The War is Over: The Good Guys Won – WWDC Day Explodes with Software and Hardware For The Ages
The parade of new hardware from Apple continues with a Mac Pro and the new Pro Display XDR. More big news from WWDC and a discussion of ‘The Four Pillars’. –
Oddly fitting, it seems, to be writing this on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and imagining a very different, yet strangely similar, world outcome at stake. As pundits and trolls debate prices and feature sets, something larger is happening just beyond the threshold of perception.
The superior ecosystem of integrated elements, conceived as a whole, is beginning to emerge after 35 years. And, as if rising from a fog, the outline of the way we will create and communicate via digital networks in the future, is getting clearer.
Beginning with a new Mac Pro featuring up to a 28-core, Xeon processor, and a new Pro Display XDR, a 32in, 6k Retina with a million to one contrast ratio and a billion colors, both announced along with macOS Catalina and iOS13, all due out in the Fall, there appears to be a pattern emerging.
“With overall improvements in connectivity coming with 5g, not to mention all the satellite systems being built, the trinity of hardware muscle, accelerated software evolution, and hi-speed networking will be the “one more thing” of the era to come”.
The real story is about the improvements in the creative and computational power coming together on three fronts:
Powerful fast hardware (nobody is complaining about the speed and power of the new Mac Pro), extended functionality of software – whether embedded within macOS Catalina, or from third parties, and then, finally, the-up-and coming speed and low latency of 5G and satellite networks.
However, a fourth, and very important force, not to be forgotten, is user sophistication. Seldom mentioned, it is barely a ‘thing’, yet without this essential component, the adoption of new technologies and communication methods could not move forward.
The gradual evolution of user adoption and skill will always gradually follow where the tools lead. For example, the ‘Digital Hub‘ of 2001 was a mystery, at the time, to a public that had barely begun to adopt the digital camera, and yet is completely obvious in hindisght.There’s a battle here, but it’s not for the stock price, revenue targets or market share. It’s for hearts, minds and the fulfillment of a sacred vision of a young Steve Jobs. To build a set of tools, overtake the Condor and soar above the mundane.
This combination, the rapidly emerging four pillars, will be nothing short of a revelation for the ages, all at a time when Moore’s Law is said to be dead or at least dying. And I didn’t even mention AI or machine learning.
“I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer.
The rest of the quote above from Steve Jobs:
And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation. So, that didn’t look so good. But, then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle.
And, a man on a bicycle, a human on a bicycle, blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts.”
Mac Pro IMAGES:
photos by Apple
THE SECOND WAVE STARTS WHEN THE FOUR PILLARS ARE COMPLETE
What shines through is the path that Apple has kept all throughout the years and into today. Steve’s continuing, guiding hand prevented the core value propositions and and underlying goals from changing. And hallelujah to that.
My understanding is that a great part, if not the greatest part, of that ethos, was that human creativity and communication are paramount. And that building tools, to enhance and engender those, are a scared quest, worthy of noble men and women.
Now, here we stand, in a world that cries out for, and is even in danger of perishing without, a new higher level of communication and creativity.
And the tools are arriving, hopefully in-time, so let us be thankful to Steve’s great legacy, to Apple’s perseverance, and now pull together – and get to work…
Pro Display XDR IMAGES
photos by Apple
FROM WHENCE ALL WEALTH?
Much has been made of the high prices and perceived ‘lack of innovation‘ in this, most recent, stream of new products from Apple. One ‘Fair and Balanced’ news organization’s headline screamed that Apple was considered ‘criminal’ for charging $999 for a monitor stand.
Sometimes, information comes at us all so fast, our brains need some time to catch up to reality. T his year’s WWDC was a bit like that, an avalanche of updates and features, exploding from 90 foot screens.
A thousand dollar stand? Horrors. 50k for the maxed out system, boo hoo. ‘You can buy a gaming PC for around the same as the stand’. So what?. Next we’ll see an article calculating that if you buy 10 Pro Display XDRs and 10 stands that’ll be over $60,000! And somebody groaned! Quel Scandale! Apple haters are still hating and if it bleeds, it leads. And missing the story like it was the the broad side of a barn.
As a species, Buckmintser Fuller probably also said, we have been on training wheels. Well, now they are coming off, and we will need every ounce of power we can get our hands on if we are going to innovate and communicate ourselves out the messes we’ve created in this world.
Are these the tools meant to help content creators contribute to Apple’s shift from primarily hardware profits to income from subscriptions and services? Yes.
They are also the tools to help creators, communicators and scientists to innovate and ideate our way out of a road to possible self-inflicted extinction. Oh, yea, there’s that.
So let’s stand up and cheer for the company that is trying, like Steve wanted, to give us the best tools. ‘Cause heroes are hard to find, these days. Hero companies? There’s only one, or maybe two.
Apple is leading the way with serious simultaneous improvements in 2 of the 3 pillars of the golden triangle: more muscular hardware such as the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR, shown here, and a new galaxy of capabilities that will grow out of iOS13 and macOS Catalina, both announced and showcased this week at WWDC.