WWDC 2006 Keynote
My favorite feature in Leopard is Spaces. Virtual desktops are incredibly useful, and Exposé, however useful in its own right, is not a good substitute for them. I’ve been waiting about ten years for this—sorry, CodeTek, but I think it does need to be built-in—and I guess we can credit Linux for popularizing virtual desktops and making them a standard feature that Apple felt obligated to copy.
Along these lines, after enticing developers to come to WWDC to see where Mac OS X is going, Jobs tells them that he won’t reveal the biggest changes in Leopard because he doesn’t want Microsoft to copy them yet. Um, last year he told them to start their photocopiers. A banner declares that Redmond has a copycat. These lame jabs may be good marketing (I wouldn’t know), but they make me slightly embarrassed to be a Mac developer. Isn’t there a better way to make the point that Apple is an innovator? And shouldn’t the focus be more on why Mac OS X is a great development platform? “Come for the Java, Stay for the Cocoa” was a little corny but a better sentiment, I think.
