Thoughts on WWDC 2020: Surprised to be Excited about the Mac Edition
It’s been quite a week, I came in looking forward to the future of iPhone and Apple Watch, but I ended up being excited about the Mac. Like many who follow Apple during WWDC, I use the Mac for most of my work day and have been using MacOS for about 12 years now. The transition to Apple silicon has been rumored for a while now, but I do not think anybody expected MacOS to go to 11 with its visual redesign. I was taken aback by the icon change on the dock, but the more I see it in action, the more I love it. More and more with SwiftUI, iCloud syncing, and other technologies the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch feel like a coherent experience.
I still prefer to use my Mac as a traditional laptop and my iPad as a tablet, but over the last few years the two have started to blend into one coherent experience. I use the iPad for meetings, note-taking, reading, quick-messaging (Teams, Email, texting), Remote Desktop access on the go, and as a second-screen with either Apple’s Sidebar or as a second computer. I think Apple is pushing Catalyst into the limelight this year by making their significant cross-platform app: iMessage into the best showcase for Catalyst yet with it bringing along iOS-only features like Miimoji, iMessage effects, threads, and message pinning while retaining MacOS-only features like screen sharing. Even on the ARM-Macs, where iPhone and iPad apps can run natively, Apple did emphasize how Catalyst is a tool for converting iOS experiences into a MacOS experience with proper controls, menubar, etc. I do find it immensely interesting that the same year that iPadOS got a big focus on sidebar apps that MacOS changed its design to be more in line with iPadOS/iOS. After watching the keynote twice this week and the state of the union, it was good to see that Apple focused heavily on the power of the Mac and how they understand that creative professionals, developers, engineers, and many other professionals use the platform for their livelihood.
As a Mac user who loves the platform, it was great to see that they see the Mac as a separate and thriving platform and not a legacy operating system to be propped up until iPadOS “grows up”. We are a decade into iPadOS and I think that its definitely the “computer for the rest of us” in the sense that its a great operating system for many tasks, but its good to see that Apple gave so much time to Mac this year and really emphasized its continued important in their product line with the release of the updated MacBook Air, new 16” MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro last year. It warms my heart to hear Craig Federighi tell John Gruber that the Mac will remain the Mac to do Mac-stuff and the iPad is going to continue to be the iPad, but not artificially limit the platform because it’s going to eclipse the Mac for some people and some use-cases. Overall, WWDC 2020 really has me excited about the the future of the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch more than I expected to be. It’s good to see all of my favorite computing platforms are getting love this year and I look forward to trying out the betas later this summer and then sharing the experience with friends and family in the fall 🍁
-Hobie 🤖
John Gruber’s excellent Talk Show interview with the legendary Hair Force Once (AKA Craig Federighi). I highly recommend you give it a watch:
