For my 1000th post to these forums, I would like to say thanks to the 522 people who have joined our forums, and the hundreds more who who have posted anonymously.  We have a darned good group of people here, and I am proud to have all of you as part of the TMO family.  Thanks! 

Uhhh… sorry.  I have, errrr… something in my eye, or something.  Just let me dab it out…  ::dab dab::

There, that’s better.

So, the real subject of this post is to ask you what you think will happen during the next year.  What is Apple going to do?  What will happen to MS?  What new technologies will impact our lives?

Speculate, guess, fantasize, and have fun;  I am just very curious what everyone thinks will be happening during the next calendar year.

First of all, congratulations on your 1000th post.  You are a role model to all of us (TMO staff or otherwise).  Your shiny red star shines brighter than any other.  It covers the Web with your wonderful aura.  You complete us.  Oh fearless leader, take us to the next level!

...

I’m scaring myself.  Sorry about that.  Got carried away. 

Anyway, I have thoughts on the new year, but I’m not going to tell you what they are (at least not right now).  It’s time to get some sleep.  Perhaps you should try sleeping, Bryan.  You deserve it (and it truly would be a good idea).

Brad

On 2001-08-26 01:41, bpsmith wrote:
It’s time to get some sleep.  Perhaps you should try sleeping, Bryan.

I agree on the sleep thing . I’ve looked at the time you’ve posted things and there were times I didn’t know whether you had already slept or were still on your way to bed .

But Congrats on your 1000th post.

Grrrr…

And the whole “next year thing?”

A thousand posts? I’m not sure if I should congradulate you or feel sorry for you. I guess congrads are in order. This is the only forum I post to, mainly because it is the only forum that I feel comfortable posting to. That says a lot about the folks who run the forum. So, hats off to you, Bryan, and to all the folks at TMO.

Now, what about the coming year….hmmmm.

Ok, here’s what I think we’ll see:

1) OS X will become hugely successful. A no-brainer, you say? By successful I mean REALLY successful.
  a) The stability and coolness of OS X will bring ex-Be and disinfrancised Windowers into Apple’s fold in by the herds.
  b) Small to medium sized businesses will buy Apple again for things other than multimedia applications because of OS X.
  c) Game developers will shed tears of joy as they find that developing for OS X is beyond simple and as close to developing for many platforms as one can get.

2) Apple hardware will finally get serious respect as:
  a) Apple breaks the 1 GHZ clock speed barrier.
  b) Nvidia and ATI continue to duke it out with bigger and better graphics cards.
  c) A breakthrough in chip technology allows for faster and cheaper CPU making, thus putting Macs in the reach of far more people.

3) MS will suffer major setbacks as:
  a) the DOJ wins more in the courts and MS is force into actually competing fairly.
  b) the .Net strategy falls on its face.
  c) a new office app from an unknown company vies for dominance because it will run on any platform.

4) Apple will release another computing concept, called Digital Home, which will:
  a) revolutionize user interfaces by being the first to incorporate voice commands that actaully work.
  b) extend the Digital Hub concept to include tvs, stereos, toasters and toilets (don’t laugh until you see those Japanese trade shows).
  c) create a whole new market for computer accessories that highlight the Digital Home concept, such as DVD/CD jukeboxes (for the home), LCD terminals, and Bluetooth/Airport devices that link directly to your Mac.

5) The Israelis and the Palestinians will finally be at peace. They realise that they both like Macs and that they have more in common than they thought.

Hey, it could happen.

Okay, I’m awake now, Bryan.  Time to talk about the coming year. 

Wow.  That’s such a broad topic I don’t even know where to start.  You can attack this from so many different directions.  I think I’ll have to attack one subject now, and come back later to add input on other topics.

I think the coming year will be a very exciting time to be a Mac user.  In the coming months Mac OS X will become the main operating system of many of the Mac masses and Apple will most likely begin to have Mac OS X be the default boot OS.  Our journey with the Classic Mac OS we have been on since 1984 ends in September, and where this new X-treme OS will take us, nobody knows.  So what is to come for us Mac users and other computer users in general?

