Has Steve Jobs Lost His Magic? 432
TimAbdulla writes to mention a Wired article wondering if Steve Jobs has lost his magic? The keynote yesterday, author Leander Kahney says, was the most uninspiring he's yet seen out of the usually charismatic man. Accompanied by other folks from within the company, Kahney wonders what lackluster showings like this will mean for the company after Jobs steps down. From the article: "Looking very thin, almost gaunt, Jobs used the 90-minute presentation to introduce a new desktop Mac and preview the next version of Apple's operating system, code-named Leopard. The sneak preview of Leopard was underwhelming. For what seemed an interminable time, Jobs and Co. showed off one yawn after another. There's no way I can get excited about virtual desktops or a new service that turns highlighted text into a 'to do' item. Oooo."
Translation (Score:3, Funny)
It's all about the developers. (Score:5, Interesting)
Steve Jobs talked about the new version of the OS and new high end boxes. These are the products that will most directly impact the lives and work of those who develop software for Apple systems. This conference has never been about targetting consumers. It's all about things that matter to developers.
The next version of the iPod, the next revision of the iMac and laptops, as well as any other devices Apple has up its sleeve (iPhone, Tivo-esque Mac Mini settop box, tablet, etc.) are all consumer focused items. Anything Apple wants to release to consumers will be released a little closer to the holiday season, making it harder for imitators to be able to produce knockoffs in time for Christmas. Anyone who thought they'd see an iPhone, new iPod, or any other strictly consumer-centric item at WWDC has put their desire for new gadgets ahead of Apple's desire to maximize its profits. That said, stay tuned for a product announcement sometime before October with Apple's slate of holiday season offerings.
-JMP
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:5, Insightful)
Basically, I think the Wired article is doing a Dvorak, and inciting Mac users to go to the site. It's much ado about nothing.
RTFA? (Score:5, Funny)
Not me! In proud
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the "problem" is that some people are looking for the next significant advance that i s AMAZING. Well, the iPod itself wasn't that amazing when it came out. What is more amazing is people bought em. Every release form Apple is not going to be awe inspiring or even that exciting. Personally what EVERYONE missed is that Apple pulled off the fastest platform switch EVER. Less then ONE YEAR after the announcement, other then repaired machines or refurbs, all new equipment coming from Apple are now running on the Intel platform. That is significant! Anyway, the new hardware kicks ass in my opinion. I probably will never have one.
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:5, Funny)
Woooo!!
I love this company!
</sweat>
Chair.Throw()
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:3, Funny)
throw(chair);
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:4, Informative)
Efficiency. When I used to use a Newton to take notes, I could just upload the notes to my searchable index of project files when I was done.
Now, every time I take notes I have to spend the same amount of time again typing them up and redrawing the diagrams. That's wasted time.
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's all about the developers. (Score:3, Informative)
No. Wacom Intuos3 is 1024 pressure levels. The Intuous1 from 2001 had 512. I can tell you as someone who runs Photoshop and a Wacom Tablet 50 hours a week for the past 10 years that 256 levels of pressure is not going to cut it for pro work.
> Additionally, if apple is such a great hardware maker and artists really are a core part of their user base,
> how come they haven't put out a tablet PC done r
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
This is more proof that the rumor sites are Apple's worst enemy. They hype things up, even though Apple purposely keeps quiet.
The things that were demoed were demoed because they pertain to developers who will need to interface with the new APIs and test for compatibility with their existing apps. For example:
The only thing I can't think of pertaining to devs is iChat, but I'm sure there's a reason they demoed it now. Also, did anyone notice it wasn't using brushed metal anymore? Straight Aqua.
Re:Translation (Score:3, Interesting)
I thought there was a chat API that you can incorporate into your apps? That would certainly be of interest to developers.
Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
It'll be quite nice to use this as a tool to show and illustrate specification documents, builds of software, etc.
Yet, this will only be handy if Apple develops a Windows and a Tiger client. If it only works with other Leopard users... forget it.
Re:Apple vs Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
It's in Apple's best interest for people to be "underwhelmed" with the 10 features shown, especially competitors like Microsoft. All the more of an impact when Apple fully reveals Leopard at MacWorld.
