Secret Mission Afoot?

Apple Store 5th Ave., NYC

I am going to do it again and go out on a limb as to the direction Apple will move (albeit quietly) in the future. Ready for this? That which everyone says they would never do…..

Why? Both the new Hardware and a lot of the offerings in the new version of OSX (Leopard) next year.

I sat up yesterday and watched the WWDC Key Note Address by Steve Jobs (World-Wide Developers Conference) as this is one of the two big annual forums where Apple announces cool new stuff.  I have linked to this presentation in my Blast and it is worth a look if you have some time and popcorn to watch the show.   However, this one, many in the media found disappointing.  I have been asked on several occasions if I was disappointed that there was not more "WOW" at the show.  Why?  Because there was no cool new iPod announced, or some new cool fun software or maybe the lack of a new iPhone?  Come on people, look at the venue...... Developers.

There is only two things that developers go to that show for.  To understand the Operating System and how they can develop on top of it to create the cool software, and what machines will they have to develop on.  This show gave them both and then some.  However, for me, there was a hidden message here, not as a developer but as an IT Guy who has supported corporate users for years now.  A sort of hidden meaning in all of the pomp and circumstance.... there was a message for me to hear and now I share it with all of you; my Prediction of the future.

First thing, going in Key Note Presentation order is the Hardware. They are offering some seriously powerful desktop AND server hardware that is HIGHLY competitive in pricing to the equivalent offered by Dell or HP. As a matter of fact the new Mac Pro and the XServe are both cheaper for the same specs than any of the other Major Hardware players. For us, we run Linux on Dell Servers. Now this has to have many in the IT Infrastructure world thinking twice about price points, stability and manageability. License cost is also competitive for the Server Software which comes bundled with management software which others charge extra for.

Second the Software (OSX-Leopard)

This is more in my space, but the enhancements they are building in look very good for the end user, but what some are missing who are not familiar with Unix/Linux on the desktop are things like Workspaces or Spaces is what they care calling it. Basically multiple desktops you can switch between on a single monitor. Sounds cool, but in reality is something that a) Windows XP has but sucks, and b) Apple kind of forgot about. Well it is back.

Next is the BIG, I mean HUGE one. Time Machine Now at first glimpse it looks like another batch of eye-candy offered for the "Wow" or "That’s Cool" effect. But in reality it is some serious technology they have developed to deal with an issue that has haunted corporate America for years. Actually we get hit with people "missing" or "deleting" files by mistake all of the time. Most of the time it is on file servers where we have to go and retrieve the missing "Business Critical" files from tape or some back up source which takes hours and sometimes days to complete. Then when you factor in the current regulatory environment on keeping back-ups or archives of things this is a huge plus for them. The technology is new and the way in which they present it (sweet animated star warp type screen) is all to get people to appreciate the look and effect, but behind the scene it is powerful stuff in the IT world in terms of managing an enterprise user base. I would keep an eye on this one.

Spotlight also got a serious boost which some don’t see the importance of. Spotlight previously indexes everything on your hard drive and makes it available for you to find in real time. BUT, what has always been missing is the ability for it to do its magic outside of your single machine. The new version of spotlight will allow searching for things on the network. This means if you are in a corporation and have shared network drives Spotlight can also reach out to those to quickly index and find what files you are looking for. My guess is that this works hand in hand with Time Machine to make sure it always knows where things are and can get them for you quickly, another plus for the Enterprise. Oh, and not only on file shares also on other desktops/laptops you have access to.

Mail also sees some serious enhancements with a very powerful service added in it that is accessible to the entire Operating System. The first is just again eye candy for the average consumer which is the Stationery function which has been around for a while in different mail applications. However as is Apples true fashion for the artistic, there stationery is very cool and takes from the iWeb technology of dragging and dropping things into various windows in the template to add photos and text. The sweet thing here is that you can also customize your own templates and it was mentioned in the presentation the ability for businesses to standardize templates. Now that is an interesting thought. Corporate templates that standardize around a corporate image or marketing strategy. Another thing that large organizations struggle with.

Also within Mail is the new Notes function. Now working in the enterprise as I do, I always use my inbox as both a place to keep notes to myself (I often send my self mails to capture notes or things I need to get done later). The new version of Mail allows you to create NOTES, not mail that you have to send to yourself, but actual notes that are stored in a specific notes section of the mail client. Of course they also look like notes. J

Next in the Mail application and actually across the entire operating system is the new To-Do piece. Now this is some powerful stuff. Why well first of all it is developed as a "Service" which means a background process that is used by the entire system, which is to say that any application has the ability to take advantage of this service and use it. So what? Big Deal? Well it kind of is. In the Mail application whether it is in an email or a note, all you have to do is highlight the text you want to make a to-do from and simply click on a button (or right click on it) and create a to-do. The first thing it does is add a check box right before what you highlighted so you can come back later and check It off. The other thing it does is allow you to, in place, set a reminder, due date etc on a little drop down post it type thing that comes and goes as you want it. Finally as if having these things all over the place would be a nightmare, the new Mail Client also has a space where it lists all of the to-dos you have everywhere else in one place for you to manage them. Now how cool is that? Oh, did I mention this is a Service, not limited to the new Mail Application? That means in places like Office for Mac, or any other application that is designed to use this service can also be a place to keep track of things to get done. Another benefit to the Enterprise that, to be honest, Outlook tries to do but just can’t quite get it as integrated as what I saw on the demo of the early Leopard product.

Boot Camp: Now this has been out for a while and to be honest, I am not that interested in it as I want to use OSX primarily and not have to reboot every time I have to use Windows, which is why I use Parallels. In Leopard, boot camp will be shipped with the Operating System by default so they are going to support it going forward.

Another major thing that caught my eye as potential bait for the enterprise is what they are doing with the next version of iChat. They have had the Video chat function for a while now and with Tiger even introduced conferencing. They have seriously gone above and beyond that now by building in some fun stuff and some seriously cool stuff for the Business world. The fun stuff is just that. They have given you the ability to use the morphing features found in the photo booth software but now for real time video use in chats. Another "Fun" thing they have done is basically chroma-keying or "Green Screening." This was impressive. You basically turn the function on, step out of the view of the camera so it can register the background, then when you step back in, it blanks out everything from the background and replaces it with whatever pictures you want and more impressively moving video! That was really fun to watch and has some serious potential in the way of News, Podcasts, Corporate presentations or anything.

The big plus for an Enterprise would be the other change to the iChat system which is the ability to "Present" either a video or keynote presentation to a client and talk over it at the same time. This is some good stuff in the business world if you ask my opinion. Something that if used correctly would be a serious took in the arsenal of sales or marketing.

Well those are my thoughts around the WWDC Keynote Presentation and some personal views into trying to see the signs of what those folks at 1 Infinite Loop are thinking. In short, a stealth reconnaissance of the Corporate appetite.