OSX Lion - the goods. And the bads.

Apple's OS X update, Lion, will be released in July.

You'd think imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, except for all the patent suits bouncing around, boosting lawyers wages if nothing else. Windows has often been accused by Apple acolytes as at the very least 'copying' elements of the Mac OS, and indeed, code did change hands over a decade ago, but this was part of a deal in which Bill Gates, no less, stepped up and helped bale Apple out when it was in dire straits.

And vice versa. Apple introduced many elements of the personal computer to the world at large, which sets up an unholy baying if you infer Apple invented the technology.

Apple usually didn't - it may have conferred with companies on development, and helped push things along etc (the mouse, trackpad, USB, FireWire, various wireless standards and even chip designs, in collusion with Motorola, IBM and Intel and others).

Apple may not even have been first to deploy, but certainly was well ahead at both bringing things to market and promoting new standards, as it did when it arbitrarily (well, that's the wrong word - after due consideration) dropped the floppy drive from all Macs well before any PC company had the temerity to do so.

Sometimes these new things are trumpeted, such as Apple putting 'Thunderbolt' into new Macs, an interface technology developed by Intel.
Sometimes, though, companies prefer to keep things quiet, like NZ Telecom's rooms full of Apple Xserves it wouldn't talk about, that I don't know about, and that I therefore can't tell you about. Presumably, Telecom didn't want to be seen using it for, erm ... I don't know why. They wouldn't say.

So, anyway ... since Xserve no longer exists, what do you think Apple's iCloud is being deployed on? iCloud is also a trademark already before the courts, by the way.

Yes, good question. Apple's in-the-ether product is drawing on its competitor expertise when it comes to actually hosting the new online services.

It looks like Apple is using technology from both Microsoft and Amazon: Windows Azure, and Amazon Cloud Services for storage.

As better critics than I have pointed out over the past few years, Apple has had travails bringing web services successfully to market. These refer to MobileMe, which I have always loved despite its price, as 'MobileMess'.

Microsoft and Amazon have far more expertise when it comes to cloud computing, serving and distribution. If that leads to clean and easy iCloud launch - good. There's nothing to stop these companies buying stuff from each other, after all. Perhaps Apple will even help Microsoft's bottom line.

Besides, despite appearances, Apple and Microsoft's engineers have always enjoyed productive working relationships.

However, as I noted last week, where does that all leave iWeb? Apple's free software lets you build slick and beautiful websites even if it's just about your garden worm farm, and you could host it as part of your paid MobileMe subscription, or at almost any ISP.

But there was no mention of personal sites in the new, free iCould announcements. Now we know why - it's just gone.

With iCloud you will get lots of free goodies, but you lose your websites. This is going to be terrible for some little firms, and particularly for home, NGO and school sites.

It seems like you'd better set up Facebook pages and start copying your data into them, unless we hear otherwise - but Steve Jobs himself, if this site is to be believed, has confirmed iWeb's fate in a one-word email.

At least Facebook is free, right?

The concept that all your Apple devices will be communicating and supporting each other goes with Jobs' decades' old ethos that computers should be appliances. The technocrats derided him at the time, but what did they know? They also derided the mouse. Their derision, one can't help feeling, comes from a heartfelt concern to protect their positions and jobs, plus trade intransigence.

But the next Mac OS won't even be called a 'Mac OS'. The OS Lion information page. refers to it simply as OS X Lion.

I reckon this an evolutionary step towards the same system (or versions thereof) being on all Apple devices - after all, iOS informed Snow Leopard and vice versa, and Lion ups the ante.

The name Mac OS was introduced with Mac OS 7.6, which made the transition from 'System 7.5'. Mac OS 8 followed 7.6; this was Apple's first computer OS after Steve Jobs returned to Apple (1997). 'Mac OS' was used the longest time by Apple, as it has covered 14 years through 10 major versions.

It's actually more than ten if 8.5, 8.6, and even 9.1 and 9.2 are included, as they were greatly improved versions and fixed a lot of bugs.

Geniuses fight back

Talking about jobs, though, an Apple Store employee is trying to unionise his fellow Apple Stor-ees. Good luck with that - Steve Jobs might donate loads of money to the Democrats, and Apple might support worthwhile humanist concerns, but that doesn't mean it will condone workers organising for better conditions in Apple Stores.

Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, has started the Apple Retail Workers Union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company's retail showrooms.

I predict soon he'll be working somewhere else. More's the pity. "The core issues are definitely involve compensation, pay, benefits," said Moll.

As they are for all workers - ask John Key. Oh yeah, he doesn't care either. At least Steve Jobs has actually created jobs, I guess. Loads of them.

Apple might have a close team and a great working environment, but that's at the Mothership in Cupertino.

There have been rumours of strange and intense initiation doctrines and training for Apple Store workers, which all sounds a bit freaky to me.
Moll has apparently received little public support from employees so far. I guess they're cowering in the trenches, waiting to see how it pans out. Moll did say he's had emails expressing support.

An Apple representative confirmed Moll is an employee, but declined to comment on the union effort.

Unions are strong in US industries like trucking and automotive, but are largely unheard of in Silicon Valley companies. They pride themselves on being quick-footed and "having the flexibility to hire and fire".
Sound familiar?

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com