A Personal Blog
Yawn @ Apple
Between Google’s “big announcement” of Google Video + Google Pack, and Apple’s non-announcement’s this week at Macworld (yes, I watched the whole presentation), I’m incredibly surprised there hasn’t been a mass exodus of PC, Google and Mac users to something more exciting. Like Libyan Midget Volleyball.
I won’t recap Google’s yawn announcements, since everyone’s already done that and, truth be told, I’ve already bashed Google enough this week (deservedly, but still).
Now it’s Apple’s turn. I try not to bash Apple. I really do. I mean, they do some fantastic things, and nobody was ever really able to make Unix or Linux cool. Apple did. They’ve done some great stuff with GarageBand, the iPod and iTunes. I hate iWork personally, and .Mac is just a cash cow, but overall they’ve done a lot in the last 5 years.
So it wasn’t surprising that the whole world was expecting this MacWorld to be a big one. Huge innovation. Maybe a tablet? Maybe a Media Center clone? Maybe some other copying of Microsoft that Apple would then claim they invented in the first place? (Sorry, couldn’t resist)
No. Today they announced… Widgets. Oh, and they fixed some broken apps. And they’re supporting podcasting / blogging more (even though Jobs said Podcasting was stupid only a year ago).
Yeah, and they announced some Intel-based Macs. Which means that Mac fans now have 2 things they can brag about instead of 3:
1. OS X, which is a fantastic OS that I don’t anticipate using this decade.
2. Apple’s industrial design (which many PC companies are finally learning to emulate)
It stands to reason that really #2 will be wiped away in the next few years, and #1 will be made moot (for good (ie: great innovation) or bad (ie: total copying)) by Vista.
Personally I was hoping for some really big OS announcement, a really big hardware announcement and a unified media / living room / portable strategy. Something to get me excited about Apple over the next 5 years. I really was. I was practically begging for a reason to consider Mac seriously. It would have taken a lot, and I wouldn’t have moved over anytime soon, but if I’d seen an actual VISION out of Jobs, I would have put Mac seriously in the running for my next system purchase in 2-3 years. Honestly.
I was disappointed. I know, a Windows guy disappointed at a Mac announcement. For shame. But, really, the only thing worth looking at that came out of the announcement was the new hardware. And it wasn’t even all that nice. Especially when you consider that you get the same hardware from any PC manufacturer for 800$ less.
I know, the screen’ll be better, it’ll have an iSight (not to be confused with an iCamera, iSite or iBunk) built in, has scads of storage and is all around a great little machine. No doubt.
But, it’s just not enough to make me get up off my chair and dance. Nevermind faint. And screw the idea of actually planning to buy one.
Sure, if you’re a Mac user it’s a great upgrade. But, nothing today would make me, a Windows user who was considering thinking about maybe shopping around for a new computer in 3 years that could possibly be a Mac… Well, it wasn’t enough for me to do anything more than blink twice.
And bitch about it all, of course.
So yeah, CES + Macworld, while I’m sure they were loads of fun for folk who were there… Well, they just didn’t get me excited from 2000 miles away. Sorry Google, sorry Microsoft, sorry Apple, sorry Sony. Nada. I didn’t even break a sweat watching your keynotes.
Please try harder next year. Othewrise I’m totally going to Libyan Midget Six-pack you.
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Jeremy Wright on January 10, 2006 at 7:31 pm, and is filed under IT Thoughts. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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about 6 years ago
I’m pretty much operating system-agnostic, and I concur that today’s keynote was pretty low on the wow factor. That said, I did enjoy these mashups of Mr. Gates’ speech at CES last week.
about 6 years ago
Darren: Yeah, I saw those. I giggled :D
about 6 years ago
Apple’s secrecy is a double-edged sword, because it gains them hype, but also generates wild rumours (PVR Mac mini! Tablet! Huge plasma displays! The Newton reborn! Widescreen iPod!) that sometimes make the actual announcement dull by comparison. But consider this: Apple is shipping two lines of computers with a completely new architecture (for them) more than six months ahead of when they said they would earlier this year.
Not earth-shattering, but by contrast, when was Vista/Longhorn originally supposed to be shipping again? 2003? Apple is showing that it can do stuff, fast. And since these new machines will also likely be able to run Windows and Intel-flavoured Linux without trouble (or any chip speed penalty), they’re going to sell, which is Apple’s job.
