WWDC07 Wrap-up

Or so long and thanks for all the code…

Hard to believe that it has been two weeks already since the start of WWDC07, and therefore a little over a week since it ended, which makes me a bit late with my wrap-up summary of the conference. For those of you who haven’t tired of reading summaries of what went on at WWDC07, here are my observations — none of them breaking any NDAs, some of them decidedly off-topic, and one or two you probably didn’t want to know.

Getting to WWDC07 is a zillion miles by air from Scotland, and an extra mile on foot at Philadelphia airport going through Immigration (where I was an “alien” due, I like to think, to having a UK passport and not because I look like an alien); Customs (where I was a “stop-and-search” due, I like to think, to having declared on the form that I was bringing in home-made tablet — the edible type, not a keyboard-less Mac — and not because I look like a drug-smuggler); and Security (where I was “non-sterile” due, I like to think, to having entered the US from abroad, and not because I was particularly mal-oderous following the seven hour flight). All things considered, it was fun: the flights were punctual, the crew were friendly, the planes were comfortable, the food was edible, and I didn’t get jet-lag.

I spent the week before WWDC07 with friends in the Bay Area (Hi RD2C and thanks for the pompoms!), and had such an awesome time with them that it was disappointing when I had to finally go up to the city on the Sunday. Every time I go to California in general, and San Francisco in particular, I like it more and more.

Did the usual cool things including lunch at Apple, restocking my wardrobe at the Apple Company Store, and generally having fun. Unlike previous years, Steve is obviously getting better at stalking me because I didn’t spot him this time, although he obviously fell for my tactic of wearing the CocoaCheerleaders t-shirt with the web address in large friendly letters on the back: some of the hits in the web server logs traced back to Apple proving beyond any doubt whatsoever that Steve is a CocoaCheerleader too!

Things I love about San Francisco, #1: The Westfield San Francisco Center has curved escalators.

I’m always surprised that people consider the Golden Great Bridge to be such an iconic representation of San Francisco when the curved escalators — apparently the first installed in the Western Hemisphere — are so much more fun, and a lot more dynamic: while the bridge just goes across, these escalators not only go up (or down), but also around: one trip on them and you’re not only higher (or lower) than you were, but you’re also going in the opposite direction.

By comparison, the escalators in Moscone West are not curved, but they are very long, and very well photographed.

Things I love about San Francisco #2: When you buy cosmetics (Mac, naturally!) it doesn't matter whether or not you tell the sales advisors — sorry, cosmetics artists — that they're a gift for someone else, they will assume they're for you. Which is why I got a very long, very intensive, and very enjoyable discussion about my skin tone and general skin care, as well as recommendations for a wide range of products, from a pair of delightful cosmetic artists.

It is a small world. Actually, we didn’t say it — well, okay, so I was singing it to myself in my head, but I do that fairly frequently so it doesn’t really count. Anyway, you travel all that way to WWDC07 and who do you meet? Yes, Fraser Spiers, the person you’ve been stalking back in Scotland.

Keynote morning dawned bright and early — 6:30 was a good time to get in line, certainly within the first 100 or so. The anticipation and camaraderie is a good buildup to the actual keynote. Now, there are those who say that this particular keynote was low on announcements and surprises, and there are some that have called it WWDC06.2 but that’s just mean — WWDC06 was really called WWDC2006 (beta), and WWDC07 is simply the slightly-nearer-release version.

While it may have lost out to the iPhone as far as media coverage was concerned, the WWDC07 bag was well received. Of far better quality than the bag from WWDC06, the new bag has two handy elasticated pockets at either end which, depending on who you spoke to, were either for iPhones or pompoms. Admittedly the latter option was only offered if you spoke to me.

The iPhone SDK announcement was interesting in a number of ways. Firstly, the way in which the message was spun: the lack of an SDK was obviously not what most developers wanted to hear, so the manner in which the ‘sweet solution’ was presented didn’t go down too well. Secondly, the lack of any roadmap for future development options: I have my own guesses as to what this roadmap is, and why they don’t want to reveal it at this stage. Thirdly, the actual ‘sweet solution’ itself: that the iPhone can run Web 2.0 applications didn’t come as a big surprise, but it is a recognition that standards are maturing in such a way that this solution is certainly viable. While they can’t be ‘first-class’ citizens on the iPhone compared to the built-in applications, they do provide developers with a good starting point for delivering solutions on the iPhone. I intend to write a bit more about this following the launch of the iPhone on June 29.

The content of the sessions from WWDC07 are under NDA, so I can’t comment on them, but the general atmosphere around the conference was of enthusiasm and excitement for the platform, and the opportunities within Leopard. Of course, some of the enthusiasm and excitement could simply have been due to the fact that I had a CocoaCheerleaders t-shirt on every day, a different one each day I hasten to add, and the fact that I had my pompoms at the ready. Then again it could have been due to the number and quality of really good parties that were going on most nights. Then again, again, maybe it was the lack of any huge keynote-worthy, code-changing, developer-related surprises that meant most attendees were simply happy to be concentrating on getting their applications ready for Leopard’s release.

The WWDC07 Bash was held this year in Yerba Beuna Gardens which were directly across from Moscone, saving Apple the expense and environmental impact of bussing 5,000 developers down to Infinite Loop. Talking about environmental impact, perhaps Apple misinterpreted the phrase ‘reduce your Carbon footprint’ when it came to Carbon and 64-bits? Anyway, while the bash didn’t have the same religious experience, it was certainly fun: the food was good, the people were cool, the conversations interesting, and Ozomatli is an anagram of “La! It Zoom!” which I took to be a subliminal hint that resolution-independence will be a big thing in the future.

Coming back from WWDC07 was fairly routine: my now familiar Philadelphia Dash to catch the connecting flight despite my delayed arrival time being slightly later than its departure time; bumping into my stalkee at Glasgow Airport baggage claim despite being on different flights with different airlines and supposed to land at different times; and not getting jet-lag. I like to think that my not getting jet-lag is due to my clever psychological approach to deliberately not getting jet-lag, but others put it down to me being a freak.

So there you go, my WWDC07 Wrap-Up, and only a few days to go before the launch of the iPhone, and a few months to go before the launch of Leopard: this is going to be a fun year all round!