The setting and appearance are familiar by now: a dark auditorium, a
huge Apple image projected on the front wall, a couple big Think
Different posters, and The Beach Boys blaring through the sound system.
There's a Power Mac G4 and flat panel display on the left side of the
stage - and a bunch of what look like flat panel displays on the
left.
Or could they be flat panel iMacs? Nope.
Apple Retail Stores
Results have been terrific because of a solutions-based approach to
computer retailing, according to Steve Jobs. Four more stores are due
to open in August, keeping Apple on target for 25 retail stores by the
end of the year.
Steve showed a video about the store: The first 25% of the store
displays every piece of hardware Apple makes. All are AirPort enabled,
so you can just walk up to them and use them. The next half of the
store is for solutions - software, DV camcorders, etc. At the back of
each store is a theater, which Apple is using today to simulcast the
keynote.
Shop different.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X has been shipping since March 24 and already have over
1,000 applications available. Apple asked developers to show of the 10
best apps for OS X.
The OS X version Microsoft Office will only run under
OS X, not under the classic Mac OS. Microsoft has devoted a lot of
time to making Office X fast and gorgeous.
Adobe Illustrator is under development for OS X, and the
development version loads twice as fast as the current "classic"
version of Illustrator. One nice new feature is slicing, which lets
Illustrator automatically break projects into pieces for export to the
Web. GoLive is also being ported to OS X, and InDesign is under development for
OS X. Transparency ports from one application to another - very
nice!
QuarkXpress 5 is finally in beta and an OS X version is being
developed. Xpress will finally support tables and layers. Publishing
for the Web is another strength of Xpress 5, and even includes
exporting images to GIF, JPEG, or PNG automatically.
FileMaker Pro 5.5
for Mac OS X has already shipped and sold over 50,000 copies. FMPro
5.5 Server for OS X will be shipping by the end of the
month.
Connectix showed a technology preview of VirtualPC for Mac
OS X and supports all versions of Microsoft Windows through XP. If
you're running Mac OS X and a registered VirtualPC user, you can
download a "test drive" version of VPC from the Connectix site.
IBM ViaVoice for Mac OS X has been optimized for the G4
and takes advantage of multiple processors. It can be used for
dictation as well as controlling your OS X-running Mac. It's very
fast and very accurate. It will be available "later this year."
Worldbook 2001, the World Book Encyclopedia, is available in
a stunning OS X-specific edition and includes a lot more than just
text and images, such as movies and animation, along with Web
links.
Every game Blizzard has ever released has been available for the Mac
- and Warcraft III is being prepared for simultanous Mac and PC
release. It's the first Blizzard game to use real time graphics. The
carbonized version will run under Mac OS X - and should also work
on the Classic Mac OS.
Aspyr showed of Tony Hawke Pro Skater 2 on Mac OS X,
which lets you edit your own skateboarders and play over a network. The
game will run under both Mac OS 9 and X.
Maya Technologies showed Alias/Wavefront, a powerful 3D
imaging program. The new version is available today.
Mac OS X 10.1
Steve Jobs announced the first major upgrade to Mac OS X,
version 10.1, which put a high emphasis on improving performance. It's
really fast, at least on the G4 Jobs used to demonstrate it. Version
10.1 includes system icons in the menu for modem, AirPort, battery
life, etc.
Several capabilities that had been classic OS only, such as DVD
playback and burning data CDs, are now part of Mac OS X. A clever
new feature is menus tied to dock icons - and you can now move the dock
from the bottom of the screen.
Connecting a digicam to an OS X-equipped Mac will automatically
mount the camera's images - if you can figure out how to turn on the
camera. (Jobs had a real problem with that part. Maybe Apple needs to
get involved with digicam design.) Once that's done, Mac OS X can
automatically copy images from your camera to your pictures folder.
And, of course, 10.1 is a free upgrade for 10.0.x users.
New Hardware
The iBook has been widely hailed as a nearly perfect laptop by any
number of publications. Apple shipped 182,000 iBooks in May and June -
and was unable to meet retail demand.
The TiBook is wonderful, as are reviews. (I love mine!)
Three New iMacs
The short: 500, 600, and 700 MHz models, 128-256 MB standard, CD-RW
on all models. 700 MHz due next month. More on our new iMac profile
page.
The New Power Macs
Apple has updated the Power Mac G4 with their new "Quicksilver"
design. Yesterday 733 MHz was Apple's 
fastest
computer - today it's Apple's entry-level speed. The Power Mac is also
available with a single 867 MHz G4 or dual 800 MHz processors.
Apple has overhauled the case with a new appearance, but the insides
are the same as before. Both the 867 MHz model and the dual 800 MHz
machine include a SuperDrive. More on our G4 (Quicksilver)
profile page.
G4 vs. Pentium 4
How does an 867 MHz G4 compare with a 1.7 GHz P4, the fastest Intel
CPU currently available on the open market. The two computers had
exactly the same hard drives and other components, as far as
possible.
The first demo rendered an NTCS video - and the G4 smoked the
Pentium, completing the job over twice as fast. Then on to Photoshop.
Same old story.
MHz isn't everything. In fact, the G4/867 is 84% faster than the
P4/1.7 at rendering exactly the same Photoshop project.
MHz Does Not Equal Performance
Shooting down the MHz Myth, there are four factors that contribute
to performance:
- process - G4, P4, Itanium, and UltraSparc are all 0.18 micron
designs
- size - the G4 is much smaller physically than the P4
- pipeline - G4 has a seven-stage pipeline, while the P4 has 20
stages. It takes more cycles to complete a longer pipleline. (With
Itanium, Intel has dropped to 10 pipeline stages at 800 MHz.)
- cache - pretty much the same for all processors
Of course, two 800 MHz G4s are even faster.
One Last Thing
By the end of 2001, there will be 28 million DVD players in the US
alone - one in four households. iMovie and Final Cut Pro are the two
leading video editing programs on the planet. Everything else needed to
create a DVD comes as part of the iDVD program.
Dual G4/800 lets you burn DVDS almost in real time.
Preview of iDVD 2 - adds motion menus, video on buttons and
backgrounds, along with new themes. iDVD will be able to create 90
minute movies, up from 60 minutes under iDVD. It also does MPEG-2
conversion in the background while you're designing menus. Out in
September as a free upgrade for iDVD users.
