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-QuickTime 3.0 Further Behind Than You Think

-Updated -Rhapsody & OmniWeb

-Updated -AOL 4.0 The New Interface- Changed Again!

-Allegro To Be Tomorrow's Copland?

-Rhapsody & OmniWeb

-QuickTime VR Authoring Studio Preview

-AOL 4.0 The New Interface- Changed Again!

-Bride Of Bu$ter - What's The Deal?

-Apple News For The Week Of 11/03/97

-Rhapsody's UNIX A Look At The Rhapsody Terminal

-Steve, Coming To A MacOS Near You?

-Viewer Input Welcomed

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Allegro To Be Tomorrow's Copland?

Thanks to a few industry sources at Apple we now have some perspective of the future MacOS. Allegro will possibly be the Copland of Tomorrow, only it wont be a brain transplant as Steve would say. Apple has finally realized that the best way to bring on new technologies is through gradual flow (Piece By Piece), not BAM here it is. Allegro, rumored to be called MacOS 9.0 will be backwards compatible, unlike Copland. Our charts and explanations below aim to layout the game plan Apple is taking in order to gradually move the MacOS up to Copland status. Our explanations of Allegro's features are far from complete as we are still gathering information on this subject.

Copland

Above lists the features that were planned for the original Copland release.

Allegro - [Harmony/Tempo/BrideOfBuster/Allegro]

Workspaces - Multiple User Settings

-Allegro will most likely have workspaces as originally scheduled for Copland. Each user will have their own settings which will be configured by an assistant, similar to the Mac OS Setup Assistant and Internet Setup Assistant that are standard in OS 8.0. The user will be prompted with a series of question dialogs that when answered will help decide the best environment. The Assistant will then configure the finder settings accordingly.

PowerPC Native and PowerPC Only!

-The entire system will be PowerPC Native and will only be available for PowerPC Processors. Lets remember that this release isn't due till sometime in mid to late 1998; If Apple decided to support the 68k in this release they are beyond stubborn. Anyone still using a 68k at the time of this release will be considered a dinosaur

-Allegro, supposedly, will be optimized for the latest processors, the G4 series. This is assuming that the G4's will actually be produced and on time. There are no further details here, your best bet is to wait and see.

V-Twin

-V-Twin contextual search capabilities have been put on hold many times in the past. This feature has appeared in development versions of Copland and surprisingly enough, pre development versions of Harmony MacOS7.6. Yeah, you read that correctly. Harmony was originally scheduled to have the Platinum Look, Re Arranged Menus and V-Twin. V-Twin is a SUPER FAST find feature. It can search a pretty hefty sized disk for "content" in 1-3 seconds, not to mention internet capabilities and so on. V-Twin should make it into Allegro, its a long awaited and long over due feature.

Themes

-Finder themes will most likely make it into this release of MacOS, although with Apple you never know. The technical aspect of incorporating this feature would not be too difficult, but will Apple decide to go through with it? Themes are a luxury, Apple needs to focus on the necessities first.

Protected Memory

-Memory protection makes it so that one errant program wont bring down the other programs and or crash the Operating System. A common misconception is that Protected Memory means an un-crashable system, this is by far untrue. A system with memory protection will indefinitely be less crash prone, but it will not out rule system crashes. This feature was one of the original features scheduled for Copland and today exists in such Operating Systems as BeOS and WindowsNT.

Preemptively Multitasking

-This features enables programs to run simultaneously yet smoothly. One can be rendering a 3-D image in Infini-D while unstuffing a file in StuffIt. Again, this feature was originally planned for Copland.

Redesigned File System/ File Format

-We wont have to wait till Allegro for this feature(at least the file format portion). Sequoia, the code name for the new MacOS File Format labeled HFS Plus will be included with the Bride Of Buster Release (MacOS 8.1) Sequoia is designed to deliver an increase in speed and a increase in file capacity. Users must format their drive with the new file system in order to benefit from its features.

