Steve Jobs' Seybold Keynote

September 1, 1998

This is a rough cut of Steve Jobs' keynote which ended just a couple of hours ago. Not all of it has to do with the iMac of course, but it does present the proverbial Big Picture of the roadmap ahead of Apple. Just in case you don't intend to catch the hour-long RealVideo webcast, this is the summary of what was covered:

Hardware
Steve Jobs began his keynote with a brief recap of Apple's product line to date, excluding of course the still-shrouded consumer portable. As predicted, the 4 latest iMac ads were run again for the audience's amusement.

Mac OS 8.5
Moving on to software, Jobs touched on Apple's coming Mac OS 8.5, which was demoed by Phil Schiller.

The 4 key features of Mac OS 8.5 (to be released in Oct '98) that were highlighted included:

Sherlock
Mac OS 8.5's new built-in search engine was demoed. Searches can now be done not just by filenames but by content as well. Sherlock enables you to sift through both your hard disk and the Internet via an unspecified number of Web search engines - which you can select - simultaneously, to get to the information that you want. And without the need for a browser, too. Now, that's true integration of Web functionality into the OS - not like what the other guy's done, and gotten into trouble for. Searches are carried out by keying in queries in plain simple English. (For example, "Why is the sky blue?") Not only that, but search results are ranked by relevancy and Sherlock even does a summary of the contents of the searched document. Searches for graphic images are possible too. (I suppose sounds are not out of the question?)

A Japanese site that came up in a search appeared with text TRANSLATED into native Japanese script. No more of that Anglicized gibberish when you get onto a foreign-language site.

Faster File-Copying
Enhanced network copying performance. Double that of Mac OS 8.1, and convincingly outperforms both Windows '98 and Windows NT 4, in another mini-bakeoff involving the copying of a 185MB document over an Ethernet network.

ColorSync
The color management tool that's won over a million users and now widely adopted in the desktop publishing industry will go cross-platform early next year.

AppleScript
Fully PowerPC-native in Mac OS 8.5, it is now 5 times faster. The OS is now almost fully scriptable. Demo of AppleScript included running of a script which automated operations in QuarkXPress and Photoshop, the results of which were directly ported into HTML on the fly. The entire operation was done with just drag-and-drop!

Steve joked about how Apple had actually written this big AppleScript file that runs the company itself. Wait a minute - what if he wasn't kidding...

WebObjects
Ver 4.0 of the technology bought over from NeXT - It's the number one application server right now; great for creating dynamic websites incorporating databases for large- and medium-size businesses. 5 times faster than its predecessor, it will run on Mac OS X. Starting at $1,499.

Mac OS X
Will be ready by fall of '99. The hybrid of Mac OS 8 and Rhapsody.

Features include:

• Fully Protected memory
• Advanced Virtual Memory
• Pre-emptive multitasking
• Full multithreading
• Faster file I/O and networking
• Fully PowerPC-native
• Runs current Mac OS 8 apps (albeit with certain advanced features disabled)

Another demo of Mac OS X was carried out running Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Macromedia Freehand 8.0, and QuarkXPress 4.0. Demo showed off the pre-emptive multitasking capabilities of OS X, with a QuickTime iMac movie running smoothly in the background even as a Freehand operation was being executed. For this demo, the people at Apple had even written a special software appropriately named 'Bomb' that was designed specifically to crash an OS. They ran it, but OS X didn't crash. Instead, a dialog box appears, saying something like:

"The application 'Bomb' has unexpectedly quit; you do NOT need to restart your computer."

Not surprisingly, cheers broke out all around the auditorium.

Some software developer folks came up on stage to say a few kind words, particularly of Apple's stunning resurgence in the past year or so:

Executive VP from Adobe (Bruce Chizen) -

Rob Burgess, CEO Macromedia -

Tim Gill, Chief Tech Officer of Quark -

Sneak preview of Adobe's upcoming page layout tool, codenamed K2. Demoed on Mac OS 8.5, it will run on Mac OS X. End product is fully portable to Adobe's PDF format.

