Tikkabik

Without actually being in San Francisco this week at WWDC, I've talked with numerous individuals who have; I've sought their opinions and I've scoured over every news release and tech spec and image and QuickTime movie and media nugget I can find.

I know there's been a lot of comments thrown back and forth about the new appearance of the Power Mac G5. Some people think it's ugly. Some people think it's beautiful. Some have likened it to a cheese grater; others have called it an exercise in Bauhaus-style minimalism.

I just think it's frickin' beautiful, myself.

Apple has this design theme apparent throughout the product line where form follows function. What's jarring to some about the Power Mac G5 is just hard Apple has drawn that line. Jonathan Ive at Apple has explained that they focused a lot of effort to minimize every aspect of the box's design to what was absolutely necessary in terms of functionality, while similarly trying to make it easy to work on and use.

From what I've seen, I think they've succeeded admirably without losing what makes an Apple product uniquely an Apple product. There are little embellishments, like integrating power couplings into the fan design itself so there are no bare wires hanging out inside the case, or imprinting instructions for how to install RAM on the inside of the case, that show a user-centric philosophy.

Anyone who's a fan of Bang & Olufsen's industrial design needs absolutely no convincing of the truth of this tenet: Sometimes a minimal design is the most beautiful and effective.