Re:Translation (Score:3, Funny)
*smirk*
Poor Apple. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, in fact, when you look at what's come out of the WWDC, there are some good, solid improvements. Leopard sounds to me like it'll be a worthwhile upgrade, Xcode 3 sounds like it has some improvements that I, not being a developer, won't fully appreciate. And the Mac Pros came out, which is a pretty big deal. It means Apple has a full Intel line-up, and the MacPro looks to be a speed demon at a very competitive price.
And let's not forget that Apple just announced the Intel transition one year ago. The first Intel-based Macintoshes were releases a little over six months ago. Apple is a company in rapid transition and I'm sure it's a lot for them to deal with, and as their position solidifies, they shouldn't be making as many total-redesigns and huge changes all the time. OSX is becoming a more mature OS, and so the improvements should have fewer huge leaps and more incremental shifts. The should be continuing to fine-tune under the hood. The should be refining their UI instead of redesigning from scratch.
I just don't see that there's anything to complain about. They'll release some new hardware designs in the next year, most likely. I think that a phone and a media-center device may well be on the horizon-- now that they've finished the Intel transition and they're on-track to release the next version of the OS, I think their R&D may become more and more focussed on new devices and the next-big-thing after the iPod.
How to identify someone who doesn't know design (Score:3, Interesting)
"It took you that long just to do that? Thats simple."
---------
They didn't show their best stuff because MS would copy them, if you did not notice they made sure to point that out to you
Many refinements were quite good-- virtual desktops is not new, but their way is the best UI for virtual desktops I have ever seen. Not every idea was mind blowing, but their UI design and cost (bundled free) can't be beat.
Time machine is the best version control UI I've seen. my
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:2)
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry Dell fans, your boxes with wires sticking out everywhere do not cut it and "software" Soundblaster emulators do not cut it either.
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:5, Funny)
Really? You'll pay an extra $1000 for a Dell [dealnews.com], AND deal with the messy wires?
You must be a pretty smart guy.
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Poor Apple. (Score:3, Insightful)
illness (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't he have surgery for a tumor?
You mean, iLlness. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:illness (Score:4, Informative)
I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:3, Insightful)
Are there really people whose heartbeat rises when some new tech is introduced ? Wasnt that a thing that is of the long-gone 70s-80s now ? Dont we just use something if we find it useful and dont use, if we dont, and thats that ?
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:3, Informative)
How about Time Machine? This is a very user friendly backup concept. Imagine a normal user performing backups on Windows. How hard is it to save off apps that rewrite 1,000 entries in your registry? Heck your average user has no idea where to find and backup his e-mail:
If you're using Outlook, they're in: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
If you're using Outlook Express, they're in: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:4, Insightful)
In otherwords, it's good for saving your "My Documents" folder after you've bothered to install it.
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:3, Informative)
If you have your XP home CD, you should be able to install it, howerer. Run X:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP.msi where X:\ refers to your CD-ROM drive-letter.
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:4, Funny)
Thank you.
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:3, Informative)
Bzzzt... most computers shipping XP home don't come with the CD - only a restore to original image program taking up a hidden partition on the HD. Think Dell, Gateway, HP etc. These users don't have backup and can't install it.
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:3, Interesting)
It's new enough that there aren't many user reviews, and yet I just bought one on the specs. Because I -must- have it. It's new, it's neat, and it's MINE!
It's the same with OS features. I switched to Linux for the features, not more than 6 months ago. I still keep WinXP for some of my recalcitrant games, but KDE is my desktop now. (Ya
Re:I dont get why should we get 'excited' (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes. Although, the drama is slowing down.
People's heartbeat rises when some new cars are introduced. Cars are pretty common and standard now, but there are still times when new models and/or features are introduced and people go nuts.
I used to go nuts when every beta release of Netscape came out. I would wake up early in the morning and download it from a california server from the east coast so I could get into the FTP server and to get a good transfer rate. Now, I just use the default browser that comes with my OS, and when an update or feature is added, and thats few and far between, I say, wow, thats nice, why did it take them so long?
