Posted on 06/29/2004 6:16:02 AM PDT by mattdono
AN FRANCISCO, June 28 - Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Computer, demonstrated on Monday his answer to one of computing's most pressing problems: searching for files and information stored on desktop computers.
At a meeting here of some 3,500 software developers, Mr. Jobs showed off a coming feature for Apple computers, called Spotlight, that will allow users to search quickly for words and concepts stored on a hard drive by using search technology borrowed from the company's iTunes online music service. The feature will be part of the next version of the Macintosh operating system, called Tiger, which is scheduled for release in the first half of next year.
Tiger is the fifth enhancement to the Macintosh Operating System X since it was released in March 2001. Though it is a year away from general availability, it is still at least a year ahead of Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn. Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, has described search as the next major step in PC software development and has told software developers that Longhorn will include powerful built-in search capabilities.
"I think search has become very important, and the search in Tiger is really going to be useful to users," said Charles R. Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company in New York. "Certainly the same problems are plaguing Windows users."
To hear Mr. Jobs describe it, the problem of searching for information on a personal computer is one of the most troublesome issues facing the computer industry, and one that Apple - which today has only 5 percent of the PC market - will be the first to solve.
"Search is a problem for every personal computer company," Mr. Jobs said in an interview at the Apple Worldwide Developer conference. "It's easier to find a document in a million pages on the Web using Google than it is to find a document on your hard drive."
With Tiger, that will no longer be the case, Mr. Jobs said, because Spotlight will be able to find data stored on a hard drive regardless of the type of file it is hidden in.
The function is based on technology used in iTunes that permits users of Apple's music service to organize and search through song collections. Spotlight will show up as an icon in the top right corner of the screen, much like the search buttons that show up on Web pages.
By incorporating roughly 150 new features in Tiger, Apple is "clearly going after Longhorn," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a market research company in Santa Clara, Calif. "They're putting in a lot of features that will be in Longhorn, and that's not coming out until 2006 or 2007."
In demonstrating Tiger's search and other features, including enhanced videoconferencing, Mr. Jobs repeatedly took jabs at Microsoft to the delight of the Macintosh developer audience.
"We think we are years ahead of Longhorn," Mr. Jobs told the software developers, many of whom came from Europe and Asia. "The other guys have been talking about it and we're doing it."
The race between Tiger and Longhorn was something of a theme at the conference, which has long attracted a crowd of Macintosh aficionados. One billboard-size sign greeting developers read, "Redmond, we have a problem"; Microsoft's headquarters are in Redmond, Wash.
Another sign read, "Get your copiers ready," referring to Apple's longstanding claim that many of Windows' best innovations were copied from the Macintosh.
"They're copying our concepts," Mr. Jobs said. "I'd kind of like to get credit sometime," he added. In the late 1980's, Apple sued Microsoft, accusing it of copying the Macintosh operating system.
While the enhancements to the operating system were well received by developers, financial analysts had hoped Apple would announce a new version of the iMac, Apple's basic personal computer. Shares of Apple fell $1.21, to close at $32.49 on Monday.
Mr. Wolf said that because Apple introduced the G5 computer at last year's conference, many Apple analysts had expected to see new Macs introduced at this year's event. Instead, he thinks Apple will introduce its new machines later this summer. Mr. Jobs did, however, introduce a sleek new 30-inch monitor, the company's largest yet. But with a price tag of $3,300, that product is aimed at design professionals, not the mass market.
Though Jobs still continues to whine incessantly. Whether or not Apple or Windows is better (?), I get tired of his ranting.
Couple that with his support for John F'n Kerry and it becomes just a bit harder to buy a (or another) Mac.
Kind a makes me want to say, "Shut up! And code!"
Though I'm sure this has been debated to death here, does anyone else think that Apple ought to make an x86 rev of OSX?
No wonder the stock went down.
No.
It is? Maybe if you have a Mac, I guess - the Windows Indexing Service runs like a champ for me.
It has to do with the fact that he is a WHINER! He WHINES and WHINES and WHINES...incessantly. And, he's, flat out, a hypocrite. He accuses MSFT of stealing from Apple (which, I am sure they did), but he stole Mac from Xerox (which, I am sure he did).
For video editing, graphics, multimedia, etc., I don't think that you can beat a Mac. Agreed. Happy?
