
WWDC 2013 Expectations - rkrishnakumar
http://daringfireball.net/2013/06/wwdc_2013_expectations
======
danpalmer
I'm not sure if Apple did a good job at keeping secrets, or whether there
isn't anything to keep a secret about?

We're expecting new software, but that's easy for Apple to keep under wraps as
it doesn't really have to be used outside Cupertino, unlike manufactured
products like an iPhone. Nothing abnormally secret there.

We're expecting new MacBooks, but the rumour is a move to Haswell, which would
only be a spec bump, no new major design, and we have had new model numbers
leaked. Nothing abnormally secret again.

There might be a new Mac Pro, but this is supposedly being manufactured in the
US meaning there is less of a supply chain to leak from, and my guess is that
it's not in manufacturing yet anyway and if one is announced it will be a
little way off (it was slated for 'later in 2013').

If there is an entirely new product (probably something TV related) then that
would be a big secret that was well kept. But I'm not putting money on that
happening. I'm not sure Apple has been any better at keeping secrets than
recent years at all.

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "We're expecting new software, but that's easy for Apple to keep under
wraps as it doesn't really have to be used outside Cupertino"

I would assume they have to use iOS out in the field to test things like Maps
and any changes they've made to the software controlling the radio signals.

~~~
benologist
It would be very difficult to know if the person near you is using a secret
version of the software.

~~~
Tloewald
One thing we know is that Apple's test units have narrow field of view
overlays to make sneaking a peek harder.

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kunai
I hope we see a modern, case-sensitive filesystem, for once, without resource
or data forks of any kind.

Second, I hope we see better graphics, new OpenGL is a must.

Third, maybe a fresher UI similar to iTunes 11, would be nice. Aqua is dated.

That's all I hope for. Just wait for it, the announcement is tomorrow. It's
only 21 hours away... just wait.

~~~
coldtea
> _I hope we see a modern, case-sensitive filesystem, for once, without
> resource or data forks of any kind._

How is a "case-sensitive" filesystem more ...modern?

Case-sensitivity has fewer edge cases (I'll give you that, especially
concerning Unicode), but it's really just us bending over to the way the
computer sees files instead of the way people think about them.

The files "accounts.xls" and "Accounts.xls" are not conceptually different.

> _without resource or data forks of any kind._

Again, this is giving away tons of potential and actual benefits, features and
uses, only to make it simpler for the developer of the filesystem and to
enable better compatibility to cross-filesystems transfers.

I'd rather see a standard way of handling resource/data-forks that is also
implemented by Windows and Linux at least.

~~~
kunai
When I switched to OS X from Linux, case sensitivity was a thing I missed
dearly. I know that it's a fringe feature, and that even I don't use it much,
but it irks me that it isn't there, especially when both ext4 and NTFS have
it.

It's more important considering Time Machine backups and actual UNIX moving
and copying of files, and this is also where resource/data forks are also a
huge burden. Unless OS X implements a different cp and mv than the standard
FreeBSD ones, just implementing a filesystem without forking could be a
solution. Also, case sensitivity is affected the same way.

For the normal user, it's fine to keep a case-preserving filesystem. But,
Apple needs to make sure developers write their apps with case-sensitivity in
mind (I'm looking at YOU, Adobe).

~~~
nknighthb
NTFS "has" it, but it's only there to meet POSIX requirements. It's merely
case-preserving in non-POSIX contexts, which ultimately means almost nobody
uses it.

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brianwillis
It certainly has been odd watching Apple this year. Normally the company
announces something significant every few months, but in 2013 they've gone
(almost) completely silent. The last product release of note was the 2012
iMac, which was announced in October. So that's seven or eight months of
silence.

Something has been brewing at Cupertino, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Between this and E3, this week is like nerd Christmas.

~~~
Tloewald
Based on Cook's statements during the last earnings report, we're not going to
see a new category of hardware before Q4, but opening AppleTV for third party
development, announcing broader content for AppleTV, and announcing a beefier
AppleTV would be huge — I think the living room is Apple's to lose.

Imagine an AppleTV with sufficient grunt for games that uses iOS devices as
remotes.

------
da_n
Here are my predictions based on what I've read and some guesswork, and being
very bored.

iOS. The visual refresh for iOS will make it feel modern and present a new
design language for developers, ribbon, leather and wood textures are
eradicated, however no fundamental changes such as widgets. There will be some
relenting in the iron-fisted control of default apps, but only a couple of
apps will be allowed (Browser and Mail).