When asked by a lady onstage after his keynote what his yardstick for success was; whether his goal was being able to 'turn Apple around', Jobs replied: "Our goal is simply to make the best products in the world. Only then can we sleep well at night." (Or words to that effect.)

Enough said.

---

More Articles:

Upgraded Twice Over — And Grateful [Oct 10, 2001]

Welcome To The Future [Mar 21, 2001]

iM2 — Incredible Milestones of The iMac NewsPage [Jun 1, 2000]

What's to like about Netscape 6? Quite a bit [Apr 17, 2000]

Dealing with IE5's font and resolution settings [Mar 28, 2000]

Free Internet Arrives in Singapore [Dec 12, 1999]

Mac sales in Japan (Dec 1999) [Dec 9, 1999]

Mac sales in Japan (Nov 8-14) - iMac DV SE, iBook still #1 [Nov 23, 1999]

Adding Movies To QuickTime Favorites [Nov 23, 1999]

Black Magix: Try saying hocus-bogus [Nov 19, 1999]

Mac sales in Japan (Oct 25-31) [Nov 11, 1999]

QuickTime Live! Conference Keynote Highlights [Nov 10, 1999]

Update on Mac sales in Japan — All iMacs, iBooks among Top 10 [Nov 10, 1999]

Apple tops October PC sales in Japan [Nov 7, 1999]

About that mysterious Magix freeze [Nov 7, 1999]

Magix Miscellany [Nov 7, 1999]

Make Kihei while the Sun shines [Nov 3, 1999]

Apples in Eden — The Singapore iBook Launch [Nov 1, 1999]

One Country, Two Systems — The Apple Store (Hongkong) Opens [Oct 28, 1999]

Apple Store Singapore Opens — Right On Time [Oct 20, 1999]

Mac sales in Japan remain strong [Oct 26, 1999]

Magix For The Mac — The Unofficial FAQ [Oct 25, 1999]

Macs outsell all other computers in Japan [Oct 21, 1999]

Asia Apple Stores to open in Singapore and Hongkong [Oct 20, 1999]

Magix Broadband for Macintosh — for just $48! [Oct 20, 1999]

Asia Apple Store Update [Oct 18, 1999]

New iMacs as quiet as Jobs claims [Oct 12, 1999]

New iMacs quieter than Jobs claims? [Oct 10, 1999]

Asia Apple Store Seeks Tech Support Temp [Sep 23, 1999]

G4 — the Real Story? [Sep 17, 1999]

Sorenson Broadcaster™ Press Release [Sep 15, 1999]

Magix for iMac Update [Sep 10, 1999]

Magix for iMac Update [Aug 30, 1999]

PC Fairy Tales: Jobs And The Binstock [Aug 20, 1999]

AirPort Delays: More Revelations [Aug 12, 1999]

Stand Up For Macintosh [Aug 12, 1999]

AirPort Delays: What's Not Causing It [Aug 11, 1999]

Dumb iBook Remarks [Aug 9, 1999]

The Avon Lady's Back [Aug 9, 1999]

The IEEE 802.11 Standard — in English [Jul 29, 1999]

Everybody's Free (To Buy iBook) [Jul 26, 1999]

AirPort Fallacies [Jul 24, 1999]

iBook and iMac: Sibling Rivalry? [Jul 23, 1999]

Just The FAQs, Man [Jul 22, 1999]

Hooray for AirPort — But Remember the McPiper? [Jul 21, 1999]

Additional Notes on Magix ADSL [Jul 20, 1999]

Apple, SingTel Magix team up to bring ADSL to iMacs [Jul 20, 1999]

DuoPen & e-Pad coming to the Mac [Jul 9, 1999]

Macworld is out, Publish! World is in [Jul 5, 1999]

Discovery Channel giving away iMacs [Jun 28, 1999]

TIME Asia giving away Apple computers [Jun 28, 1999]

Diamond Rio makes a play for iMac [Jun 26, 1999]

Magix for iMac [Jun 25, 1999]

Why would Apple want 30,000 McPipers? [Jun 24, 1999]

Singapore Macworld Expo Cancelled [Jun 20, 1999]

The Sunscreen Song [Jun 20, 1999]

