zAPPLE PREDICTIONS

[iGary]

From the Macworld show today:

New Intel-based Macintosh notebooks now and in the near future, then desktops and servers later in the year -- pretty much already known for a while.

More new iPod models -- predictable.

My Apple predictions have not come true so far, at least not yet. For the past year or so my semi-startling Apple predictions were that Apple would come out with a line of televisions and hi-fi audio gear. Yes, for worse or for better, this stuff would be *different* than most television and stereo gear.

The marketing gateway for this gear would be the audio iPod and the video iPod. Included, would be decent quality "tape-less" motion video cameras geared towards personal computer users, maybe even a still photographic camera.

Suddenly, Apple would NOT be such good buddies with their old friend Sony.

 

[iGary]

Apple Finds New Enemies

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/10/technology/appleenemies_biz20/index.htm

 

[Gilbo]

I'm very curious to see what the new PowerMacs will be like. I'll never buy one --I'm sure I could probably build some sort of ridiculous system with dual dual-core Opterons and four times as much RAM for less money, but I bet they'll set a new standard for prebuilt highend computers.

And I bet that they'll look beauty...

 

[iGary]

...but I bet they'll set a new standard for prebuilt highend computers. And I bet that they'll look beauty...

I bet they'll make 'em out of transparent aluminum (StarTrek joke reference, where Scotty is talking to the bottom-side of a mouse plugged into a Mac SE).

 

[iGary]

Oh, by the way, another prediction, which I actually made a while back here on StoFo, is that in a year or two after the release of X86 Macintoshes. Apple will finally cave in to consumer and corporate customer pressure and offer MS Windows Vista or Windows XP Pro for sale as a software bundle, with no technical support for Windows, for certain Macintosh models (higher-end notebooks and technical workstations).

This prediction is based on the prediction that Apple will have fully functional X86 hardware virtualisation in at least a year, allowing for multiple OSX virtual machines as well as allowing for other "certified" guest operating systems to run on the Mac OSX hypervisor.

Apple may also have a "certified" Linux at that time as well -- probably just ONE, though. Apple won't offer this "certified" Linux directly, just a copy of Windows XP or Vista as a software bundle. This "certified" Linux would have to be bought directly from the Linux vendor. There could even be a secret agreement between Apple and MS to make retail copies of Windows NOT install on an Apple product directly (i.e. -- install Windows by itself, no OSX).

 

[sechs]

Apple Finds New Enemies

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/10/technology/appleenemies_biz20/index.htm

The folks at Adobe laugh at Apple. The money is over on the Windows side, so abandoning Macintosh development makes things a lot easier and profitable. I've seen it happen, and Apple is just accelerating it -- creative professionals are moving to Windows because it's cheap and has the applications that they want.

 

[sechs]

I'm very curious to see what the new PowerMacs will be like.

Shouldn't these be called "PentiMacs" or something?

Sounds like a camera or feminine hygiene product, tho'.

 

[Bozo]

Windows on Mac

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10794396/from/RS.3/


Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[iGary]

...creative professionals are moving to Windows because it's cheap and has the applications that they want.

What I've seen -- for the most part -- platform switching in the creative arena has not been that big of a trend over the past ten years. Wintel has made great strides in new computer growth in this field, but less in people abandoning the Mac. But, when and where platform switching happens, it tends to be a big churning whirlpool of idiots that just aren't particularly computer-smart going back-and-forth between platforms on a whim.

Pro audio and digital photography have been a couple of fairly steady areas of growth over the years for Wintel, though. Pro video has been very spotty for Wintel. Page layout is still very dominate by the Apple platform, much like it was ten years ago. Quark Xpress doesn't work all thqt great on a Wintel box.

 

[Sol]

The new Apples seem to be a lot better value than the old ones, but still not as good as your average home built gear.