Open Transport - Networking

-Remember the time we all thought OT was dead? Well 1.3b7 was seeded to developers 3 days ago. OT will supposedly be moving over to Rhapsody as well. With each new version of the MacOS comes a new version of OT. We have no specifics on the plans for OT but it will continue well into Allegro.

-Apple will also aim to greatly improve the networking capabilities and speed of Desktop and Business Computers. Possibly enabling desktops to act as NC Clients.

The above information is not 100% concrete; Apple can change their plans anytime they please. We will continue to gather information on Allegro and post updated reports when necessary.

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Rhapsody & OmniWeb

Rhapsody

Each week we compile Rhapsody coverage from some trusted sources who would prefer to remain anonymous. This week, as last week, we must go images less due to Apple's demands. For those of you who are new viewers to Reality, we'll be covering Rhapsody right up until it's release and there on after. Each week we show you a little more of what's planned for Rhapsody through Apple Markups, First, and Second Hand information. Click on the links below to view the corresponding sub pages.

Rhapsody Feature Descriptions

Rhapsody Finder Views

Rhapsody Browser Views

Rhapsody And OmniWeb

Omni Web

Omni Web, the browser that is said to Put Netscape and IE to shame is now available for Rhapsody. We have a few shots of Rhapsody displaying the OSRumors Page which has little or no format. The second shot is of the OmniGroup Home Page so you can see how the browser handles format. (I'll get one showing Reality Soon :) ) We are currently gathering developer reactions to Omni Web and will hopefully post them by Wednesday or Next Monday, so stay tuned.

OmniWeb

OmniWeb Running On DR1

OmniWeb With Book Marks Window

OmniWeb Menu Bar

This listing is an index of the shots described above.

Update - Omni Web Perfomance

One reader notes "Omni Web for Rhapsody is still very buggy yet stable enough that it doesn't crash. I really don't like the way it loads backgrounds; backgrounds load in waves, piece by piece. I personally find this very annoying after using netscape for all those years. Another down point is slow rendering. It seems to drag along. This could also be due to the fact that Rhapsody its self is very slow at this point.

More to come.......

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QuickTime VR Authoring Studio Preview

Remember the application that Steve and the QuickTimeVR engineer demonstrated at Seybold which WOWed the crowd? It was called the QuickTime VR Authoring Studio. Thanks to an anonymous industry source Reality has aquired some images to go along with Apple's Press Release on this application which has just hit final candidate stage.

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio is intended to radically simplify the creation of QuickTime VR scenes-- both panoramas and objects. The product will have an easy to navigate user interface and planned features include..

Click on the links to view full size images

Panorama Stitcher

This product incorporates features which are intended to simplify the production process of a QuickTime VR panorama. To create a QuickTime VR panorama, digital images of the panorama are first captured, by film-based 35mm cameras, digital cameras, panoramic
cameras, and even video cameras.

The panorama stitcher module of QuickTime VR Authoring Studio combines and integrates the individual images, seamlessly blending, sharpening, and deskewing the images before wrapping the image into a completed 360 degree panorama. The developer can then generate a finished PICT file and continue to make a fully functioning QuickTime VR panorama movie for computer screen display.

Panorama Maker

The Panorama Maker takes a panorama PICT file from a panoramic camera or from a 3D rendering program capable of outputting such a file and converts it into a QuickTime VR panorama movie for use on the Internet or CD-ROM.

Object Maker

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio will simplify the creation of QuickTime VR object movies, allowing creative professionals to quickly and easily develop three dimensional representations of objects. Object capture software enables frame by frame digital input of video or still digital images from a variety of turn table or gantry digital imaging systems. After combining the single frames, with user selectable quality, the software outputs a QuickTime VR object movie.

