tech ronin

WWDC: Learning to Love Leopard

I have a confession to make. Yesterday I posted twice about Leopard based on my viewing of the first quarter of the Keynote (which was really about the Mac Pro) and perusal of Apple's Leopard pages. I had not yet watched the rest of the Keynote which covers each of 10 features of Leopard in depth - with demos.

Yes. I got the benefit of the spin. And I learned more that has changed my mind. Steve started the demo of the 10 things by saying there was some Top Secret stuff he wasn't going to show. He emphasized that they are coming and the impression I got is that this stuff was important and worth waiting for. Then he emphasized that he was going to show only 10 of the features in Leopard. And I believe him.

Second, I like the features more. Now that I saw Time Machine demonstrated live, I'm a believer. I liked the new Mail 3 features especially To Do creation but I also learned the To Do capability will be a Service that any Cocoa app can use. It goes on.

The keynote sold me on the new Web Clip feature that will let you make dashboard widgets out of sub-regions of live web pages with a couple clicks and a drag to size the region. I see how cool this is going to be now that I have seen it. And the digital voice that can read text in Leopard is crystal clear! That's going to be handy listening to my email or RSS news.

I had my hopes up high and expected to see all of a dazzling Leopard release. And only saw part of it. That was a let down, but I'm re-equilibrating and things are looking better.

I got a feeling from the keynote. My sense is that Apple is still committed to OS X. They still want to create great computer technology. And they will. I'm good to go.

WWDC After Thoughts

The last post was about real stuff. Now, let's start speculating wildly about what is really going on.

Late Leopard. Some are already saying, now Apple can find out what Vista will have in it by letting Vista come out first. The only problems with that are (1) Vista may take a long time to come out - longer than Spring and (2) Apple can't wait until Spring before they develop whatever is going into Leopard that is supposed to be so cool and top secret.

Lame Leopard. It's not earthshaking is all I'm sayin'. It feels like a bunch of features slapped on top of the OS. Spotlight was supposed to be revolutionary with its meta-data. What's this, Spotlight 2? Now you can search the network. And you can get quick glances but are the problems like the ever-refreshing list of hits going to go away? Or get worse searching further away on distant boxes? Dashboard 2? And now you can program without really programming? Again. First Applescript. Then Automator and iWeb. Now we got Dashcode. And the big feature is easy backup?

Are Mac and Leopard Getting Enough Attention? I like some of it, but I'm not impressed. I'm wondering if Apple has taken its eye off the OS X ball. Remember how many of Apple's top technologists quit in Spring? What was that about? I wonder if it had to do with Apple's lack of aggressive commitment to the Mac and OS X. That would be a reason for someone like Avie Tevanian to leave. Or I could be all wrong and the top secret stuff could be awesome. I hope I'm wrong on this.

Mac Pro on Xeon for $2500. That's a high price and the Xeon is more of a server architecture. Quad Core. It's way up there. Doesn't that leave room underneath for a nice Mac Mini-tower for the rest of us who don't want another 17" or 20" monitor in an iMac? Also, positioning the Mac Pro as such a high-end Pro model is perfect to match up against the Audio/Video Segment and some scientists here and there. This feels like marginalizing. Going for the niche. It seems to be following the idea of taking a stand, doing what you are best at. Going extreme. Not being wishy, washy. Also, saving money perhaps by keeping the design the same on the outside. One thing Steve prides himself on is saying no to things. The height of the Mac Pro feels like it says no to a lot of other uses and users.

Maybe Steve Decided to Take it On the Chin Now. This options investigation is getting hot. Maybe Apple felt, putting too much out there right now would be a waste of goodies. Better to save some of the good stuff until the current storm blows over and you have people's attention back.

Was the Options Thing a Big Distraction? Let's see. The options thing started in June, officially. Could a few months of options scandals that could cause the loss of key executives (hopefully, hopefully not Steve) be enough distraction to screw up the WWDC deliverables?

Maybe WWDC isn't as important to Apple this Year? Maybe they thought they would still be knee deep in the struggle to get Universal apps out there, but realized that people are buying Intel Macs in droves. Almost all the apps that matter have gone Universal except for a few giant-sized apps like Photoshop and Microsoft Office which will go Universal no matter what at this point. I actually don't think I believe this, but I worry sometimes.

Think Positive Thoughts. All right. I'll try to stay cool. OS X rocks already. I'm greedy. The transition to the Intel Macs has been remarkably successful. The doubling of notebook sales since January is quite something. I want Apple to continue to blow me a way. I want that technology high I've gotten used to.

WWDC Keynote Not Up to Insanely Great Par

I was almost a little depressed of late with the paucity of good news about Apple coupled with the bad news about the Options investigation. But, I was hoping for a major pick me up in the form of bright and shiny WWDC announcements today.

Well, that didn't happen! We got the Mac Pro which all rumor mongers guaranteed would be delivered. And we got half a Leopard with a few sexy features to look a long way forward to. All the way to next Spring.

Yeah, the Mac Pro is Intel-based. It has 4 hard drives instead of 2. It is probably amazingly fast. But you pay for it. And, maybe it is just me, but I don't have a whole lot of interest in a $2500 tower anymore. I know all the *real* media pros will scoop these babies up. But I'm a power user, not a pro user.

I am a computer professional. But, I don't wanna pay for and am not sure I need this giant computer. I want mostly notebooks and maybe some day if we get lucky a 3 pound sub-notebook. Ultra-light.

I think most of the developers at WWDC are more like me. They are software developers. Not musicians and video pros. Not even high-end graphics types.

Nonetheless, Phil did a superb job at selling me on the glories of the big box. And, for a minute, I was at least wishing I could buy one. What a thrill it would be.

Then there's Late Leopard. It will be great when it ships. I want the new Mail to do list so bad. It's just so far away I can't get too excited about it. I'm hoping that the cool-looking new Time Machine auto-backup feature is a good as it looks. Spaces looks really good. Patience is a virtue I don't have in large quantities.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping more announcements will pour forth in the next few weeks and months. I better see an 8 gig nano asap, for starters. And an ultra light notebook. How about a home entertainment *solution* for Christmas? Pretty please.