Also don’t discount the industrial design so quickly. “Apple’s industrial design [...] will be wiped away in the next few years.” Apple has been making hay with its industrial design since the Apple II, and yet somehow even Sony hasn’t been able to keep up. By the time the rest of the industry cloned the original gumdrop iMacs, for instance, Apple had moved on, and for whatever reason, the company remains (so far) able to define what’s cool and what’s passé. Maybe that won’t persist forever, but I haven’t seen evidence that Dell or HP or Sony or Panasonic or Alienware has the hardware design gusto to change things anytime soon.
“…and [the great OS] will be made moot (for good (ie: great innovation) or bad (ie: total copying)) by Vista.”
I don’t think Apple will gain any great chunk of market share, because Vista will be better than XP, which improved on 2000 and 98. Google is more threat to Microsoft than Apple is. But Apple also isn’t standing still with its OS, and has been revving it a lot faster than Microsoft has. (And so far Macs have avoided the spyware/virus problem pretty much entirely, which is not something to discount.)
What Apple announced today may not prod many Windows users to switch, but I can’t imagine _any_ Mac users switching the other way because of it either. There was no particular reason to expect something spectacular and left-field from Apple today when they have such a big hardware transition to make (the new MacBooks and iMacs even look the same as their non-Intel predecessors), other than the rumours. And the rumours, as usual these days, were pretty off base.
“…you get the same hardware from any PC manufacturer for 800$ less.” I just checked out Dell’s site, and their Core Duo laptops are the same price as Apple’s. The ones from other manufacturers announced at CES last week seem even more expensive.
The lack of FireWire 800 and composite/S-Video and a modem on the new MacBooks kinda sucks, to be sure. They’re not perfect. But it’s a pretty good first shot.
about 6 years ago
Derek: Today’s was a good set of announcements. And, agreed, it’s not like Apple *asked* for the hype. They did some good moves, including (as you said) the new hardware, which is a lot of work. I’m not trying to bash Apple, I’m just a bit shocked that there was no real vision pitched this week. It was just more of the same that we’ve been hearing for almost 2 years (ie: iPod, iLife, iWork and new hardware). Nothing really exciting, unless you’re on an old PowerBook ;)
about 6 years ago
I should note that I’m looking purely at what they actually announced. The Apple keynote itself was front-loaded with dullness (1500 widgets? Woo-hoo.). That’s why I wait for website updates and avoid watching the keynote video. The new podcasting stuff built into iLife is neat, but there was nothing too wow in the software either. And the Google keynote at CES was a huge bore: they announced a software installer, of all things.
about 6 years ago
not the most exciting news this time around – although the intel thing is a pretty big step forward and I suspect has taken a fair bit of resources and attention. Now they have that they’ll be more free to develop in other areas.
How could you not love iWork? I mean Pages is average but Keynote is a great piece of software. Much better than Powerpoint.
ya grump!
about 6 years ago
Darren, Keynote is rocking. It’s even better overall than PowerPoint in O12, which is saying something. PowerPoint has more depth, but Keynote just gets out of the way and lets you get stuff done. Pages is crap. But beyond that… Where’s the spreadsheet app? Where’s the simple database app? Where’s the document sharing?
iWork is like Office 97 to me. It just feels incomplete.
I was really, really hoping they’d shore up iWork and that I could look at it as software I could actually use on the Mac.
about 6 years ago
aaah that explains it….
I don’t use database apps and rarely use spreadsheets….
I’m blinded by keynote’s brilliance
about 6 years ago
While it was a little disappointing that they didn’t provide any vision for the future (I really wanted them to at least address the media center idea…I’m considering getting a windows media center but since I have 3 macs in my home I would really like a mac one so it just works with it better), can we really expect apple to brag about something they haven’t done yet? The big thing about apple is that they keep what they do secret till the very end. They aren’t going to come out and say “We have this great media center in the works…check back with us at next Macworld” – they’ll just keep quiet and then release it.
If you’re considering a new computer in 3 years, wait 3 years and then consider it. Apple changes things up every 3 months, so this keynote shouldn’t have any bearing on your decision 3 years down the road.
But again, i reallllly wanted a mac media center. oh well, at least slingbox works with mac now.
about 6 years ago
What did you expect? – the “Mac Dildo”!?