Now, this slashdot drama about Steve Jobs is probably sensationalized a bit, but as far as desktop computing goes, Apple has it down. I've used kazillions of desktop GUI environments, and I will say that the OS X environment at least wins because it annoys me the least. I've used KDE, Gnome, OL(V)WM, CDE, Windows 3.1->XP, FVWM, TWM, Afterstep, Window Maker, Apple
Personally, I'm glad that reboots and crashes are not an integral part of computer usage. I see that the computer market may stagnate for a while, and then, like cars today, there may be a new uprising where there are other options available to fit ones personality and fashion interests, but for the most part, computers, like cars, are just tools. Pretty much a dime a dozen, but if you want to impress your friends and enemies, you can get a more fancy, newer, niche computer, and like a car, your friends will say, "Ooh, thats cool", and your enemies will say "He just got that to compensate for _____", and yeah, both will be right
Speaking of thing to yawn at... (Score:4, Insightful)
Has he "lost the magic" or is it just impossible for any man or any company to live up to the incredible hype the technology media puts on Apple and Jobs?
Re:Speaking of thing to yawn at... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, to me, this sounds simply like this specific journalist drank too much of his own kool-aid, and is disappointed that Apple and Jobs don't live up to the hype that he probably created himself in earlier articles. And now he is frustrated, and vents his frustration in a meaningless articles. Kinda reminds me of how the Spice girls fell. First everyone loved them. Then, suddenly everyone hated them, even though their music really hadn't changed. I think the same thing might happen to Apple and Jobs if they make even minor missteps. Everyone will be so happy to make some new predictions that they'll be announcing the emperor's nakedness even before the emperor is on the street.
Personally, I'll just enjoy what Apple is doing so far. The iPod is great, and while I'd love the full-screen iPod if it ever comes to pass, I'm happy to wait for it. Same with a MacBook that doesn't burn and can play Spore.
hold up, did you just... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Speaking of thing to yawn at... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Speaking of thing to yawn at... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the main problem is that the Intel announcement last year was a huge announcement. However, being a developer's conference it was the most appropriate time, place and crowd to make that announcement since they're the ones that were really going to have to deal with the transition. That simple.
They're not going to top the Intel announcement any time soon for pure shock value. It just ain't happening. Not because Apple is out of cool stuff, but because changing architectures every year would be absolute madness and nothing short of that is gonna get people freaking out like the Intel switch.
However, since it was a developer's conference I was also hoping for them to bump the MacBook Pros up to Core 2 Duos. Virtual desktops make me happy though. (Woohoo!) And frankly, the longer they wait to announce the update to Core 2 Duo (within reason anyway) the longer I have before I shell out more money on something I really don't *need.*
Apple losts it pace. (Score:4, Funny)
But 2006 Was a 2/3 of a year of Major Macs upgrades. That is a lot of work, and there was no supprise about it. Leapord needed to be set aside and the Demo is of a beta version that is not to be released for almost a year, they say it is Top Secrete, but in truth it is probably not at Keynote Presentation level yet. Most the application teams have been working to make all their apps Universal Binary. Not much time for massive exterior case redesign, new software, or Highly inovative stuff that can make the keynote great.
I bet Apple is extreamly greatful that Long^H^H^H^HVista has been delayed so many times, It gave Apple a change to do a Major undertaking, and still come out ahead of Microsoft. With rumor sites giving more and more hype on what can come up with next, people are expecting apple to come up with the impossible. Heck I still want my holographic display iMac.
thin and gaunt (Score:5, Insightful)
it's too bad he didn't have a flying mokey to release for the gawkers wanting a mac-gasm. guess we'll just have to live with a reliable, stable system.
Business as Ususal? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Business as Ususal? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've seen this with a number of companies. People start to believe that a temporary blip, like the introduction of the iPod and Apple's subsequent explosive growth in revenue, is forever. Then they get pissed when they find out it isn't, and blame it on obvious incompetence by management. Instead, the problem lies strictly with vastly exaggerated expectations. Remember the little blurb about past performance not predicting future performance? It's there for a reason.
People should be ashamed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:People should be ashamed (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I did find his key-speech lacking, but I just think that they were being cautious because they are waiting to release the big guns next spring. I personally think it will have something to do with making sure Vista comes out stillborn, but that's just my take.
yeah, nice imagery huh.
Hey, let's jump to conclusions (Score:5, Insightful)
He makes himself a tough act to follow but (Score:2)
Jobs isn't the techno leader in the industry, just like Gates isn't (he's the best follower).
The innovation that comes from Apple happens in fits and spurts, mostly to augment the fall buying season. I think there's more up their sleeves.
And so, a yawner from Jobs is insignificant.
I thought this was bussiness? (Score:2, Insightful)
Mac addicts need to remember that as their obession continues to go mainstream it's going to loose some of that "cool" in exchange for some of that "dependable, useful, ruggeded, trustworthy" crap.
