Former Microsoft Exec Has Amazing Things to Say About Apple’s WWDC Keynote

Steven Sinofsky was a Microsoft executive, president of the Windows Division, from mid 2009 to late 2012. He was known for his strong advocacy of Windows everywhere and was responsible for Windows 7 and 8. Today, he’s a board member at Andreessen Horowitz.

Steven Sinofsky celebrating Windows 7 at Microsoft. Image credit: Wikipedia.

One would expect Mr. Sinofsky to have a particularly Microsoftian state of mind with regard to Apple’s products and philosophy. But that was hardly in evidence when he penned a recent missive. It’s the Particle Debris article of the week: “WWDC 2017 — Some Thoughts.” Sinofsky opens with…

I have attended WWDC for many years, sometimes as a partner (working on Office), sometimes as competitors (working on Windows), and sometimes just as an interested developer (grad school). There are always a range of emotions coming out of the event.

It gets better.

Amazingly, the tone of the article couldn’t be more enthusiastic about Apple’s keynote. It also surfaced evidence of, perhaps, a submerged enthusiasm that one wouldn’t normally expect from a former Microsoft executive.

One of the most interesting comments author Sinofsky made was this in regard to the evolution of iOS 11.

From a developer perspective, the capabilities in this release of iOS combined with the broadening device ecosystem (Watch and HomePod) are furthering the gap between iOS and Android. This is introducing important choices for developers. I continue to believe that ‘winners’ in categories will integrate and exploit native platforms and viewing every advance through a cross-platform lens is an innovation disadvantage. It is always important to remember that few customers own multiple platforms and so being consistent across platforms solves your problem but not customer problems.

Indeed, if I read that positive comment about Apple correctly, viewing any advance through any particular kind of agenda-shaped lens is bad. For example all of Apple’s four different OSes are derived from one common parent, Darwin, but each serves its own platform best and exploits the unique hardware in the best possible way. This is, I suspect, what Sinofsky was talking about when he mentioned choices for developers.

Author Sinofsky also enthusiastically echoes what the Apple community has surmised about Apple’s iPad initiatives.

What I believe Apple has cleverly done is introduce features such as ‘windowing’, drag and drop, and app switching that will cause the industry to take note of the improved productivity potential while at the same time not forcing a ‘desktop’ model on ‘everyone’. By and large these features are likely to fall to power users, but that is often how markets tilt. The new Files app (which is very early) will prove to be a game changer and so clearly ups the ‘power’ of the device as many core productivity scenarios are about juggling multiple files in some workflow.

Bingo.

In summary, what’s interesting about this article is not the recap of what was announced at the keynote (and quickly celebrated). Instead, we see a seasoned, former Microsoft executive virtually signing off on every product, technology and framework that Apple presented. With evident joy.

Plus, all this was particularly interesting to me because we had previously learned about Mr. Sinofsky’s resistance, back in 2010, to one of his colleague’s (J Allard) proposal for a tablet to compete with Apple’s new iPad. That was the ill-fated Courier project. The deal breaker was that it didn’t run Windows.

I can only guess that, after reading this essay, Mr. Sinofsky might have some interesting things to say, today, about his feelings back then. I’d love to get him on Background Mode to explain it all. Meanwhile, his analysis of WWDC’s keynote from his modern-day perspective is fascinating to read.

Next Page: The News Debris For The Week Of June 12th. A new internet?

Page 2 – News Debris For The Week Of June 12th

A New Internet?

We’ve seen small glimpses of a possible satellite collaboration between Apple and Boeing. Here’s a new story that provides a lot more detail. “Boeing, Apple Could Build A New Internet In Space.” Salient sections:

At first glance, the satellite business may seem like a stretch for Apple. But consider that the company has sold more than a billion iPhones globally, sometimes with troublesome connections, and is looking at opportunities further afield such as mobile payments and autonomous driving, which will rely on access to robust, widespread wireless capabilities….

Josh Sullivan, director and senior equity analyst at Seaport Global Securities, doubts that Boeing would work directly with consumers or that Apple would develop rocket technology.

‘The most likely arrangement would be for Boeing to supply the satellite delivery and operation expertise and for Apple to handle some of the satellite hardware but more focused on the consumer side,’ he said.

It could boggle the mind.

More Debris

We already know that computer algorithms, often written by Ph.D. physicists, are used to buy and sell stocks at micro-time scales inaccessible to the human investor. But when a really sophisticated AI like IBM’s Watson gets into the act, the technical level takes a giant leap. Here’s the story. “IBM’s Watson supercomputer is getting into Wall Street stock-picking.” Isn’t it ironic that a supercomputer, built by iBM, is probably being used to buy and sell Apple stock?

There seems to be a heated debate about how one should interact with an intelligent speech agent (ISA). One camp says that it should be always listening, in each room, hands free. This is the Amazon Echo, for example. But it’s stationary. The other camp says that we should wear or at least have with us in our mobile lifestyle, our ISA. Apple does that via Siri in our iPhones and, optionally, an Apple Watch.

Recently, Tim Cook reiterated that stand with Siri in an interview with Bloomberg. Asked about Apple’s approach to the just announced HomePod and how it compares to the philosophy of the Amazon Echo, Mr. Cook said:

We’re actually already in the home through the iPhone you take with you everywhere. It’s in your pocket or laying on a stand. Today, pre-HomePod, I can control my home using Siri through the iPhone. When I get up in the morning, my iPhone is my alarm clock. I say, ‘Good morning,’ and all of a sudden my lights come on. The temperature adjusts and a series of things occur. We’re also in the home through Apple TV. Many people use iPad as their computing device. The desktop Mac enjoys a place in the home. The thing that has arguably not gotten a great level of focus is music in the home. So we decided we would combine great sound and an intelligent speaker.

I’m with Mr. Cook. In a few years, I predict, the future Apple Watch, able to measure and report blood glucose and monitor sleep, will be indispensable. Our ISA will always be with us, and the Amazon Echo will fade as a faddish, plastic living room ornament.

I’m out of space. I’ll wrap up with this delightful piece at The Atlantic. “What Apple Thought the iPhone Might Look Like in 1995.” It’s fairly long, as internet articles go, but it’s full of design history goodies.

Back to the future.

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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed on page two by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holiday weekends.

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