.
MrCrowbar
Jul 20, 03:22 PM
But what about the MacBook!! *weeps*
I guess Macbooks will get Merom as soon as Merom is cheaper than the current Yonah and the Yonah Macbooks are sold out. And that might be pretty soon actually. By the way, Merom is pin compatible so Apple can just swap Ypnah for Merom. The user will have a hard time to do this, as the processor in Macbooks are soldered on. But in iMacs, no problemo.
I guess Macbooks will get Merom as soon as Merom is cheaper than the current Yonah and the Yonah Macbooks are sold out. And that might be pretty soon actually. By the way, Merom is pin compatible so Apple can just swap Ypnah for Merom. The user will have a hard time to do this, as the processor in Macbooks are soldered on. But in iMacs, no problemo.
saltyzoo
Apr 5, 05:12 PM
I'm not trolling, this is an honest question. But isn't a Final Cut pretty much worthless for commercial use without a way to put the results on Blu-Ray?
Parikh1234
Aug 25, 02:57 PM
I have had no luck today getting two batteries replaced. I enter their serial numbers and it tells me they are not valid serials, even though they fall within the range. When I call the support number and hit 5, i just get a busy tone and it hangs up on me.
shamino
Jul 20, 08:18 PM
Hehe, I remember Virginia Tech having built the 3rd fastest supercomputer out of 1100 dual powermacs G5. Back then, the XServe G5 wasn't available. You can see that in the MWSF 2004 keynote (minute 25 ff). They later switched to the Xserve G5 when those came out. It had 10.28 TF for just $5.2M.
And I remember that they were very concerned about the lack of ECC memory, and were extremely eager to replace them with Xserves as soon as the G5 model came out.
And I remember that they were very concerned about the lack of ECC memory, and were extremely eager to replace them with Xserves as soon as the G5 model came out.
QCassidy352
Aug 15, 01:12 PM
oh WOW. Considering that a single 1.67 G4 beats a dual 2.0 core duo in photoshop when the core duo has to use rosetta, the fact that the xeon is nearly even is amazing. That thing is going to be amazing when CS3 comes out! :eek:
orangerizzla
Apr 6, 10:37 AM
I'm just guessing but it's possible that Apple will announce the new FCS and ship it when Lion ships, perhaps around the June WWDC.
I think your probably right but I sure hope they announce something. I certainly didn't buy my brand new MacPro to run the leather clad iCal... ;-)
I think your probably right but I sure hope they announce something. I certainly didn't buy my brand new MacPro to run the leather clad iCal... ;-)
princealfie
Nov 29, 09:28 AM
Same here, paying a levy on iPod's is like paying one on Hard drives as many of them contain copyrighted material, except they could never do that as the business world would go insane if they had to pay a levy to the music industry.
Anyone interested in creating an Universal blacklist of albums then?
Anyone interested in creating an Universal blacklist of albums then?
Popeye206
Apr 19, 02:11 PM
x2
Everything is just a development of something else.
There is no absolute originality.
This is a stupid waste of time and effort.
But I guess when you get all big and high and mighty then why not throw some of the spare cash at a silly law suit if for no other reason than getting more publicity.
You obviously don't work in software or product development with statements like this.
Everything is just a development of something else.
There is no absolute originality.
This is a stupid waste of time and effort.
But I guess when you get all big and high and mighty then why not throw some of the spare cash at a silly law suit if for no other reason than getting more publicity.
You obviously don't work in software or product development with statements like this.
jonharris200
Aug 5, 04:55 PM
Can someone confirm my calculations?
The keynote will start 8PM UK time?
No, it's 6pm UK time according to the countdown clock on the macrumors homepage.
The keynote will start 8PM UK time?
No, it's 6pm UK time according to the countdown clock on the macrumors homepage.
