Across the world peoples hearts are racing, holiday boards at work are filling up and web servers are crashing, that's right it's that time again. As we countdown to WWDC 2006 its time to look at what we could be seeing on the Keynote to be held 10.00AM PST on Monday 7th. As always World of Apple will be providing live coverage, so tune in!
Lets get stuck in.
Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"
No doubt about it, this is the big one for the year, Apple have been keeping their cards very close to their chest with only vague and unconfirmed rumours making it into the light of day. The only thing we truly no about 10.5 is that we will be seeing a preview at the show and we can be pretty certain that it will impress.
Virtualisation
First off is the issue of Windows on the Mac, Apple have already provided us with a solution. Boot Camp which is available as a free Beta from Apple was announced earlier this and is Apple's solution to running Windows on the Mac. As things have developed its become clear that Boot Camp is certainly an effective solution but not necessarily the best solution, the fact that you have to reboot to switch between Operating Systems is a big down point to some people.
The market has another solution, Virtualisation. Although Apple appears to have no intentions of supporting any built-in OS virtualisation, Apple does support the third party alternative going by the name of Parallels.
Going into the details of Parallels is a little out of the range of this article, but we can certainly say that virtualisation is a hot topic, its just a shame Apple has no intention of supporting it directly within the OS.
Virtual Desktops - WOA Rumour Rating 6/10
MacOSXRumors.com picked up on this one just a few days ago, apparently Apple has intentions of building in Virtual Desktops to increase the size of the users workspace. Although almost no details have been supplied from MacOSXRumors, we can say that this is certainly a handy feature and Apple would be smart to include the feature.
We have absolutely no evidence of this feature, this is pure conjecture.
Collaborative Features - WOA Rumour Rating 4/10
Once again MacOSXRumors provides the details;
The main idea is that it will be possible to declare a document as available for collaborative use over a network or Internet. Users who want to work on this document will be able to connect and work simultaneously on it. Modifications made by each user will be updated in real time for all connected users.
They go on to describe how Apple could potentially build a framework similar to Core Image which would allow the implementation of collaborative documents on third party applications.
Sources also claim that Apple is already integrating support of collaborative documents into iWork and iCal; in fact, MacOSXRumors has learned that the company decided to restart the development of its calendar application. The new version, due to ship with Leopard, will bring collaborative features and a new widget along with many other enhancements.
System Wide File Syncing - WOA Rumour Rating - 3/10
Reports have emerged that .Mac syncing will no longer be bound to contacts, mail and calendars. The reports show that .Mac syncing will become system wide and allow syncing to be built into developer software.
Finder and Spotlight
Last year MacOSXRumors claimed that in 10.5 the Finder would feature a full revamp but as time has passed they have slowly pulled back on their word. At the point where they believed a Finder revamp was in the pipeline they mentioned increased integration between Spotlight and the Finder, although MacOSXRumors has withdrawn, World of Apple believes that further integration between the Finder and Spotlight is a natural progression.
As far as Finder revamp goes, we find it unlikely as that is some major work to undertake, some tweaks will certainly be present and its possible that we'll be saying Bye Bye to brushed metal and Hello to Uno (unified plastic), which is now present in iTunes and Mail.app.
Overall
Unfortunately details are incredibly vague on the future of Mac OS X, if any details become clear nearer the time we'll publish them separate to this article.
Mac Pro - WOA Rumour Rating - 8/10
Earlier this week World of Apple published an article concerning the new Core 2 processors from Intel, within the article we briefly mentioned the rumoured Mac Pro, in brief Think Secret believes that the Mac Pro will adopt Core 2 chips and AppleInsider believes that Woodcrest processors will be included.
First up is Woodcrest. Woodcrest is simply a codename for the Dual-Core 65nm Xeon processor, the previous incarnation was Dempsey. Woodcrests main place in the Intel line-up is simply a Core 2 alternative build for workstation and server environments.
Many of you may be thinking, what's the main advantage of Woodcrest over Core 2, well its slim pickings. The main advantage to Woodcrest is the fact that coupled with Intels Land Grid Array 771 socket it can be used in a Dual Configuration, making it possible for a Quad Core machine.
As far as Core 2 goes, it has the advantage of being priced slightly better but is unable to be used in a Dual configuration which rules out the Quad-Core machine, but due to its similar performance to Woodcrest and lower price its quite possible that a Conroe chip could make it into the lowest model of the Mac Pro line-up.
As far as the rest of the specs in the Mac Pro are concerned we could be looking at Apple making an attempt at some breakthrough technologies, it's been widely rumoured that Apple may have a Blu-ray drive down as a Build-to-Order option when purchasing a Mac Pro. This went hand in a hand with the rumour that a modified enclosure will be featured on the new pro machine with two optical drive slots, one shipping empty as standard.
Apple Cinema Displays - WOA Rumour Rating - 6/10
It has recently been rumoured that new Apple Displays will make light of day at WWDC, it should be noted that the last time the Displays received a serious refresh was in 2004 when the current Aluminium displays were released, since then the physical display screens have been revisioned with upgraded specs but nothing of great significance.
It is unknown whether new displays would sport new exteriors but it is reported that the displays could feature a 1000:1 contrast ratio which is significantly more than the current 400:1. It has also been reported that gloss finish may be added as an option to all Cinema Displays as well as featuring built in iSight cameras.
Merom in MacBook Pro and iMac
This has certainly been a focusing point of the run up to WWDC this year, right now the whole consumer line of Apple computers feature Intel Core (Yonah) processors, which is in fact pin compatible with the new Core 2 (Merom) processor range. This is why it has been widely rumoured that Merom will make it into the MacBook Pro and iMac even though the Merom platform is aimed at the mobile market.
We can see from the point of view of many that its simple for Apple to drop Merom into the majority of its current Intel line-up and reap the benefits on what looks like a refreshed line of computers but it must be taken into account that for similar clock speeds Merom is considerably more expensive than Yonah and slightly more expensive than its Desktop partner, Conroe.
For more details refer to the World of Apple article all about Core 2.
iPhone (iChat Mobile - WOA Rumour Rating - 6/10
If there was one product that has been so anticipated it has got to be the infamous Apple iPhone, but in reality it was only until recent that it looked remotely like we'd ever see the iPhone.
So this is it in no particular order, first off iTunes 4.9 was released back in June 2005 and quickly the source was pulled apart which seemed to point towards some kind of phone integration, now naturally later on in the year this was linked with the iTunes and Motorola partnership.
It wasn't until 1 year later in March 2006 that speculation rose that Apple could release its own brand of mobile, then in May it was leaked that Apple could be working with Softbank to produce a mobile telephone, with iPod features and the ability to download songs direct from the iTunes Music Store. It was only two days later that Softbank released an official statement saying that reports of an Apple partnership were "guesswork at best". Now as we approach WWDC rumours are flying in all directions along with pictures and movies, none of which seem real.
Last week Engadget reported that an official Apple photographer had spotted the sleek device while doing some jobs for Apple and just a few days later Engadget posted images of the rumoured phone which have created much speculation.