Right, so WWDC is now over. Wow. There are a couple of things that really prevented me from blogging during the week about what was going on. I'll throw the first one out there right now: the NDA. Not that I can remember now what was WWDC delivered and what I knew anyway, and quite frankly lots of it probably wasn't really going to matter, it's still part of it.
Secondly, I got in on Sunday (as I blogged), and the conference started Monday. Each day I was down there from the time I woke till at least 10pm, one evening it was closer to 12, before I ambled back to the hostel and to a bed, just in time to chat on IRC, catch up on the blogosphere, and then fall asleep. So let's face it I was far too lazy.
Right. So. Apple moving to Intel. I'll admit that I was not alone in saying "nooo" when Steve stood to say what was happening. I didn't say it very loudly like some of the others there, but it was going through my mind. However, by the time the time he finished, and when I sat down (as I did on a number of occasions throughout the week) at one of these Intel boxes it dawned on me: they felt just like a Mac, and that's because they are Macs. It's going to be hard to seperate that assocation of Intel == Windows, but really Linux is helping us along there.
I met some great people, got some great contacts inside of Apple, and saw the Apple Camps. (Apple Campus photos), and met a guy who works for a school district up in Vancouver.
However, when you come to somewhere so far away, where you've never been before, and then spend 5 1/2 days basically just solidly at a conference, it never really dawns on you just how far away from home you are. I'm terrible: my way of dealing with the unfamiliar is to want to have a plan for everything. If I don't I tend to freak out a little. I didn't as I left WWDC yesterday, but I really did immediately realise that suddenly I had 7 days in a strange city, that other than the few blocks between the hostel and Moscone West, I knew basically nothing about.
So today I went on a tour (see photos), which has given me a much better idea of how the city is laid out, if not exactly how to get places. Saw things like The Mission, went through the Castro district (the "gay" area), the view from the Twin Peaks (views from), the Haight-Ashbury area (the "hippy" area), and saw the Golden Gate bridge.
I also purchased a 7-day muni passport, and headed out to Fishermans Wharf, on the basis that before I mock it I had to see it. Oh $deity, the people. Shouldn't have gone on a Saturday, but I did have some nice tasty food, though I'm sure the little places that you can't see straight away for all the tourists would probably be even better. Caught the Cable Cars there and back, so that's $6 worth from the $20 passport so far, lets see if I actually get my money's worth out of it. I know there is better things to see between here and Fishermans Wharf, and I didn't really take any photos out that way today, so I'll be going back out there. The passport is also good for busses, so that's an extra bonus.
Monday see's my trip out to Yosemite, and I have to be on a plane back to New Zealand on Friday at 9:45pm. So other than that I have no fixed plans. Lets hope that my other instinct (to just sleep and play on the internet) doesn't kick in.
Tata for now, and thanks for tuning in, ~patrick
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