Macworld 2006 Stevenote: boon or bust?

I just watched the Keynote and i only see the direction of macs going down. What is going to happen to the security of the new macs? Am i going to get all the viruses, spyware, and executable files that make me HATE pc's? What about classic apps? Why am i going to spend thousands of dollars to buy a new computer when all of my classic apps are no longer going to be available? I still can't get my scanner and printer to work properly in OSX, so now, I can guarantee it will not work on a new mac. - I will not be buying a new mac until they are out for a while. Then we'll see how great they are. I can wait to get spyware on my mac.

The QT feed ran smoothly on my PowerBook - no problem at all 12h after the keynote. Directly afterwards, it was a mess - couldn't connect at all, pictures were pixeled and so forth. But when it ran, it was of a superior quality.
What I liked most about the Keynote was the MacBook Pro (of course) - as I've been a PB User for years by now, this is really interesting for me, especially the speed bump. As well as iLife 06 brings a whole new level of digital life.

I don't see the point in having Windows running on a Mac machine. This is a different company, producing a different OS - if they would make Macs bootable for Windows, they would open a barn door for viruses that even might affect Mac OS X in the future. And gone, as well, is one of the USP's of a Mac, alongside with the "Think-different"-feeling of Apple. Of course, corporates always like to choose between different manufacturers and models - and Apple being part of the Windows-World is for sure an interesting idea for them.
But I think Apple is quite convinced of Tiger and it's headstart over Windows Vista - just check Vista's "new features", if you're a Mac user, they're all already well-known to you, from Tiger. After all, there's fewer and fewer software that runs only on Windows. Especially in enterprises, data bases etc. are often already web-based and accessible with any computer.

I agree with J.Stone. The quality of the stream was absolutely horrible. Perhaps Apple anticipated more viewers this time around than streams of the past.

I think the problem most people are having is that we are looking at the keynote from the mac perspective. If we look at it from a secular perspective, the whole intel thing is actually quite amazing. Just look at the most recent penny arcade entries. These were hardened PC-boys and now they are thinking of getting macs. That is incredible. http://www.penny-arcade.com

The keynote is even on IGN. When has anything apple (non iPod-related) ever been on IGN. This was huge OUTSIDE of the mac community. I suppose it's because they either didn't hear about Apple going intel a year ago or didn't believe it. Whatever the reason, it makes me very happy.

Pete... You must realize that the theme of CES very rarely determines the direction of the consumer, and what they want of technology. Many times the companies at CES, Microsoft being the biggest culprit, are so far out of touch that it's sad.

If it were up to Microsoft, for example, they predicted we'd all be using TabletPCs and have SPOT devices like refrigerator magnets that told you your stocks. Stupid and out of touch.

And in a way, the whole living room TV-PC is an unworkable concept. It's great for some geeks, but people haven't accepted it. Media Center PCs are niche products. Just because it happens at CES does not mean it will be truth. I'm willing to bet it will flop, or if it doesn't that Apple has a way to make itself a player there as well.

More often, Steve Jobs does a much better job of predicting trends than ALL of the rest of the industry. They scoffed at them when they did the iPod. They laughed when they did the Music Store. Who's laughing now?

Apple won't get left behind because they have their finger on the pulse of the the times.

And you're incorrect. If you paid attention, Apple introduced tools that allow you to share your pictures with the rest of the world (using RSS), blog easier, and podcast much easier on tuesday.

Christian,

I wasn't disappointed by what rumor sites posted. Esp, in the case of a media-oriented Mac. At CES, the main theme was convergence between computers and couch. The public wants a la carte TV channels, downloadable movies, a central music server, the ability to share photos and thoughts through the Internet all from the comfort of his/her living room. If Apple doesn't develop something soon, they'll get left behind.

I'm glad they released Intel hardware. It's a start but a slow one at best. If you want to get people to buy your products, you've got to make them excited about them. Quite frankly, I wasn't. I'm not going to buy a new iMac or MacBook. I'll wait for more features and new design.

You guys are being kind of childish. Apple just made a huge transition to a completely new architecture of processors and they did it six months early. That is pretty amazing. Granted iLife was boring and Steve was sick, both intel macs are very compelling. Yet because they look (almost) exactly the same, people don't think anything big occurred. It's pretty superficial and the ones complaining sound like children.

Furthermore, you should only be reading rumor sites to get an idea about what's coming out, not to rest your hopes on it. You're dissapointed because a media center didn't come out? Apple never said it would, you want Jobs to magically make one because a rumorsite told you it would be so?

Despite his illness, Job's keynote was rather good in the areas of the iMac, MacBook Pro, and the new Commercial(s).

I wasn't impressed. 5/10. Just average if somewhat lackluster. Maybe we overhype these things nowadays. It seems like these keynotes aren't as good as they were a few years ago. Sure, we got some new software and hardware. But, it wasn't received by the public as something extraordinary. It seemed the audience liked the commercials more than the product introductions.

It was great to hear that iPods are selling like hotcakes. But, the only new announcement for them was that you can now listen to the radio with them. Boring... Now if receive sat radio (XM or Sirius) then we'd be talking. Also, there were no other hardware updates to the shuffle. Most of it's competitors have nice OLED displays. Can't we have them???

Another miss was that they didn't add movies to purchase from the iTMS. At CES, Microsoft and Toshiba announced a partnership with Vongo for portable movies. The Gigabeat looks like stiff competition for the iPod. Apple beware.

iLife'06 and iWork'06 were nothing stunning. Mostly small stuff. The public wants FrontRow for their Macs that didn't ship with it. Bundle it with a remote and receiver that plugs into a USB port.

A conversion of computers and television is in the near future. FrontRow and iLife could provide the backbone of Mac mini media center. Hook it up to a television and you've got yourself music, movies, television show, photos, Internet in your living room. And it's easy to use.

I was disappointed in the Intel-based harware introductions as well. You would think that Apple would somehow differentiate the PPC and Intel iMac in the design. Don't ask me how, though... And again with the MacBook pro (what will the Intel iBook be called?), it looks like the PowerBook G4. Plus, it seems like they took 1 step forward and 2 back in the featurs of it. They need to refresh the design of many of their computers.

I do love a Job's Keynote. I got me a hot toddy and sat back and stuttered and skipped the first five times I tried to watch it. Fortunately I live on the left coast and the rest of you went to bed around 9:30 Pacific time so I could watch it cleanly. I liked it. Nothing to rave about, but as always I grinned and said cool more than a few times. I liked the commercial. (I emailed it to my pc fanatic friends--no response yet) I am content.

Well if all these rumor sites would shut up their inane yabbering on about what they think is coming in the next keynote we might all get to have realistic expectations.

Intel was so last year? Jebus what an idiot.