Scene Maker

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio also includes Scene Maker capabilities. This means that developers can create multi-node QuickTime VR files in which linked panoramas and/or objects are contained in a single file or in a series of linked files that may be located at different places on the Internet. This capability allows developers to target their linked scenes to either CD-ROM or the Internet. Developers have already used the multi-node capabilities of QuickTime VR to create virtual walk throughs of museums, where users can jump to different rooms in panorama views and pick up exhibits in an object view. QuickTime VR Authoring Studio will simplify the steps developers need to go through to create compelling multi-node scenes.

Project Manager

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio includes a project management capability that allows the developer to keep track of digital media assets throughout the creative process. This allows developers to quickly and easily order and prioritize their media assets and plug them in to the scene they are creating. Each module can be accessed as needed from the Project Manager so that the progress of the complete project can be easily viewed and managed.

This is a GREAT product, anyone who deals with Quicktime VR or plans to MUST purchase this product. Its about time Apple decided to make such a great technology easy to use. The whole application is drag and drop savvy. There is no techno brain knowledge needed to create QTVR projects with this product. All you need is 10-16 megs of free RAM and your set.

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio is expected to be available in November through retail channels and will be priced at U.S. $395.

QuickTime VR Authoring Studio for Mac OS requires a PowerPC based Mac OS compatible system with a minimum of 16MB of RAM.

If your interested in this product please visit Apple's Quick Time VR Home Page for details.

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AOL 4.0 The New Interface- Changed Again!

AOL 4.0 has hit Beta 25. Thanks to our only anonymous AOL source who sent us the following images and comments on the new Beta Version of AOL's Client.

click on the links to view images of the corresponding content

"The new build of the client has turned for the better, yet for the worse. As time goes on it seems as if everything is getting slower. I made myself a bagel and buttered it by the time AOL's new web browser loaded. [A new version of internet explorer]. 4.0's web integration is very poor. Its a nice try though.

Loading

AOL takes quit a while to load all the excess libraries and tools. I opened Photoshop 5 a lot faster than AOL. The 2.7 client was great, a click of the icon and there you were. The application folder now takes up 20 megs of Hard Disk Space as well.

Setup Assistant

AOL 4.0 has setup assistant built into it. Upon choosing the setup option the assistant will scan your computer for the presence of a modem or ethernet connection. In my case I use a modem and TCP to AOL, so I set it accordingly.

Sign On Process

The new sign on/ sign off screen is nice, but a bit bland at the moment. I'm assuming AOL is still working on a graphic to fill the blank white space. The connection process is a lot nicer as well. The art is smoother and the dialog is now a window allowing the user to do other things while connecting.

The Tool Bar

The Tool Bar; I guess we can say this has improved slightly. Before it was hideous, now its "O.K" with room for improvement. The Tool Bar has a new option which will let users display the Tool Bar in a Text Only Version. [Best for people with small screens] Still, there remains a bunch of useless junk to the far right. Do we really need that stuff there? The pop up menus on the tool bar are VERY Slow. Its like "Click and take a bathroom break, come back and choose your option"

Instant Messages

Instant Messages; These things seem to grow faster than Bill Clinton's belly. The Instant Message chat window takes up half the screen and contains a text bar that is totally useless if all you want to do is chat. Its fun to see all the pretty colors but this gets tiring after a while and people will find it annoying as hell. The Chat windows are the same.

E-Mail

E-mail; AOL has successfully screwed these forums up as well. Can we say time for Ads? Ads in the E-mail window, how nice of Steve C. Lets wait longer for our mail to show up! You can paste pictures in the hideous new E-Mail windows. Yeah I know, I can't contain my excitement.

Other Features

The new Menu Bar is less cluttered. The buddy list has color icons now. And this new Picture Capture feature that I couldn't get to work.

I really hope they fix some of this.....More to come very soon"

AOL 4.0 Images

AOL 4.0 About Box	AOL 4.0 Modem
AOL 4.0 Buddy List	AOL 4.0 New Mail
AOL 4.0 Picture Capture	AOL 4.0 Setup
AOL 4.0 Connecting	AOL 4.0 Setup Search
AOL 4.0 E-Mail	AOL 4.0 Tool Bar
AOL 4.0 GoodBye	AOL 4.0 Tool Bar Text Only
AOL 4.0 Instant Message	AOL 4.0 Menu Bar
AOL 4.0 Loading

This table contains an index of the images displayed throughout the notes above

Updated Images And User Experiences!