.jpg "(picnik i love you so much")
myemosoul
Jun 12, 10:32 PM
I sold my 16GB 3GS to my local Radio Shack on 6/9 for 184.13 and I'm currently using my old Motorola Razr V3, I'm preordering on the 15th so i certainly hope that i will be holding an iPhone 4 on the 24th. Since i sold my phone I've gotten two phone calls from the store manager, the first one was to ask if I was ok with him putiing my name and phone number on a list of people planning to pre-order and the second call was to ask for my zip code and he told me that he's almost positive i will be getting one on release day which was reassuring. I'm pretty nervous because pretty much all my experiences with Radio Shack have been sketchy over the years, sometime it's really annoying like when i went in one to buy something stupid like CDR's and the associate said i had to be in their system in order to make the sale which required me giving him my name, number and address which i thought was ridiculous.
So far everything is going well this time, when the 3GS came out ATT wouldn't bump up my upgrade date because my bill was under 100 dollars a month, this time they bumped everyone's upgrade date by 6 months! So instead of the 400 bucks i had to pay for my 3GS i will only pay 200 and with the 185 Radio Shack paid for my 3GS it will only be 15 dollars!
Is it true that i'm going to have to pay the $18 dollar upgrade fee at Radio Shack? Apple never charged me that. Or does it get charged to you cell phone bill?
So if Im getting this right....I bring my 3GS to Radio Shack on the 15th to preorder the iphone 4 and then I have to turn in my old phone in order to get the buy back gift card? But then I would be without a phone for over a week? My local Radio Shack said I could get $256 for my 3gs. But if I read right that price could go down the closer it gets to the ip4 launch?
Thanks
So far everything is going well this time, when the 3GS came out ATT wouldn't bump up my upgrade date because my bill was under 100 dollars a month, this time they bumped everyone's upgrade date by 6 months! So instead of the 400 bucks i had to pay for my 3GS i will only pay 200 and with the 185 Radio Shack paid for my 3GS it will only be 15 dollars!
Is it true that i'm going to have to pay the $18 dollar upgrade fee at Radio Shack? Apple never charged me that. Or does it get charged to you cell phone bill?
So if Im getting this right....I bring my 3GS to Radio Shack on the 15th to preorder the iphone 4 and then I have to turn in my old phone in order to get the buy back gift card? But then I would be without a phone for over a week? My local Radio Shack said I could get $256 for my 3gs. But if I read right that price could go down the closer it gets to the ip4 launch?
Thanks
BGil
Aug 7, 04:42 PM
Which takes us back to the behavior that was the default on VAX systems running VMS 20 years ago... Microsoft is implementing something similar in Vista as well. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060730-7383.html
B
Yeah, Apple is definitely copying Microsoft now... it's pretty undeniable. Time Machine is virtually identical to Microsoft's backup system for Vista.
"Previous Docs" from Wikipedia:
"Previous Versions", previously known as Volume Shadow Copy in Windows Server provides read-only snapshots of files on local or network volumes from an earlier point in time. A new tab in the Properties dialog for any file or folder provides users with straightforward access to these previous versions.
System Restore, Shadow Copy, and Backup in Vista now run on the same technology (so they are considerably different than the XP versions).
iChat basically got the remote screen sharing feature that Microsoft shipped with XP in 2001 (included in Windows Messenger) and the presentation/app sharing features from Windows collaboration in Vista.
Mail and iCal got a bunch of features from Outlook 2007 and Windows Live Calendar/Mail.
Dashboard's ability to clip web pages is straight out of Active Desktop.
the Spotlight improvements were things that Indexing Server in XP/2000/2003 already did. Even windows desktop search (enterprise) and Vista include that functionality as well.
Spaces is virtual desktops just like the powertoy MS released years ago
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Virtual_Desktop_Manager_Powertoy/msvdm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_desktop
Core Animation looks like Apple's response to all the DX and WPF (Avalon) animation tools in Vista.
B
Yeah, Apple is definitely copying Microsoft now... it's pretty undeniable. Time Machine is virtually identical to Microsoft's backup system for Vista.
"Previous Docs" from Wikipedia:
"Previous Versions", previously known as Volume Shadow Copy in Windows Server provides read-only snapshots of files on local or network volumes from an earlier point in time. A new tab in the Properties dialog for any file or folder provides users with straightforward access to these previous versions.
System Restore, Shadow Copy, and Backup in Vista now run on the same technology (so they are considerably different than the XP versions).
iChat basically got the remote screen sharing feature that Microsoft shipped with XP in 2001 (included in Windows Messenger) and the presentation/app sharing features from Windows collaboration in Vista.
