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This week Apple held it’s annual WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference). Steve Jobs focused this year on getting developers to start making applications for Mac OS X rather than classic. He pointed out that a MacWorld survey found that users would be likely to switch programs if another program was OS X ready before there current favorite.

Now this leaves a very important question, what happens to the millions of Macs that can’t run OS X? Will Mac OS 9 be updated after this summer?

Most likely many apps will come in both OS X and classic to ensure compatibility with older computers. Since many companies have older macs (7200’s, 8600’s, 9600’s) they most likely would keep compatibility so that they don’t loose that valuable market. Newer products will most likely be OS X only after this year.

Mac OS 9 most likely will be updated after this summer. Mac OS 9.2 (most likely to be released in August at MacWorld New York) is already in late stages of development. Since Mac OS 9 is technically “classic” and is included in Mac OS X, it will most likely be updated as OS X is updated. This would be to bring better compatibility to classic mode, and allow people who must be able to run older apps to update to OS X. I wouldn’t expect to many new features in Mac OS 9, but I would expect it become more stable during upgrades, and to gain more integration with Mac OS X.

I think it is very safe to say that it is not the end of Mac OS Classic, but the beginning of the golden years. Mac OS Classic is a very important part of the platform which many will not give up any time soon. As long as people want it, developers will program for it.

Today Apple just announced a series of changes. Among them Apple announced that starting today, all Apple computers would ship with OS X and OS 9.1, with the default OS being 9.1, but easily to switch to OS X on demand via duel boot technology. (http://macvillage.net/macpr/pressreleases/99047145046670.shtml). Apple also announced that it would be only selling only LCD flat panel displays (http://macvillage.net/macpr/pressreleases/99047142118411.shtml) making it the first company to do so. These are huge announcements are actually much bigger than they appear. Let’s take a closer look.

Apple just released OS X. While virtually everyone in the industry agrees that it is a very advanced, stable and promising system. Everyone also agrees that it is promising. It is lacking some features that are needed for everyday use. Things such as DVD support are non existent. There is also not very much support for software, thus users constantly need to boot into OS 9.1, since classic is a bit lacking. This could turn new customers away from the Mac OS. Since computers such as the iMac are geared towards new customers, they may not be to fond of this advanced duel OS approach. It could appear very confusing to some users. On the positive side it could greatly enhance the software availability. With OS X on all new computers, it will make OS X a dominant OS, thus more developers will work on OS X applications.

Apple’s announcing no more CRT displays could be a bad thing for customers. CRT displays, while much larger and not as high quality are not nearly as expensive as LCD displays. This could be a step back for the education market, which Apple is recently being hurt in. Schools who need more power than an iMac can provide often like the G4 due to it’s speed, and compatibility with other computers in the classroom, but now they will need to get a third party monitor rather than an Apple monitor due to costs. The CRT monitor was very popular among schools.

Apple also announced an update to Mac OS X Server and WebObjects. While these do not directly effect consumers, this will be of great help to web developers and to network administrators whom have been waiting for these update for quite some time. Also noted is that the Apple Retail store welcomed over 7700 in 2 days (http://macvillage.net/macpr/pressreleases/99047138849737.shtml).

“Apple currently has around 5% market share in personal computers. This means that out of one hundred computer users, five of them use Macs. While that may not sound like a lot, it is actually higher than both BMW?s and Mercedes-Benz?s share of the automotive market. And it equals 25 million customers around the world using Macs. ” says the Apple Retail web site.

Apple Computer Inc. today announced that it will be opening 25 brick and mortar retail stores to accompany it’s popular Apple Store web site. According to Apple this will help expand its customer base and will allow it to expand its market.

Apple’s new stores will sell Apple Computers, Apple Software, mac software, as well as other Macintosh related products. There will be presentations about Apple Technologies and there will be plenty of demo computers for potential converts to try out. There will also be a “Genius Bar,” and according to Apple “Come here to ask questions ? we love questions ? or to connect to the local Mac community or to get service.”

