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The Path to OS X It's not an uncomfortable silence, but it's dead quiet. The single moment of the gasp between not really knowing what Steve Jobs is about to say, and suddenly being in the know. When you feel curious but a tad guilty reading all the speculation and maybe-confirmed rumors because they're akin to movie spoilers--that's when you know that no matter how bad Apple has done recently on the corporate side, that you are still a supporter...soldier...a fan (and sure glad you aren't on that weak Pentium 4 side of the computer coin). Maybe you're looking forward to the revelation of OS 9.1, having not fully been comfortable with beta OS X and being skeptical of a full dive into it when it arrives in a few months...or maybe the hardware that you'll run your OS X baby on (could they really be considering going single processor again?). We do need to know what kind of tree we'll be growing the fruits of our labors on. And the Miracle Grow or Agent Orange (depending on what you think of it) will be our OS X. I really don't think OS X will be anything but our great gleaming holy grail in the sky at MacWorld San Francisco. The hype will be there, but it is the buoy for excitement when it arrives in a few months, not the show-stealer for this month. If things go right, MWSF will dazzle and entice the world like it often does (to what degree is up for grabs) and the one-two punch will be OS X's debut on the great new systems. What is encouraging for OS X is actually the presence of OS 9.1. With a much-anticipated overhaul of the Mac OS experience comes the also much-anticipated update to what we've all been using and are comfortable on. That does not sound like an insensitive company to me, and it certainly does not sound like the lurch and pay scam Microsoft runs with its Windows updates. The simple appearance and comfort of choice is far more attractive than any simple brand decision. We will be offered two very competent designs, and we can stay with our current (even improved) model or opt for the R&D wonder that looks friendly if unfamiliar. The rumor-palooza (or, for our international readers: rumour-palooza) begs every question imaginable, and allows some personal daydreaming (and it's here I'll make my shameless plug for my own daydreaming article on Maccircuit.com--let's hope any of these come true). And to tie in the last article, while ol' Steve Spurrier lost to Miami in a good Sugar Bowl game, his rival Bobby Bowden was humiliated in the national championship game...by a former assistant coach of Steve's with assistance to him by Steve Spurrier Jr. So maybe that's how our Apple saga could play out. While Apple might not rise to the incredible success it had just a short time ago, it may do really well, stay a contender, surprise a few non-believers and spread its creative tendrils for ultimate success across a broad marketplace, not a small arena. What could we be looking at? Maybe Quicktime booms and becomes a larger, more trusted standard than Real...Maybe OS X servers will be the hot host...but no matter what, if we follow this analogy, Microsoft get's slammed and karma/schadenfreud smiles upon us. We can only speculate...right? |
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