WWDC: Apple releases new MacPro, xServes; Previews Leopard
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
At today’s World Wide Developer’s Conference, Apple announced a slew of exciting new innovations, from Leopard’s new Vista-bashing features, to the new line of Xserves. But the most exciting announcement for many (myself included) was the announcement of the new Mac Pro, the successor to Apple’s PowerMac desktop line.
Featuring two dual Core Xeon processors running at up to 3GHz, the new Mac Pro finally revitalizes Apple’s pro offerings which have lain stagnant for some time. Rumors of dual optical drives and Xeon processors proved to be true, as did word that the entire line would be dual processor.
What’s more, they actually ship TODAY, and are not even unreasonably priced; coming in pretty much at what the previous G5 versions cost (plus they actually ship with 1GB or RAM!). Finally, a system that can run Civilization IV! (just kidding, Aspyr).
As for Leopard’s new features, well, Apple claims the REALLY important new features can’t be discussed at this point, for fear Microsft will rip them off for its upcoming Vista OS. Why Apple is worried about Microsft stealing anything else from OSX is beyond me. Redmond’s having enough trouble getting their current monstrosity out the door. I say Apple should just make crap up that they’ll be sticking in Leopard just to screw with Microsoft’s programmers. That way Microsoft will NEVER get Vista out the door.
The big new features seem to be Timeline (Apple’s auto backup/snapshot/restore utility), Spaces (which allows you to create different virtual workspaces for different apps), enhancements to Spotlight (such as advanced search options and network searching), a new text-to-speech with MUCH more realistic intonations, enhanced Mail with support for true HTML mail and notes, and iChat’s new Theater feature, allowing for slideshows to be shown and shared online.
