I recall , when everything is say and done , that Apple ’s decision to turn to Intel to provide the processors that power its computer hardware will go down as one of the watershed case in the ship’s company ’s history . It ’s a move that will not just ensure Apple ’s natural selection — it ’s going to give the late revivification that Apple has enjoy an extra small bitch , so that a few years down the line , when you mention the Dark Times when it looked like Apple did n’t have much of a future ahead of it , the kids will look at you like you ’re gabble on about phonograph records and horseless pram and the talking picture . And we ’re conk out to reckon back on January 10 , 2006 , as the day it all got start out with the release of iMacs power by the Intel Core Duo chip .
So how come , during Tuesday ’s keynote , the unveiling of both the iMac and its Intel - power opposite number , MacBook Pro felt like such an afterthought ?
It ’s certainly not because news of the latest increase to Apple ’s hardware offerings came at the bum end of Steve Jobs ’ keynote . By now , Mac users are conditioned to know that the biggest product announcements are usually save for last . Heck , Apple has even get to the distributor point where it sends invitation labeled “ One more matter … ” — Steve Jobs ’ theme song line for the Big Reveal at Expo keynotes — when it holds press events . I think we ’ve all amount to accept the notion that Jobs keep his mitts on the really important goody until the very end .
No , the Intel - based hardware promulgation felt like strong - up acts or else of headliner because theydidplay second - fiddle to other intersection news — at least in term of the amount of time Jobs devoted to the assorted segments of his keynote . By my watch , the Apple CEO speak for about a little less than an hour and 45 minutes . Roughly 45 minutes of that speech communication was spent detailing the finer points of iLife ’ 06 in painstaking detail .
See Steve Jobs use iPhoto 6 to build a calendar using images from his Photo Library ! Thrill as the Apple CEO assembles a podcast using nothing more than GarageBand 3 ! Ooh and aah as he uses iPhoto ’s young photocasting feature film to show how it ’s easy to send digital pic to relatives ! And oh yes — there ’s also this laptop with an iSight tv camera built in and sure measurements have it perform four fourth dimension as fast as a PowerBook G4 . But look — animated iMovie themes !
I am not , for one minute , arguing that the changes in iLife were somehow not suitable of our attending or not made considerably easy to grasp thanks to a detailed demo . This is averysignificant raise for iLife . And it is hard to infer just how smartly GarageBand ’s podcast studio apartment feature is put together or how easygoing iWeb makes it to tack together a fairly pleasant - looking Web page until you see those feature article in action .
But Intel - based Mac hardware is kind of crucial , too . And it also find to be a subject Mac users have a lot of burning questions about . Is my software go to run on the new machine ? Just how well do these things perform , anyhow?Apple answered some of those questions Tuesday , but probably not about in the item that some Mac drug user would have preferred . Integer and float point test ratings may be the most crucial benchmarks as Jobs argued during his keynote , but it ’s not the sort of matter that flog the congregation into a frenzy — and surely not the results are exhibit on a tabular array that disappears from the keynote expulsion screen quicker than a one - shoot wonder from the Top 40 chart .
So if iLife was the big winner from Tuesday ’s keynote on volume alone , Mac user reckon for more clarity on the finer points of the Intel transition come away with the short end of the marijuana cigarette . As for the rest of the keynote custom you in all likelihood did n’t recognise exist , other winners and losers include :
The bottom - line : with each consecutive mathematical product release , .Mac is becoming less and less a way to have a @mac.com east - mail service area and increasingly integrate into Apple ’s consumer applications .
Loser : iWorkIf you think the Intel - based iMac and MacBook Pro were dispense with quickly during the keynote , consider the case of poor iWork ’ 06 , whose moment in the sun was reduce to a single slide outlining its new features . ( I presuppose , technically speak , that Keynote 3 arguably obtain the most lengthy case during the keynote since that ’s the software Jobs used to unravel his presentation . But , go ahead — name a single lineament or sweetening in Keynote 3 , without glance , establish on your memory of the now - you - see - it - now - you - don’t slide listing the changes . I perch my case , your honor . )
You would think that , give this sort of treatment , there really was n’t much to be excited about in iWork ’ 06 . That would be a false depression , according to one colleague who utilize the productivity suite extensively . “ Based on what I saw of Keynote on the show floor , the changes are telling , ” he say . “ And worth more tending than Steve gave them in the keynote . ”
success : IntelOnly two non - Apple executives apportion any stage time with Steve Jobs this year — Intel chief executive officer Paul Otellini and Microsoft Mac Business Unit General Manager Roz Ho . Of the two , Otellini made the more last effect , but that may have had something to do with his willingness to walk out on stagein a clean bunny girl suit , cradle a silicon wafer .
And even if you thought that , one twenty-four hours , the brain of Intel would be invited on stage for a Macworld Expo keynote , you probably never imagined a scenario where Steve Jobs would effusively praise the chip - manufacturer , did you ? We last in strange prison term , ladies and man .
also-ran : AdobePhotoshop was part of Jobs ’ demonstration on how Rosetta can run PowerPC - based applications on Intel machines without hiccups — but it was a pretty half - hearted demo at best . Add to that a Jobs comment about how long it takes for Photoshop to load , and you get the sense that Adobe is n’t on the dot one of his favorite developers at this particular present moment .
Advice to other third - party developers : maybe wait untilafterJobs ’ next keynote before give up that Aperture competitor .
Winner : PodcastingTwo discrete views about podcast seem to have emerged in the past year — either it ’s an authoritative new engineering science or it ’s a whole lot of white dissonance whose appeal has try out elusive . If there was any question as to which side of the fencing Apple finds itself on — and keep in mind , this is the company that made podcasting support a major feature oflast year ’s iTunes 4.9 update — it was settled during Tuesday ’s tonic .
The Podcast Recording Studio is the centerpiece improver to GarageBand 3 . One of iWeb ’s specific features is its power to easily let in podcasts on published World Wide Web pages . Even the photocasting feature in iPhoto is a riff on podcasts . Clearly , this is a technology that someone in Cupertino has completely embraced .
failure : iPod news“This isMac - earth , ” Jobs sound out in emphasize that Tuesday would be about Mac ironware and software and not at all about the medicine player that ’s had such a vital function in bolster Apple ’s fortune . And so it was that the iPod , usually at the marrow of any Apple intelligence event , go through the day without a exclusive update or raw release .
Ah well — it was a good run . At least , there ’s all thoseiPod accessories on the Expo show floorto take the sting off . Oh , and the14 million iPods Apple sold during the last three month of 2005probably make up for the virtual absence seizure from the tonic as well .