WWDC2007
Well, I’m off to San Francisco for WWDC2007 tomorrow. I can’t believe a year has gone by since the last one, but I am really looking forward to it. As a developer, Leopard is bringing so much cool stuff, and I can’t wait to see what people are going to be doing with it. It’ll also be nice just too meet up with some cocoa friends – it can be a little isolating being an indy mac dev sometimes!
It looks like there will also be quite a few extra-curricular activities during this year’s Expo. I’ve never been to one of Buzz’s WWDC parties before, but I will try to check it out this year. There’s also the Delicious Generation party, and the sfMacIndie Soirée that I’m going to try to make it to, assuming my plane gets in on time. And then there’s the moving of the Apple Campus Bash into San Francisco. I always kind of liked getting to visit the Apple Campus, but there were downsides, like the long bus rides, and the even longer lines to get on the buses. I’m willing to give the new venue a chance.
But what about the keynote? I feel like there are actually less rumors this year than usual, so maybe some actual surprises are in store! Then again, maybe the focus will just be on refining things we already know something about. I tend to agree with Craig Hockenberry and John Gruber that resolution independence will be a big thing. I’m sure Steve will mention the iPhone, although I’d be surprised if an actual iPhone SDK is announced. Hopefully we will hear good news on the 3rd party development front, even if it’s not anything that we can work with immediately.
I think my dream announcement would be a large, high pixels-per-inch display that is multi-touch sensitive. I’m sick of using a mouse! I want to be able to change the size of any of my windows with a pinch of the fingers! Of course, there would be a few obstacles to overcome. Screen placement, for one. A monitor meant to be touched would have to be lower down to be comfortable to use, but does that leave room for a keyboard? I would prefer to still have a physical keyboard rather than relying on a virtual one. Also, what about attached iSights? That low down screen would not provide the most flattering of angles.
I suppose a multi-touch screen would not be perfect for everything though. A mouse is so precise compared to a finger. That preciseness is really handy for things like selecting text, or manipulating specific pixels in Photoshop. Maybe a stylus could be optionally used?
The new, multi-touch applications would present another problem. Would some applications be multi-touch only? It would kind of be a drag if all of the cool new interfaces still had to have one-touch compatibility, but I guess there’s no way around that.
Whatever happens, it’s sure to be an exciting week!