“Some Apple patents for Spotlight have recently surfaced and they show sides of the Finder we haven’t seen before. Apple is expected to release the next version of OS X – 10.5 ‘Leopard’ by the end of 2006 or early 2007. Little information has leaked about Leopard but rumours suggest that the Finder of OS X 10.5 (code named ‘Chardonnay’) is going to depend heavily on Spotlight (Apple’s metadata and search tool),” hrmpf.com reports.
Improvements to the Finder include:
• New Spotlight User Interface
• Hierarchical Nested “Smart Folders”
• (More) Human Readable Search Queries
• better metadata creation- OCR, voice recognition, analysis of images etc.
More info and images form the patent apps are here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David” for the heads up.]
See also hrmpf.com’s related article “Apple, Chardonnay, Leopard and Spotlight” here.
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Too early to wine about it?
Sites are slow as molasses to load, I’m going back to sleep.
I wonder what minimum specs will be? My hunch is the G3 will not be supported, probably G4 and higher, 1 ghz recommended or there abouts. This will probably be the last OS for the G4, 10.6 probably G5 and Intel only.
I think their server’s down. I’m also going back to bed
Can’t seem to access Hrmpf.com
Personally, I prefer Merlot with steak. A good chardonnay and cheese for the appetizer and then some crack coccaine for dessert…
Last time we were tempted with screenshots of Leopard, we opened a big can of worms… literally.
Re: hrmpf.com
Could be the Slashdot effect. Harumph, indeed.
As long as it’s not a 3D Finder. I want a 2-mouse interface, or a multiple-touch interface. I’ll find files by pulling, twisting, pointing and clicking until the Finder gives up its secrets.
Then I want to browse the UNIX file system that’s hidden from the Finder.
You guys need to wake up. This stuff is amazing.
Are these images from an actual patent application? If so, on the final few slides of the flickr gallery, where they show example barcodes (of an OCR type of metadata creation) there is a barcode translated into: “touchscreen iPod”. Is this some kind of leak or just a fanciful example?
Maybe it is the fact that I have been using Macs since the OS 7 days and am use to the way I work, but I have really never used Spotlight. I don’t use Smart folders (except in iTunes and Mail). I still make folders and keep my machine organized. And as thus, Spotlight does nothing for me. I can access data faster through the Finder than Spotlight could ever find it; because I know where everything is.
For me to change the way I deal with my files, the new Finder needs to reinvent the way we deal with data. Spotlight isn’t it. It is just a new slant on an old paradigm. Lets think out of the box. But if not, I am content on how I currently organize my machine. I am use to it and it works… And works a lot better with Path Finder.
Looks cool but I am still waiting for piles!
“I wonder what minimum specs will be? My hunch is the G3 will not be supported, probably G4 and higher, 1 ghz recommended or there abouts. This will probably be the last OS for the G4, 10.6 probably G5 and Intel only.”
I think I know some powerbook users that would be a little miffed if the laptop they bought in 2004/5 won’t support the 2007/8 operating system- not to mention anyone who has bought an iBook or eMac recently.
There would be no reason to phase out the G4 chip that quickly seeing as how they are *still* selling G4 machines. I would be surprised not to see G4 support stick around until at least 10.7, if not 10.8. I don’t really see how there would be a big advantage to dropping it.
Also, why would the performance requirements increase so much dramatically? Just to phase out people using older PPC hardware to try and get them on the intel platform? Seems a bit early for that.
“I didn’t get a hurrumph outta that guy!”
“Give the governor “Hurrumph”!”
~ Hedley Lamar
I hope Apple implements “Automatic Mind Control”.
My estimate is that Apple is trying to beat WinFS to the punch, since WinFS was delayed and won’t be shipping for Windows Vista until after its release.
My hope is for arbitrary relationships between files, so that I can connect a file to another file. For instance, an iChat contact sending me an image should have their Address Book contact entry be connected to that image file. Or if I write two documents for a college class, I should be able to connect the two files so that the Finder knows they’re related. The end result of all this is the ability to do a Get Info on a file and find out all the other files it’s somehow related to. Over time, Finder will learn to give you not just the locations of your files, but also their context.
I can’t visualize the interface for this beyond Ctrl-dragging a line between two files as you do in Interface Builder to connect controls to objects, but I think it would be a useful thing.
>Looks cool but I am still waiting for piles!>
Then you’ll need bum cream.
Logical extension of what Spotlight already does. It’ll be fun to compare this against Microsoft’s effort.
I also think Leopard is going to drop G3 support, but not G4. After Leopard my PowerBook will probably get blessed by holy penguin pee for good, so I’m not too worried about what hardware 10.6 supports.
Joe the Farmer, you make good points, I’m probably one OS too fast on eliminating the G4, but I’ll be curious to see if Leopard supports the G3, we’ll find out in August maybe.
Ya know what I want in Leopard? Ah, thanks for asking…
A real-time multiuser option. And I’ll pay a few hundred extra for it too. I’d connect a second monitor, second mouse, and second keyboard, and TWO people use this SAME Mac at the SAME time. Hey, computers (big ones) used to do this alla time, remember? The extra cost for this option would partially offset what Apple might otherwise make from selling 2 Macs rather than one. Once they factor in the number of people who might be buying this option vs how many would actually just buy 2 Macs for 2 people, I feel sure that Apple could charge way less than the price of a 2nd Mac for this option. Apple could even go so far as to assign a priority to each core for each user so one user couldn’t totally hog the system doing a movie encode or something.
So 2 people in adjoining cubicles would both be using one system for less than the price of 2 systems. I’d think a lot of businesses would find that quite attractive. I have a use for this at home right now.
Like the ad says, think of the possibilities.
I wish there was a “send to”, “move to” contextual menu or some way to easily send files from one directory to another. Dragging a file from one folder to another can be anything from cumbersome to almost impossible depending on the destination.
Preston and Wingsy,
I totally agree with both of your hopes.
I would love to have the ability to mark relationships between files. You can sort of make it work in Spotlight now, but it’s not quite right. I’m hoping for some much better uses in Leopard.
As for two people using the same computer with different monitors and keyboards – I’ve been hoping for this for quite a while. Imagine school labs set up this way. A quad core could easily handle the load of 4 (or even 8 with enough graphic ports) for simple stuff that happens in computer labs. This would also solve a lot of issues in the house (i.e. sharing computers). And it makes maneagement much easier because there are fewer computers to deal with.
Doesn’t anyone else get the reference to WINE?
Forget the drinks. I wonder what Apple really has going on in the kitchen…
Just don’t serve us “Crap ala Vista”. Leave the stupid 3D angled windows and transparency overuse to someone else.
ArchAngelNix said:
“Maybe it is the fact that I have been using Macs since the OS 7 days and am use to the way I work, but I have really never used Spotlight.”
Take a bow, ArchAngelNix — you and me both. My work habits were set with System 6.
I boot into System 9 and eradicate Spotlight by changing Search.bundle’s name. This doesn’t affect the Cmd-F search, but it gets rid of the Spotlight icon. The freebie EasyFind is much better, anyway. But I have to remember to change the name back to Search.bundle before running Software Update.
I hope Leopard will allow Classic Menu to run, though it should because it’s an application, not a hack.
The World Health Organization eradicated smallpox. The dock should be next on its list.