An anonymous reader forwards us these following comments on his experiences with AOL version 4.0

"I just installed AOL 4.0b25....some observations (many of these echo what's already been reported):

-Opening the app takes*forever*. Like the report on Reality says, it's worse than Photoshop....

-The setup assistant is very helpful, and it was even smart enough to recognize my TCP/IP connection on Ethernet.

-The web browser isn't all that bad this time around. It still lacks some features of a standalone web browser ("View Source", for example), but it's a lot better than previous browsers. (The browser in 3.0 had a hard time with the various incarnations of the <HR> tag, for example).

-The popup menus in the toolbar work fine for me (no delay, or minimal delay). Of course, tryingt o guess where they put each specific command is a pain....(They keep moving 'em).

- Email and IMs have gone from bad to worse (advertising in email, both have gotten way too complex w/ all of the formatting options)

- I can't stand the new graphics (the toolbar is better, though)

- Items in the toolbar can be *removed*! Option-click on the item and drag it to the trash (on the desktop). It works for only the stuff on the right side of the bar (weather, AOL exclusives, and quotes). Even better, you can drag a favorite place to the toolbar. Finally....a (sort of) customized AOL.

-In their infinite wisdom, AOL has removed the "ignore" option from the "new mail" window. This forces you to either read the mail (most of which is spam) or delete the message, which brings up the damn "are you really sure you want to delete this?" dialog. Using ignore would get rid of the mail without the dialog.

-Chat looks a little better, but could do w/o the advertising and the text formatting. I'm on a T1, so the ads don't slow me down, but I imagine they'd slow stuff down pretty well on a modem."

Bride Of Bu$ter - What's The Deal?

A Charge For 8.1?

As most of you know, OSRumors posted a clip stating that Apple will possibly be charging for OS 8.1. This is HIGHLY Unconfirmed. However, an anonymous source at Apple sends us these images(link removed) confirming that MacOS8.1b2c2 has been seeded to testers in both upgrade and full install formats. The Full install CD is recommended distribution for testing on prerelease Power Macintosh G3/PowerBook G3 systems, but Apple can easily counter this and charge for the CD as well.

You must take into account that this upgrade is in the range of a 20 meg binhex file. 21666KB to be exact which is 21.16 Megs. The Mac Binary file is 15937KB which is roughly 15.5 Megs, these sizes will vary with each release. These are large files which will take hours to download for the average user on a 28.8 or 14.4 modem. Also, can Apples T3 support all the traffic for this release? It would make more sense to distribute this release on CD and save both Apple and the customer time and aggravation.

Now its not morally incorrect for Apple to charge its customers for bug fixes, yet they may feel it necessary to charge for the new file system and the alterations to the finder needed to support it.

$30 for the upgrade seems a little steep, however $19.95 would seems to be a fair possible price for the upgrade if Apple does choose this direction.

Release Date Delay?

MacOS8.1 seems not only to be on schedule, but way ahead of it. The supposed delay for this release is due Apple's marketing plan. A release in December may be a little blurred with the holiday's. Customers are also still purchasing MacOS8.0 and at a steady pace I might add. Apple would rather benefit twice rather than once. Releasing a new upgrade so soon could possibly confuse customers, annoy customers, but most of all Apple will not profit as much from the release in December as they would in January.

To sum this all up, MacOS8.1 at the moment is still scheduled for a a release in mid December with no charge, and this is the most likely situation which has been confirmed at Apple. As the days go on this could possibly change. We could see MacOS8.1 distributed on CD in January with a fair charge due to a number of factors such as, Size, Bandwidth, Marketing Plans, Holidays, and most of all, profitability.

