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Of Things To Come (4/18/99)
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NAB is here! Do you find it a little odd that the National Association of Broadcasters meeting would be such an eagerly-awaited event for Apple-watchers everywhere? It just goes to show you how strong a presence Apple has in the content creation field-- and how much potential lies in QuickTime. After all, that's what we're really waiting for-- version 4.0 of the multimedia architecture that slices, dices, cuts through tin cans, and still makes fabulous Julienne fries. QuickTime 4's killer new feature is the ability to stream live video, in much the same manner that Microsoft's NetShow and Real's RealVideo do. However, Apple's streaming solution will allow the streaming of live video to any application that supports QuickTime-- in much the same manner that the competition, um, does not.
So despite a live demo of streaming QuickTime almost a full year ago, here we all are, still waiting for the software's release. Remember back in November, when it was definitely going to be released at last January's MacWorld Expo? Heck, no less an authority than Steve Jobs himself publicly stated that fact as late as mid-December. Instead, all we got was another streaming video demo, this time from a G3 running Mac OS X Server to fifty iMacs at once. Impressive, yeah, but still not done. And while this week's NAB seems like the absolutely perfectest venue at which to launch QuickTime 4 as a finished product, sources everywhere say it's just not going to happen-- QuickTime 4 is still in beta. But that doesn't mean you can't use it.
According to Apple Insider, Apple's decided to release beta 21 of the long-awaited software as a "public preview." We have no doubt that reckless types with nerves of steel will leap at the chance to be Apple's unpaid beta testers, but personally, we at AtAT are just a little wary of so-called "preview releases." Making unfinished software available to the public is a slippery slope, no matter how close the beta is to golden master status; if it's not ready enough to be called "done," there's a risk in sending it out for public consumption. Heck, at least Apple hasn't gone totally Microsoftian and decided to charge customers for the privilege of being a guinea pig... We suppose we should just be happy that QuickTime 4 is going to be available in any form this week.
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SceneLink (1470)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/18/99 episode: April 18, 1999: The whole world awaits QuickTime 4's release with bated breath, as Apple prepares to do the "Preview" thing. Meanwhile, Micro Conversions has a unique plan to bring the best possible gaming experience to the iMac masses, and the EvangeList calls it quits after three solid years of fighting the good fight...
Other scenes from that episode: 1471: Mail Order Surgery (4/18/99) "Holy cats, they really did it!" That's the only reaction we could muster when we heard about Micro Conversions' latest scheme to transform Apple's iMac into a killer gaming machine. Not that MC's any stranger to the iMac; these are the guys who took an idea we kicked around a whole week before the original iMac even shipped and turned it into a reality: a Voodoo-based card that fits into the iMac's proprietary Mezzanine slot and bestows the joys of high-powered 3D gaming upon the owner... 1472: So Long, Farewell... (4/18/99) Finally, a quick note about the passing of the EvangeList. If you're one of the 40,000 subscribers who received the Final Message last week, you already know this, but the EvangeList, Guy Kawasaki's pro-Apple mailing list, went out with a whimper after three solid years of keeping the faith-- and, for better or for worse, of unleashing a torrent of electronic flame-mail upon any journalists (and "journalists") who dared to bad-mouth the platform or neglect their Mac homework...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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