Emails from the Edge; Peel the Leopard Skin

Hey Mo, check it out:

June 11th, 2007

Leopard looks like … Vista

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 4:06 pm

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=505

Just a few observations about these two phrases by Mary Jo: "it was the excitement by the 5,000 WWDC attendees about many technologies in the forthcoming Mac OS X “Leopard” release that already exist in Windows Vista"

"A few Mac-show regulars said they thought today’s WWDC audience wasn’t as engaged and enthused as Apple’s developers and customers normally are for a Jobs love-fest. "

I submit this observation comes because the regular fans know the capabilities that SHOULD be in Leopard are not there. And Mary Jo is recognizing the stuff not there is basically the kinds of things people SHOULD be expecting in Longhorn. Microsoft got delayed on Vista Longhorn and Apple had a perfect opportunity to be extra-competitive and out produce MSFT. But, they succeeded very well in coming in dead even on the "secret" stuff. October, huh? Long way off while Adobe doesn't look like they're in any mood to wait. Sun? Who knows? They're locked in limbo along with Yahoo.

So, because Microsoft left "something" out of Longhorn, Apple ended up leaving "something" out of Leopard. It may be difficult to pin down just what these items have been held back from an announcement in October, but the original Leopard delay was rumored to be until October to allow Vista to virtualize for interoperation between the operating systems (but wasn't Apple "boot camp" supposedly shipped anyway? I get turned around in all the things-not-done.).

Now, the alert skeptic should immediately surmise that, since Apple OS and MSFT OS interoperation and virtualization is being done, one can assume there are no players involved.

Agreed. It should not be this way in a healthy mass of competiters unless they are all working to the same plan. Looks like there are plans afoot. Alignment of Microsoft Sun and Yahoo against Google. Google finding itself outside the technology envelope bull-riding AJAX with independent Linux distributors and no place to go but to IBM for help.

Which, to me, indicates one of the parties between this "elephant in the living room" cooperation insisted on exclusivity for this "interoperation" as the very act of 'virtualizing' means you can do so with anyone of like technology no matter who the supplier. So was it MSFt requiring Apple to not have others or was it APPL demanding nobody else? Or, was it someone else?

And, yet, these two partners are so coy. Are they feeling the AJAX waters? Are they confident they can swim in there? It's an amazingly "cautious" pose to strike especially since it's already being done and numbers are already registering the interests. Adobe and IBM have kicked the donkey in the maracas and it's up to the summit they go in search of their market niches.

Sun and Yahoo? Hanging back, oddly. Taking their time. Nothing to get all worked up about.

Meanwhile they're all being trumped by Adobe and IBM and it's like all the rest are coming out of surgery.

So Mary Jo realized that Leopard without all the enablement and interoperation and virtualization looks and acts like...well... like Vista. Yeah. The thing MSFT copied from Apple for the past five years is the same thing Apple delivered after those five years. Hey Apple? Where's the beef? Where's the secret sauce?

What's' the problem, bro? Groups can't get it together to agree on a feature list? Easter eggs rolling around so fast you're believing in the Easter Bunny again for the first time since sixth grade? Mom dropped a BOM on the TOM and the catfur is ten inches thick? Is that what's bugging you boopsie?

Then step right up and get out of that cruise down denial. Walk right up to that ticket window and say.... I would like to buy whatever I can from ten pop bottles and a movie ticket, please.

Where's Google? Going along their way as they did from the start with Mark Lucovsky providing the keys to dad's caddy. I guess they'll choose to ride out the wave. Maybe they'll come into the cul-d-sac to park a hunk of junk once they've gotten out-gurgled.