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photo What to expect at WWDC 2003
WWDC is fast approaching and rumors are flying about the imminent release of not only a new "PowerMac G5" but even dual processor 970 PowerBooks! But all of this flies against convention, logic and channel information.
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 WWDC is about software development. WWDC will announce new enabling technologies, but it won't introduce a pile of new hardware. Why not? Because Apple can stay in the news longer and more effectively by releasing new hardware gradually over a series of weeks. Apple accomplished this very effectively over the first half of the year.

However, now that the initial surge in demand for 17 and 12 inch PowerBooks has been satisfied, the channel is developing a vacuum big enough to drive an Aluminum 15" PowerBook through.

So what great new software will WWDC show off? The latest incantation of Mac OS X products: workstation and server versions of 10.3 and the new development tools.

Panther Mac OS X 10.3
Beyond the regular 10.2.x updates that focus on speed and stability refinements, Panther 10.3 will, as Jaguar 10.2 did, introduce and enable a lot of new functionality for both users and in network servers.

Users can look forward to improved QuickTime performance from a revised architecture featuring reentrant code (so multiple applications or threads can make calls to QuickTime simultaneously). Since the existing QuickTime is based on--and contains much of--the classic Mac OS, it can't make use of Mac OS X's multithreaded features. New conferencing and collaboration features will tightly integrate QuickTime with existing iApps, and of course, enable some new ones.

Directory Services gets prominent attention as The Way to bring network centric computing to the masses. Not only will Mac OS X based networks be even easier to manage, but Apple will be getting into the action as well to bring seamless new network features to .Mac users: better Mail, a better Address Book, greater sync functionality and above all else: a network home directory available everywhere.

A new open file system design features reduced dependencies on HFS+, and a new Finder departs from its System 7 origins to bring an extensible architecture, smart folders (think Smart Playlists), a Dock with new menus that fly, fly new menus that dock, easy scripting and scheduled automation... and looks like something you'd see on safari.

In addition to better snap in support for network browsing, Panther will introduce certificate based secure session technologies that allow users to seamlessly connect across insecure networks, such as the open Internet, to share files, communicate and even conference with video and text messaging.

Printing gets a facelift and major speed advance along with a new feature set and broader range of supported devices.

Additionally, Panther will eventually deliver the ability to remotely log into a 10.3 server as a graphic user interface shell, allowing users to work remotely from a thin client while leaving the heavy processing on an Xserve. This technology will enable wireless handhelds and other mobile devices to serve more useful purposes, and help deliver the promise of using the Xserve as a workstation for power users.

Similarly, multiple users will be able to log into the same system as graphic user interface shells at once, enabling quick, and even instantaneous, switching between multiple users on the same machine.

For developers, new APIs for Text, Printing and Ink will make it easier to work with new input devices, text localization, imaging devices, and handwritten input. New Audio and Disc Recording APIs make it easier for developers to add authoring features to their applications, and the latest release of WebCore services will enable tight integration of Safari's web engine into any application.

With an exciting new Mac OS X revision every a year and half, Apple's developers are delivering on the promise to build OS X over the next 15 years. Just in time for Mac OS 11! Attend WWDC and you can walk away with your own preview copy.
End note: I published this shortly before WWDC 2003. I got a couple things very right: the Safari looking Finder and big news with new directory services. A few things were pretty right but not quite: the 15" PowerBook didn't even get announced until later in the year, and the PowerMac G5 actually was announced at WWDC. I was shocked! But as I surmised, the G5 didn't actually ship till much later in the fall. Pretty much everything else was nebulous enough to not matter if it was close to accurate anyway. All in all, better than Nostradamus!
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