-GiH
It's obvious (Score:5, Funny)
I think we can all agree we don't want either.
Developer's Conference (Score:5, Insightful)
Cheers,
Ian
Lost his magic? (Score:2, Insightful)
The Wired article reads like it's a review for a theatre play or a movie screening. In my opinion, if you're the CEO of an multinational computer company and people are talking about your latest presentation this way, you definitely haven't lost your magic.
They're just learning from the pros (Score:3, Insightful)
Quite frankly, why must every presentation of Apple be a revelation, while it's quite ok that the rest of the industry shows us what we already knew and loved from free systems? I'm the last person to jump onto the Apple hype (I refuse to buy any of the pricy designer stuff that does essentially what my low cost and just as good stuff does), but I don't consider it fair to expect Apple to reinvent the wheel and make everyone go "ohhhh" in awe while it's quite acceptable that competitors do bland presentations routinely and it's ok.
Re:They're just learning from the pros (Score:5, Interesting)
And as far as Apple being "pricy designer stuff that does the same thing as cheap stuff", it is not. Yes, you can get the same functionality out of them, but you can also get the same functionality out of a luxury car and a bicycle. Mac OS X provides an intuitive interface that makes it easy to do what you want. Beyond that, the Jobs's claim about Dell being $1000 more is correct.
MacOS 8.6 (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd rather be underwhelmed and content, than overwhelmed, just to fall farther down.
It's A Developers Conference (Score:5, Insightful)
Magic Mai Tai (Score:2)
HOW ABOUT A NICE BUCKET OF CANCER? (Score:3, Informative)
I wondered if Jobs, who was treated for cancer last year, was sick. Was he sharing presentation duties to save energy? When I saw Jobs introducing the iPod Hi-Fi at Apple's headquarters in late February, about five months ago, it looked to me like he was tiring quickly and was glad to get it over.
Gosh, I wonder if his fight with cancer has anything to do with him feeling sick.
Way to ignore pertinent facts to make a story.
Wow! Not *THE* Leander Kahney! (Score:5, Insightful)
Who?
I know this has been asked many times before, but at what point did the opinion of dumbarses on blogs become "news"?
(Yeah, I know there's a lot of technical wizardry under the hood, but that's for the geeks).
What part of "developer's conference" did you not understand, dickhead?
Apple's head of marketing, Phil Schiller, is the most relaxed of the bunch and has his own cuddly charm.
Hey, I'm as infected by Shillermania as the next Machead, but cuddly?
The whole article reads like a MySpace posting by a 14 year old girl disappointed by the first experience with her latest 40 year old beau.
Re:Wow! Not *THE* Leander Kahney! (Score:5, Funny)
"The whole article reads like a MySpace posting by a 14 year old girl disappointed by the first experience with her latest 40 year old beau."
Re:Wow! Not *THE* Leander Kahney! (Score:2)
I know Leander K. and you, sir, are no Leander K. (Score:5, Informative)
So, umm, no.
Re:I know Leander K. and you, sir, are no Leander (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I know Leander K. and you, sir, are no Leander (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay, you've countered the subject line of his post; and I'm not particularly happy with the juvenile insults and name-calling found in the parent (de rigueur for Slashdot unfortunately). But the points raised are totally valid. How did a professional tech beat writer totally miss the whole point of a developer's conference?
Which Is It? (Score:3, Insightful)
And for Steve? He's getting old. He's possibly sick. Or maybe he's just not as excited about this stuff as usual.
Oh well. Since I don't own a Mac, I guess I'll never 'get it', right?
Time Machine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Charisma (Score:2)
Yeah. (Score:2)
I mean, do people flood web sites to read a live blog of Windows developer key notes?
Bad day? (Score:5, Insightful)
Diversion & Stealth Required (Score:2)
If you had your Big Gates competitor near ready to put out his first major OS release (in 5 years) & it is due to launch within 6 months, and you are describing the "Next Hottee"at Monday Aug 7 @ 10am, you can bet Billy would have a new software team on any key feature he wanted to add to Vista, by Tuesday, August 8
Insecure Microsoft stab is hillarious (Score:2)
Granted, the system as a whole looks slick, and Jobs said he was keeping some new features "top secret" to stop Microsoft from copying them.
Any one of these super top secret features will be copied into a Linux distribution within hours, if it's any good. Microsoft can just as easily do the same.
