July 2012 From the Prez

July 2012

Greetings from cloudy Oregon!

We left for vacation last Thursday, spent the first 2 days pretty much driving all day (about 10 hours per day), and arrived on the Oregon coast on Friday evening. It has been cool and cloudy, with some rain. Fire danger out here is low — sure is strange, after what we’ve had in Colorado.
I intended to get this done sometime Saturday or Sunday, but you know, we’re having a lot of fun. The kids are running me ragged.
There certainly is Apple news this month. WWDC was earlier in the month, and in some respects, it was exciting. And in other respects, a letdown. Many were hoping to have news of the next iPhone; no joy. The Mac Mini was left unchanged. The Mac Pro was “updated” in an almost meaningless way, with speed bump only — and not even the newest Xeon processors, and without Thunderbolt ports. Afterwards, Tim Cook did tell a fan that something new and exciting was coming next year. So much for selling any of them between now and then.
MacBook Air laptops were left unchanged. MacBook Pro machines were updated in a small way. And the most exciting hardware news was the Retina display MacBook Pro. Putting a retina display on a machine like that has put Apple head and shoulders above all other notebook makers. I recall when the Titanium PowerBook G4 came out, and Jesse brought his new one into the GMMUG meeting. Wow, it was so gorgeous. This new MacBook Pro makes me feel the same way.. I can’t wait to see one in person.
There was also lots of information about the new iOS 6 — can’t wait to get it loaded onto our devices — and Mountain Lion, due out in less than 3 weeks. Mountain Lion will cost $20 and can be installed on any Mac running Snow Leopard or Lion. I don’t know if more Macs will be left behind.
I am scheduled to do the third Monday presentation. But *gulp* I haven’t decided what to do yet! I’ll have Katy send out an email after we get back.
Cheers! Andrew