I think it is more that axing the audience feedback was convenient for them. In the old WWDC keynotes they had to get the audience to 'wow' and applaud. You could very quickly see a feature sink when Apple announced features where the audience went 'meh'.

Now they completely control the narrative.

But I have only rarely heard anyone who liking the new-style presentations. It all seems fake with the same woolly business talk (everything is an 'experience' now, 'app experiences', etc.).

I certainly long back for the days where anything could happen, Jobs would work to convince the audience and Bertrand Serlet would come on and troll Microsoft.

Currently streaming the presentation, but it has mostly gone to the background as it's so insanely boring.

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bombcar 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The audience was the only thing they couldn't control - so they got rid of the audience.

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lwkl 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Their audience are no longer the people in the room. The audience is the people watching the video or livestream which is great because that means you don't need thousands of dollars and an invite to go to WWDC.

	▲	microtonal 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		When the keynotes still had audiences there was also a livestream. Here, have a WWDC 2007 for kicks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubm2dYzoDW8

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llm_nerd 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>I think it is more that axing the audience feedback was convenient for them. In the old WWDC keynotes they had to get the audience to 'wow' and applaud.

I feel like I'm about to tell you there is no Santa or something, but did you really not know that Apple always stuffed audiences with Apple employees? Of the remainder it both through intentional and natural selection leaned towards sycophants. Did you really think the roaring response were organic feedback?

It was always controlled. Personally I'm happy to be done with the on-cue tumultuous cheering and whooping.

>But I have only rarely heard anyone who liking the new-style presentations

Well I have only rarely heard anyone who liked the slow, plodding old-style presentation. So...

But yes, HN is overwhelming filled with angry, shakes-fist-at-clouds "it ain't like the olden days!" sorts now. So if you really think this place represents the norm...

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adjejmxbdjdn 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Did you really think the roaring response were organic feedback? It was always controlled. Personally I'm happy to be done with the on-cue tumultuous cheering and whooping.

While I agree with you, I think even the controlled audience mattered.

The audience, even if they were largely Apple employees + journalists, did not know what was gonna be revealed. And there weren’t literal cue cards.

So you would never see the audience boo, but there were several situations where the Apple presenters expected cheering but got polite clapping instead, or cheering which was very evidently just the sycophantic employees (or the team that worked on something).

When something was truly exciting, the cheering reflected that in a way it didn’t when the announcement wasn’t.

Two very different examples of this were the Snow Leopard reveal, where the excitement could be felt throughout the presentation, culminating with the $29 price, and the iPhone reveal with the 3 devices in 1 gimmick.

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microtonal 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

but did you really not know that Apple always stuffed audiences with Apple employees?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqPrUmVz-o

(Aside from clearly not an Apple employee, Jobs' way of taking the question is brilliant. Yes I know this was probably not the keynote, but it's a big, risky, filmed WWDC event.)

But yes, HN is overwhelming filled with angry, shakes-fist-at-clouds "it ain't like the olden days!" sorts now. So if you really think this place represents the norm...

Yes, let's resort to personal attacks. There are a lot of things that are better now. Apple Keynotes are not one of them.

	▲	llm_nerd 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You linked to a "fireside chat" with Steve Jobs, consultant, returning to a highly dysfunctional Apple. The video is almost 30 years ago. If that's your evidence to rebut me, lol. >Yes, let's resort to personal attacks You took that as a personal attack? That is incredibly weird. It was a general observation about the sort of perspectives that top HN, but not in the general world, or even general technology. You don't have to believe it. Like seriously, currently the top post to a discussion about Apple unveiling an array of software improvements is some guy whining and bitching about the presentation, whining that it isn't like the olden days.

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jimbokun 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Well now they don't even need to convince the employees and sycophants.