***Amelio Announces New Plans at MacWorld
by Jonathan Sunberg
At MacWorld in Boston, Apple's CEO, Gilbert F. Amelio, attempted to
convince 1500 attendees that "Apple is transitioning from a dialogue
that centers on survival to a dialogue that centers on excitement."
After sarcastically declaring that he believes the company "can eke
through" with "about $1.4 billion in the bank", Amelio laid out his
guidelines for success: Innovation, Loyal Customers & Developers,
Professional Management, and Value Delivery.
In the short term Amelio declared that Apple must work on the quality of
its products. He stated that although Apple's product quality is not
bad, "it could be a lot better, and the Powerbook will get fixed". He
also felt that the features in machines that customers love must be
maintained and focused on and the company must continue to work with and
inspire its developers.
Amelio's keynote also addressed a radical new procedure for operating
system rollouts. Instead of releasing a whole new system periodically,
Apple will put out upgrades backwardly compatible with existing code
bases every six months. "I think we'll be on a six-month cycle...a release
every six months. If we get up enough momentum, we might want to do it
more often than that. Our responsibility is to make sure our partners,
including the business community, know what's in the pipeline, know it's
coming and know when it's going to be there."
Amelio announced a delay in the Power PC based systems that conform to
the Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP), which were expected to be
released by the end of this year, until the second-half of next year.
His reasoning, "as important as CHRP is, I feel some of the other things
we have been talking about are even more (important). These things
include: the Internet, object-oriented technologies, and a new Copland
version of its operating system.
With the help of Frank Casanova, Director of Apple's Research Lab,
Amelio displayed its technology Meta Content Format (MCF) or code-name
Project X. The program transforms HTML-based data into a multi-layered
graphics presentation that allows users to view several layers of data
at one time rather than screen by screen. Casanova expects the product
to be commercially available by the end of this year or early next year.
Among other showcased items, was the Apple Data Detector. This software
program pulls important data from documents and narrows lengthy
documents down to specific subject matter requested.
By the end of his presentation Apple enthusiasts were excited and Amelio
walked off the stage with a rousing, standing ovation.
Wave Issue 9606 8/16/96 Article 12-01