Predictions for Apple’s WWDC 2006

“What will Apple announce at WWDC06? There will no doubt be some surprises, but here are some well known inevitabilities, some reasonable possibilities for new apps, new UI, and new hardware, and a few commonly repeated ideas that – sorry – have no chance,” Daniel Eran writes for RoughlyDrafted.

Eran compiles a very interesting list. To wht you appetite, here’s his list of “no-way predictions,” the commonly repeated ideas that have zero chance of happening:

• Red Box WINE or Windows Virtualization Not going to happen.
• Use of Linux Kernel Linux isn’t even in the running.
• Microkernel Removal Nothing wrong with the kernel.
• An Intel-Only Leopard It will be Universal.
• The End of an open Darwin project The kernel not going to stay closed.
• iPod based Phone It will be a phone, not a music player that can place calls.
• Self-Destructing Rental Media Exploding media is lame.
• Skins on anything are not going to happen.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Note: Steve Jobs’ keynote preview of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is scheduled for Monday, August 7, 2006, beginning at 10:00am PDT.

Related articles:
Photo of massive Apple WWDC banner revealed online – August 03, 2006
Scoble on Apple: ‘Dizzying amount of new products’ coming at WWDC – August 03, 2006
CEO Steve Jobs to preview Mac OS X ‘Leopard’ with team of Apple execs at WWDC 2006 keynote – June 26, 2006

38 Comments

  1. The biggest point worthy of re-iteraing is:

    • Red Box WINE or Windows Virtualization Not going to happen.

    I agree 100%, this will never happen. Though I do believe that rental media (movies) that expire is a possibility, not at WWDC though.

  2. Raster! You fail it! THIRD! ! ! ! Bwah-hahahahaha!

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” />

    But seriously, we need portable RDF projectors. With decent battery life!

  3. No way in Hades that Leopard is Intel-only — can’t imagine where that rumor came from. Wonder if Boot Camp will be on a separate disk, though, so non-Intel folks can just hold onto it until they buy their new computer.

    Hmmm…is there going to be a live Webcast of the keynote, or delayed by how long?

  4. I’m not buying squat

    Unitl the dual Quad Kentsfields and BlueRay DVD drive and DRM/iSight integrated monitors arrive.

    Can’t watch BD-DVD’s unles the monitor is DRMed.

    Also the bugs will be worked out by then too. Hardware and Leopard. (can you say bugzilla?)

    Dual Dual Xeons are a waste of time, less powerful than a PPC Quad. You’ll see.

    I already violated my NDA enough as it is for today.

    Next time, the 6Gen. iPod video.

  5. Come on… This is WWDC, the only items that will be announced will be for developers, such as:
    1. OS X 10.5 preview (will have the MS spies running back to Redmond to update Vista)

    2. Mac Pro

    3. Possible XServe updates

    Why wuold apple release any iMac or iPod or mini or macbook updates? Why would they release an iPhone? Save the consumer stuff for a consumer conference or standalone event.

  6. At the keynote Steve Jobs is going to announce the formation of the Steve Jobs foundation. In it’s first act of charity, they are going to reimburse Apple for the loan of a number of developers and managers that actually know how to ship product to Microsoft.

  7. When will MDN make their site more user friendly?

    MDN needs:
    1) Web 2.0 makeover with free registration
    2) The ability to check and modify your user preferences
    3) MDN Friends can private chat
    4) Alerts you when your friends are online

    Post ideas for the site here (until MDN creates a page for suggestions). Hopefully MDN would be interested in user feedback. If so, they should start a story specifically for gathering suggestions from users.

    (sending this as an email to MDN as I type…)

  8. “When will MDN make their site more user friendly?

    MDN needs:
    1) Web 2.0 makeover with free registration
    2) The ability to check and modify your user preferences
    3) MDN Friends can private chat
    4) Alerts you when your friends are online
    “
    what so they can cram in even more advert popups and textads? i mean honestly how can other news sites operate with so few ads when poor mdn has to shoehorn them in, it’s a mystery i tell you

  9. Steve Ballmer storms the platform in a frantic attempt to upstage Jobs.

    Glowing red, Ballmer monkey dances, screams, and slobbers until he’s so riled up he finally explodes.

    Carefully edging through the blubber remnants, Steve Jobs reappears, names himself Microsoft CEO, and orders MS shut down immediately “because it sucks”.

    Apple retakes its rightful place as the world’s leading OS and computer vendor.

    Never know it could happen… ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  10. I have my predcition for something that won’t ever happen after any Steve Jobs keynote speeches…..

    Technical-Computer-Expert-VisualBasic Hacks will not stop telling us how non-secure OS X is.

    No matter how how cool of a skin they have on WinAmp, how many free intenet calls they have made, or how many WoW characters they have named with some variation of “Leroy Jenkins”… they are running the most unstable and non-secure commerically available OS in the free world. This is a documented fact!

    It is not our job to justify ourselves to the Vista trolls. Or plead with them to convert. Our job is to grab a six pack and some chips then watch the dumb ass M$ users suffer. Because in the end aren’t the funniest comedy scripts about ppl frustrating themselves from the obsurd decisions they have made?

    Just my $0.02

  11. Jimmy — it’s pretty much a given that the MacPros will be announced; if not immediately available, at least there’ll be a timetable (like the MBPs were announced at MacWorld SF, but not available till February).

    I’d also hope that the “one more thing” would be the head of development at Adobe would come out with the new Universal version of Creative Suite…

  12. To MacKowPow:

    Absolutely nothing based upon Kentsfield will be announced before MWSF07. Thinking anything else is delusional.

    While HDMI/HDCP/ICT compliant monitors and video cards will be welcome, they are no where near necessary. If you connect a Blu-ray Disk drive to your Mac today you will be able to view them. No HDMI/HDCP/ICT compliance necessary. Additionally, all the major studios supporting either Blu-ray Disk or HD DVD have publicly stated that they will not implement the ICT until at least 2010 — if ever. You can buy/rent a LOT of disks between now and then. Besides… a fair percentage of the people who buy a new Macintosh Pro within the next 4-5 months will will again buy a new Mac in 2010. So crying wolf does you no good (especially when the wolf is at least four years away).

    Dual Dual Xeons less powerful than a PPC Quad? Not for 99.99% of applications. These are not 4 Pentium D, Netburst based processors we are talking about here.

    As for me believing even for a second that you have a NDA with Apple for hardware… well, let me just say that a pico second duration for my belief of that concept is a gross exageration!

  13. raterbator,

    what would a Web 2.0 makover do for the functionality of the site?

    It merely posts stories and invites user discussion. How would Ajax or Flash Remoting improve this?

    With the other functions you mention:

    1) a modifiable user profile is easy, but would require login to the site, which many might not like.

    2) private chat requires two running forums, therefore two points to monitor

    3) knowledge of when friends are online requires a second protocol, more ISP costs, may imply privacy concerns, and is a lot of development time.

    I hope you can pay for all this.

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