Apple Charts Roadmap for New MacOS

Newly-acquired NeXT technology could eventually support Intel-based PCs.

Elinor Mills, IDG News Service

%dquotOur intention for the first release would be to provide access to developers and to some customers of the Next technology on the PowerPC,%dquot said Ellen Hancock, chief technology officer at Apple. %dquotBackward compatibility, in a very rich sense, will be provided in 1998%dquot for existing applications. Meanwhile, Apple is not sure yet if the new MacOS will ever run on older 680x0 Macintosh computers.

During a teleconference intended to clear up questions related to Apple%squots acquisition of Next, Hancock said users should not wait for the new Next-based MacOS to upgrade. %dquotIf customers are utilizing our hardware... we intend to move those applications over,%dquot she said.

Although Next has not tested System 7 applications on NextStep under emulation, System 6 emulation did not significantly impact performance, executives said. Apple executives have not decided whether to base the new MacOS on the Macintosh kernel or the Next kernel, Hancock said.

An official at the largest Macintosh users group in the world wasn%squott worried about backward compatibility. People are really migrating toward PowerPC anyway because of the power and speed,%dquot said Ann Wrixon, executive director of Berkeley Macintosh User Group (BMUG), which has 10,000 members. More important than the technical details is that Apple show some leadership and direction, she said. %dquotWe just want [Apple] to make a decision and stick to it.%dquot Re-hiring Steve Jobs will help Mac users keep the faith and save the platform, Wrixon said.

In the meantime, Apple will release two new versions of System 7 in January and July, code-named Harmony and Tempo, respectively. Harmony, to be previewed at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, will include %dquotperformance enhancements%dquot and Tempo will add a %dquotmulti-threaded finder,%dquot according to Hancock.

In response to questions about whether the new MacOS will support other hardware and software platforms, Hancock said there were no current plans to support Intel-based computers and no plans to have the new MacOS run the Windows API.

Apple will, however, improve its existing PC compatibility card. In addition, the NextStep operating environment would conceivably enable the MacOS to run on non-Macintosh platforms, said Avie Tevanian, Next%squots vice president of engineering. %dquotNext is bringing to Apple technology that would allow it to have the operating system run on a variety of platforms,%dquot including Intel and Unix, he said.

In response to a question about rumors that Apple might still be considering using BeOS technology, Hancock said Apple is not in discussions with Be Inc.

While Macintosh users seem pleased with Apple acquiring Next, some analysts aren%squott so optimistic. %dquotIt%squots a great match in that both Apple and Steve Jobs are both searching for the same thing -- a return to relevance in the computer industry,%dquot said Michael Gartenberg, research director at Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. %dquotBut it%squots unlikely that this merger is going to result in either of them returning to that ... It%squots a lot more style than substance here.%dquot