Apple Developer News

Griffin Dix, the principal of this research firm, said "Our sample for the Professional Digital Video Study included equal numbers of buyers of Mac OS and digital PC video products, as well as platform-independent lists of video production sites. The results indicate that the Mac OS is the primary operating environment for video and multimedia production at sites using digital video products. The study also shows that QuickTime has become an important standard in the various video production market segments, including corporate in-house video production departments, video services companies, and TV broadcast sites."

At the same time, QuickTime's unique capabilities were recognized as one of Videography magazine's Editors' Choices at the 1997 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show. Earlier this year QuickTime received Television Broadcast Magazine's "Editors' Pick of Show" award for the advancement of the art and science of television broadcast at NAB show.

For more details on this study, see the Apple press release:

"Taking our newest Macintosh computers and Mac OS 8 operating system on the road is precisely the kind of grass-roots effort that I think is essential to give our users the good reasons and confidence to buy a Macintosh," said Apple executive vice president of Marketing Guerrino De Luca.

Each exposition presents state-of-the-art solutions for creativity, work, play, learning, and mobility. The road show is part of Apple's campaign to demonstrate the Mac OS platform's enhanced user experience, compatibility with Windows-based computers, Internet communications, and multimedia capabilities, all made possible by recently introduced hardware and the Mac OS 8 operating system.

In addition to Apple products, the road show displays the latest products from Adobe Systems, Berkeley Systems, Broderbund, Claris, Davidson, Living Books, and Netscape Communications--all running on Mac OS 8.

Cities for the 17-week itinerary were selected for their high concentrations of Macintosh users, and each stop along the way will be complemented with special user group and community programs, as well as merchandising promotions.

The enhanced Workgroup Server 9650/350 is expected to be available starting in early September 1997. For U.S. estimated pricing and configurations, see the press release:

"The Power Macintosh 9600/350 is my dream machine," said Harry Marks, noted designer of content for broadcast media. "This computer is so fast that it dramatically changes the entire user experience compared to my year-old high-performance Power Mac."

The Apple Power Macintosh 9600/350 is part of a new line of powerful desktop computers from Apple that are used by professionals in fields such as publishing, multimedia/Internet authoring, science, and engineering. The new line includes the Power Macintosh 9600/350, 9600/300, and 8600/300. An additional model, the 8600/250, is available in many countries outside the United States.

The new Power Macintosh 9600 and 8600 computers feature several design improvements that contribute to outstanding system performance. Most notable is the new Apple Inline Cache, which resides on the processor card and creates a wider path with faster communication between the processor and the 1 MB level-2 cache, dramatically increasing performance. In addition, the Apple Inline Cache doubles the rate (to 100 MHz) at which the cache is accessed.

The Power Macintosh 9600/350, 9600/300, and 8600/300 are available immediately worldwide. The Power Macintosh 9600/350, 9600/300, and 8600/300 are expected to be available at the end of August 1997. For estimated U.S. pricing, see the full Apple press release:

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

• Panorama Stitcher
• Panorama Maker
• Object Maker
• Scene Maker
• Project Manager (for keeping track of media assets)

For more on product features and availability, see the full press release:

"The new Apple LaserWriter 8500 offers some unique capabilities for the users of workgroup printers, including cross-platform compatibility for UNIX, Macintosh, and Wintel systems," said Ed Pullen, Service director at Computer Intelligence. "The printer also offers exceptional economy in toner costs and cartridge price."

The LaserWriter 8500 and LaserWriter 8500 Plus Upgrade Kit are expected to be available through Apple-authorized resellers worldwide; pricing and availability may vary. The LaserWriter 8500 is expected to be available in the United States by early September.

For more details, check out the complete press release:

Here are some of the other announcements made by Metrowerks this week:

• Metrowerks will soon be providing full Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.1.3 support for Mac OS 8 in its tools.