I want a MacBook Pro… well, as long as the lower memory slot doesn’t fail like it did on my PowerBook %*$#&@… they are just about to receive a Class Action Suit on that one… HA!
about 6 years ago
i was up and tim flight kept me company as we criticized each and every new iProduct Jobs was throwing at us. huge .mac support but really, I can do these things with 3rd party free apps.
MacBook is great but too expensive for my taste. i mean “fast” is pretty releative nowadays when it comes to the computing world.
overall, the best macworld announcement was the magnetic charger innovation so your macbook won’t follow when the cords get yanked by your dog.
about 6 years ago
You’re way off base man, read this… http://www.bisonium.com/
By the way I’d also like to add that Steve Job’s vision right now is to create a M-E-D-I-A H-U-B for your home. Isn’t it odd that the iMac looks like a large super powered video phone ready to be wall mounted? The iPod a smaller version? iLife a bridge for your ideas to the rest of the world?
P.S. FUCK YOU DUDE
about 6 years ago
Jeremy, that’s funny that you think today’s announcements were meant to impress someone that isn’t going to buy a new machine for 2-3 years… heh… I love it!
about 6 years ago
heh, I had to chuckle twice… too funny.
about 6 years ago
“Maybe some other copying of Microsoft that Apple would then claim they invented in the first place?” Huh???? Too many MS junkies around here.
Hmm let’s see – an 2xspeed iMac on Intel, a 4x faster laptop on Intel, shipping half-a-year earlier. Sorry if that’s not WOW enough. I’m getting pretty fed up with people going on about how lacklustre Apple or Steve Jobs is.
I am sure you can create your own Mac media centre. Who’s to say these things won’t come along soon anyway – why should Apple wait for the next Keynote to do something else?
In any case, Apple don’t have to WOW all the time – Microsoft never do and people still use them. Apple have the best designs, the best systems, they don’t need to WOW all the time – they just need to continue providiing their fan base with what it wants to get things done.
Try that on your boring black and beige doorstops – sorry Windoze PCs.
about 6 years ago
Jody: If that’s his vision, why didn’t he do it? And if it is his vision, isn’t that an exact copy of Microsoft’s strategy?
John: Yeah, yeah, I know Jobs wasn’t talking to me. But I was practically begging him to give me a reason to put Apple back in the “consider this” category.
Andy: Apple’s great at doing things fast, but many of the innovations they’ve shown off over the last 2 years were admittedly created by others. From Finder to Dashboard to iWeb to the podcasting stuff in GarageBand. Hell, to the Intel move.
Also, fair point that Apple dont’ have to wow everytime. But, if they don’t wow, what else do they have to fall back on? As “the company to watch” and “the company who pushes more innovation than any other”, shouldn’t they put out things worth watching, and should they (during their major yearly keynote) be showing some innovation?
Anyways, I guess I was just looking for one cool thing to hang my hat on. I didn’t find it this year. Maybe next year :)
about 6 years ago
“But beyond that… Where’s the spreadsheet app? Where’s the simple database app? Where’s the document sharing?”
To compare iWork with Office 2003 Professional (to get the database app) we should also look at price. iWork – $80. Office 2003 Professional = $500.
If you want to add a spreadsheet app and a simple database app purchase iWork and AppleWorks. Total price $160.
about 6 years ago
What’s the total you’d pay to keep the iWork and AppleWorks suites up to date for 3 years though? Also, getting Office 2003 Professional for 250$ is as simple as downloading the demo and then upgrading from there.
I’m not saying Microsoft software is cheap, but it isn’t exactly expensive either. And, considering that Mac’ies have to pay for software upgrades to regularly… Well, that’s one of the reasons I’m leery of macs.
about 6 years ago
AppleWorks has always come free with consumer-level Macs that I remember. I haven’t checked to see if that is still true beyond an iBook I purchased for someone a month ago which still included it. So looking historically if you wanted to upgrade iWork every year for three years (I’ve found no compelling reason to upgrade to iWork ’06′ though) it would cost $240. AppleWorks hasn’t had a major update in a couple of years and is likely not to get future updates.
Of course you could also combine iWork with something like NeoOffice (free), but now I’m really getting off the topic at hand. Yes, the Keynote was boring. I was in an Apple store this week and I purchased nothing.