So saying it's being kept "top secret" is just insulting the audience's intelligence.
Re:Insecure Microsoft stab is hillarious (Score:3, Insightful)
if apple announced and demoed all of their super top secret features for leopard now, there would certainly be plenty of time for ms to get them in to vista if they're useful/flashy enough and thus apple would lose a little lead on microsoft. apple wants to be abl
Even the Secret Diary was taken down (Score:2)
(http://secretdiaryofstevejobs.blogspot.com/)
--
Carnage Blender [carnageblender.com]: Meet interesting people. Kill them.
"Last Time, Jobs Walked on 6 Feet of Water!" (Score:5, Insightful)
"That's right, Diane. Moreover, reports say the amount of water Jobs convreted into wine was down almost 35% this year from last!"
Jeeze, over the last six years under Jobs, Apple sextuples it's share price, exceeds Dell in market cap, takes over the MP3 market, practically invents and dominates the music download market, doubles the Mac's market share, successfully transitions first from OS 9 to OS X, then from PowerPC to Intel, the last several months ahead of schedule. What the hell do you people want?
Christ, Jobs could announce that from now on every single Mac would ship with a free Natalie Portman clone, and you people would be complaining that it was a disappiontment because the rumors sites said it would ship with two free Natalie Portman clones, each holding ice creame sundaes!
Crow T. Trollbot
Re:"Last Time, Jobs Walked on 6 Feet of Water!" (Score:5, Funny)
I know nobody likes grammar nazi's, but you misspelled "hot grits."
Could this be Steve's 20 year burnout (Score:2)
It will be interesting to see if the complete cycle repeats with a stock slump, Steve being canned, looks around for the next big thing and brings it with him back to Apple for another triumphant return. If this is what's going to happen, then you should start buyin
One interesting thing... (Score:4, Interesting)
Etc... etc... Etc... Same thing with the PowerBook, the Cube, the switch to Intel, ad nauseam. I wish these people could stop writing that FUD, already! Apple will disappear when it will disappear, in the meantime, its financial position looks excellent.
I personally think Macintosh, and Ipods, and Mac OS X are very sexy beasts. They are much too expensive for my taste, they run expensive proprietary software, and everything Apple does is way too costly for me, but Gosh, aren't they sexy.
The fact is, Apple has survived. Every single "Apple is dying" has been proved wrong time and time again. They have top-notch engineers and designers and they will keep on making great products for the time being. Sure, the last WWDC may have been unexciting, but guess what? Even great companies won't release great (hardware) products every six or eight months. These things take time.
And dissing Steve Jobs for looking thin is simply disgusting. The guy recently survived cancer, for (bleep) sake! Give him a break: he is not going to look plump after chimio or whatever he had to do to overcome cancer! Sheeesh. Tech Journalists sound more and more like bottom feeder, these days.
They can't all be gems (Score:2)
The gadgets, everyone in the industry has shown crap of all kinds whether for PC, Mac or othe
WTF??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Looks like the article's author doesn't care about anything besides iPods, but there is more to technology than just small gadgets.
Re:WTF??? (Score:4, Funny)
Nobody attending WWDC thought so.
What?! You mean the unamed female reporter sitting next to Leander who wouldn't know Monty Python humor if it built a condominium in her arse cannot be considered a reliable barometer? The deuce you say!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Could be the stock options problems... (Score:2)
I dunno' (Score:4, Insightful)
I wish MS could "bore" me like this...
What does he care? (Score:2)
The keynote could have just been, "I'm rich bitch!" for all Steve cares. What do you want him to do, entertain you?
unrealistic expectations anyone? (Score:2)
Wha? (Score:3, Informative)
However, I did mosey over to the Apple website yesterday to look at the new stuff. The new Pro desktops look like a nice new iteration of what's become a workstation line. Will they enable developers and media-content people to work more quickly and efficiently? Yup. That's all they really need to do. Are the new servers keeping pace on price, performance and management features? Yup. So far, no problem.
And the new OS X features? Looking over the short screencasts on the website, lots of that stuff sounds mighty nice. Time Machine is pretty darned revolutionary: an API and systemwide user interface for user-friendly browsing of data snapshots over time from within any application! Spaces looks like an extremely well thought out expansion on the virtual-desktop concept, with all sorts of visual cues and clever UI bits that will make it useful for people without photographic memories. If the Core Animation APIs are any good, they'll make developers mighty happy. The visual dashborad widget creator opens up widget creation to pretty much everybody. What is there even remotely like it in the Windows world? Even the mail client's editor component leapfrogs everything else out there and will probably sell a lot of consumer Macs the same way iMovie, iPhoto and Garageband have.
