Mike's 2003 Predictions

Posted : 11 Dec 2002

Apple appears to have nothing earth shattering in terms of hardware coming up for quite a while. G5's are in limbo due to lethargy and problems at Motorola. IBM has a new series of processors (the 970 chip, G6 perhaps) but these will be a long time in coming.

Peering into my cracked and worn out crystal ball, trying to discern order from chaos, I see the following from Apple over the next few months :

* Ongoing new software in the "i" range. Adding to Apple's excellent suite of existing software
* Incremental cpu speed upgrades - expect to see 100MHz or so increments
* 800mbps firewire (up from the current 400mbps) - on G4's first
* USB 2.0 (up from the current USB 1.0) - on G4's first
- Apple wont release USB 2 until 800mbps firewire gets released as it owns firewire whereas Intel owns USB 2 and Apple wants firewire to always be faster than USB
* Peering deeply into the swirling mists I see .... a new iPod
* Mac OS X 10.3 within 3-6 months
* Quark Express 6, promised within the first quarter of 2003, gets released at 1 minute to midnight on 31 March 2003, and then bug fix versions 6.01, 6.02, 6.03, 6.04 and 6.05 get released within rapid succession.
* Adobe InDesign continues to take market share as a consequence
* Mike turns grey waiting for his guest reviewers to actually send him anything

What I would really like to see happen :

* Apple release 2 button mice with a scroll wheel and a longer cable. Ever tried to use an Apple mouse on an iBook where the USB port is on the left hand side of the computer?
* New G4's allow for both 3.5" (zip size) and 5.25" (CD size) mechanisms
* The trash in OS X can optionally be removed from the dock
* The OS X dock goes hierarchical (like the launcher)
* The OS X dock can be positioned anywhere
* Motorola, IBM and Apple actually start to work together for a change
* Apple frees up their hardware so that any PC display card will work in a G4
* Apple implements surround/5.1 sound
* OS X gets a good font management tool