Jobs started with QuickTime. He noted QuickTime will be to digital media what Postscript was for desktop publishing/printing. This fall, the new version of QuickTime will have Real Time Protocol (RTP) technology which will allow QT to offer streaming content.

"QuickTime 3 has become the de facto standard for new media creation and dissemination because it is multi-platform, leverages the best file compression technology available and is easy-to-use," said Craig Cline, senior analyst at Seybold Publications. "The fact that more than 80 percent of all media has been created, managed or streamed with QuickTime demonstrates Apple's leadership in this market."

Apple will make an unified Java Virtual Machine for the Mac OS. Apple will work with Microsoft, Sun, Netscape, Symantec and others to bring a single compatible VJM to the Mac OS. Jobs said Apple's current Java is very slow compared to the rest of the industry. Jobs said Apple is committed to improve its Java to meet the rest of the industry.

"Our customers want better Java performance in Mac OS and we're committed to giving it to them," said Steve Jobs, Apple's Interim CEO. "We are working hard to make our Java implementation second in speed to none other in the world."

Allegro will ship probably in September. It will be Mac OS 8.5. In describing Rhapsody, Jobs said Rhapsody did not go far enough. Mac application that would ran on Rhapsody would need to be completely rewritten to take advantage of Rhapsody (Preemptive multitasking, memory protecting, multi-threated, etc.). The alternative would be to run in the "Blue Box" which would not take advantage of "advanced OS." Jobs said the Mac OS would converge with Rhapsody in Mac OS 10. Apple has eliminated about 25% of the current 8000 APIs in the Mac OS to create a "clean" set of APIs. The APIs that were cut were deemed to be holding the Mac OS back from becoming a "modern OS." By cutting out these APIs, the Mac OS can evolve into a next generation OS without sacrificing current Mac OS applications. Jobs said that of the major software that was tested, the applications used about 90% of the "clean" APIs. This clean set of APIs will be called Carbon, or what "all life forms will be based on it."

The key here, is that the new OS will feature advanced features without having to dump all current applications While developers will need to "re-tune" their software to take advantage of OS 10's, features all existing applications will run on OS 10. The "un-tuned" applications just won't utilize OS 10's features. Microsoft Windows users will face considerable upgrade pains when the end of Windows in Win98. It seems that with this path, Mac users and developers will be offered a smooth transition.

Jobs outlines the Mac OS roadmap. Mac OS 8.6 will ship in January next year. Rhapsody 1.0 will be shipped in Q3 this year. The first beta of Mac OS 10 (AKA Sonata) is scheduled to ship in January 1999. Mac OS 10 is scheduled to ship in Q3 1999. Jobs said that Mac OS 10 will be the biggest leap in the Mac OS since 1984.

http://www.apple.com/

(Source: Mac News Wire)