Mac OS X 10.1 versus Windows XP.  It is inevitable.  The comparisons will be drawn and it will become an all-out grudge match between the two computing platforms.  Unfortunately, I believe the strong anti-Mac sentiment will rise again in the next year because of Mac OS X putting Apple back on the map for many.  I don’t really have many reasons to support this, but I have a feeling this may happen.  I hope it doesn’t, though.

The coming year will give us closure to the Microsoft anti-trust trial.  Typing the name Micosoft gives me this omninous feeling every time now.  Something has to be done, but the feeling I get is MS will find a way around it.  XP will be released without trouble.  The company will remain as a whole.  Their monopolistic business practices will continue.  I don’t want this to happen, but it has gone on so long I can’t see it stopping.

Despite victories for Microsoft, I think the computing world will be effected in the worst ways.  I think Microsoft will ruin what it once was to have a computer.  Their monopolistic actions and buggy software will take the fun out of computing.  That combined with what Bryan referenced in another thread as Maytag-like commodities instead of productivity tools being pushed by the Intel-based computer manufacturers will ruin the computing world as we know it.  I already know many people today who dread having to sit down in front of their computer.  That is a feeling us Mac users have been immune from for a very long time.

So despite the omninous picture I paint for the Windows world, the Mac will remain immune to this because it has survived for years without Microsoft.  In fact, it can only help the Mac.  Some people will definately try the Mac platform to avoid that feeling of the Windows world.

I believe that innovation will once again reign on the Mac platform.  The professional applications and the games and the OS and the hardware will thrive.  It will be a good time to be a Mac user.

Just some initial thoughts.  More to come later…

Brad

BlueDjinn had some great thoughts about the coming year in this thread that I’m sure he doesn’t want to have to re-type into this one.  Check it out.  Some very interesting ideas there.

Brad

On 2001-08-26 19:29, bpsmith wrote:
BlueDjinn had some great thoughts about the coming year in this thread that I’m sure he doesn’t want to have to re-type into this one.  Check it out.  Some very interesting ideas there.

Brad

LOL thanks Brad, you read my mind there

Actually, Gateway is the only one I think will have its’ fate sealed within the next 12 months.  My predictions for the rest of the players are more of a 2-3 year course, and assume no major shifts or developments occur (which of course is nonsense—ANYTHING could happen.  Economic changes, technological changes, political changes, earthquakes…who knows?)

Regarding Apple, it really does look like 10.1 is FINALLY the pail of gold at the end of the rainbow or whatever.  The more I hear about these retail stores, the more impressed I am with their place in the overall strategy (I’ve yet to visit one in person, but this endless-line-on-opening-day syndrome is becoming a pattern now).  What impresses me even more is that they appear to be KEEPING the initial excitement in terms of both traffic AND sales, though of course that’s speculative.

Re. hardware, I think the next 12 months will see:

1.  Apple finally breaking the 1 GHz barrier in January, along with switching to DDR in the Pro lineup

2.  Some sort of replacement for the cube; Apple had the correct problem (something in between the iMac and PowerMac) but the wrong solution.

3.  I think the 600 MHz iMac will become the entry level, sold *alongside* new 2 new (finally) flat-panel iMacs (15” LCD) at 700 & 800 Mhz (G3).

4.  I think Apple will, in another bold initiative, start *bundling* Airport CARDS in with all iBooks and PowerBooks—THIS would be waykewl (still make ‘em and add-on for desktop systems).  The marketing PR value would, I think, make up for the lost revenue (?)

Otherwise…(shrug) I’ll leave it there for now.

Predictions:

1. The “numbers” from the Apple stores will surprise many, even us (true believers)

2. Apple will not give up on the Cube concept, and make a computer that falls between the iMac and the Power Mac, conceptually (this could be a “Cube-esque” computer with a built in monitor.

