Apple Rant

Obligatory Apple/Mac rant now that I've just finished with Job's WWDC Keynote Address.

1. No new iPod, no iPhone, but they finally revealed Mac Pro, a desktop version with two Intel Xeon chips. They moved up video cards, which is always plus. However the performance gain is only twice compare to G5, which leaves me with some relief due to my posession of G5 machine. Xserve got upgrades as well since they are the unsung heroes of Apple hardware division. Very cool Xserve room named "Aquarium" in the presentation just boggles my geek mind.
2. Jobs relegated many parts of presentations to his lieutenants but took the best parts to himself. He looked thinner and older than last time I saw him in January. I hope his health is in good shape.
3. Leopard, next Mac OS X, is loaded with tons of new features that will please the casual users, more than the developers. I especially loved their backup utility called "Time Machine", new Core Animation interface that allows all sorts of cool iTunes artwork screensaver effects, new presentation features for iChat, and new development tools for Widgets that is capable of grabbing only portion of your favorite webpages, bypassing littered ads in the webpages these days.

All in all, Apple managed to entertain and thrill people with just two hardware updates and some new features on OS. It's not the finest Jobs' presentation, but it has managed to beat the pants off Microsoft Vista presentations. This company knows how to innovate AND have fun with their innovations at the same time. Only Nintendo can do that with their Nintendo DS, Wii, and big library of hit games.