I heard that certain departments in the US Intelligence community were big users of NeXT machines. They liked the security and apparently the database that shipped with the NeXT machines was very good. It was killed when Apple bought NeXT.

As far as Mr. Jobs' wardrobe goes, I'm thinking he should move up to a zoot suit like this one.

http://www.costumesgalore.net/Flappe...red00-135.html

That chronology doesn't quite make sense since NeXT had stopped making hardware a few years before Apple bought them.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT

One week to go... any last minute guesses?

Apple and Intel will announce a merger - with Jobs as the new CEO.

... just kidding!

;)

here are my predictions for announcements in 06

mac tablet pc (centrino based pentium M chip)

A media center version, or add on for OS X and possibly even a new model called like the media center mac (or whatever clever name apple gives it, like the itheatre or something)

i see more editions of a mini, or better entry level mac options. PCs have their cheap entry level mchines, and the mac mini is apple's answer.

what i'd like to see is apple get back in the PDA market. It could come with itunes,an excel type program,address book, ability to watch videos, internet enabled, pda version of ichat. what do you think?

Hoping beyond hope that there will be an INTEL Tower. Need one for the HD editing I plan to do. Want something I can open and expand myself. Don't want iMac, Mac Minis or laptops. I don't want to buy a tower now unless he drops the price significantly. I do not want to buy something that will be outdated the day it arrives at my door. Intel will give me a little bit of an edge. Whatever I get needs to last me for a while.

I hear you! Been holding on hardware investments for precisely that reason. I want an Intel-embracing Mac that’s powerful enough for Aperture. I might consider a G5 (Quad) if I halve the price... Not in any rush. Very curious as to what Apple comes up with.

My suspicion, as already voiced here, is something on the Media Centre front. I think Apple will launch at least one product with a first-rate Wow factor.

Best regards,
ArcticStones.

I see your point and schneb's point but there is a down side to waiting. You lose the use of the Quad for six months or a year. And there's no guarantee the new tower Macs will work well out of the box. I hope and expect the new Intel machines to run well. But there have been Apple hardware rollouts that have been problematic. The iMac took about six months, several firmware updates and a major OS update before it would run well. That was the rollout for USB. The Power PC processor rollout went well in the first generation, but the 7200 wouldn't run Microsoft Office for six months after it was introduced. I have a client that will probably buy a quad this month, and I'm glad he's not waiting for an Intel box.

Whether or not you buy one of the new Intel Macs will probably depend heavily on need. If you just 'need' the latest (and hopefully greatest) then going out and buying one makes a lot of sense ;). On top of this, if the rumors are true and you can use windows apps much easier by dual booting or VPC, then if you want to run a lot of windows apps, it would also be a good time to buy a new mac.

But if you don't need either of those I agree with mclbruce. Don't buy one until you know it's going to be stable, and you know you need it.

As far as quads not being out for a few months, the latest rumor I heard (and yes, it's just a rumor) is that you'll still have a dual processor with dual core set up. As we all know, Apple hates to step backwards...

Point taken mclbruce.

If you want to wait until the next version... you'll be waiting forever.

People started waiting for the G5 Tower over a year before it came out. There were a lot of disappointed people who kept saying... "maybe next month." Just because they're introducing new Macs next week (which is still speculation), that doesn't mean they'll be available next week. It may be several weeks before they're available for purchase, and then another few weeks before you can actually get one.

Generally the waiting game tends to be a disappointment.

Will we see an iPhone?
 

.
One (minor) question that I have is this: Will we see a serious "iPhone" from Apple? I think we can safely conclude that the iTunes-based ROKR from Motorola was a fiasco. In fact, at CES in Las Vegas, Motorola dropped Apple, venturing ahead with a focus on radio with it ROKR E2.

The question is whether we will soon see an iPhone worthy of Apple’s name. My guess is – not yet. There are simply too many players pulling in different directions (cell phone producers, service providers, Apple, the music industry).

I do, however, think Apple will make every effort to introduce a serious product before someone else does.


Best regards,
ArcticStones

I've seen rumors online about the Simpsons helping Steve launch Fox on iTunes. That'd be a great addition to the iTunes video lineup.

I do not see an iphone. When the first itunes phone came out there were already better mp3/cell phone devices on the market. Apple was testing the water by dipping the foot in first. IMHO, they are better off just supporting other cell phones for itunes. So any cell phone can hop onto itunes and download and play music or even TV shows. That seems like it would be better for apple IMHO.

I still think we are going to see the first mac tablet PC. I also still think a media center/ home theatre PC will be coming around too. Right now that is a huge market, and I do sub contract work for an onsite company right now on the side. A lot of our side work is guess what? Setting up digital home theatres with PCs controlling everything. Some of the set ups are pretty sweet.

Please, please, no iPhone. My Sony-Ericsson K750i shipped today! :-)

I'll post my impressions the K750i as a Mac peripheral in the forums, if they are not made irrelevant by the time I receive it!

I look forward to hearing more.

:)

I wish Apple would upgrade the Mac mini and maybe even the iBook so they would support Core Video.

I also hope to see a demo of Leopard, iLife '06 and iWork '06.

Back to the top....

The name of the operating system always goes to the next biggest cat in the family

The Rumor Mills are still churning

Less than 2 days to go.

As happy as I am for Apple for becoming more popular, I'd rather it not get too popular (meaning I don't want Apple to make OS X available for non-Apple machines).

The reason being, as you're probably well-aware, is that Apple users definitely seem to be 'different' kinds of people from the rest of society (or maybe it's just me...), and eh... I dont really know what I'm trying to say here... I don't know, I guess it's just cool or something that Mac users are like the little-known underdog, and the underdog is always better in my opinion... I think that being part of the "in" crowd (Windoze users, and also for all situations) isn't "in" or cool at all (unless the "in" thing is a good thing) -- it's better to be independent and think for yourself -- think different. :D

Ah, that didn't make much sense, but oh well.

Not to mention that if Macs get really popular, we'll probably become more open to viruses since there'll be more people to write and receive them.


Regarding names, I think Cougar would be good. Sure, it might not be the toughest cat, but its name sounds sleeker than Leopard.


And regarding MacWorld predictions, I think we'll see a bunch of new stuff:
iLife '06 (with "iWeb" perhaps), iWork '06, an updated iPod shuffle (maybe in a black color now), an updated Airport Express that can stream video, a tiny bit more info on Leopard and some of its new technology, and the big thing, Intel Macs. Most likely a 13" Intel iBook, maybe an Intel Mac mini, and perhaps even an early Intel PowerBook. That's all I got.