Either way, This is MUST Have upgrade which I'm sure will be appreciated just as much 30 days later.

Rhapsody DR1, The Rhapsody Terminal

We've begun collecting information on the Rhapsody Developer Release from Internet sources and anonymous reader input. Rhapsody, based on UNIX, will be covered in a handsome GUI (Graphical User Interface) upon completion. Nevertheless, user who prefer to see and use the nix flavor of Rhapsody will be able to do so via the terminal.app. Right now, individuals testing Rhapsody, later to be named "Unity", will have no choice but to use the terminal application for certain processes. This is due to the fact that they haven't been built into the GUI, yet.

Thanks to a few anonymous readers and our sources at Apple, we have put together some information on the Rhapsody Terminal, along with corresponding images.

- Once in the Terminal.app, users can create specific terminal services by going to "Terminal Services" in the Terminal's Apple Menu. When a Terminal Service is defined it will then appear in other applications "Services" Menu.

-The File menu is named "Shell" but still contains the normal File Menu functions such as Open/Save/Save As. Here, the Terminal app can be seen running on Rhapsody DR1.

-The Terminal app, similar to the BeOS terminal app, will have drag and drop support. It will accept files dropped into the Terminal window and will paste appropriate paths and filenames, plus a space, after the prompt.

-The Terminal monitors windows to see if they are busy. If the window is active it marks the window with a black mark in the close button as seen in this image of an FTP session in DR1 using the Terminal app.

-Terminal windows will be saveable. The shell, the location of the window, and whether or not the window is miniaturized are among the settings that are saved along with the Text.

-The Terminal can be set to launch specific files automatically each time you start up the Terminal.

-This I found to be way cool....When the Terminal app is hidden, the image of text in the Terminal application icon scrolls (animated Icon) to indicate that new output awaits in one or more of the Terminal windows. For example, the terminal will be actively scrolling when one telnets to IRC using the Terminal.

We will continue to update this section as information arrives.

Steve, Coming To A MacOS Near You?

Thanks to a source at Apple who sends us this info; Steve Jobs is sure making his mark. A quick look at the Special Menu in MacOS8.1b2c2 will show that he's on the mind of every MacOS engineer. The Special Menu is now renamed "Steve" as show below.

Click Here for a view of the Menu Bar.

Does this have anything to do with the CEO spot? Most likely not. But this is part of the plan Steve has. He always tries to stir up excitement in which ever way possible. The extended CEO decision is another plan of his. I don't know if he'll accept the position, although I know he wants to, but he's just buying time. If Jobs for some reason does not accept the permanent CEO position he'll wind up in the chairman's seat which gives him the same amount, if not more power than being CEO (either way, if Steve is involved, he'll be running the show).

Viewer Input Welcomed

Your input is welcomed here at Reality. We encourage you to interact with us. If you are testing Rhapsody, MacOS, or any Macintosh product and would like to share your experiences with Reality's viewers please E-Mail me. Let us know what's new, what you hate, what you love about those products. The more people that help this site, the greater it will grow.

Anonymous info, material and so on is also welcomed via E-mail.

We do read each and every email, we try to respond to as many as possible, but sometimes it isn't possible.

This Weeks Apple News

Jobs Goes Air Born

-Jobs is apparently interested in a helipad and McDonnell Douglas Explorer 900 twin-engine helicopter to transport him between Apple and Pixar.
-Does this sound like a guy backing out of Apple any time soon?

MacOS b2c2 Seeded to Testers

-MacOS8.1 is now in its beta stage and is as stable as ever.
-8.1 is available for testers in both Mac Binary and BinHex formats.
-A full meg has been chopped off the "Bride" finder and is now once again labeled "Finder"

Quick Draw 3-D 1.5.4

-Quick Draw 3-D 1.5.4 appeared on the developer seeding ftp on october 30th.

Open Transport 1.3 Hits Beta 7

-Open Transport 1.3b7 is now standard install on MacOS8.1a2c2

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