DaveNet: Monday, December 23, 1996; by Dave Winer.

Live Notes -- Apple Press Conference

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:28:08 PM by DW

I'm on hold waiting for the conference to begin.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:35:20 PM by DW

It's about to start! So exciting...

They're playing Christmas music.

I'd prefer the Indigo Girls.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:43:01 PM by DW

Still standing by.

Is this being webcast?

If so, send email to dwiner@well.com.

Thanks!

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:47:59 PM by DW

Conference starts.

Press 1 followed by 4 to ask a question, 1 followed by 3 to retract question.

Chris Escher.

Apple VP-Corp Communications

Answers questions regarding Friday announcement.

George Scalise, Ellen Hanccok, Fred Anderson (CFO)

Avi Tevaniaon, Mitch Mandach VP-Mktg, Dominique CFO, Tina VP-Europe

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:49:57 PM by DW

Developers supporting: Metrowerks, Adobe, Symantec, Graphisoft, Radius, Sun Micrsystems, JavaSoft

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:50:47 PM by DW

Mike Kennedy, Meta Group

WebObjects, OpenStep -- does direction change?

Continue plan that Next had, aggressively marketing WebObjects.

Will support OpenStep as well as NextStep.

Will WebObjects port to Macintosh OS?

Makes sense to Hancock.

Julie Schmidt, USA Today

Will Apple make Intel-based machines?

Their software will support Intel-based machine.

But now PowerPC is what they're doing.

No plans at this time to make Intel-based machines.

Jodi Mardesich, SJ Merc

Why should customers buy a Macintosh now?

Two-OS strategy. Two releases in Jan or Jul?

Extensive delivery to customers.

Should people wait?

No. We're encouraging developers to work with the current base.

They will be providing compatibility.

Tom Abate, SF Chron: For Ellen

Will the OS be able to run on the 68K computers or PowerPC computers?

OS is intended for Macintosh PowerPC, other hardware platforms may be supported.

Maybe not for 68K.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 2:57:34 PM by DW

Dean Witter

Financials, profitability of Next? How dilutive is this to Apple's earnings?

Next -- $50 million in revenue in 1996, last quarter break-even, profitable in Q1 97

Write off, ended March 31, $75% of purchase price, $100 million amortized over 5-7 years.

Tom Abate, Examiner

System 7 apps?

Intend to provide a new OS that utilitizes Next for API

Compatibility for System 7 apps.

Make a machine to run both new Apple OS and Windows?

Except people can already do that with a current Apple product.

Any plans to bring back Be?

No.

Cliff Colby, MacWEEK

How does OpenDoc fit in?

She assumes they will move it over ontop of OpenStep

GameSprockets?

Same answer.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 3:04:49 PM by DW

Jodi Mardesich, SJ Mercury

Does the new OS have a name?

We have some ideas.

What's in it for regular home users, people are afraid of Unix?

They hide Unix, so it's not a problem.

If they want to access Unix, they can.

New applications by new companies.

Kelly Reier, MacWEEK

Will Quicktime be there?

It already works. Only movie playback now.

Tom Quinlan, Infoworld

What's Microsoft's reaction? How soon will they support new OS?

They want Microsoft's support.

Will there be a hybrid environment?

No, there will be some changes for Mac developers, but not a hybrid OS.

PC WEEK

Have you tested running System 7 apps? If so, what kind of performance hits?

Already have System 6 emulators, think that they'll run 'fairly well'.

What products were they using?

A third-party product called Executor.

Was Next shopped to Sun?

Sun never made an offer on Next, they licensed Nextstep to Sun, version 3.1.

Will that relationship continue?

Unsure.

David Coursey

Will the new platform run on Intel?

Yes.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 3:14:18 PM by DW

Tom Monahan -- AP in NY

How extensively will Apple use Display Postscript?

They will work with Adobe. Talked with Warnock. Don't know.

Julie Schmidt

Will first release of Next OS will not run Mac apps?

Amazingly -- no!

Over time compatibility will get better and better.

It'll have SOME compatibility.

It'll improve over time.

If a customer had written Java apps on System 7, then some of those apps might run on the new system.

Have they decided which kernel?

No. Still have more work to be done.

Tom Murphy, Bloomberg

Timing for Next system?

No statement. Same timeframe as Copland would have shipped.

What will Jobs's role be? How important?

Is not responsible for operations, or for management of the company.

He's an adviser to Gil, as chairman of the company.

Looking forward in technology, marketing opportunitites.

Part-time role, doesn't demand a great deal of his time, so he can continue at Pixar.

Will he reinvigorate Apple?

He emphasized the management structure, deflected the question.

Amy Wohl

Is there a change of market position? Become an enterprise company? Exit/enter markets?

Lack of clarity was hampering them. Now we have some clarity.

Apple needs a stronger position in the enterprise.

Next gives them entry there. Management systems, web objects, clearly is an enterprise play.

Continue focus on previous markets.

Tom Abate

Ellen is back!

Next OS is a shipping OS, what about supporting their customers/developers

Who's going to be in charge of the integration?

Avi reports to Ellen, his current team reports to him. Mac OS/8 people report to Avi.

unknown

Symmetric multiprocessing?

OS supports it, although in its current form it doesn't ship on multiprocessor machines.

Mach supports it, they've played with PowerPC multiprocessing.

What will it require in hardware?

16MB machine, he doesn't see the requirements going up.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 3:33:02 PM by DW

Peter Weiner

How big is the Next group? How will culture change? What about Unix programmers at Apple?

IBM does AIX for them, so there are no people at Apple working on that.

Relative to culture, she hopes they get an infusion of understanding of operating systems.

Adding people from Apple who understand Apple's stuff.

Apple emphasizes quality, look to Mike Conner to provide quality.

Avi has 100 people, Apple added 50 people.

Henry Norr, MacWEEK

Is Apple committed to Display Postscript? Is Quickdraw GX dead?

They will continue the current base until the new OS can reliably run Mac software.

Not necessarily committed to Display Postscript, need to talk with Adobe.

Eugene Glaser

Late 1997 intro, new OS to developers and beta sites, broader release in 1998, backward compat, well into 1998?

Yes in 1998, backward compatibility.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 3:43:20 PM by DW

Chuck Ledendorf

Installed base for Next?

Global 5000 customers.

Over 275 new customers this year with WebObjects.

40 percent growth per year.

Number of developers -- 500 worldwide from VARs and alliance partners. Probably a conservative estimate.

Mon, Dec 23, 1996 at 3:48:14 PM by DW

Conference is over.