Mail and iCal got a bunch of features from Outlook 2007 and Windows Live Calendar/Mail.
Dashboard's ability to clip web pages is straight out of Active Desktop.
the Spotlight improvements were things that Indexing Server in XP/2000/2003 already did. Even windows desktop search (enterprise) and Vista include that functionality as well.
Spaces is virtual desktops just like the powertoy MS released years ago
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Virtual_Desktop_Manager_Powertoy/msvdm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_desktop
Core Animation looks like Apple's response to all the DX and WPF (Avalon) animation tools in Vista.
Bregalad
Mar 26, 02:26 AM
There can only be one golden master.
In traditional development software is designed, coded, reaches alpha (all features coded), reaches beta (no known defects serious enough to consider any feature incomplete), and then reaches the final candidate stage (known defect count below release threshold prior to testing). Eventually an FC does well enough in testing to be declared the GM.
Agile works differently prior to beta, but you still have final candidates that eventually boil down to a single GM.
I think your source is wrong. Look at 10.6.7 for example. There were something like 7 builds released to developers that contained the infamous "no known issues" before they finally released it. That was a minor point release not a whole new version. Lion is literally months away from GM.
In traditional development software is designed, coded, reaches alpha (all features coded), reaches beta (no known defects serious enough to consider any feature incomplete), and then reaches the final candidate stage (known defect count below release threshold prior to testing). Eventually an FC does well enough in testing to be declared the GM.
Agile works differently prior to beta, but you still have final candidates that eventually boil down to a single GM.
I think your source is wrong. Look at 10.6.7 for example. There were something like 7 builds released to developers that contained the infamous "no known issues" before they finally released it. That was a minor point release not a whole new version. Lion is literally months away from GM.
Jon'sLightBulbs
Aug 26, 04:08 PM
You're screwing up, intel. We don't want 300 trillion transistors on a 1 nm die. We want longer battery life. Idiots.
steadysignal
Apr 8, 07:16 AM
Screwing around is how they lost Macs in the first place. They wanted to only sell certain iMac Colors and Apple said you can sell what we send or not at all, that's why Apple left them in the first place years ago. Then they cam back with the "store in a store" concept.
new information for me. did not know that BB sold :apple: product in the past. i had thought the store in a store thing was BBs first foray.
i don't understand why apple would have issues with BB - isn't more exposure good? or is this just a matter of any attention (good or bad) is good?
new information for me. did not know that BB sold :apple: product in the past. i had thought the store in a store thing was BBs first foray.
i don't understand why apple would have issues with BB - isn't more exposure good? or is this just a matter of any attention (good or bad) is good?
l4t13
Oct 15, 01:02 PM
still very good news for high performance users
cult hero
Mar 26, 12:13 PM
For example SAMBA has been removed and completely replaced with a ground up clean room implementation of SMB2 which will translate into better support for Windows Vista and 7 clients as well as the latest versions of Windows. Why hasn't that been mentioned by the nay sayers here?
Do we know this? I know Samba is being replaced but does anyone have any details?
I presume it's going to have better support for Vista and 7 clients purely because if Apple didn't care about that there would be no reason to ditch the older version of Samba that's GPL2. However, does anyone have any actual details on what Apple's Samba replacement is?
Do we know this? I know Samba is being replaced but does anyone have any details?
I presume it's going to have better support for Vista and 7 clients purely because if Apple didn't care about that there would be no reason to ditch the older version of Samba that's GPL2. However, does anyone have any actual details on what Apple's Samba replacement is?
mcrain
Apr 27, 02:46 PM
Are you calling me a liar? I literally went to WhiteHouse.gov, opened the file in Illustrator, and moved the text around myself. :rolleyes:
Some things never change. Laughably bias.
Anyway, like I said, I'm sure there's an explanation... are there any graphic designers here who can help?
Is there an explanation for why it matters to you and all the birthers who buy into this nonsense? I'd love to know which right-wing website had instructions for birthers wanting to "test" the image in Illustrator. It's pretty obvious you were following some fringe-website instructions. I highly doubt you just "happened" to open it in Illustrator and then do whatever. I mean, you aren't a graphic designer.
