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"Steve Jobs acclaimed Apple CEO for
life", "OS X's Aqua interface debuts", "Apple's Internet strategy takes another baby step", and "a record number of Macintoshes sold in the last quarter", were just some of the banner headlines at this year's MacWorld. The morale amongst attendees was as high as Apple's record-breaking stock price, and the carnival-like atmosphere of the show floor repeated itself in every hotel lobby and party spot as the annual Bay Area Macintosh bacchanalia unfolded last week in San Francisco.
The keynote began with a quick review of the past two and a half years, followed by the big announcements: Mac OS X and the new Internet strategy. The formal announcement that the word "interim" is gone from Steve Jobs title was anti-climactic, but the standing ovation and chants of "Steve-Steve-Steve" made it clear who is the
Mac-faithful's CEO for life.
MacOS X's new user interface, Aqua, evokes the spirit of iMac's industrial design. More rounded and colorful than the current Platinum look, it appears adept at walking the tightrope between innovation and backward compatibility. Microsoft, Macromedia, Quark, and Adobe each announced that they would support MacOS X, which Apple expects to ship this summer.
Apple.com is central to the company's Internet strategy with a new design and the debut of three new sections:
iTools, iReview, and iCards. The most promising element of the trio, iTools, consists of 20MB of fileserver space, an email address at
mac.com, a web page builder, and KidSafe. The redesigned site is a look at how Apple intends to add value to the Mac via the Internet.
With iDisk, Apple has brought the simplicity of AppleShare technology to the
ënet, and stripped away the arcane technique of FTPing shared files to a fileserver. The email address is a receive-only POP3 box, and can be accessed from any email client. The home page builder can set up a simple website in seconds, using both preloaded graphics and personal pictures stored on a user's
iDisk. Kidsafe reverses content filtering by restricting the users to a collection of over fifty thousand websites deemed acceptable for kids.
Although Apple says MacOS 9 is required to access iTools, several workarounds have already appeared on the web which allow System 7 and 8 users access to everything except
KidSafe. The other two new sections, iCards, Apple's public greeting card composer, and
iReview, a collection of website reviews, can be accessed by any web browser. While iReview and iCards are essentially web-candy, iTools holds the promise to enhance and extend the Internet experience for novice and experienced users alike.
Sixteen years have passed since my first Apple, and in that time the Macintosh's future has never looked as bright as it does today. The new product pipeline is bursting with
gigahertz-class processors, laptops every bit as capable as desktop machines, and a fully protected multi-tasking operating system. 2000 promises to be the most exciting year ever, and MacInsight will be here, distilling reality from hype in the Macintosh
universe.
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"MacWorld
Promises An iAmazing Year in 2000"
