Archive for steve-jobs tag
Disappointing Apple WWDC announcements
The rumour mills were overflowing with ideas of what Apple might show at this year’s WWDC and so I like many other interested parties sat down through the hour long presentation albeit via a delayed stream.
Hardware
The highlight of the shows was the new Mac Pro which is a dual-processor Intel Core 2 Duo Xeon machine which replaces the PowerMac G5. Whilst it retains the enclosure everything inside is new including the Intel chips, much better performance, 4 SATA snap-in drive enclosures, dual optical bays, 16TB of RAM and space for more slots whilst also being 64-bit like it’s predecessor – and unlike the previous Intel Mac’s.
Xserve also got the Core 2 Duo Xeon treatment but despite the claims of better cooling the fourth drive bay that was lost when it went G5 didn’t return.
Both systems saw price cuts and rather surprisingly the entire presentation on hardware was by the VP of hardware Phil Shiller and not Jobs himself. That completes the Intel transition in 210 days since it was announced.
Software
The software front was a little quiet – no mention of upgrades to iLife or any of the other tools just instead the presentation of Leopard. There were a few cool features including Time Machine, iChat and Core Animation but they spent a lot of time talking about mail, to-do lists, iCal undeletion, Spotlight, Dashboard and Accessibility.
Boot Camp, PhotoBoth and FrontRow will be part of the Core OS instead of bundled on applicable machines but that should have gone without saying.
If the “PC Guy” and “Mac Guy” from that adverts had been there “PC Guy” would have been impressed and “Mac Guy” would have wondered off somewhere else.
There was a line about “not showing secrets” that sounds like “not ready to demo” which points towards Leopard not being available this year.
Microsoft bashing
It’s always easier to put somebody else down than it is to improve your own lot and it seems Apple have gone with that this year perhaps to draw attention away from what little software they have to demo. Banners exclaim that Microsoft is copying Apple everywhere and yet Apple are perhaps even more guilty for not only stealing it but then accusing others of copying them rather than the original.
- Dashboard vs Widgets. Konfabulator got here first not Apple.
- Safari RSS vs IE7. Microsoft has been applying XML transforms to unstyled documents since before Safari was born.
And why stop there… here are Apple’s “innovations” at this years WWDC;
- TimeMachine – already available for Windows 2003 as Timewarp.
- Realistic speech synth – IBM and others.
- 64-bit – Microsoft released Windows 64-bit a long time ago.
- Spaces – Virtual desktops by another name. Available since at least the 80′s.
Wondering…
I can’t help but wonder having watched it if Steve’s heart wasn’t in it. Maybe the products and features he wanted to show weren’t ready or maybe he needs a break to recharge his batteries.
I guess the iPod video, 64-bit laptops and iChat Mobile phone will just have to wait.
Update
LifeHacker has a similar summary with pictures whilst Paul Thurrott has pretty much come to the same conclusion in slightly more words. Added the Xeon moniker to the CPU’s.
[)amien
Gloomy long-term future for Apple?
Steve Jobs’ vision and leadership has turned Apple around from a great-promise but minimal market share in the computer business into a media and fashion darling envied by the likes of Sony, Dell and Microsoft.
Under his watchful eye they have put out a friendly computer called the iMac that redefined what computers could look like, a powerful Unix based OS with a simple but gorgeous user interface and practically took possession lock-stock-and-barrel of the portable music player market.
Now they looked poised to go even further forward with TV & movie downloads ,the video iPod and the apparent initial success of the Intel switch.
What could possibly go wrong?
Steve Jobs
Sure, there are a lot of bright people working at Apple. They engineer the great products you see but what you need is a guy at the top to put the best of it together. To decide the strategy, what ships what doesn’t. What’s ready. What isn’t.
As Jobs has proven he’s definitely the man for the job but does he still want it?
Steve celebrated his 51st birthday this February not long after brokering the deal where he sold his other venture, Pixar, to Disney for the tidy sum of $7.4 billion dollars. Jobs owned more than half the company. He steps down as Pixar’s CEO but takes a chair at the board of Disney.
A couple of days ago Jobs disposed of about half his Apple shares – those awarded to him by Apple in 2003 as a bonus – to pay his taxes to the tune of $295 million dollars.
Less than two years ago Steve was diagnosed with a rare form of life-threatening pancreatic cancer that put him out of the Apple driving seat for over a month. While the operation was a success it might be a reminder about taking time out to enjoy a less stressful life.
If Jobs wants to relax a little now may very well be the best time to do it.
If he wanted financial security for himself or Apple that’s done. If he wanted to prove his baby is better with him than without as happened in the 80′s that’s a big tick. If he wanted to point Apple in a positive direction that’s happened.
Maybe Apple Chief Technology Officer and brains behind the Mach kernel inside OS X Avie Tevanian knows something because at the end of March he leaves Apple to “pursue other interests”. He’s been with Jobs since the birth of NextStep.
Senior vice president of the iPod division, Jon Rubenstein, is also departing this month albeit to entire retirement.
Who on earth could possibly take over after Jobs?
Whether he’s leaving or not Jobs needs to find somebody to imprint his ideas, perceptions and desires upon. With at least a Jobsian imprint Apple might last beyond their CEO’s term.
Found this quote from Fortune, dated Feb. 23 2004;
“Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn’t it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?”
[)amien