Much of it makes Vista look dated enough that Apple shouldn't have a problem keeping up its market share.
Jobs looks bad, Leopard looks good (Score:3, Interesting)
I thought exactly the same thing yesterday when I watched the WWDC webcast. Steve Jobs looked, in my estimation, terrible. I'm pretty sure he's grown out his beard to hide how thin his face looks. And, it's also true that he didn't seem to have his usual blend of piss and organic vinegar that he generally shows off at these things.
(I do think I know where Steve's weight went, though: into Phil Schiller! That guy should take a page from the Steve Jobs cookbook. Man!)
But I thought that there were some great features in the Leopard preview they showed off. For example, Time Machine looks simply astounding. Maybe the sci-fi effects are a little over the top, but being able to look for a lost file by browsing through past versions of the folder in which it's contained is really cool.
I'm also really jazzed about the Web Clip service in Safari. I can think of lots of times when that would be handy. And, I will say that I really enjoyed the comparisons between a Windows Vista desktop and a Mac OS X Tiger desktop. Microsoft even stole the "lickable" aqua sphere!
It's entirely possible that Steve might be trying to take a step back from these keynotes. And it's also entirely possible that this was a sort of "test" for these three guys to see which one would have the ability to do these presentations in the future if Steve can't. However, the company itself is still the same as ever. Lines like, "Redmond, start your photocopiers" and "Mac OS X Leopard: Introducing Vista 2.0" are classic.
Let's also not forget that the new Mac Pro is pretty astounding: four cores, standard! And, let's also not forget that Steve did say that the best new features of Leopard are, as the slide said, "Top Secret". I think Apple really felt like they got burned by Microsoft when they copied, feature for feature, everything that was new and exciting about Tiger for Vista. My guess is that, since Leopard is slated for Spring, Apple wants Microsoft to release Vista, which is truly lackluster, and then release Leopard in rapid succession. Those, "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" ads might take on a whole new antagonistic dimension! For example:
(Cue cutesy music)
PC: I'm a PC
Mac: And I'm a Mac. Hear me roar.
PC: I can search every file on your hard drive instantly.
Mac: I've been doing that for two years now! And, I can search network servers, other Macs, and even tell you that the remote is lost between the second and third cushion on the couch. Take that!
PC: Well, I've got transparent windows!
Mac: Oh yeah, well MY windows are so transparent you can't even see them! Our computers don't even come with displays anymore. I just read your mind and do exactly what you were thinking. Kapow!
PC: Touche
Mac: See, you finally understand what that word means. And why? Because I teach you new words while you're sleeping. Ha!
(Cut to picture of new Mac Book, now without a display!)
Remember, they are still sitting on features. (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember years back when Aqua was demoed, and not long after that XP suddenly had that ugly Fisher-Price GUI in response?
I honestly think that at this point feature-theft by Microsoft isn't that big of a threat. They've proven too inept to even get Vista out with the feature set they've got currently, much less suddenly bolt on something else to it to better compete with Leopard.
I just wish they would have demoed some of the new stuff in Leopard Server. I've been begging them for years to put together something that can replace Exchange (at least for the SMB market), and it seems like the iCal server fits the bill quite nicely, in concert with improvements to the other services that already exist in Tiger Server.
~Philly
Just going to get worse, I think (Score:4, Insightful)
It's come down to new takes on old ideas; everything that has been toted as a new feature in OSX (and Vista) can be found in some other product or OS. While OSX's great strength is its Unix roots, Unix itself has been around literally my entire life. Not much innovation there.
I'm not saying Unix isn't an awesome OS, its longevity is a testiment to this fact, but complacency has certainly set in across the research spectrum, AFAIK; where are the truly groundbreaking ideas in interfaces, storage, etc.? Why has nothing that has been put forth been greeted with anything more than a ho-hum? Can we not find something better than the desktop metaphor to organize everything by? Is there nothing better?
New ideas seems to be a well on the verge of running dry and no one cares enough to notice. Until somebody comes along with some truly ground-breaking stuff, I see Microsoft's and Apple's OS offerings getting thinner and thinner from version to version; just not enough meat to hang on the old bones.
