No. 1: All Cocoa Finder in Snow Leopard – Could Mean end of Carbon Libraries for Developers
Those familiar with Adobe’s recent CS4 news involving the Mac version learned that Adobe had to pick its battles in what to bring to the Apple platform. After CS3 was completed Adobe planned on implementing 64-bit support to both Windows and Mac but Apple instead pulled the plug on its planned implementation of 64-bit Carbon APIs (application programming interfaces), the technology ISVs (independent software developers) tap into when writing applications for specific platforms. This forced Adobe’s hand. No 64-bit support for CS4 on the Mac and a necessary long-haul conversion of over a million lines of code from Apple’s Carbon technology to Apple’s newer and preferred Cocoa technology.
This tale makes a nice backdrop to this week’s MacFive™ news story on AppleInsider regarding an all new Cocoa Finder in Snow Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X. It helps explain, perhaps, Apple’s decision to abandon 64-bit support in Carbon. And, aside from the fact that a new Finder in Cocoa may portend to many nice new speed-ups on the Mac, it also may force the hand of Mac CAD and 3D developers who have been lingering around the Carbon farm too long.
No. 2: Dear FireWire Where Art Thou…?
Apple introduced stunning new MacBooks this week — really the high-point of the week for the tech world. These machines are gorgeous and have Nvidia’s newest innovative graphics technology onboard. But what they don’t have is FireWire — at least not on the lower endMacBook model. This has angered many Mac fans, as InfoWorld reports.
“Think of FireWire as USB, but rather than running at 12 megabits-per-second it’s running at 400 megabits-per-second,” said Jobs when he introduced the first Macs with FireWire ports back in 1999 at MacWorld Conference and Expo.
So what is the real big deal in this Apple decision? Is Apple moving away from an industry standard it originally created and help get started? And a good one at that…?
My guess is probably not. The new MacBook Pro includes a FireWire 800 port. As do many other Mac models. But dropping FireWire from the top-selling and popular MacBook means three things that hurt customers today:
- No. 1 – No more Target Disk Mode (TDM), which is used by Apple’s Migration Assistant, a very handy way of setting up a new Mac with an old Mac’s info.
- No. 2 – Sorry about that digital camcorder folks…. Yes, for many customers FireWire is their way from their miniDV cam unit to iMovie.
- No. 3 – No more FireWire over IPv4 – essentially a computer-to-computer network which can be established over FireWire (I believe TDM essentially uses this).
No. 3: A Greener Apple – The world will expect Apple to lead
There is very little doubt in my mind that environmental groups will expect Apple to lead the world in environmental concerns for the electronics industry. For two reasons really. Firstly, Al Gore sits on Apple’s board. Secondly, Apple’s self-proclaimed status as the world’s top innovator in the world of computers, software and personal electronic devices obligates it to live up to its own hype. So it should please both Apple and those watching this issue that Greenpeace welcomes Apple’s latest and much “greener” MacBooks.
But there is more to this issue than meets the eye. The world has its eyes and ears focused on the US’s presidential election outcome. An Obama win prediction suggest that new energy policies and US investment in clean energy and higher environmental standards will further align both customer and client concerns around green design. This will become an opportunity for Apple, as I suggested back in this Architosh article here. Look for Apple to differentiate around green technology. Public pressure to be green citizens will encourage us all to support those companies that are contributing to a greener planet.
No. 4: Apple Market Share – Now Number 3 Computer Manufacturer in US
This Electronista article discusses summary highlights from IDC’s latest market share findings from the 3rd quarter of 2008. The big news is no news for most Mac watchers. Apple continues to grow at a rapid pace, far outpacing its industry rivals. Dell and HP may have lost some share and share growth at the hands of Apple over the summer, the article notes. In the worldwide market Apple is still not in the top five.
No. 5: Meet the “Cloud Computer”
A husband and wife team from Australia are taking on the big boys with their new “cloud computing era” PC dubbed the new Hot-E PC. Their website’s new tag line says: “Word is…the enterprise is getting smaller.”
That statement is an interesting notion. Cloud computing means essentially for both big and small companies part or all of their computing takes place out on the cloud (on the Net). If you use a product like Basecamp, by 37signals, for instance, you are doing some cloud computing. The application is delivered as a service (software as a service or SaaS for short). Google’s Calendar is clouding computing.
Why does a Cloud Computer get to be small? Because Cloud Computing is Internet-based computing. This means you access your data out on the Net (Cloud), you keep it there on a server. Control of that information takes place via an application delivered through, commonly but not exclusively, a Web browser. This means applications and data are stored on servers, thus a product like the Hot-E PC can forego a typical hard drive. It doesn’t need a CD-ROM drive either. It only needs to get you onto the Net.
Innards of the Hot-E PC
- ARM processor
- Silicon Motion GPU (1024×768 x 16 bit)
- SDRAM – 64MB
- Flash – 8MB
- Ethernet (of course…)
- USB 1 and USB 2 ports
- Linux or FreeBSD operating systems (MS WinCE future option)
As cloud computing gains steam — and it most certainly will — it will be interesting to watch how Apple reacts to this trend as compared to its main rivals. Could the Mac mini become more of a cloud computing device? What about AppleTV?