I’ve held off on commenting on all the neat things that Apple announced last week, in part because I wanted to actually sit and watch the QuickTime stream of Steve Jobs’ keynote address myself, and in part because I’ve been insanely busy all week. Now that I’ve finally had an hour to sit and watch, I feel like I can provide some honest commentary.

First off, on the displays I’d so anxiously awaited… Wowsers. Even though I’d heard rumors of the 30-inch display for months, when Steve actually unveiled it, the result was breathtaking. I have great difficulty justifying the nearly-$4000 price tag on one of these babies – I only paid $2000 for my car, for crying out loud – but that doesn’t mean I’m not sizing up my incoming-work list to try and figure out how to budget for one. After having been confined to a 14.1″ PowerBook screen for as long as I can remember, that much screen real estate is droolworthy. Completely thrilling.
Second, I was initially underwhelmed by the advances that were trumpeted in Tiger, but I’m much more excited about them after having watched the keynote address. Safari RSS? OK, cool. iChat AV with multiple users? OK, cool. Automator? OK, cool. These things are nifty, but pretty much just OK, cool. What really makes my ears perk up, though, are Searchlight and Dashboard. Searchlight thrills me because it means I can change the way I deal with my email – instead of diligently filing everything that wends its way into my inbox, I can simply read new mail and rely on Searchlight to index and store those emails for me. That could be a huge timesaver. And Dashboard? Ah, Dashboard.
Is Dashboard a Konfabulator-killer? Yep. Is Dashboard a Konfabulator ripoff? Nope. Konfabulator is a Desk Accessory ripoff, whose only main innovation was permitting people to write apps in JavaScript, which was a great democratizing step. Write apps without needing to learn C++ or even Carbon or Cocoa? Cool. Where Dashboard really shines is by taking that one step further – Dashboard apps are basically web pages. The idea that I could use Dashboard to write the – gasp! – personal dashboard application I’ve been designing for the last fistful of years is thrilling. Now, sure, I imagine getting some of the data I want could be difficult. For example, I would like a Dashboard app that could query my bank accounts and my PayPal account, a la Quicken. Yet I don’t imagine the banks are going to be that open with that particular data, which I sort of support but also sort of mourn. We’ll see. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see what all Dashboard apps can tie into. I’d love to see a Dashboard app that could tie into the to-do list in iCal, providing a better interface. And if .Mac sync could be linked to, say, a Treo 610, then my blueprints for Magellan, my personal life-management system, could finally start becoming a reality.
In short, the future’s so bright, I’ve gotta wear shades. Now I just need to start saving those pennies. Back to work!