Macworld redux: What still stands out
New hardware is always cause for intense interest, and the new iMac is a fascinating amalgamation of design and technology. What remains to be seen is which part of the market takes to it. It's certainly got spiffy specs for a consumer machine, but putting all the ports on the back side--not even a single FireWire port is accessible on the front of the machine, though the stock keyboard provides an available USB port--seems to be a clear case of form over function.
From the professional perspective, the screen has too few pixels. I find 1024x768 marginal under Mac OS 9, but unacceptable under the far less screen-efficient OS X. A screen resolution of 1024x768 is tolerable--but far from ideal--on a portable machine, where the trade-offs are more concrete. But it isn't nearly good enough for a desktop box.
BASED ON FEEDBACK on last week's column, I'd like to make a clarification about the new iMac's arm. Various individuals accused me of contradicting myself, in that I claimed that the arm looked sturdy enough for a 17-inch LCD but then wondered whether the current arm, loaded down with the 15-inch display, would sag in a year.
The iMac's arm is sturdy enough that I can lift the whole iMac by it; this says nothing about whether it will be more or less easy to move it up and down over time, just that it's solidly integrated into the overall design.
The arm of a desk lamp is also sturdy enough to hold up its shade and bulb. However, I've gone through plenty of desk lamps over the years because the lamps' springs wear, causing them to sag. This sagging phenomenon was what I was concerned about. However, I've since been told by several Apple folks that they believe the new iMac's arm will not sag over time, as it's specifically been designed not to. This is excellent news.
New software also appeared at Macworld, though nary a peep was said about OS X 10.2. I guess we'll have to wait for Seybold New York in late February or Macworld Tokyo in late March to hear more on that front, as well as about new high-end desktop hardware. At least there was interesting application news. Last week I mused whether iPhoto, which runs only on OS X, would be compelling enough to cause people to make the switch to Apple's new OS. For some this might be true, since iPhoto does many things very well. While flaws in iPhoto are already apparent, and I presume they'll be addressed in future updates, the general idea is very sound indeed.
WHILE FURTHER PONDERING the issue of which software programs could induce one to switch platforms, I encountered Karelia Software's Watson, another OS X-only app. In my darker moments, I've wondered why we don't see quite as much genuinely new and innovative software--on any platform--as we did a decade ago. Then clever little apps like Watson come along and brighten my day considerably.
What Watson does--scrape data from various Web-based sources and display it in a nice user interface--is conceptually simple. But having a single app with a consistent interface to get at all those miscellaneous snippets of dynamic information strewn about the Web is both welcome and staggeringly useful. Now all I want is for Watson's language reference tool to become available.
There is no doubt that OS X's health can be measured in part by the appearance of OS X-only apps. But there are still formidable barriers in place that make a full-time switchover from Mac OS 9 rather difficult. The balance of these two factors is what will determine the success of Mac OS X.
I WAS LUCKY to be at the Darwin Birds of a Feather session at Macworld SF last week, and took notes on questions posed by members of the group. Unfortunately, no one from Apple attended the BOF, which still strikes me as a bit odd. I am researching some of the questions that were asked, and will discuss the more interesting answers in future columns.
And speaking of future columns, expect more commentary about the new iMac after I've had a chance to use it for a while.
Now that the Macworld euphoria is over, what do you think is the most important thing that did--or didn't--happen last week? TalkBack to me below.