[rtmoose28]

I emailed Apple with a product suggestion and have not heard anything back. Has anyone ever done this? Do they reply? Ever?

BTW...Here is my suggestion. What do you think?

"I have a product idea.
My idea is for the "iServe".

The thought is that those who have macs have more than 1. Families have 3 or more and all need access to the same data (address book, music, photos and other documents). Some machines are non-portable iMacs and some are iBooks. But all have local only profiles. The iServe would provide a complete network experience. User accounts are created on the iServe and all other machines in the house use it for Directory services. Users home directories would live on the iServe. Since the iServe has mirrored hard-drives it has built in backup. All address book, music, photos and other documents can be located centrally or in individual profiles. If the iServe is located in the living room with the TV, it can also play music through a simplified iTunes interface. It could play homemade movies and DVD's. It could also turn your TV into a "big photo album" by constantly revolving pictures from iPhoto. It could be used as the "Family webserver", print server or firewall. This is not a Xserve. It will not handle the volume or have the licensing to be one. It wouldn't have PCI/AGP slots and it's video card is just for displaying to a TV through DVI/Svideo/composite. The management software for iServe would be much simpler than OS X Server workgroup manager, but still be a full copy of Mac OS X Server. The iServe would not be a mail server or a Netboot/Netinstall server. The iServe would only support "X" number of user accounts (like 10 or 15). Price point would be around $1,000.00.

I image a G4 single cpu platform (maybe based of the G4 iMac) in a case styled similar to the G4 iMac but roughly 3" high by 16" wide by 12" deep. This simple "box" with a shallow curved front and a gorgeous silver Apple in the middle, would act as a consumer version of the Xserve.

Technical Specifications:
-Hardware
--Single G4 CPU running 800mhz-1000mhz
--256meg upgradable to a gig
--Dual non-removable 80/120gig harddrives configurable as RAID 0 (mirrored)
--Slot loading CD/DVD
--Low end NVIDA/ATI video with DVI, composite and Svideo output
--10/100 ethernet
--Airport (optional)
--56k modem (optional, primary internet connection through ethernet using Airport base station as internet gateway)
--Dual Firewire 400 (Mass storage expansion by consumer)
--Quad USB (support for printers, input devices and Bluetooth)
--Line level sound in/out
--Fanless with external (possible redundant) "power brick"

-Software
--Mac OS X Server w/ Family Manager (Workgroup Manager lite)
--Licensed for 10 or 15 users
--"iMedia" central, simplified interface for view/listening to media in your home entertainment system on your TV.
--Child protection proxy software.
--Wireless remote control (UHF or Bluetooth)

I run a small Macintosh consulting business and have had many questions on information sharing where Mac OS X is loaded on several macs in a residence. I have had customers that have purchased an iMac and Mac OS X Server to do pretty much what the iServe would do. I think there is a real need for this product. It is not a set-top box, but does integrate with existing products in the home. It is not a Xserve, but provides many of the benefits of one without the advanced technical know-how. It is not an Airport base station and a computer combined. In fact, I see it using an ABS as a gateway to the internet. Left on at night it could check for updates and download them so that the users could install the updates with out going over the internet for each seperate mac in the network. I think this would also boost Mac sales. With "roaming profiles" you can effectively have a mac in all major areas of the house and a wireless iBook or two, all giving the same experience."

I hope this is the right thread for this. Sorry If not.

RTMoose

[Superchicken]

Uhh... I don't think apple ever replies to these sorts of things... and I don't know if they are even allowed to take ideas like that.

Anyway, an iServe could probably be set up with a normal server... I mean would it be nice... yeah but ultimately the market's probably to small.

[bradoesch]

It says right on the feedback page that they can't reply to every message they receive, but they will read each one. If you read Apple's Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy, it says not to send them ideas, but if you do, they are free to use them for themselves or sell the idea to other people.

[msuper69]

Originally posted by rtmoose28:
...

I image a G4 single cpu platform (maybe based of the G4 iMac) in a case styled similar to the G4 iMac but roughly 3" high by 16" wide by 12" deep. This simple "box" with a shallow curved front and a gorgeous silver Apple in the middle, would act as a consumer version of the Xserve.

Technical Specifications:
-Hardware
--Single G4 CPU running 800mhz-1000mhz
--256meg upgradable to a gig
--Dual non-removable 80/120gig harddrives configurable as RAID 0 (mirrored)
--Slot loading CD/DVD
--Low end NVIDA/ATI video with DVI, composite and Svideo output
--10/100 ethernet
--Airport (optional)
--56k modem (optional, primary internet connection through ethernet using Airport base station as internet gateway)
--Dual Firewire 400 (Mass storage expansion by consumer)
--Quad USB (support for printers, input devices and Bluetooth)
--Line level sound in/out
--Fanless with external (possible redundant) "power brick" ...

Hmmmm, sounds an awful lot like a Cube.

[BrettOZ]

YES - Bring back the Cube !