• The company began shipping Metrowerks Visual SourceSafe for Macintosh Release 5, the latest version of its cross-platform revision control system. This product replaces the CodeManager brand name and significantly extends the feature set of earlier versions of the product.

• Metrowerks began shipping CodeWarrior for PalmPilot Release 3, an integrated suite of tools for both the Mac OS and Windows 95/NT. With new features and updates, you'll find it easier than ever to develop applications for PalmPilot products. CodeWarrior for PalmPilot Release 3 includes complete and separate PalmPilot SDKs (software development kits) for Mac OS and Windows, each with a comprehensive tutorial, numerous examples, and all the interface and library files needed to create Palm OS applications.

According to MacApp product manager Gary Little, the new features of MacApp will help make Mac OS programmers much more productive, particularly in developing Internet-savvy applications. "MacApp's Network Support Classes make it very easy to establish and manage TCP/IP connections, often with only a few lines of your own code. One of our example programs, for instance, is a rudimentary web server that has only eight lines of Internet-specific code."

The latest version is a significant upgrade providing new features, including the following:

• The ability to use advanced capabilities of the C++ programming language: MacApp uses "modern" C++ language features such as native exceptions, casting operators, templates, constructors and destructors, and the standard C++ libraries.

• Tighter control of framework usage: MacApp Release 13 is provided in a modular form that gives you more control over which MacApp components will be included in your applications. Certain core modules have been moved to a separate library called the "Apple Class Suites," where they can be used independently of the rest of MacApp.

• The ability to easily add Internet capabilities to applications: This feature is provided by the Network Support Classes subsystem, a provider-independent, asynchronous event and networking subsystem, complete with timers, transaction queues, state machines, and parsing.

• The ability to easily create multithreaded applications: The new version of MacApp provides support for cooperative and multiprocessor threading through a set of straightforward and consistent classes, as well as an efficient, intuitive synchronization abstraction based on the monitors and conditions model.

• Extended support for application development: MacApp Release 13 provides many additional features, including support for Mac OS 8's Platinum appearance, QuickDraw 3D, and multilevel Undo capability; new debugging aids; improved run-time performance; and smaller disk and memory footprints for applications.

• MacApp Views: These views (the visible elements of an application) are built visually with the Ad Lib layout editor, which Apple recently acquired from its original developer. A new version of Ad Lib (2.6.4) is part of the MacApp release.

Apple plans to distribute a beta version of AppleShare 5.0.2 in early August 1997. The first Internet beta version (5.0.2 Seed 1) contains performance and reliability enhancements, including an updated version of the AppleShare Client, version 3.7.2. The second Internet beta version (5.0.2 Seed 2) will add support for Mac OS 8 and include the WebSTAR API.

The Seed 1 version is now available for downloading from the AppleShare IP web site:

MacX 2.0 includes support for the X Window System standard Version 11, Release 6.1 (X11R6.1). Compatibility with this widely adopted standard enables users to run the latest X client applications on their Mac OS computers. To enhance customer productivity further, Apple optimized MacX for use with Open Transport, which further optimizes server performance, particularly on PowerPC systems.

MacX 2.0 continues to provide the ease of use associated with Apple products. The product provides one-button installation and full support for Mac OS user-interface features. MacX 2.0 seamlessly integrates the Mac OS and X environments, allowing customers to customize the software so that they can launch frequently used X applications simply by choosing commands from pull-down menus. Customers can also cut and paste text and color graphics between the Mac OS and X environments. In addition, customers view X applications in familiar Mac OS windows for easy moving and resizing.

For a feature list, system requirements, and pricing, see the complete press release:

• A Macintosh news wire mailing list
• The Mac OS 8 adoption campaign (mentioned in ADN #68)
• Macintosh classified ads
• A support BBS
• Links to Macintosh web sites
• A "voting booth" for Macintosh issues

• Using Newton as a visitor information collection tool at the expo
• Demonstrating Newton's functions effectively (is there a Newton TV projector?)
• Designing the most effective booth
• Clarifying product misconceptions