The Leopard Revolution?

Lincoln Russell 8 Jun, 2007 at 10:54am ET Article published in Tech

Steve Jobs is set to announce new Leopard features at an Apple conference on Monday. A new user interface using “Core Animation” is expected to be demonstrated, which one developer claims will make current programs “look really pathetic” by comparison.

From Wired: “Shipley predicts that Core Animation will kick-start a new era of interface experimentation, and may lead to an entirely new visual language for designing desktop interfaces.”

I guess this means Microsoft’s R&D team will have this in the next version of Windows in three years.

In related news, Leopard will use “ZFS”, which is Sun’s Solaris file system.

Comments

8 Jun 2007 ~ 11:35am kryyst MS's next version of windows, which is based on the original concept that got muddled into Vista is tentatively scheduled for 2009.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 12:29pm Nomad Windows is really blowing their chance at the market with Vista. I see more and more people, particularly going to college, choosing Macs because they don't like Vista, see Macs as popular, or feel PCs and all the choices are too complex.

Regardless of if you view the people as stupid, Mac is starting to really win in the computer market.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 2:42pm BuddyJ A possible preview for the new Leopard theme can be seen here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=311590

Just a rumor at this point, but it kinda makes sense.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 5:57pm Thrax

Nomad wrote:

Windows is really blowing their chance at the market with Vista. I see more and more people, particularly going to college, choosing Macs because they don't like Vista, see Macs as popular, or feel PCs and all the choices are too complex.

Regardless of if you view the people as stupid, Mac is starting to really win in the computer market.

No, Mac is really starting to win the ignorant college/more-money-than-sense market. Huge difference, and a very tiny market.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 7:03pm Qeldroma I think Mac will have to come out with some compelling innovation and stop charging us so much to pay Steve Jobst for it.

This might be the innovation (uh, maybe?)- but now they have to fire Jobst and compete.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 8:05pm airbornflght Well, I for one will be buying a mbp this fall when I enter college (though I may wait for leopard) I just like the os better. I could care less about the mac or apple branding. I just like the operating system plain and simple. To me it seems that OSX is a much faster (user interface wise) operating system than xp or vista. Vista is utter crap in my opinion. I hate the vista ui, there are far too many steps to do trivial things. I think that it has been dumbed down way too much. I'm by no means a fan boi of anybody, I just simply state the facts and my opinion and I feel qualified to do so after using a mac and pc for 8 months straight at my last job. I don't want to start a shout fest or anything.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 8:15pm Thrax If anything, it's Leopard that's been dumbed down. It's also slower than Windows (XP); that's *NIX for you.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 8:33pm airbornflght I'm not saying in terms of the speed of the operating system. What I'm saying is that I can accomplish tasks faster on the mac than I can on windows when using the same operating systems. I'm not sure what it is, but I do know that as far as productivity goes for what I was doing the mac was about 20% faster to work on, though sometimes it felt as if I was working with the mac, not on it.
8 Jun 2007 ~ 8:54pm Sledgehammer70 I guess to all his own... i will say Mac's are better for video editing, but that us tied to Mac's video program.. out side of that Windows Xp or Vista can do it all

I just feel for the user as that mac book that might be a bit fast in certain programs is also $1200 more expensive...
8 Jun 2007 ~ 10:14pm Qeldroma

Sledgehammer70 wrote:

... i will say Mac's are better for video editing, but that us tied to Mac's video program...

I would argue that Windows has closed the gap in the consumer and prosumer markets and has done so for more than a year.

Mac established itself in video-editting first, established and entrenched itself in the professional and education fields (much like it did with general computing early in it's history), and I consider much of the Mac video hype is pushed by them and those who have looked up to them. However, there are some in the mainstream who can pick up stable, versatile, and credible video editting packages that can run in Windows for just around a C-note.

I do and and have done so for personal reasons as well as for a nationally recognized swim club for almost two years.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 12:59am airbornflght Yeh, you can get just about any pro level software on either platform now, plain and simple. be it video editing or desktop publishing. Like indesign and photoshop that I use. We had programs on both a mac and a pc sitting next to each other. They were both comparable in speed, but the macs ui just seemed better for that type of work, granted it was definitely paid for with the premium price tag. But if someone is willing to do so. I've always thought of apple to a little ahead of the curve, or at least on it when it comes to innovation and development. They just seem to be able to push technology out while its still brand spanking new, and this probably comes from the fact that they develop for 6 or so hardware configurations instead of some odd thousand configurations.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 3:24am Leonardo

I think Mac will have to come out with some compelling innovation and stop charging us so much to pay Steve Jobst for it.

A principle of sound economics is profit margin, that is, the optimal intersection of quantity and price. Apple has done very, very well at that. They have no intention of being a ultra mass market, low margin seller - a commodity like HP or Dell. In that respect, they soundly trounce any branded PC box maker. If you look at Apple as a single brand, they are highly successful. Remember, the value of anything is what someone is willing to pay for it. Plain and simple.

No, I am not a Mac user and I don't own an Ipod.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 9:24am airbornflght Man, I took an economics class this year and I absolutely loved it, the principles aren't too hard to understand, but its fun to play with the charts and see how they react to changes.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 2:57pm primesuspect Final cut pro
9 Jun 2007 ~ 4:40pm airbornflght I've never used it, how does it compare to premier pro?
9 Jun 2007 ~ 5:35pm Qeldroma

Leonardo wrote:

… the value of anything is what someone is willing to pay for it….

Yes.

Leonardo wrote:

They have no intention of being a ultra mass market, low margin seller - a commodity like HP or Dell. In that respect, they soundly trounce any branded PC box maker. If you look at Apple as a single brand, they are highly successful.

I respectfully disagree. I do not see HP, Dell, Microsoft, Gates, Intel or many of those on the Wintel side if the equation going hungry anytime soon because of their business models and the Apple philosophy of doing business, I think, can only eventually push them into further obscurity or even extinction. They have vanishing advantages and can ill afford to ignore appealing to the rest of the mass market or at least growing their market share.

I’d like to cheer for the Mac as Microsoft (or should I say WE) DESPERATELY need viable competitors in this arena. But if the Mac status quo in charge is not careful, they could lose what little market share they have remaining as it makes no sense for even a fanboy to pay more for no reason or advantage. I’m hoping that history will not repeat itself with Mac/Apple, but I’m not convinced it won’t- and finish the job.

BTW- we do have an Ipod as well as an MP3.

PS- Vegas Movie Studio.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 5:50pm airbornflght well, right now the reason they charge the premium is for the pretty engineering/styling and of course, the operating system. Plain and simple. I think it is worth it and that is a basic economic decision. Do I think that the ability to run OSX is >= the $450 premium? For me, the answer is yes.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 6:19pm fatcat Unless I'm playing a game, I use OSX over windows. It just works. And I've had plenty of years tinkering with PC's. All those years I could have been using my OS instead of fixing/re-installing/bangin head on keyboard. I am looking forward to Leopard.
9 Jun 2007 ~ 6:36pm Qeldroma And I agree for as long as it's true. The time is also NOW since MS is struggling to get Vista entrenched and many MS people (including moi) are looking for alternatives.

However, Vista is beginning to overcome some important issues (at least at my job) and DX10 is starting to get some traction. I don't think you realize the importance of that developement- but it could change the graphics equation dramatically. The window of opportunity ... ?
9 Jun 2007 ~ 6:45pm airbornflght I always was hopeful that openGL would reign supreme over DirectX...
10 Jun 2007 ~ 12:35am CB Final Cut Pro is the best Video editing software out there. The only thing on PC that is even in the same league is Avid.

FCP is the only thing I ever use a Mac for.