OSX. OSX gets similar but smaller visual update, and yet more iOS features
which are not welcomed by power users (more posts about switching from Mac to
Linux will ensue[1]).

Finder. iCloud will be integrated directly into Finder somehow, such that if
signed into iCloud the default start place in Finder will be iCloud
documents/images which can be viewed on the Mac, along with their associated
sandboxed applications. If you do not have the app installed required to open
the document you will be shown a link to purchase the app in the App Store.
They will also finally relent to power user demands and allow tabs in the
Finder via preferences.

The menu bar will be inverted to pure black with white text/icons and no drop
shadow. Although the 'z-index' will still be present it will feel flat
aesthetically which will fit more with the new design language.

There will be yet more annoying animation with window open/closing, modals
etc, and of course no way to turn it off. Core 2 Duo and lower will no longer
be supported.

Some sort of Mac Pro similar to the G4 Cube with modular add-ons will be
announced and will be ridiculously expensive.

Finally Apple TV possible update to include an app store and have new hardware
(possibly $149). It will be compatible with the last generation, but miss out
on a key feature like 'Siri TV'.

[1] I use both Linux and Mac.

~~~
bjustin
I want many of those changes to happen, but I think you're being optimistic.

I think Apple will keep support for Conroe (Core 2 and its contemporary Xeon
counterparts) for another OS release. Conroe was one of the biggest
performance jumps between Intel processor generations in some time, and Apple
used the NVIDIA 9400M IGP to give their Core 2 computers passable graphics
performance.

~~~
da_n
I probably am being optimistic you're right. I also hope you're right and they
do keep support for Conroe, I currently have an iMac and Macbook Air both
running Core 2 Duo. Not sure I will buy Apple hardware again anyway as
currently I just want an i7 in a desktop chasis. More and more of what I do is
virtualised (be it Vagrant, remote servers etc) so I just need power at a
reasonable price.

------
czr80
tl;dr Gruber doesn't know.

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eightyone
I've been thinking about this lately. Keeping software leak-free is pretty
easy compared to hardware. They have shields on the product that limit the
viewing angle of the display. Also, only certain employees will have access to
the final build, so if any of them leaked screenshots or what have you, it
could be easily traced back to the leaker.

------
ja27
"... and did so by introducing something new. The touchscreen."

That's something that still annoys the crap out of me. Long before the iPhone,
plenty of people were happily using PalmOS and Windows Mobile touchscreen
devices and downloading apps for them. If he doesn't think the Palm Treos
mattered, he wasn't paying attention.

~~~
macavity23
Right. Speaking as an ex-happy-palmos and ex-angry-winmo user, what the iPhone
introduced was the _finger-usable_ (i.e. capacitive) touch screen, rather than
the stylus-based (resistive) one - which genuinely was a paradigm shift.

~~~
ja27
I used my fingernail on my Treo all the time. I was happy to switch to
capacitive touch but sometimes I miss the precision and ability to use any old
stylus.

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slap_shot
I'm surprised there hasn't been much speculation regarding an Apple TV
announcement. It's been about a year since Tim Cook stated 'TV is something we
are incredibly interested in' \- Apple has sold over 13MM Apple TVs -
connected 'Smart TVs' are growing (roughly 25MM connected smart tvs in use) -
and Apple just released the CW app on Apple TV.

Maybe it doesn't seem like a WWDC kind of announcement, but opening up an SDK
for this rich viewing experiences on Apple TV could be huge, depending on what
examples they have lined up.

Also, since the Apple TV would only require a hardware upgrade (at most) - and
is mostly just software, it could be kept under wraps pretty easily. Hopefully
something comes up about TV!

------
drawkbox
I am hoping for Apple TV apps + SDK, remaking game consoles accidentally like
they worked over handheld gaming. If you think about WiiU + Microsoft's XBone
announcement they might be trying to focus where Apple TV is going. The best
way to do it would be the ability to Air Install apps/games from your
phone/tablet onto Apple TV. Yes there is AirPlay for gaming now but being able
to get it on the device helps with lag.

------
zyang
Maybe Apple did get better at keeping things under wrap, but it's also because
people lost interest with the lack of innovation coming out of Apple.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
In the span of ten years (2001 - 2010), they brought Unix computers to the
mass market, revolutionized the smartphone, and introduced mainstream tablets.
Saying that there's a lack of innovation there is ridiculous to me. I am
extremely pleased that Apple only rarely embraces change for the sake of
change[1].

I get the sense that people like us tend to want to see lots of changes, and
are too quick to write things off just because they don't look that different
from last year's model.