Coming Soon: A USB Cordless Phone For Your iMac [Jun 19, 1999]

Third Voice: Boon or Bane? [Jun 14, 1999]

I2: The Internet Of The Future [Jun 5, 1999]

Taming Your Round Mouse: What The Manual Doesn't Say [Jun 4, 1999]

UniTrap: Contour Enhancement for the iMac Mouse [Jun 1, 1999]

iMacs to ship in Taiwan with free Chinese software [May 31, 1999]

Where The Truth Lies [May 23, 1999]

QuickTime 4: New Features Added [May 8, 1999]

QuickTime 4: The Beta Just Got Better [May 5, 1999]

Rev A or B, Your iMac's Still Good [Apr 30, 1999]

Griffin Revs Up iMate, iPort, and gPort [Apr 26, 1999]

Quick! Time 4 A Movie! [Apr 23, 1999]

Message in a Bottle: A Present for the Future [Apr 22, 1999]

Start a Hand-Me-Down Program For iMacs [Apr 13, 1999]

First Signs Of Y2K Bug May Appear Tomorrow [Apr 8, 1999]

Langa's Cruisin' For A Bruisin' [Apr 1, 1999]

Tales From The Dark Side [Mar 31, 1999]

Has The Age of Disposable Computers Arrived? [Mar 30, 1999]

A Solution For The iMac's Mouse: Simple As A Dimple [Mar 24, 1999]

Steve Jobs Interview on Channel NewsAsia [Mar 14, 1999]

Good-Buy, Bondi [Mar 6, 1999]

Tokyo Tidbits: Carbon iMacs and Cool Colored Speakers [Feb 27, 1999]

The iMac Book [Feb 26, 1999]

iCab: Readers Views [Feb 25, 1999]

Review: iCab Preview 1.1 (US) [Feb 24, 1999]

iCab: Why Bloat When You Can Float? [Feb 22, 1999]

Disney Rumor Echoes Blast From The Past [Feb 19, 1999]

Disney Blast and the iMac's Circular Mouse [Feb 18, 1999]

HAL Freezes Over [Feb 1, 1999]

Another Look at Internet Explorer 4.5 [Jan 19, 1999]

Old Wine In New Bottles? [Jan 16, 1999]

The Unofficial iMac Web Ads [Jan 15, 1999]

AroMac Therapy [Jan 12, 1999]

Theft of an iMac: A Victim's Story [Jan 8, 1999]

Multi-Colored iMacs A Reality [Jan 2, 1999]

Yosemites spotted [Dec 25, 1998]

Time's Man Of The Year? [Dec 15, 1998]

Another Reset Button Solution for iMac Owners [Dec 9, 1998]

2,000 in 2 days - and then what? [Nov 1, 1998]

Product Review: iMacFloppy.com [Oct 24, 1998]

Brace Yourself! [Oct 16, 1998]

Singapore's iMac Pre-Launch Bash [Oct 15, 1998]

iMac to launch with Mac OS 8.5 in Singapore [Oct 15, 1998]

Steve Jobs October 14 Event [Oct 14, 1998]

Dances With Wolves in Sheep's Clothing [Oct 4, 1998]

iMac: Thinking Different in Asia [Sep 22, 1998]

An Open Letter to Steve Jobs [Sep 17, 1998]

Mac-bashing: An American sport? [Sep 10, 1998]

Steve Jobs Seybold Keynote '98 [Sep 1, 1998]

One day more! [Aug 28, 1998]

iMac to be released in Singapore in October [Aug 22, 1998]

Reality, not rumors! [Aug 8, 1998]

iMac says G'day Australia: 31 days and counting! [Aug 5, 1998]

Famous Myths Revisited [Aug 3, 1998]

The Countdown Begins! [Aug 1, 1998]

If not now, when? [July 26, 1998]

Four Great Programs? [July 26, 1998]

MacWorld Expo Singapore - Day 2 Report [Jul 25, 1998]

MacWorld Expo Singapore - Day 1 Report [Jul 24, 1998]

Enter The iMacGotcha [Jul 16, 1998]

iMac's for the rest of us, not just US [Jul 1, 1998]

---