Now, if you can get your Mac to get Stevie Jobs a gag so he shuts his piehole, that'd be a trick.
I do like Macs; I don't like the guy. However, his politics are only part of the equation.
It's just profit-taking. The stock hit a 4-year high last Thursday, and still has considerable upside potential.
And considerable downside potential if one looks at the price earning ratio. It's a dot com bubble valuation.
I was advised to wait until the WWDC to see if there are any price announcements...stuck home today, will be taking the BIG Plunge tomorrow...
When the MALWARE hit about 6 weeks ago, our XP Sony Vaio, acquired when Apple introduced the 15 inch Superdrive Flying Saucer iMac, was taken down HARD!!! I put a sign on the machine..."This Machine is INFECTED...do NOT go online", and I stripped the communications link.
Don't get me wrong, I will rebuild the Software, install the Redmond paid for security patches, firewall, etc., etc., etc. at my own pace.
BUT, I NEED A FUNCTIONING COMPUTER TO FEED MY FAMILY!!!
I am truly sorry it has come to that, but it HAS.
BTW, I am writing this on a rebuilt eMachine using Win ME, and have a rebuilt Gateway running Win 98 Svc Pack #1 as a backup.
Microsoft MVP's, on their Newsgroups, say, right up front, that XP, far from being the most secure Redmond offering, has to be considered the most UNSECURE, in light of the new Parasite Ware, Lose Scripts, etc., etc., that have appeared over the last six months...stuff NOT EVEN DREAMED of before...it is at a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL of attack!!
Tomorrow, I will be...
GETTING OUT OF DODGE!!!
>>>Though I'm sure this has been debated to death here, does anyone else think that Apple ought to make an x86 rev of OSX?
I do not see this happening, since one of Apple's main strengths is the hardware-software integration. That said, I would speculate that if an OS X for x86 were to be released with full 64-bit support ahead of the Windows 64 version, the OS might yank away a big market share from MS.
Mac Ping List PING!
If you want to be included in the Macintosh Ping List, or if you want off, please freepmail me.
bttt
Jobs does things with himself in the dark. How much power does One NEED to search for a file on their own mchine? And as for "150 new functions": list 'em and We'll decide if they're (technically) new or worth it.
btw: does anyone know if Tiger will work on 'older' G4s (i.e. my "Mystic": gigabit-ethernet, dual 500's)? I'm pretty happy enough with the functionality of 10.3.3 at the moment...
In a sense, all modern GUIs were "stolen" from Xerox. The best research ever in GUIs was done at the Xerox PARC center. They never knew how to exploit it, and put it in the public domain. Apple took advantage of it, as did IBM with OS/2, many developers of Unix programs, and Win (later than everyone else).
MS took not only the public domain PARC research, but also the refinements developed by Apple, IBM and various Unix developers.
Actually, Apple GOT PERMISSION to interview the Project Leader, a Female, as XEROX wanted to dump "the mouse...aka RAT"...
I met her...the REAL Project Manager in 1980 at the BIG ACM Shindig...in New York City at the Sheraton just off Columbus Circle!
Where Apple was a WEDGE shaped design [YES, I was present at the CREATION], made of Plastic, mabye BAKELITE, or WOOD???
I thought the other developments...a Writing Tablet...held more promise...
BUT, as the NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING [TM] types contend, the Auditory Digital Types [ 5% of the population] can handle DOS Command Line, but the General Population is "VK"...Visual first, Kinesthetic second, the GUI was bound to be a SUCCESS!!!
It's ALL there...in the " Pirates of Silicon Valley"
Go Rent It!!!
The best research ever in GUIs was done at the Xerox PARC center.
FreeBSD does exist for x86, and Apple even puts out (I believe they still do at least) a Darwin core for x86. The Darwin core isn't the full-blown OS X of course.
I think there are two reasons why you won't see OS X on x86 :
1)In my view, Apple is really a hardware company, and the stability, usefulness, and smoothness sells their hardware (poor choice of words, but I think you know what I mean).
2)By sticking to one platform, and a limited architecture (including the graphics cards/chipsets side of things), they are able to concentrate on optimization/speed, stability, and can more easily introduce newer features (such as a much better search).
For better or for worse, because of the hardware variety present in the x86, it can make it more difficult for Windows development (although I question just how much more difficult and why it's taking so long for Microsoft to release what is now Longhorn).
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