Jem wrote:
I’ll take a look at the keynote speech tonight, I read an article on the Register (I think) saying it was a big disappointment and Jobs was looking ill and tired and had lost a lot of his magic… wonder if the reporter was called W. Gates…
Oh God, I ignore The Register nowadays. I don’t read it any more. 90% of its commentary is FUD. Yes, Jobs did appear visibly wasted and a little tired at WWDC, but that’s all. He received treatment for pancreatic cancer last year, so I think he is either losing the fight or his treatment is taking a heavy toll. But he doesn’t really have magic does he? He’s just much more relaxed and polished on stage than any other tech CEO, and that hasn’t changed.
I really enjoyed the keynote. It was aimed at developers anyway, not the tech press, so screw ‘em. He showed off the new Mac Pro and a bunch of great capabilities that will be built into Leopard. That’s all we expected. And he took the piss outta Vista a little bit. And it was all done with panache; an enormous amount of effort for just two hours in a room full of geeks. So we appreciate it: all that polish just for us. It sure beats Balmer stamping around screaming “developers, developers…c’mon!!”
The Mac just cannot be touched by PC now as regards ease of use, search and multimedia. Even seemingly trite features like those new, email templates for Mail seem a little twee until you actually think about what he’s doing during the demo (he’s dragging photos around in a HTML email message to get it to look right. It’s a teeny, small thing but that’s Apple’s idea of HTML email. Microsoft would never have thought of it so we probably wouldn’t have missed it).
It’s all those little, brilliant touches that make OS X and Apple’s products so enjoyable for me. The computer and its apps are more than just some utilitarian can opener or something. So, Apple wins by putting its customers first, not by beating Microsoft at its own game. And your average tech press pundit steps on a banana skin cos the best he’s ever used is a Thinkpad and can’t get his head around why he’s not the centre of attention.
Apple just goes its own way. It sells high quality, performance hardware, powerful software, fantastic styling and focuses on what its customers want to do in the 21st century. Evaluating its attitude and product range with the mindset of the Wintel business world is to completely miss the point. It’s like trying to evaluate an S-class Merc with the mindset of a DAF truck.