Some things never change. Laughably bias.
Anyway, like I said, I'm sure there's an explanation... are there any graphic designers here who can help?
Is there an explanation for why it matters to you and all the birthers who buy into this nonsense? I'd love to know which right-wing website had instructions for birthers wanting to "test" the image in Illustrator. It's pretty obvious you were following some fringe-website instructions. I highly doubt you just "happened" to open it in Illustrator and then do whatever. I mean, you aren't a graphic designer.
Huntn
Mar 19, 04:31 PM
When will you people realize that Obama is not in charge? You're not in charge either. Corporate interest rules the USA, Libya has 2% of the world's oil supply and a lot of companies have interests there. No one intervened militarily in Rwanda or East Timor. You guys can continue to have your little left vs right, conservative vs. liberal distraction of a debate, meanwhile the real people running the show don't give a rat's ass about any of it.
It's a known fact the Obama Administration monitors MacRumors forums for a populist read on issues... ;) Yes I agree business is in charge colored by perceived economic end-results.
It's a known fact the Obama Administration monitors MacRumors forums for a populist read on issues... ;) Yes I agree business is in charge colored by perceived economic end-results.
W. Ademczyk
Aug 27, 02:12 PM
I hate to say it, but I think the chances of Apple dropping the merom chips into laptops before September 5th are pretty slim. It's probably more likely that the waiting times are due to back to school rush shortages; Apple has doubled its laptop market share with the Macbook. http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/7/25/4753
In addition, thinksecret reported earlier this month that we might be seeing an updated case for the MBP. http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0606macpro.html While this would be a good thing, because it alludes to Apple maybe addressing the heat issue, it is pretty unlikely that Apple would start shipping a machine to buyers without diclosing that the case looks different.
Apparently, the September 5th date stems from reports that Apple is scheduled to recieved a massive product shipment from Asia. http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1965 This coincides with other reports of the new Macs being ready "after Labor Day."
It's pretty safe to say that we will be able to get our Merom Macs at the very latest by the second week of September; thus, we will all be able to capitolize on the ipod deal that runs through the 16th. Personally, I think that the likelyhood of time running out on the nano deal is pretty slim because that sale is likely in response to an imminent refresh in the nano's own product line. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
In addition, thinksecret reported earlier this month that we might be seeing an updated case for the MBP. http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0606macpro.html While this would be a good thing, because it alludes to Apple maybe addressing the heat issue, it is pretty unlikely that Apple would start shipping a machine to buyers without diclosing that the case looks different.
Apparently, the September 5th date stems from reports that Apple is scheduled to recieved a massive product shipment from Asia. http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1965 This coincides with other reports of the new Macs being ready "after Labor Day."
It's pretty safe to say that we will be able to get our Merom Macs at the very latest by the second week of September; thus, we will all be able to capitolize on the ipod deal that runs through the 16th. Personally, I think that the likelyhood of time running out on the nano deal is pretty slim because that sale is likely in response to an imminent refresh in the nano's own product line. http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
Cameront9
Aug 7, 04:46 PM
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/accessibility.html
From this site:
Closed captioning
QuickTime currently supports closed captioning by including a text track alongside audio and video content. But improved QuickTime support will automatically display the CEA-608 closed captioning text standard in analog broadcasts in the U.S.
-----
Anyone think this means support for Closed Captioning in iTunes video downloads? As a hearing-impaired Mac-User, the lack of subtitles/captions in the TV shows is the one thing keeping me from buying a bunch of them. I hope they address this issue soon...
As for the rest of the stuff:
1) Time Machine--cool name for a cool idea. However, I use a Powerbook, and my External HD is in another room. It's not connected all the time. I wonder how this setup will work? And like others, I initially thought "System Restore," but then I realized how different this is, and how Useful. But how far back can you go? I have files on my computer that are almost 10 years old....Will time machine be able to find stuff that was deleted years ago (I do mean AFTER time Machine is installed...I obviously don't expect it to find stuff deleted before TM was installed).