And while I'm ranting, Linux provides the *perfect* platform for people to go nuts on...it's completely open, anyone can use it and work with it...no one has an excuse not to use it for developing the next great leap in computer technology. The banquet is all set, but who is coming to dinner? Why do we have these pointless KDE-vs-Gnome, Reiser4-vs-everybody, distro-vs-distro holy wars?
Re:Just going to get worse, I think (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, although it is heresy for a Mac fan like me to say this: Apple has never really been about innovation.
Now, this fact is usually trotted out by people who want to bash Apple--but I'm actually citing it as proof of Apple's savvy. There's an old saying: "Pioneers get eaten. Settlers get rich." Apple has a real corporate talent for noticing when other people have come up with an intriguing innovation of a good idea, but haven't figured out how to combine that innovation with all the things that make a good end-user experience--interface, design, etc. This goes right back to the very beginnings of the company. Stevens Wozniak and Jobs weren't the first people to sell homebrew computers--they just did it better than anybody else around. Apple didn't invent the idea of whole window-based GUI with a mouse controller, Xerox Parc did. But Xerox didn't recognize how incredibly significant the invention was; Apple did. And, obviously, MP3 players were around before the iPod made them a must-have item
Like any human institution, Apple is imperfect. Sometimes they've gotten to the market too soon (as with the Newton). Other times (perhaps more rarely) they've trailed too far behind, as for example at certain points between System 7 and OSX. But they seem to get it right far more often than most companies.
Xray looks interesting though. (Score:3, Informative)
It was WWDC after all, what do you expect. the D is for Developer.
I don't know why Leopard added a bunch of Dashboard stuff (like safari as a widget, and a widget builder). I totally don't use Dashboard and it eats a lot of memory.
Jeez... (Score:3, Funny)
Apple's showing the developers what matters to them.
Run for your lives!
A bit of history- Kahney vs. Dvorak (Score:4, Interesting)
The guy is simply a more effeminate version of Dvorak. It's one of those minor trendy things amongst pseudo intellectuals (Boing Boing's rant on Apple because Apple hadn't released the sources to the x86 XNU kernel yet, for instance) to be mildly critical of Apple, YET STILL SPEND GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH TO GO AND WATCH A PRODUCT INTRODUCTION SPEECH! Apple must laugh itself to tears at morons like this who pay large amounts of cash to them for the privilege of being trendily critical of Apple.
Make no mistake, Apple is no saviour and there are many things that I personally prefer in Linux and Windows (Linux for its openess and configurability and Windows for its GUI responsiveness), but acting like a clueless consumer at a developer conference only makes you look dumber than you are, or, in this case, exactly as dumb as you are.
Re:It's not exciting until Apple drops its price (Score:2)
I predict the price of Apples will drop when the new version of Newton comes out...
Re:Virtual desktops for teh win (Score:2)
virtual desktops (Score:2, Interesting)
What I really want to see is the ability to run two displays on the computer, but each with a separate log-in and separate key/mouse set. We could then claim our lab had 20 seats even though we only had 10 computers, each with 2 displays, 2 chairs, 2 keyboards, 2 mice. When the lab is sitting mostly empty (
Re:virtual desktops (Score:4, Insightful)
If Windows or OS X had the ability you can bet it would be a matter of checking a check box in a control panel. It's great that Linux has some exotic capabilities, but not everybody enjoys scouring a bazillion different mailing lists and web forum posts for obscure clues to exactly what to put into a text file to get something to work.
As long as Microsoft and Apple keep adding easy to use features there will be vast hordes of people willing to pay money for them. Those hordes won't care that Linux could have accomplished the same thing years earlier because those hordes wouldn't have spent the hours or weeks of research necessary to make Linux do those things. But they'll gladly pay Apple or Microsoft ~$100 because their time is more valuable than that.
Re:Steve is overrated (Score:2)
A search at versiontracker.com for virtual desktops revealed Desktop Manager [versiontracker.com], You Control Desktops [versiontracker.com], and virtue desktops [versiontracker.com]
- and finally the chance to use remote desktop without paying $300 for the program.
How about OSXvnc [versiontracker.com] and Chicken of the VNC [versiontracker.com]?
Re:Pancreatic cancer (Score:3, Informative)
http://atlas.kpix.com/news/local/2004/08/02/Jobs'