I don't think apple will do aany bundling of windows themselves although they havn't precluded anyone else from doing so. Apple hardware should be aable to run windows perfectly as long as the drivers can be found, I most of the chips seem to be already in use in PCs so that shouldn't be that hard. Given that a Mac could run windows I doubt that MS could, or necasarily even would, stop retailers selling a Mac with an OEM Windows product.

As for certifed linux on Mac I don't see that that will be important. The important factor is that the Linux distribution creators certify that thier product will work on Macs, anyone who needs that certification will probably either trust what they say or have a service contract with them for support. Whether or not Apple believe the system is compatable doesn't really matter.

Virtualisation wise all apple need is a darwin port of Xen. The processors used in the Intel Macs should be able to support running windows as a hypervisor. But I suspect that for most purposes just duel booting windows should be fine.

 

[sechs]

...creative professionals are moving to Windows because it's cheap and has the applications that they want.

What I've seen -- for the most part -- platform switching in the creative arena has not been that big of a trend over the past ten years.

Although people are switching -- and don't like it -- it's the new folks who are the real problem. They're Windows users in the first place and being taught to use the applications on Windows.

I watched one particular university computer lab for creative types go from nearly all Macintoshes, some SGI workstations, and a few Windows PC to all Windows, save a few of the old Macs to run screwey sound hardware and software.

 

[Howell]

You can run Windows on the Mac right now!

 

[CityK]

Anyone see/read anywhere if Apple is considering opening up OS X to non-Apple systems?

 

[CityK]

A little more detail on the issue of Windows on Mac

 

[iGary]

A little more detail on the issue of Windows on Mac

It's simple: the Intel Macs don't use a BIOS. Instead, they use Intel's newer Extensible Firmware Interface, which is not supported under Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows. Vista will include support for EFI when it ships later this year, so unless someone comes out with a hack that gets XP up and running on the iMac and MacBook Pro, you'll have to wait until later this year to dual boot Windows and Mac OS X natively on the same machine.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060112-5962.html

Well, then it looks like another prediction came true:



From 06-June-2005:

Otherwise, these newfangled MacX86 machines would certainly NOT have a PC BIOS, but instead have what eventually will be the fate of every future X86 computer, namely Extensible Firmware.

I believe I've talked about this here a couple of times in the past (maybe not), but the BIOS will finally start to go away sometime during the next few years. Itanium systems have been using Extensible Firmware since nearly the beginning (though they did use BIOS in the very beginning). Intel is very keen on killing BIOS and pushing Extensible Firmware.

If the MacX86 doesn't incorporate it first, we should first see Extensible Firmware appearing on high-end multi-multi-processor enterprise X86 rigs with the trickle down over time to the lowliest of no-name vomit boxes.

The Macintosh has always used a similar system firmware approach going all the way back to the days of the Mac Plus, Mac SE, Mac II back in the mid 1980s.

From 27-July-2005:
"NEWZ: Extensible Firmware Set To Kill Off BIOS"

http://www.storageforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4906&highlight=extensible

 

[iGary]

You can run Windows on the Mac right now!

Yes, that capability has been around for several years from a couple of vendors. It's not nearly as buggy as it used to be, but it still isn't perfect.

Presuming the VM-in-OSX prediction comes true, an X86 Macintosh user would then have native hardware hosting for Windows, not X86 *emulation* like you have now, and have had going as far back as the early 90s. There have also been some X86 PC add-in cards for NuBus and I believe (later) the PCI bus.

I recall a "kit" back around 1990 or 1991 that was basically a Macintosh Plus / SE on a card which plugged into an ISA bus slot in a PC. All you had to do was remove the Macintosh firmware ROM from a Macintosh and plug it onto the card to make it work. Then, you had a "Mac in a PC" that you could access running MS-DOS via a device driver that memory mapped the display of the Macintosh-on-a-card into your VGA adapter via the VGA feature connector.

 

[sechs]

I think that I'd rather be able to run the MacOS on my PC than Windows on a Mac.

 

[mubs]

Intel seems to be hinting that pre-Vista Windoze can run on MacIntelitosh.