First signs of an Apple "Collaborative Documents" Framework?

Readers who remembered a report on a Leopard "Collaborative Documents" feature we posted last year, pointed-out an interesting hint found on Apple Developer Connection web site.

The site reveals an unannounced feature for Apple developers consisting of a framework allowing any developer to share his documents through the iChat Theater feature of Leopard.

To enable you to access iChat features from within your application, Leopard ships with an expanded Instant Message framework. This framework allows you to programatically determine presence, and start iChat theater sessions to share supporting video and audio content during a video conference. In addition to the Instant Message framework, you can also access iChat's many features through AppleScript, performing such activities as initiating a video chat or responding to an iChat event.

Initially, when Apple announced iChat Theater, we were supposed to be able to share our iPhoto slideshows or Keynote presentations. The possibility for developers to implement iChat Theater compatibility hints at a very collaborative Leopard.

Last year, in a report posted on MacosXrumors, we reported on a "Collaborative Documents" feature described by sources:

The main idea is that it will be possible to declare a document as available for collaborative use over a network or Internet. Users who want to work on this document will be able to connect and work simultaneously on it. Modifications made by each user will be updated in real time for all connected users.

More importantly, our reports related the possibility that Apple provides an API for collaboration:

Actually, the concept of collaborative document may be integrated into a new dedicated framework. Much like Apple has made image effects easy with CoreImage and powerful data indexing available throughout the OS with Spotlight. If Apple indeed makes of it a software API, it will allow third party developers to implement collaborative documents on their own applications very easily.

As you notice, there is a significant difference between what the reports we obtained claimed and what iChat Theater seems to be capable of. Actually iChat Theater is not sharing objects of the document and doesn't allow other users to modify the document while it's shared. It's just a read-only access via a video stream.

However, we can hope this is just the beginning and Apple could go further in the final release of Leopard or for the next major release of the system.