There's been a lot of hullabaloo this week on the internet about Apple's audacity to announce the new Mac Book line without [wait for it] a firewire port [gasp audibly]. I know, it's a bold move on Apple's part, and it didn't help matters when Apple reportedly deleted a thread on its site critical of the action, but people, I know you're angry about this, but isn't it time we trust Apple's judgment? Throughout its history, Apple and its fearless leader, Steve Jobs, have correctly read the technology tea leaves again and again. Why can't you have a little faith this time too?
Think back to the time when Apple delivered a computer without a 3.5 floppy drive. Everyone thought it was the mark of a crazy company, that they had lost all sense of direction, that common sense had gone out the window in Cupertino, but you know what? They rightly predicted that the floppy drive was obsolete technology. It didn't make the folks with a box full of them on their shelf very happy at the time, but in retrospect it was the right move.
Remember when the iPhone came out and everybody wanted to know where the keyboard was? C'mon admit it, you thought this touch screen typing idea was just a bit loopy didn't you? But use it for a half hour as I did (
Before You Get an iPhone, Be Sure You've Got the Touch), you'll find that it's actually more efficient than trying to use the tiny keyboard on your favorite mobile device. After a day with it, you begin to wonder how you did it the old fashioned away. Once again, Apple got it, and while we moaned and groaned and complained across the blogosphere, in the end we had to admit, yes, Apple was right.
So that brings us to the present day and the Firewire fiasco. I don't think Jobs had taken a sip from his water bottle at the Mac Book announcement earlier this week before the wires started lighting up about the missing firewire. (Oh my God! There's no firewire! Where's the freaking firewire?! What is wrong with Apple?!) Well, once again, I think we have to take a step back on this one. Apple says most people prefer USB to firewire. I know that firewire is superior technology, but guess what people, Apple sells computers for a living. It can't design them for the masses and please all of the geeks all of the time.
I know you're angry and you don't want to hear it, but Apple is right about this one too. USB is the more popular format. I know you're going to pout about the missing firewire port for a while, and that's OK. Be disappointed, but when you look back on it in a few months, you're probably going to see that with the perspective that hindsight brings, that Apple made the right move once again. USB is the standard, like it or not and it's time to admit that Apple knows best.
