¶The Symbolic Mac Pro

http://daringfireball.net/2017/04/the_mac_pro_lives

So: only 30 percent of Mac users are in what Apple considers the pro market. Most of those use MacBook Pros (or other MacBooks). Most of those who use desktops use iMacs. None of this is a surprise, really — and this is exactly why so many users who depend on the Mac Pro have been deeply concerned about its future. For Apple to care about the Mac Pro, it requires Apple to care about a small number of users.

The Mac Pro isn’t going to disappear, which is finally a good news I can hear from Apple.

To be honest, I never really need a Mac Pro. Whether the Mac Pro lives or not should has nothing to do with me. However, I still have been quite sad and disappointed about Apple for a long time because of the 3-year-unchanged Mac Pro. It’s not just an expensive computer. For me, the Mac Pro is symbolic.

The Mac Pro isn’t about making money or “care about a small number of users”. It’s all about the people who use it. The programmers who compile huge softwares. The photographers who process large graphic and video files. The compositors who render film visual effects. Those are the ones who make Mac (and Apple) so cool. The Mac Pro is the flagship of all Macs. A flagship is the ship that carries the flag and raises the morale of all other ships. The Mac lineup without Mac Pro isn’t a cool lineup. And the Apple without Mac Pro isn’t a cool company.

I’ve been sad not because I’m a “pro user” and couldn’t get the power I need. I’ve been sad because Apple isn’t cool and special any more. Several years ago, Apple was still the company who made things for the “crazy” ones, the ones “who see things differently”, the ones “who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do”. Today, they just display some percentage numbers to show just how kind they are to still even care about “a small number of users”.

I really hope they can bring something back next year .