2) Mail. To-Do implementation looks neat, and themes might be fun for a Christmas letter. But I really don't care about HTML mail.
3) iChat. "Share the Screen" looks awesome, if it works well. So does being able to do a slideshow while chatting with someone...
4) Spaces. I've gotten so used to Expose, I can't see Virtual desktops being that big a deal to me. But It's a good feature for those who want it.
5) Dashboard. From the previews, it seems like Dashcode will be available as part of the OS?
6) Spotlight. Over-the-network searches sound great.
7) iCal. More networking features are great, but most of my friends/coworkers have PCs, so moot point for me.
8) Accessibilty: See above about Closed Captioning. Anything that helps Hearing impaired users is great.
9) 64-bit. Kind of Obvious?
10) Core Animation: Will my 1.67 G4 Powerbook be able to utilize this in any way?
Overall, great Keynote, I thought. the only people that should be disappointed are the ones claiming all kinds of crazy stuff, as always.
From this site:
Closed captioning
QuickTime currently supports closed captioning by including a text track alongside audio and video content. But improved QuickTime support will automatically display the CEA-608 closed captioning text standard in analog broadcasts in the U.S.
-----
Anyone think this means support for Closed Captioning in iTunes video downloads? As a hearing-impaired Mac-User, the lack of subtitles/captions in the TV shows is the one thing keeping me from buying a bunch of them. I hope they address this issue soon...
As for the rest of the stuff:
1) Time Machine--cool name for a cool idea. However, I use a Powerbook, and my External HD is in another room. It's not connected all the time. I wonder how this setup will work? And like others, I initially thought "System Restore," but then I realized how different this is, and how Useful. But how far back can you go? I have files on my computer that are almost 10 years old....Will time machine be able to find stuff that was deleted years ago (I do mean AFTER time Machine is installed...I obviously don't expect it to find stuff deleted before TM was installed).
2) Mail. To-Do implementation looks neat, and themes might be fun for a Christmas letter. But I really don't care about HTML mail.
3) iChat. "Share the Screen" looks awesome, if it works well. So does being able to do a slideshow while chatting with someone...
4) Spaces. I've gotten so used to Expose, I can't see Virtual desktops being that big a deal to me. But It's a good feature for those who want it.
5) Dashboard. From the previews, it seems like Dashcode will be available as part of the OS?
6) Spotlight. Over-the-network searches sound great.
7) iCal. More networking features are great, but most of my friends/coworkers have PCs, so moot point for me.
8) Accessibilty: See above about Closed Captioning. Anything that helps Hearing impaired users is great.
9) 64-bit. Kind of Obvious?
10) Core Animation: Will my 1.67 G4 Powerbook be able to utilize this in any way?
Overall, great Keynote, I thought. the only people that should be disappointed are the ones claiming all kinds of crazy stuff, as always.
gregorsamsa
Aug 28, 07:35 AM
OEM licensing OS X would not be a panacea. I supported NeXTSTEP/Openstep for NeXT and Apple. We had a nightmare dealing with OEMs who pushed us into the trash heap.
When the merger happened they showed no more interest knowing that we could move the OS to Intel since we had it running on Intel.
Motherboard manufacturers cut corners. OEMs cut all sorts of corners on their I/O cards.
Corralling all necessary OEMs to stick to a specific spec would be a nightmare.
Vista is a classic example of diluting your OS. Five years and counting.
Apple is both a hardware and software company.
The price for their latest Mac Pro shows how price competitive it is with the rest of the industry.
Having built several clone boxes none of them from the case design, integrated motherboard design, controller design, heat transfer requirements, etc comes close to the Mac Pro. It doesn't include Hardware RAID out of the box. Big deal.
When the clone industry can produce cases in general that compete for structural integrity, motherboards with as few cables, easily maintanable cases that are easy to keep dust free then Apple might feel concerned about it's claim to having the most complete experience.
OS X has shortcomings in areas for Engineering (CAD/CAM, FEM, etc. All 3rd party concerns), Games (3rd party concerns, OpenGL 2 concerns that Apple will fix), Vertical Solution concerns (assuming Apple wants to attack the business sectors they will have to address this lack of productivity tools for Finance & Accounting within iWorks) and some other deficiencies.
