Prior to the 2006 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, rumors swirled around about a "dizzying" amount of new products to be unveiled.
Now, at the WWDC in San Francisco, it was announced by CEO Steve Jobs that the first peek at the latest version of Mac OS X, Leopard, is now out, as are the first Pro-level versions of the desktop and server models using the Intel processors.
First of all, Jobs announced the Mac Pro, a dual dual-core machine with 64bit 2.66Ghz Woodcrest processors. The processors have 4MB of shared L2 cache, with 128bit vector engines. The machine is "1.6 to 2.1" times faster than the G5 quad. Because of the reduced cooling system, there is now space for four hard drives and a 2nd optical drive. Inside the machine has been completely redesigned; on the outside, it is basically the same. There is one standard configuration, which costs USD 2499.
Next up, Jobs announced the new Xserve. The new Xserve's specifications are similar to those of the Mac Pro, and still has the 1U footprint. Apple says the machine is 5 times faster than the previous Xserve. With this announcement, the transition to Intel is complete.
And if you're waiting for Windows to catch up to Mac OS X, bring a ton of books to read! By the time Vista comes out, OS 10.5 (better known as Leopard) will likely be out! The newest features and upgrades:
Leopard will support running 32bit application side-by-side with 64bit applications. Other than that, applications can be run completely in 64bit, and a 64bit Carbon UI is also available;
A feature called 'Time Machine' will be available; it's an automated back-up solution that lets you switch back to older revisions of files, or of entire harddrives. Back-up can be done towards a remote server or a local harddisk. However, the biggest feature of Time Machine is that you can enter specific dates into Finder windows, after which the directory will appear as it was on that specific date. Time Machine is Spotlight-enabled, so you can search through documents in the past. Update: A similar solution exists for Linux, called 'Dervish';
Boot Camp will be included in Leopard;
Leopard will have virtual desktops (Apple calls them spaces), with drag and drop support;
Spotlight will be capable of searching through files on remote machines (if you have the proper permissions);
Apple also introduced a new core technology of OS X, namely, Core Animation, which allows developers to easily integrate fancy animations into their applications. The live feeds were a little unclear as to what Core Animation specifically is; I believe it does a whole lot more than animations, but it was hard to figure out from just text feeds;
Leopard will focus on accessibility; it will have better text-to-speech functionality, closed captions in Quicktime, etc.;
Apple has added system-wide to-do's and notes into Leopard; any application can create notes and to-do's. For example, you can turn an email that just arrived into a to-do;
Dashcode helps to design, develop, and debug Dashboard widgets;
Webclip allows you to create widgets out of any part of a webpage;
iChat will see some serious enhancements, such as multiple logins, animated user icons, video recording, and tabbed chats. Besides those, the iChat Theater allows you to i.e. watch photos with your contacts or doing a Keynote presentation, while holding an a/v conversation;
Xcode 3.0 will be released today.
Missing from the conference were the anticipated iPhone and a new iPod. Of course, the year isn't quite over yet, so I'd be surprised if there weren't the release of a new iPod prior to the holiday/Christmas season.
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