Macworld, Macboring

Here's my take, as a PC and Mac owner. My 2005-era PC running XP regularly crashes. I can't count how many times I have to use Windows Task Manager to close an unresponsive program. The hard drive has died once. The "Sony guts" run loud. Office 2007 is extremely slow. On the other hand, my 2005-era iMac has never (never!) crashed on me. It runs quiet. It does what I ask it to. It works, pure and simple. How great is it to buy something and have it perform as advertised? Apple has consistently put out good products. They don't charge $399 for a personal computer because they don't need to. People are willing to spend the money for quality. Dan Lyons needs to think objectively and stop pandering. Apple puts out software AND hardware that touch all types of consumers--not just an OS. Know anyone who owns a Zune (that didn't crash on 1 Jan 09)? No company sets the world on fire annually; why do you expect Apple to do that? It's just another example of a society that tolerates success for a while and then looks for any opportunity to tear it down.

Dude, get with your press buddy and just go shoot yourselves...I sat through the keynote but couldn't quite finish your drivel...

What I think is going to be clear in a few years is that Apple just launched a wildly successful new store--an iTunes for Garageband. Think about what you get, personalized lessons from great artists that wrote the songs you love. The second thing that Apple is sneaking towards is a revolution in computer design with their larger trackpad that can be reprogrammed to suit your clicking and gesturing needs. The next major step will be to integrate a iPod-like screen covering the whole base of the laptop which can be controlled by software. You will be able to switch your keyboard away for gaming controls, a turn table, or a drawing pad. The list could go on forever. When you have that much flexible real estate freed up for new ways of interacting with your computer it will completely change the way that we interact with computers.

A couple weeks ago I heard Criss Angel describe critics in the press as "wannabees that will never be". I thought that was perfect. I

"My takeaway? This is a company that has run out of gas. The image of Steve Jobs in declining health, losing weight, looking old and tired, turns out to be a perfect metaphor for Apple itself. You get the sense that these guys have just worked themselves into exhaustion over the past decade and now just need a break."

Sounding like a total fanboy I would suggest that it is well within Jobs capacity to let Phil schlub it on stage at a venue the marketing gurus deem no longer worthy. That being said Jobs more than likely is holding out for "the next greatest thing" later this year. Being a marketing master and a hell of a showman he is crazy enough and smart enough to launch a product from the grave.

And while Jobs is holding the iWhatever from his gaunt shriveled hands in an announcement he taped several months before his death most of everyone here including whiney Dan will say "MacWorld what? What happened there? I don't care about that just get me the iWhatever."

He is not going out without a bang bigger than the iPhone.

Oh yeah, this is about right -- after years of temptation, my husband and I just bought a Mac and have been working through countless frustrations, moving stuff over from our PC and trying to learn a new system (and adapt our ancient, PC-saturated brains) -- and now this writer implies that Apple may be at the beginning of its decline? All hail Murphy's Law!

"My takeaway? This is a company that has run out of gas. The image of Steve Jobs in declining health, losing weight, looking old and tired, turns out to be a perfect metaphor for Apple itself. You get the sense that these guys have just worked themselves into exhaustion over the past decade and now just need a break."

While sounding like a total fanboy I would just suggest that it is well within Jobs capacity to hold out on "the next greatest thing" and let Phil schlub it on stage on a venue they deem no longer worthy. Jobs is the master at timing and marketing. Don't let it past you that he may be that guy who is crazy and smart enough to do a product introduction from the grave and he will die knowing that he has a hit on his gaunt shriveled hands. .

Oh for god's sake could you whine any more?

I almost thought I was reading an article in the NY Times about some Republican! Don't you just hate it when some weasel writer making 60k a year busts on a company, much less a man who helped change the world of technology because he may be sick? The only positive thing i can say about the lack of any groundbreaking technology from Apple is...THANKS! Thanks for letting me use the current technology a little longer before having to go out and spend more money. I once used a PowerMac 8500 with OS9 for 5 years...and it was still better than any PC out there! That said, when a drug is as good as Apple is, sometimes it's good to take a break. The only bad thing I can say is, somebody at Apple has lost their mind if they don't attend future MacWorlds! Don't forget, you are MacWorld! As for the Dan Lyons, maybe he's just mad because Apple news is his meal ticket!!!!
All the best of health to Steve and Apple.