They are covering their bases and growing their base, quarter by quarter.
When ROME is finally built are we all going to whine that you can save $50 here or there with a clone?
I expect no less.
Good points, some of which I don't disagree with. Yes, "Vista is a classic example of diluting your OS," but I'll still be surprised if it doesn't achieve record sales on release. Though Apple's userbase continues to grow (& rightly so!), the crunch time for Apple in sustaining this will surely come when the shops are full of competitively-priced, Vista-enabled PCs.
Licensing out OS X wouldn't necessarily mean compromising its security; the compromise would come in some of the non-Apple hardware OS X ran on. Much has changed since the days of the original Apple clones that proved to be an expensive failure. Today, technology generally is much less expensive. Customers would appreciate the kind of choice that, after all, hasn't done too much harm to sales of Windows PCs. (I'd probably still buy Apple, but some others may buy a cheaper Dell running OS X).
Granted that the Mac Pro is competitively priced, those recent comparisons with the more expensive Dell workstation overlook that the Mac Pro graphics (Geforce 7300 GT) cost approx $100; the Dell's Nvidia graphics are closer to $1,000. (A point for objectivity's sake).
Like most Mac owners, I believe Apple are still by far the best for overall quality & service (though I think they're currently lacking at least one more consumer-aimed computer). I'm just interested in any ideas that could further expand the OS X userbase, & sustain it long-term.
PS: ROME has already been built: M$. But that empire so overreached itself it now looks as if it's beginning to crumble.
When the merger happened they showed no more interest knowing that we could move the OS to Intel since we had it running on Intel.
Motherboard manufacturers cut corners. OEMs cut all sorts of corners on their I/O cards.
Corralling all necessary OEMs to stick to a specific spec would be a nightmare.
Vista is a classic example of diluting your OS. Five years and counting.
Apple is both a hardware and software company.
The price for their latest Mac Pro shows how price competitive it is with the rest of the industry.
Having built several clone boxes none of them from the case design, integrated motherboard design, controller design, heat transfer requirements, etc comes close to the Mac Pro. It doesn't include Hardware RAID out of the box. Big deal.
When the clone industry can produce cases in general that compete for structural integrity, motherboards with as few cables, easily maintanable cases that are easy to keep dust free then Apple might feel concerned about it's claim to having the most complete experience.
OS X has shortcomings in areas for Engineering (CAD/CAM, FEM, etc. All 3rd party concerns), Games (3rd party concerns, OpenGL 2 concerns that Apple will fix), Vertical Solution concerns (assuming Apple wants to attack the business sectors they will have to address this lack of productivity tools for Finance & Accounting within iWorks) and some other deficiencies.
They are covering their bases and growing their base, quarter by quarter.
When ROME is finally built are we all going to whine that you can save $50 here or there with a clone?
I expect no less.
Good points, some of which I don't disagree with. Yes, "Vista is a classic example of diluting your OS," but I'll still be surprised if it doesn't achieve record sales on release. Though Apple's userbase continues to grow (& rightly so!), the crunch time for Apple in sustaining this will surely come when the shops are full of competitively-priced, Vista-enabled PCs.
Licensing out OS X wouldn't necessarily mean compromising its security; the compromise would come in some of the non-Apple hardware OS X ran on. Much has changed since the days of the original Apple clones that proved to be an expensive failure. Today, technology generally is much less expensive. Customers would appreciate the kind of choice that, after all, hasn't done too much harm to sales of Windows PCs. (I'd probably still buy Apple, but some others may buy a cheaper Dell running OS X).
Granted that the Mac Pro is competitively priced, those recent comparisons with the more expensive Dell workstation overlook that the Mac Pro graphics (Geforce 7300 GT) cost approx $100; the Dell's Nvidia graphics are closer to $1,000. (A point for objectivity's sake).
Like most Mac owners, I believe Apple are still by far the best for overall quality & service (though I think they're currently lacking at least one more consumer-aimed computer). I'm just interested in any ideas that could further expand the OS X userbase, & sustain it long-term.
PS: ROME has already been built: M$. But that empire so overreached itself it now looks as if it's beginning to crumble.
