WWDC Wrapup

Funny how when you attend a conference like WWDC, everything outside the conference just disappears until the conference is over. Of course I had the best of intentions when heading out on my flight last week to SFO to keep the blogging up throughout the week. That just didn’t happen. Anyway, I thought I would take an opportunity to reflect on stuff that has happened this week.

The obvious mention goes to the Apple Intel switch. When Steve announced the switch at the keynote, it was like getting a slap in the face. Fortunately, as the week went on and I got a chance to work on some of the new development Intel boxes, I think this change will be good for the Mac. Now I just need to recompile my app and it’s libraries…

Monday at lunch was the MacSB Gathering, and I think it went pretty well. There definitely seemed to be a lot of cool ideas floating around, and I hope some of the attendee’s felt the meeting was beneficial. Also on Monday (night) was the blogger meetup, which Buzz put together again this year. While there, I got a close look at Dan Wood’s new app, Sandvox. It looks pretty promising, and I hope it’s a great success.

Wednesday evening was the Apple Design Awards. I didn’t come home with a prize, but there were some really good apps this year, and I congratulate everyone who won. After the awards ended they showed a slideshow of some other notable contest entries, and Dash Monitors was shown for a second or two. That was pretty cool.

Thursday, of course, was the Apple Campus Bash. The Wallflowers were playing in concert, and I got a chance to see Dave, a friend from college. We were of the last ones out of the Apple Store that evening, and I took the last bus back to SF so it was a late night. Overall, that was a lot of fun.

WWDC wouldn’t be what it is without the developer interaction. Of course it was great to see Gus Mueller, Brent Simmons, Mike McCracken, Buzz Andersen, Jonathan “Wolf” Rentzsch, and Joe Pezzillo again. This year I also had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Biggus, Jiva DeVoe (also helped plan the MacSB gathering, thanks!), Joe Maller, Luis de la Rosa, Dori Smith, and Mike Zornek. It was great spending time with everyone. If I forgot anyone, let me know in the comments.

Overall it was a great week… can’t wait for WWDC 2006!