The Complete History of the WWDC Keynote

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The Complete History of the WWDC Keynote
   

The hype. The sell-outs. The personal promises from the CEO. It wasn’t always like this. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference began as an intimate gathering in Monetery, CA that was of little interest to anyone outside of Apple’s close-knit world of software architects. Sure, Apple was there--and at the very first conference in 1983, Lisa tagged along for her first public appearance--but there wasn’t much to speak of; quite literally, a non-disclosure agreement kept most things under lock-and-key.“Most of what was discussed was for developers’ ears only and even the contents of the keynote was delivered under a non-disclosure agreement that kept the press and the general public away,” wrote Ted Goranson of About This Particular Macintosh. “Which isn’t to say that the things announced at WWDC were of any possible interest to anybody who wasn’t writing device drivers for an AppleTalk-to-Centronics hardware print spooler.”Case in point: In 1987--when Apple and IBM oddly shared the same space at the Santa Clara Convention Center--Apple countered IBM’s PS/2 announcement by adding CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) to the Mac II. Not exactly headline-grabbing stuff.Still, that’s not to say juicy details didn’t leak out. During the 1988 conference, for instance, select Apple employees, including then-CEO John Sculley, wore curious buttons with a pixelated half-cow, half-dog creature set against a neon green background. When prodded, inquiring minds were told that her name was Clarus the Dogcow and the sound she makes is “Moof!”But even without giveaways and live blogging, it didn’t take long for WWDC to blossom into an event that sent Apple watchers into a frenzy. Long before Steve Jobs decided to use its stage to unveil the latest Cupertino innovations, Apple’s annual developers conference steered the industry in bold directions and laid the foundation for the next big things to come: 1990: With a renewed focus on inexpensive, mass-market machines, Sculley and COO Michael Spindler vowed Apple would “catch up” with the market for “low-end and laptop Macs” and “reach and create new users and hook them early.” Going a long way toward accomplishing this monumental task was a brand-new multimedia platform called QuickTime.1991: Multi-tasking, file sharing, drag-and-drop and a trashcan. Of course, we’re talking about System 7, which ceremoniously shipped at WWDC 1991. 1992: Sculley painted Apple’s future with a bright paintbrush at the ’92 conference, delivering a wide-ranging keynote that offered glimpses of Newton, AppleScript, Open Collaborative Environment and PowerPC, along with the makings of Apple’s newest open-source-ish framework, OpenDoc. Begun the year before after an impromptu brainstorming session, Apple’s OpenDoc project sought to develop a simplified, standardized document competitor to Microsoft’s Object Linking and Embedding.1993: Apple silenced any and all doubters of its forthcoming chip switch by demonstrating a prototype Macintosh computer running on an unprecedented 80 MHz PowerPC 601 processor, while simultaneously showcasing a Rosetta Stone-like emulator to run current software on the new chip. Also making appearances were QuickDraw GX (for smoother graphics and better printing) and Apple Interactive Help (for in-app assistance), and a solid summer ship date was nailed down for the eagerly anticipated Newton project.1994: While hardly a secret, Apple formally unveiled its new object-oriented dynamic programming language, Dylan, aimed at expanding Apple’s library of commercial software titles. Shortly afterward, Bob Dylan filed a trademark infringement suit. (No joke.)1995: While OpenDoc was evolving in the wild, Apple was busy utilizing the technology for a tandem project called Cyberdog, an open-source Internet suite designed to bring OpenDoc into the mainstream.1996: Cyberdog exited beta stage (and immediately began its slide into obscurity) at WWDC 1996 and MkLinux, Apple’s ill-fated attempt at an open-source Linux OS, raised more than a few eyebrows, but Mac OS 8 (the latest iteration of Copland) clearly stole the show. In an attempt to rescue “one of America's all-time great companies,” CEO Gilbert Amelio took the first step toward the future by demonstrating a semi-working prototype of what should have been the desktop of the future.1997: The return