Now that Apple's Online Store has been shut down for the 2006 WWDC keynote at the Moscone Center, here are the announcements (updated as we get word)
- Phil Schiller announces the new Mac Pro. Same old enclosure with 2 optical drives, Woodcrest processors up to 3 Ghz, twice the bus speed of the G5, up to 2TB internal storage, snap-in drive carriers (no tools needed). One standard configuration with up to 5 million different combinations of built-to-order options. Ships today.
- New Xserves announced. Built on Xeons with quad performance specifications similar to that of the Mac Pro. Up to 5TB of storage. Entirely built-to-order with 1 million different configurations.
- Mac OS X Leopard After a brief "History of Mac OS X so far", including side by side comparisons of Tiger and Vista, Jobs retakes the stage and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is finally discussed. Preview promised but with certain features held back--top secret. Features discussed:
- support for 64 bit applications: Running right beside 32-bit apps with no emulation, no translation, full support, top to bottom,
- Time Machine: Backup system that automatically backs up files as soon as they change.
- Built-in "oops I overwrote the wrong file" protection--by choosing the date and time when the document was last in its desired state in the Finder, you visually go back in time to retrieve it.
- Also can be used for 3rd Party apps to retrieve lost files.
- Boot Camp installed as part of the OS.
- Front Row and Photo Booth built in to Leopard--no more sneaky downloading and enabling.
- Virtual Desktops--create different "spaces" or desktops for groups of applications that work together with drag-and-drop support,
- Spotlight updated--searches other machines (permissions willing), works better as an application launcher
- CORE Animation: more slick visuals available to developers to make the Mac-using experience even more enjoyable.
- VoiceOver: Much more natural. Demoed to show that many smaller aspects of the OS have been greatly improved.
- Mail: Big improvements here! Stationery (with templates), to-dos, notes, etc. ...what's going to happen to iCal?
- Mail now offers a system-wide to-do tracker.
- Stationary layouts work similarly to the iWork apps.
- more new features implied
- Dashboard:
- Dashcode (accidentally and temporarily released earlier this year) included with the OS to aid in the development of widgets.
- Somewhat like Automator.
- Easily turn a web page into a widget.
- iChat: Vastly improved
- multiple logins
- visibility
- animated icons
- video recording
- tabs (sorry Chax)
- iChat Theater
- show slide shows from iPhoto
- show Keynote presentations
- use effects from Photo Booth
- backdrops
- add custom backgrounds to your video iChats--photos or video!!
- Mac OS X 10.5 coming Spring 2007
Full details, pictures and links will be posted as soon as we get them.
