The Oracle: MacWorld Software Announcements

This is the third and probably the last prediction-oriented post before MacWorld. This time, The Oracle will focus on software announcements.

The Oracle thinks it is totally clear that iLife and iWork will receive another yearly and major update. Keynote and Pages still need a spreadsheet application at its side and Pages needs a complete makeover to be useful for anything but template-based quick-layouting for smaller pieces of text and pictures (actually it needs a makeover in UI and speed which comes close to a major redesign of the software). The spreadsheet application is about time and Apple needs to release at least something simple to make people agree that this software package is about dealing with actual work. [iWork update: 99%, Spreadsheet App: 50%]

The iLife suite is already a pretty impressive piece of software. I think the biggest steps forward could be even more performance work and a way of dealing with backup data. I hope, the complete iLife suite will be ready for Time Machine with the 07 release. Also, support for multiple archives would be helpful, although it might be a way that is still reserved for the pro apps. [iLife update: 99%, Time Machine support: 50%]

The biggest news however will be Mac OS X 10.5 aka Leopard. It is already clear that Leopard will include important steps forward like Objective C 2.0 (this will improve software quality over time in a great deal), better developer tools and new subsystems like ZFS. So much of the real work will be “underground”, improving the Darwin subsystem that still needs a kick in the ass at some levels. It also seems as if Apple is kicking NetInfos butt and will replace it with OpenLDAP. It remains to be seen if there will be a Storage Pool Manager available on Mac OS X 10.5 Client (which would be good) but my gut feeling tells me it will either be not available at all or for the Server version. [ZFS UI: 40%, NetInfo completely gone: 85%].

Another big thing for system administrators and developers will be XAR, the new XML-based package format that is about to replace .pkg and .mpkg files. The expectation is that XAR will not only address the problem of de-installation of software (a feature NextStep had) but a path for full integration with the open source package management system recently renamed to MacPorts. If Leopard switches to XAR, The Oracle expects the MacPorts crowd to follow the path as the new system should provide the option to update built-in UNIX packages without a separate re-installation of components. This is nothing users care about but it would make Mac OS X much much more attractive to hardcore UNIX freaks that want to have fine-grained control over what is going on at the command line level [XAR coming: 95%, MacPorts integration out of the box: 65%]

So what is the big news Steve Jobs didn’t want to talk about when he initially introduced Leopard? The biggest scar in the otherwise beautiful face is the Finder. The first Leopard development version almost showed no significant changes. The Oracle considers this to be a good thing as it raises the chance for a complete makeover. So in what way could the Finder evolve?

One way of evolution would be to reduce clutter and get a workflow-based, really simple UI in addition to the more power user oriented traditional file interface. Think Front Row for files. Everything you can access with a Apple Remote control is “easy”. Everything you need a mouse or keyboard is not. Getting easy access to applications, functionality and daily jobs would be important. The Oracle expects many of the experiments so far (Front Row, Spaces, Exposé) to converge in a single, stunningly looking and georgeous new UI. It’s time the Mac redefines the way, “ease of use” must be understood. [“New” Finder: 65%, “New” UI: 55%]

And here is the software, the Oracle wants the most, but which probably won’t come. Let’s call it “Membrane”. It would be to iTunes what Aperture is to iPhoto: deal with multiple archives of audio and video, support offline-storage of data, sync data to the iPod without the need to keep eerything it on the main computer all the time, provide a really cool and really fast control screen that can work as a touch screen interface on public music terminals and provide professional editing of Metadata, file format conversion, a radio broadcast feature etc. [Membrane: 5%]

Regarding software that is not from Apple, we are pretty sure there will be a public demonstration of the new Intel Photoshop (yawn), the upcoming Microsoft Office (even more yawning) and maybe maybe maybe Mr. Jobs will also welcome Paul McCartney on stage to announce that the iTunes store may sell The Beatles now. Who knows. [Photoshop show: 80%, Office show: 35%, Beatles: 15%]