MacWorld Expo Day 1 in Review

I got to see my first keynote in person. It's really great to see Steve live. Once again, the attention Apple pays to small details amazes me. The stage-lighting was supurb, and the way the purple lights aimed at the backdrop-curtain moved during the presentations created a nice visual effect that highlighted the action on the stage.

Before I get into my thoughts about the keynote I want to highlight something to remember.

Apple is usually right. Sometimes they are wrong (the cube, unfortunately, did not sell well even though it was cool), but Apple is almost always right.

When the iPod first came out, most people though it wouldn't do very well (it was big, but so was that nomad thing) because it was expensive. It wasn't very exciting to me at the time, because I perceived it as "just an mp3 player". It's the kind of thing a non-Apple user would say about their computer ("it's just a computer").

So, after having said that, I have the same feelings now about the iPod mini as I did about the iPod. I think it's cool, but it's not something I am going to purchase. One thing that didn't come across as well as it could have in the keynote is how incredibly tiny it is. Personally, I am going to either save up for the 40GB one (so I can make use of its secondary role as a big firewire hard drive) or wait for the price to drop and pick one up (you know it will drop eventually). I am surprised that it didn't come in at the $199 price point, though. (And it's really just too bad that there wasn't one under my seat at the keynote :) ).

The G5 XServes were expected, but they are still very cool. It would be nice to move geeklair.net to one of them (perhaps co-located somewhere close to my house that had lots of bandwidth ;) ).

The XServe RAID update is nice too.

A few years ago, everyone was focused on Apple as a software company, since the Mac OS was what really differentiated their computers. There was much speculation about Apple porting Mac OS to x86, or letting the Mac clone manufacturers handle the hardware, and just becoming a software-only company.

Then, Apple reminded us all that it is a hardware company. The release of the original iMac and the machines that followed were great examples of what the company can do (and why it inspires such loyalty).

Fast forward to now, and we're in almost the opposite situation. While more and more people are discovering how great Mac OS X is (even though in many ways it still trails behind previous versions of Mac OS in usability), and how quickly it is improving, the general populace seems focused on the hardware. The iPod and Apple's industry-leading laptops really attract a lot of attention.

So, when an expo comes around and most of the updates are about software, some people are disappointed. I crave new Apple hardware as much (or more) than the rest of the population, but I'm fascinated by their software as well. Perhaps it's because I'm a programmer, or maybe because I love the way the iLife applications seem targeted at enabling people to create great things.

The updates to iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto, and iMovie don't seem huge to me. I think it's a sign of how well chosen the additional features are (iMovie editing _should_ act the way the new iMovie does things, iPhoto _should_ be fast even with 25,000 photos, iTunes music store _should_ have lots of classical music, etc.). The new application, GarageBand, blows me away, however.

It's easy to use, and sounds good. I'm going to spend lots of time playing with it once it is released (and I get a copy). It'll even push me to purchase that keyboard I've been wanting for the past 2 years or so but haven't even gotten around to buying. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of the music I want to write written since it will significantly lower the effort barrier for me.

So to everyone who was disappointed at the keynote, I say "bah".

Some booths with cool stuff on the expo floor:

• The Omni Group has a booth with demos of their applications including the very cool OmniWeb 5. It looks like it will probably replace Safari as my browser of choice on Mac OS X


• Matias has a booth showing their cool looking iPod/laptop armor and a product that I have been really pining for. They have a keyboard designed to closely mimic the Apple Extended Keyboard (which Ben justifiably calls "the greatest keyboard ever made"). It uses real mechanical switches (almost the same ones used in the AEK, the exact same ones are not available for purchase according to the guy in the booth). I played with their demo keyboard briefly, and it is by far the best feeling USB keyboard I have ever used.


• Finally, the SoftRAID booth was very cool. I talked to the developer and the product is something on my "must purchase soon" list. They do all their sales online, so it will be very easy. I'm just going to wait for their official support of bootable RAID mirrors (should be soon). It's a cool product, with a strong history from pre-Mac OS X days, with very professional, very dedicated people behind it.


• Xgrid was announced too, and it's very very cool.

That just about wraps up my day 1 thoughts and experiences. Day 1 is usually the most fun at the expo (mostly because of the keynote, Steve is a masterful presenter).