In 2009, Apple added a video camera to the otherwise perfected iPod Nano. It was a sign: While one might have had to be quite prescient to imagine exactly what would come after it, it was obvious that Apple felt it had reached the end of what could be innovated with that form factor. The 2010 reinvention of the Nano was the only logical next step, at least for Apple.
In 2009, Apple released Snow Leopard, whose emphasis on optimization and subtle improvement seemed to signal the same kind of state for the operating system as the addiiton of a camera signaled for the Nano.
I think it's safe to say that what comes next will be fairly big.
I have a suspicion that among other things, 10.7 will introduce some new conventions to the basic problems of window management (though I might be a little biased). Apple has been at the forefront of dealing with it ever since Exposé debuted with 10.3, but in the years since the iPhone, iOS has thrown this problem into sharp relief. Part of me hopes they might even announce something that bears a resemblance to 10/GUI's linear window management -- I've unfortunately proven I can't really do much with the concept myself so far.
I have a suspicion that among other things, 10.7 will introduce some new conventions to the basic problems of window management (though I might be a little biased).
For anyone not sure why mortenjock is biased, I recommend viewing his concept video 10GUI http://10gui.com/video/
The recent Magic Trackpad would tend to support your ideas here.
Off the top of my head, I guess I'd just count myself among the ranks of the inventor of Cover Flow, the creators of Konfabulator, and the creators of Quicksilver. It happens, and the best thing to do is just to double down and never stop thinking, exploring, and making. As disappointing as it might be, it would be an enormous validation.
My experience with the Apple recruitment process didn't tell me much about the company's plans for the desktop (I didn't get far enough to sign an NDA), but I did learn something important: Their interaction designers, the concept guys whose explorations eventually filter down into shipping products... are also developers. Apple hires the best of both worlds, idea people who don't even stop to sketch ideas out on paper but head straight to XCode and an NSWindow. That's literally their process.
The best thing that came of it was that it inspired me to set out to learn Objective-C and Cocoa. I'm not as far with it as I'd like to be yet, but it's opened my eyes to the possibilities of becoming a designer/developer. Even if, in the future, I'm still the archetypal designer looking for a technical co-founder, hopefully I'll be good enough that I can at least carry my own weight.
More importantly, you'd have an intimate understanding of the trade-offs required for various designs. Of course, the flip side is that you have to learn to ignore those trade-offs at times or else you start designing based on trade-offs instead of trying to push the limits.
FWIW, I'd love it if Apple did something like 10/GUI.
> I think it's safe to say that what comes next will be fairly big.
My feeling is that this unlikely because it doesn't seem like they've had enough time or resources to dedicate to something big. It's been one year since the release of Snow Leopard and since that year they've released an OS on a new hardware platform and a heavily updated iOS for the iPhone.
I think it's far more likely that this is an incremental release focused on user concerns with perhaps some other new software.
In 2009, Apple released Snow Leopard, whose emphasis on optimization and subtle improvement seemed to signal the same kind of state for the operating system as the addiiton of a camera signaled for the Nano.
I think it's safe to say that what comes next will be fairly big.
I have a suspicion that among other things, 10.7 will introduce some new conventions to the basic problems of window management (though I might be a little biased). Apple has been at the forefront of dealing with it ever since Exposé debuted with 10.3, but in the years since the iPhone, iOS has thrown this problem into sharp relief. Part of me hopes they might even announce something that bears a resemblance to 10/GUI's linear window management -- I've unfortunately proven I can't really do much with the concept myself so far.