This could be a very good thing for Apple. It is allowing them to attract new customers and expand its reach. This is also very good for current customers. The more popular the platform becomes, the more products will be “Macintosh Compatible.” It should also help convince current users that there is a lot available for their computers, thus it should help keep current users. What is really needed is free tech support at these stores for your Mac, no matter how old your computer is. What seems funny is that the iMac, the computer that was “designed for the rest of us” will be sold in upper class malls throughout the us. Assuming that is where “the rest of us” live. Overall, this could have great potential for the platform. But only time will tell.


Links
Apple Retail: Apple
Press Release: Mac PR

They say that if you are bad all year, Santa brings you a lump of coal. Well, we must have been abusing our Macs because Apple just released CarbonLib 1.3.1, which has turned out to be a horror, although normally updates bring more stability.

Some problems that I personally have encountered, along with many Mac users have been, the loss of Drag & Drop, Apple Script Editor doesn’t work, and some scripts crash with a “Type 1″ error. A problem I have had was that Drop Stuff and Stuffit Expander also crash. Some other users have found that they can’t startup their computers successfully.

What is very scary is that some of these bugs, especially the AppleScript problems have been known since the release of the 1.3.1 Carbon SDK for developers. You would think Apple would fix the bugs before releasing it to the general public. I personally feel that Apple needs to shape up carbon and bring about more stability. With OS X now out, it is becoming a more essential piece of software. It is something that needs to be as reliable as the Finder. There are not to many tricks for dealing with bad release of the CarbonLib except to not update, but how long can this go on for? Eventually you will have to update to run recent releases of some software. In Apple’s defense this is the first really bad release of the software. All other versions were at least somewhat stable.

It is strongly recommended that normal users don’t upgrade until the next release, or at least make sure you have saved a copy of CarbonLib 1.2.5 so that you can go back if necessary.

Are you a Graphic Artist using a Mac in your work? If so, MacVillage.net wants to hear from you. MacVillage.net is working on a new Electronic Cards service, which has been requested for a long time now. Everyone knows that the best graphic artists use Macs, and now MacVillage.net is looking for Graphic Artists who want to submit artwork to appear in the service.

MacVillage.net will be choosing “featured artists” at intervals yet to be determined. This artist will receive a prominent spot on the services page, and will have their artwork featured throughout. Under their artwork will be a link to a page containing info about the artist and the Url to the artists web site.

The requirement for this is that the artist must use a Mac in the process of making their artwork. All types of artwork are welcome.

Anyone interested in participating should visit:
http://macvillage.net/cards

This is a follow up article for the article May 1, 2001 - Rumor Listings:
http://macvillage.net/news/articles/98859239439486.shtml

The rumors were true for the most part, a new line of iBooks have been announced. The new iBooks feature a new impact-resistant polycarbonate plastic case, as well as duel USB ports. They now all have 500Mhz G3 processors. There is an option for a CD-ROM/ CDRW/ Superdrive depending on the model. Most of the other features that were in the previous line of iBooks are still there such as FireWire and AirPort. A neat feature is the RGB and composite video out ports on the back of the new iBooks. Apple is still marketing the laptop towards the education market, though it is also marketed towards the younger computer users and business users. Apple promotes it’s ability to use iTunes as well as it’s ability to do graphic work with ease.

I would anticipate that this new product will sell. The prices are very low for laptops, and it is marketed towards the exact crowd who would be interested in it. While not nearly as fancy as the Titanium G4, it still packs a lot of power for a very low cost. I would anticipate this product to go far, and maybe do better than the original iBook did. This revision seems to have all the features that kept many away from the iBook in the past. It also has an option for a SuperDrive, which should be a real seller.

One of the other rumors (which I thought was false,) was that Mac OS X (10.0.2) would not ship on May 1, 2001. To my surprise it did ship. Steve Jobs announced that it went GM (Gold Masters) a few days ago and is shipping as of noon (PST). New features include support for CDRW and an update for internet file sharing (ftpd). That’s beside for the standard “overall application stability enhancements.” Aka. bug fixes.

The other rumor which turned out to be false (which I thought would not happen) was the revised G4′s. It appears that Apple is not releasing any upgrades to the G4 line at this time. I personally predict that will happen this summer at MacWorld NY.