DonnerstagsMacOrama

Absolute Pflichtlektüre sind nach wie vor die bebilderten MWSF Berichte von Gila und Roland Müller bei den MacGuardians, dabei die Keynote selbst, Past-Keynote Rundgang und natürlich auch der heutige Donnerstag.
--

Auch schon im Laufe der Keynote nebenbei enthüllt:
Ab März lassen sich Foto-Abzüge/-Bücher direkt aus iPhoto nun endlich ebenfalls in Europa ordern, Steve Jobs gab sogar in unüblicher Weise eine kleine Entschuldigung von sich. Über Preise scheint bislang noch nichts bekannt zu sein.
--

Weitere Zahlen aus der Keynote:
9,3 Millionen Anwender nutzen Mac OS X (40% der installierten Basis). 10.000 Applikationen sind für OS X verfügbar.
--

Microsoft Office 2004 und Virtual PC 7, welches dann G5 kompatibel ist, werden bis Mitte des Jahres veröffentlicht. Roz Ho, Chefin der Mac BU bei MS, verkündete zumindest ein starkes Interesse an weiterer langfristiger Zusammenarbeit mit Apple.
--

Xserve G5 und Xserve Raid wurden freudig aufgenommen. Xserve Nachlese bei den MacGuardians. Interessant beim Xserve Raid ist neben einem sehr günstigen $ pro GB Verhältnis vor allem auch die Zertifizierung u.a. für MS Windows 2003 Server sowie Red Hat Enterprise Linux:

"Customers with mixed platform networks and non-Apple servers can now take advantage of the incredible price performance of Xserve RAID. Apple has worked with leading storage network vendors to certify Xserve RAID compatible with popular hardware and software common in heterogeneous storage networks. These certifications include; VERITAS Volume Manager storage management; Candera SCE 510 network storage controllers; Chapparal RAIDar Provisioning Services; Host Bus Adapter vendors LSI Logic and ATTO Technologies and leading Fibre Channel switch vendors Brocade, QLogic and Emulex. Additional supported operating systems now include: Microsoft Windows 2003 Server; Red Hat Enterprise Linux v.2.1 and v.3; and Yellow Dog Linux."
--

Auch das seit längerem gemunkelte Xgrid zeigt sich nun als Beta Version:

"...a computational clustering technology from Apple's Advanced Computation Group (ACG). Xgrid helps scientists and others working in compute intensive environments to fully utilize all IT resources, including desktops and servers, by creating a grid enabled "virtual" IT environment that takes advantage of unused computing capacity to run batch and workload processing."

Mehr über Apples Vorstoss in die Welt der Cluster bei CNET:

"Xgrid uses Apple's Rendezvous technology to automatically discover available computing resources on a network. For example, as a computer lab using Power Mac G5s starts to have fewer users, those resources can be automatically added to a cluster of Xserves.
Making such software available is important, Bozman said, noting that Sun Microsystems and IBM have had those products available for some time. "All the nodes have to know where all the other nodes are," she said."
--

Wer noch nicht genug hat: Keynote Nachlese bissig aber unterhaltsam bei Ars Technica:

"Anyway, we watched his "iLife video" where Elijah Wood acted like Gollum and Sheryl Crow looked good at 40. Also, Tony Hawk has a receding hair line and needs to factor that thing into the whole thrasher motif."

Bei O'Reilly mit Begeisterung für GarageBand:

"I think GarageBand could turn out to be the most significant addition to the Mac since iTunes. And I think the concept of iLife is a good one - relating to people in ways that are meaningful to their lives. Technologies come and go, but the things people care about haven't changed much."

Mehr Positives in einem weiteren Artikel bei O'Reilly:

"Again, evolutionary, not revolutionary. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, nothing worse than having a great idea (iPod, Xserve, etc.) and not fully developing it. Apple is not only coming up with new ideas, but they are also seeing them through. Heck, look at Mac OS X if you want to talk commitment. This is good business."

Gewohnt lesenswert bei Daring Fireball:

"PC pundits pound their heads against the wall, asking why, if Apple only sells a small percentage of computers, the company receives such a disproportionate amount of media attention. The answer is simply that they’re selling the best computers, to the most interesting people. Maybe it is only two percent of the total PC market, but it’s the most interesting two percent."

Schön ausführlich und auf deutsch bei my two cents.
--

Für die Zockfraktion, ab April/Mai soll es sowohl 'Call of duty' wie auch 'Black Hawk Down' für den Mac geben, frisch portiert von Aspyr.
--

"Real Networks will announce Wednesday a new RealPlayer for Windows that will play back music bought through the iTunes Music Store, despite the company not having licensed Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) technology. The move is expected to be a controversial one that could set the stage for a legal battle over whether Apple wants its users to play its files through another player." Das dürfte interessant werden, mehr beim MacObserver.

Mehr dazu auch bei Ars Technica:

"There's one last observation to be made. RealPlayer supports iTMS songs (only if iTunes and thus QuickTime 6 is installed on the local computer). Is this a tip of the hat to Apple's 30 million song accomplishment and 70% market share? Maybe so, but Real didn't crack Apple's encryption, but rather goesthrough iTunes (computer authorization) to decode the files (QuickTime) and play the content. If iTunes (and QuickTime in particular) can function as a free programming interface for Apple's own DRM, there's nothing to stop Winamp and friends from using Apple's DRM as well (well, aside from telling people that they need to install competing software). So, the question is, did Real find this free "backdoor itself," or is Apple licensing it and staying quiet about it, or is this just a further extension of QuickTime's API? The latter option is most likely true, which leads me to ask: who's next?"