I must commend Apple on a job well done ... and typically 99% of the reporters doing a pathetic job as usual.
Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't MacOSX sound remarkably like the original plans for Rhapsody (MacOS/Next look and feel) + transparent blue box + original Yellow Box + Yellow/Blue Box (sort of a green box, ie a mild combination of the two). And all Jobs has done is remarketed and renamed everything, to generate a heck of a lot of hype ?
The legacy developers can get their money by providing upgrades for Carbon apps, whilst new, exciting developers can create bold, advanced programs using the YellowBox appkit environment. This is exactly what Apple has needed for years, an opportunity for students and the like to write programs for the MacOS without having to fiddle with the *only* 6000 or so MacOS API's.
A very interesting point on the www.news.com article was the mention that producing a MacOS X for Intel was a waste of time, since Merced was going to replace them. Could this be an indication that Apple might be considering MacOS X for Merced. This would not as ridiculous as it sounds, as MacOSX would almost obviously be based on a UNIX kernel (Copland was loosely based on one), and most developers would not be able to access low level hardware anyway if they recode their apps for Carbon.
Which brings us to another point .. Carbon is simply just a fancy name for the restriction of developers to using non low level code. Much like Copland was expected to not be able to let any application bar device drivers from directly accessing hardware
So in one fell swoop Jobs has revigorated excitement back into the MacOS, convinced 99% of developers that Apple still cares about them, and provided a framework for advancing the future of the MacOS.