Definitely a lackluster show...but this has happened before. In 2005 they showed off new Tiger features, new iPhoto, new i Movie, iLife, iWork...sound familiar? And the big hardware announcement??? The iPod shuffle. Woo-hoo!!! I'm sure you thought Apple was in decline after that keynote also.

Apple is doing fine. The troubles at Newsweek are much more serious. As Jon Friedman wrote at MarketWatch.com a couple of weeks ago, "this looks like a magazine in decline, both financially and journalistically".

Check out this take on the story: http://sprawl3.com/blog/?p=31

Predictable take on the real story. Like others in the media, you need doom and gloom to get traffic to your lack of ideas and original thought. The big news is that despite Jobs being out sick, they still released new products on schedule, innovation in a long lasting bottleneck in portable computing, battery life and face recondition in photo management software (iPhoto). Jobs could have pulled this off and the press would have swarmed. But you need headlines, so there you do.. The Golden Age is Over... Not really--perhaps free food for you reporters.. might be over.

"Mr Lyons, your remarks about Mr. Schiller and Mr. Jobs reflect a obvious character flaw you are burdened with. Perhaps, you should take some time and work on crafting a more civil rhetoric."

Very good way to say it nicely. I will say it as I have every time I read your stuff now. ASS HAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sour grapes. Computer journalists love tradeshows as the focus of their coverage of 'big' announcements. Now that Apple is taking that away it's declared 'the end of an era'. It is the end of an era but not for Apple. It's an end to journalists getting free advertising on the heels of these big splashy events. All conferences are scaling back and/or dying. Apple is only following the trend of the rest of the industry.

Watch this guy eat his words when next month they have an Apple Special Event and announce the new Mac Mini they're working on or a radical new version of AppleTV or TimeCapsule. So while the pomp and circumstance is gone, Apple will continue to wow us for long into the future.

I wish Jobs would put out a statement that jut said, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

I suspect Apple intentionally decided to limit the product announcements at MacWorld this year so they have a chance to introduce interesting new products throughout 2009. Their announcements flip the traditional approach we have seen where technologies are announced at MacWorld and improvements are announced in other forums. And even if this is not the case; and 2009 is just about improvements to existing products. That seems prudent and is welcomed.

Mr Lyons, your remarks about Mr. Schiller and Mr. Jobs reflect a obvious character flaw you are burdened with. Perhaps, you should take some time and work on crafting a more civil rhetoric.

All this from one single event? Fickle, very fickle. Exactly the sort of behavior that makes people abandon a PC simply because the Mac looks nice.

I have to completely agree with Dan here. I recently (October) purchased a MacBook after selling my relatively new Dell M1330. I enjoyed using the interface and still do. But I'm not sure I'll go this route again. While I have no regrets, as I can run both OS - I'm not entirely convinced I'll end up purchasing another Apple personal computer in the future. They're nice machines, but not entirely worth the premium, especially when you see the prices that other "regular" manufacturers charge. (Easily $200 less, many machines that can even run bloated Vista without much of a problem.)

While OSX and Leopard is nice, I feel that after trying out Windows 7 the past few days, MS is not going to make the same mistake twice. Like Dan said, this was one of the worst Mac "press-type" conferences I have seen in a long time. The iPod, which has been their sales generator, is really at the end of its rope. How can you really improve a music player really? Come on now. It's been an interest ride ... if there was ever any chance for Microsoft to lose their dominance, this time period was it. I mean, what really can Apple do. Considering this time last year, the company came out with the MacBook Air and this year they release new versions of iWork & iLife and videos about a non-removeable battery, it appears their time might be coming to an end.

I have to completely agree with Dan here. I recently (October) purchased a MacBook after selling my relatively new Dell M1330. While I have no regrets, as I can run both OS - I'm not entirely convinced I'll end up purchasing another Apple personal computer in the future. They're nice machines, but not entirely worth the premium, especially when you see the prices that other "regular" manufacturers charge. While OSX and Leopard is nice, I feel that after trying out Windows 7 the past few days, MS is not going to make the same mistake twice. Like Dan said, this was one of the worst Mac press-type conferences I have seen in a long time. The iPod, which has been their sales generator, is really at the end of its rope. How can you really improve a music player really? Come on now.