of Steve Jobs was marked by color-coded demos of Apple’s next-generation OS, code-named Rhapsody (based on the NeXT code), and a bold announcement that an Intel version of what would become Mac OS X Server was under development. With the new OS came the death knell for the Apple Clone experiment, as Apple acquired and subsequently shuttered Power Computing. A memo from Jobs put the $100 million acquisition in perspective: “The license fee Apple receives from the licensees does not begin to cover their share of the expenses to engineer and market the Mac OS platform. This means that, in essence, Apple is giving a several hundred dollar subsidy with each licensed copy of the Mac OS.”1998: After several years of starts and stops, Steve Jobs finally arrived at WWDC 1998 with OS X, the real desktop of the future. Combining the best parts of Rhapsody and NeXTSTEP (and putting Copland out of its misery once and for all), Steve spent the better part of his keynote showing off how Carbon will help Classic developers enjoy all the goodies OS X has to offer. 1999: With Jobs back in charge, WWDC quickly turned from a semi-insider event to a Macworld-sized juggernaut. A surprise announcement of Lombard PowerBooks--of which Apple raffled off 50 units throughout the show--kicked things off, followed by demos of OS 8.6 (with Sonata and Sherlock 2), OpenGL, Java 2 and the release of Mac OS X Developer Preview 1, which barely resembled the product that would ship just two years later.NEXT: 2000 to Present >>2000: With the OS X push in full swing, developers received a new preview disk with the final API specifications needed to upgrade OS 9 apps to take advantage of Mac OS X’s new capabilities. Or, as Steve put it, “With this Preview release, developers now have everything they need to make killer applications for Mac OS X.”2001: With OS X already on shelves and developers hard at work on Cocoa apps, Steve trumped his own announcement of an all-LCD flat-panel display lineup by declaring Apple would be installing OS X on all new Macs a full two months ahead of schedule. Mac OS X Server also made an appearance, along with some new Power Mac G4 models built specifically to handle industrial-strength tasks. And some 1,500 attendees walked away with a nifty leathered jacket adorned with an Aqua-colored OS X logo.2002: Sherlock 3, Rendezvous, Quartz Extreme and an Address Book. Of course, we’re talking about Jaguar, which developers got to take home at WWDC 2002. And attendees paid final respects to OS 9 at a mock funeral capped by a moment of silence and a single rose laid on a coffin.2003: The keynote even “premature specification” couldn’t ruin. On a larger stage at the Moscone Center, The next cat made its debut (Panther), attendees got free iSights and a stable Safari popped up in Software Update, but all developers wanted to talk about was the new Power Mac, powered by the 10-years-in-the-making G5 chip.2004: Another year, another cat. Tiger--including Dashboard and Spotlight--was unveiled alongside the “gorgeous” 30-inch Cinema HD Display.2005: It’s true. After months (years?) of speculation, Apple formally announced the end of the PowerPC era and announced a partnership with Intel to supply Macs with x86 processors. Stunned developers were able to purchase a Transition Kit for $999, “consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple’s software.”2006: Quad 64-bit Xeon Processor stormed onto the scene and Time Machine, Spaces and Boot Camp added some spice to the sixth major version of Mac OS X, dubbed Leopard.2007: A lackluster event brought a “near-final” version of Leopard (with a delayed launch date), Safari for Windows and support for Web apps on the soon-to-be-released iPhone.2008: A monster of a conference that more than made up for the prior year’s tedium, the first sold-out WWDC brought the worldwide launch of the iPhone 3G and the App Store, Snow Leopard and MobileMe... well, nobody’s perfect.2009: New MacBook Pros were just an appetizer to the main course, iPhone 3GS. More Snow Leopard and Safari rounded out the first Steve-less keynote in a decade.2010: After turning a small show into a one of the most anticipated events of the year--complete with rumors and police raids--Steve returns to the stage at Moscone Center this year with an uncharacteristic e-mail assurance: You won’t be disappointed. Follow our live blog of this year's WWDC keynote beginning Monday, June 7 at 10AM PDT. 
     

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