All that said, I certainly don't think iOS is perfect. I think Apple needs to
add user accounts to the iPad, and allow for some IPC and replacement of
system components on iOS, among other things.

[1] cf. this god-awful skeumorphic thing that is finally being put out to
pasture. And the Flower Power and Dalmatian iMacs. And that whole "It's called
iTools, not wait .Mac, no wait MobileMe, no wait iCloud!" thing has been a
total disaster.

~~~
kunai
> brought Unix to the mass market

Not really. 90% of Mac users don't care or know what Unix is. They don't know
that OS X's toolchain and userland are based on FreeBSD. All they care about
is ease of use.

Developers like OS X because it is Unix, and if OS X wasn't, they would just
be using GNU+Linux or BSD anyway.

~~~
mikegreco
> _Not really. 90% of Mac users don 't care or know what Unix is._

This is exactly why it is brilliant. The average user is NOT a unix user, but
the average developer is. The reason OS X is doing so well the same reason
Facebook Home bombed. Developers are actually using the systems they are
writing code for.

~~~
kunai
In a sense, however, this is egregious. Since 10.6 OS X has been about
abandoning developers and professionals and catering to consumers. The removal
of 2-dimensional workspace management, inconsistency in NATIVE application
look and feel (this is ridiculous, I can understand when there's inconsistency
in third party applications, but to have in-house apps look and feel
completely different is absurd) and the inability to easily remove unneeded or
unwanted "features" in the OS has made OS X a pain in the ass for many,
including me.

I've vacillated on switching back to Ubuntu for quite a while now. I always
end up making a Linux partition, installing Ubuntu on it, but I come back to
OS X, just because

1\. Less worry about configuration 2\. Greater OS-wide service communication
and integration 3\. Laziness

I've been considering creating a GNU+Linux distro with an OpenStep-compatible
toolkit at its core ([http://gnustep.org/](http://gnustep.org/)) so that I can
get the famous Cocoa look and feel, but with the modularity of Linux.

Still haven't done it yet.

------
ryhanson
Anyone else bothered by the fact that the font size is only 11px? Being on a
27" iMac the article was hard to read.

TSDR (Too Small Didn't Read)

~~~
iaskwhy
You can change it here:
[http://daringfireball.net/preferences/](http://daringfireball.net/preferences/)

Or zoom on the browser itself (but you already knew that).

~~~
bjustin
I didn't know he had a preferences page. Thank you.

~~~
iaskwhy
The link is on the footer :)

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justinlilly
Apple predictions game, fwiw.
[http://apple.dyaso.com/](http://apple.dyaso.com/)

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jacques_chester
All I want is a new Mac Pro that doesn't suck. Yes, I'll pay Mac tax for the
hardware.

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ksec
Will there is Livestream this year?

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ninetenel
What a fanboy

~~~
ancarda
I'd be interested to know what areas jumped out as "fanboy-ish" to you.

~~~
mikehc
"No, Apple did not invent the touchscreen. But the iPhone... It was the first
touchscreen device that mattered."

There you go.

~~~
nairteashop
Out of genuine curiosity, what touchscreen device would you say then was
actually the first one that mattered?

I assume by "mattered" Gruber meant mass market popularity, which IMO was
mostly because Apple _did_ get many things right in their touchscreen. (I
owned a bunch of touchscreen devices before my first iPhone and they all
sucked from a user experience perspective - missed taps, sluggish response,
lack of multitouch, requirement for a special stylus etc).

~~~
cheald
I'd say that Palm manufactured a large number of "touchscreen devices that
mattered" years before the iPhone. Just because it wasn't high-resolution and
capacitive doesn't change the fact that for a long while, Palm Pilots were a
staple of business.

~~~
nairteashop
Ah, fair point. The Palm didn't come to my mind because I didn't buy one - I
personally felt that the device & the stylus-based interface were too clunky -
but you're right, it was still a touchscreen device that mattered.

------
frugalmail

       * 5% chance they have a new connector to rip people off with overpriced patented attachments (low likelihood only because they recently came out with one already)
       * 65% ipad mini gets a "retina" display and finally has the resolution of it's high priced competitor the Nexus 7"
       * 70% new ipad comes out with the new connector to force people to upgrade, manufacturers to pay ridiculous licensing costs and to spark replacement purchases.
       * 70% apple roles out a competitor for Google Music before the iPeeps realize that things are much cheaper and higher quality in the other store
       * 95% they copy a few more features from Android and talk about how it's the first device to do it.
       * 75% they try to incorporate features from the announced xbox one

