I've been thinking about what to write for this summary of the NZMac.com 2004 year for some time. I had convinced myself that I'd be writing an article about what a quiet year it was. But then I looked back.

Thanks to the great Apple History site, flicking through issues of NZ Macguide and the pages of this site and forum, I realised that 2004 wasn't as quiet a year for Apple (or for me for that matter) that I had been telling myself. It was just a long, long year...with a noticeable breather in the middle when Apple admitted delays in a new iMac (that finally came out as the new iMac G5) but there were certainly as many interesting events as we had seen in previous years.

MacCentral also sums up the year's events well...
http://www.macworld.com/2004/12/news/2004inreviewapplepart1/index.php
http://www.macworld.com/2004/12/news/2004inreviewapplepart2/index.php

Perhaps my dulled senses were partly because of the rampant speculation that occurred through many of the rumour sites this year that seemed to knock you back when some of these rumours never came to fruition? However, given that Apple sued some parties involved in that sort of speculation late in the year, maybe some speculation is getting closer to the bone than we think?

In fact looking back, there's been quite a few events during the year. A new and greatly improved release of the iLife software came out in the first few days of 2004, demos and pre-release versions of Tiger (Apple's next version of Mac OS X) appeared, and of course late in the year, we had great events like the inaugural Mac eXpo here in New Zealand, as well as new strain of the iPod being born in the form of the iPod Photo.

The year seems to have been an incredibly hectic one for me, both on this site and away from it. In late August Macguide ended their sponsorship of the site and this encouraged me to make a move to a new design, a new approach to the site and to gradually bring the site into an open source content management system known as Mambo. The fact that I feel I'm only half way there shows that there's a lot more still to be done. I have to admit, with study, with work, with the costs of running the site, things haven't happened as fast as I would have hoped. I'm still amazed to find people that think the site is in fact my regular job. But I actually fit it around 4 days at Massey University, freelance web and multimedia work, and time writing for Macguide. Sometimes I also try and leave the house and enjoy the world around me, but my purchase of an iBook this year means I'm clinging to my Mac's apron strings a little too much.

NZMac.com is always a work in progress and it's going to sink or swim on the basis of the people that contribute to it. I'm going to try and get more things in place to entice you all to contribute in the coming year, but once again I'll say here (in fact, I'll plead and grovel if you'll let me!) that I'd welcome reviews, commentaries etc from you all. I'll try and bend the back of a few companies around New Zealand to try and get more goodies to give away, but I make no promises as to whether I'll succeed. I've still got some goodies to give away from my visit to the Apple Company Store at Cupertino (as with the recent bookmark contest) which I'll throw in to a few contests in the coming months.

The discussion forum continues to go from strength to strength and be a major focus of the site. It now has over 410 registered users and over 5500 posts. I've noticed over the course of this year that we have witnessed a number of new users who have switched over from Windows machines, so it has been great to welcome them aboard. I really feel the forum has established itself as a great resource for Mac users over the course of the year and it was pleasing to see Renaissance (the distributor of Apple in New Zealand) taking note of postings and whilst not participating directly, providing information to me that helped us shape our discussions.

I think 2005 is going to be an interesting year for Apple and for Mac users within this country. I know of few people hard at work on projects that when they come to fruition, are going to benefit us all. I feel confident in saying that Mac users here and overseas will continue to go from strength to strength in 2005. Any concerns? Yes, in a way. I think that Apple is changing in shape due to the huge success of the iPod. While still a fantastic computer company with the Mac at its core, it is interesting to see the huge success of the iPod and how much that has made Apple more visible. I still believe that there are a lot of people that aren't quite sure what a Mac is (mostly they don't know the difference between that and windows) but they certainly know and have heard about the iPod. In fact, Andreas Pfeiffer also agrees and suggests that Apple needs to get beyond the iPod....
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1746007,00.asp

It will also be interesting to see the effect that less frequent revisions of the operating system will cause as Apple has publicly stated they are going to slow the process down. So instead of us getting comfortable with Jaguar, Panther and Tiger spin-offs popping up in the future, we'll be going back to the days of longer speculation and, dare I say it, less compatible Macs with each update. By this I mean with more delay between each iteration of the OS, I'd suggest (as back in the classic days) that users may find their Macs less capable to use updates as they occur less frequently.

Apple.co.nz Roadshow's happened late in the year in 2004 and unfortunately I wasn't able to get to the regular Wellington show. They also came at an interesting time just after the launch of the iMac G5, but also after a quiet period of Apple news. The Apple.co.nz website also relaunched with a new design this year as well as launching an online shop. It's been great to see the changes that have been put in place and in speaking with their webmaster on a semi-regular basis, it's great to know that more fine-tuning and enhancement of the site is planned. Websites to me always are an evolving species and the Apple.co.nz site is no exception.

The eXpo Conference for Mac users in Auckland was superb and I can't wait to see Peter's plans for the coming year, whilst also hoping we see a visible Apple presence whenever the event occurs. With New Zealand being such a small country, it's funny that I continue to meet people who either attended or know someone who attended. Even at work the other day the eXpo came up out of nowhere when a work colleague mentioned she was friends with one of the presenters. Small world indeed.

Finally, by the time I get to posting this commentary (I'm writing it in the Coromandel on my lovely new and first ever Apple laptop...see, I really do cling to my Mac!) we'll be just a few days away from the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. It's funny how my trip to San Francisco still hits home with me as such a great experience and I even remember walking to the train station as I was leaving and walking past a large convention centre. I thought to myself..."Hmm, Moscone Center...why does that name sound familiar?" and two minutes down the road wishing I could spin time forward around three months to be there when the crowds gather for what is usually the biggest event on the Mac calendar.

I have no idea what Apple have in store for this one. I suspect we'll see an update in the iLife package and I'll be thrilled, as it is still a range of software that I adore. Other than that, you can have your say in NZMac.com Forum on the subject.

Rumour sites are suggesting a number of possible announcements...
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0412expo1.html
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0412expo2.html
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0412expo3.html

MacWorld are calling 2004 the "Year of the iPod", so it will be interesting to look back on 2005 when it is over. I suspect that we'll be calling it the "Year of Tiger". I do know that NZMac.com will be keeping you up-to-date with the news and events as they happen this year. Feel free to contribute in any Mac way you wish to on the site. I welcome your input and support as I have done from the start, and I thank all those that contribute and email me with kind thoughts and best wishes. I extend the same to all of you for 2005.

2005....bring it on Apple!

Regards,

Philip Roy