3. Apple will release some other iSoftware (Adobe: please don’t be iPhoto. Please don’t be iPhoto. Please don’t be…)

4. Apple will finally give us a flat-panel iMac

5. AirPort will receive an upgrade consisting of a) included Bluetooth support b) range farther than 150 ft c) bandwidth greater than 11MB and d) more than 10 computers can share an internet connection

6. Apple will start selling Apple-logo’d stuff in the stores

7. The iBook will receive more options/features, such as the forthcoming iBook Special Edition: iBook in grey enclosure

8. Apple’s stock will reach $40-$45

9. Apple will tentatively open stores in Eurasia—to greater success than their American counterparts.

10. FireWire will finally increase in throughput, putting to rest the silly notion that USB 2.0 is a contender; also, FINALLY, true FireWire devices will hit the market…

I agree with the Flat Panel Imac.  It is just a mater of when the price of screen is compatible with the consumer level.

Chuck Haislip

OSX will come to the Intel platform.
Easy to see…

Done by me -

Anyhow, if Motorola is courting the idea of selling off it’s chip manufacturing, - I would gather that there is stronger internal strife and that we might not see much more improvment/developement in the 74XX.  However, even with the Intel CPU, the motherboard will still have to reflect the uniqueness of Mac.

Ironic that the once firmware ROMS are now software.

On 2001-08-27 09:03, Anonymous wrote:
OSX will come to the Intel platform.
Easy to see…

I think:

- A flat panel iMac will >Finally< be relesed and will do wonders for our stock and public image.

- A laptop/stylus (the laptop folds back into a stylus) computer will appear making design headlines everywhere!

- Apple stock will finally climb over 30 again.

- OS 11.0 will be released with the kitchen sink features and even more speed enhancements.

- As someone already said, the cube will return as a special edition.

- Software that takes advantage of dual processors will be almost standard.

- FCP for OS X will finally be released (they better given they had enough time for it!)

- You will never need to boot into pre OS X again

- Apple will release a laptop with a SuperDrive

- OS X will ship with IM built in.

- XP vs OS X will be the hot topic

- Apple will gain marketshare from the UNIX masses and the scientific community.

- An Apple store will open in Seattle!!

I think Apple will decide to buy Motorola’s flailing chip division and start making its own motherboards and CPUs.  This will let them increase the speed much faster than letting Motorola keep on chugging away at it. Plus like Toyota which controls every part of automaking from Parts to sales, Apple will do the same for the Mac and computer making.  Apple already has the inventory problem under much better control than they ever had before.  Where we’ll go with speed, who knows, but someone at Apple better start prepping some commercials with substance every week.  You don’t fight the PC clone makers with a once a quarter commercial about multimedia.  Show the Apple outpacing the PC clones using Mediaplayer and Photoshop on National TV commercials and on every cable channel as well as network channel out there.  Show a commercial with an iBook next to a comparably priced PC notebook trying and all the things you can plug into the iBook at once, and then show the PC notebook and you try to find a port to plug in the same items into the PC notebook…the end of the commercial, comes the statement “Where’s the port?”

trying the and all the things, remove the “the and” in the last post.

In the next 12 months the most likely developments will be the 1 Ghz G4 (in the next 4 months), the LCD iMac, iPhoto, maybe the G5 mid next-year, update Airport, and all those other constantly rumoured occurances.

On a more exciting note, I think Apple will pursue the “digital hub” concept further. They will :
- License Quicktime, Airport and Firewire to Home Electronics manufacturers for incorporation into the next generation of STBs, DVDs, VCRs and A/V Amplifiers. Link all your componets by Firewire, Queue songs and movies from your PC on iTunes and iMovie to play on your home stereo and TV, Browse the web on your TV, copy your old home movie videos onto your PC to edit in iMovie and burn onto DVD/VCD, anything is possible ! Hell, you could use your PC to program your video, or if you forget, do it remotely over the net !
- Release some interesting applications like a voicemail system that uses your inbuilt modem. Make custom voice menu’s, create fax-back services, create personal voicemail boxes for family members, and if it’s important, have your PC e-mail the messages to you at work for you to listen to.

This is what I would most like to see !

Regards,
Anthony Duff