Looks like I voted with the (thus far) losing camp. I believe Apple will make the Appearance Manager available again at a (much) later date. Problem is, they have made some drastic changes, added new APIs that hook into it (Cocoa and Java to name two that are large and wildly different from Carbon), and besides, they currently have several other hot priorities.
Apple has a very nice looking interface right now, and allowing users to easily make it uglier (joke, calm down) doesn't net them marketshare, mindshare, or cash. Ironically buzzwords like preemptive multitasking (bad example), P2P, MP3, instant messaging, directory services, and extreme whatever (most of which are embodied in OS X as fledgling, infant technologies) *are* bringing in marketshare, mindshare, and cash. The really funny thing is, so many other companies are having such a hard time basing business models on hype and buzzwords nowadays. Go figure. I mean Go Apple!
I think that Apple will eventually get some pretty loud complaints about the "distracting" nature of Aqua. Then they will open up the Appearance Manager APIs just enough to port platinum properly (opaque 1-pixel shadows, window borders, default buttons that don't require 64 MB of VRAM, maybe even outline dragging and resizing). This will, of course, happen once the System 6 interface *ahem*quark*cough* fans move over in full force, which will most likely happen shortly after the new IBM chip reaches 3 GHz, 6 months before the Quark 9.5 public alpha test pre-order pre-announcement announcement is made (with beta testing just finishing up on 9.4, the first fully Classic-compatible version (now with more restrictive lisencing, video export, text messaging, and downloadable ring tones!)).
Apple will have no choice but to listen to the desktop publishing mafia. Otherwise 1 Infinite Loop will surely be suicide bombed. If suicide bombing is still the "in" thing to do in 7893. Unless of course we are no longer publishing printed works in 7893. Then we'll just have a lot of pissed off useless 5000 year old hungry people with no actual computer literacy.
Does anyone know how this turned into a Quark rant? D'oh, better start tying this together...here goes... That's what I think: Quark is directly responsible for the lack of theme support, a problem which will be resolved once they stop dilly-dallying.
In conclusion: I'm optimistic. But not overly so. Aye. Stick that in your theme hole! Raphsodized rules! Was that too over the top?
Apple has a very nice looking interface right now, and allowing users to easily make it uglier (joke, calm down) doesn't net them marketshare, mindshare, or cash. Ironically buzzwords like preemptive multitasking (bad example), P2P, MP3, instant messaging, directory services, and extreme whatever (most of which are embodied in OS X as fledgling, infant technologies) *are* bringing in marketshare, mindshare, and cash. The really funny thing is, so many other companies are having such a hard time basing business models on hype and buzzwords nowadays. Go figure. I mean Go Apple!
I think that Apple will eventually get some pretty loud complaints about the "distracting" nature of Aqua. Then they will open up the Appearance Manager APIs just enough to port platinum properly (opaque 1-pixel shadows, window borders, default buttons that don't require 64 MB of VRAM, maybe even outline dragging and resizing). This will, of course, happen once the System 6 interface *ahem*quark*cough* fans move over in full force, which will most likely happen shortly after the new IBM chip reaches 3 GHz, 6 months before the Quark 9.5 public alpha test pre-order pre-announcement announcement is made (with beta testing just finishing up on 9.4, the first fully Classic-compatible version (now with more restrictive lisencing, video export, text messaging, and downloadable ring tones!)).
Apple will have no choice but to listen to the desktop publishing mafia. Otherwise 1 Infinite Loop will surely be suicide bombed. If suicide bombing is still the "in" thing to do in 7893. Unless of course we are no longer publishing printed works in 7893. Then we'll just have a lot of pissed off useless 5000 year old hungry people with no actual computer literacy.
Does anyone know how this turned into a Quark rant? D'oh, better start tying this together...here goes... That's what I think: Quark is directly responsible for the lack of theme support, a problem which will be resolved once they stop dilly-dallying.
In conclusion: I'm optimistic. But not overly so. Aye. Stick that in your theme hole! Raphsodized rules! Was that too over the top?