I watched the WWDC keynote today via QuickTime streaming. I won’t do the rundown that I used to do (and give minute by minute impressions/commentary) but I’ll share my thoughts on two things I find most interesting. Before I begin, let me say that the new Apple.com is really spiffy. Lot of Javascript-y/DHTML goodness. I’m impressed. Now, to my points:

Safari on Windows is a good thing for Mac users

I know the initial reaction to this statement from most people was that it didn’t make any sense. As far as I’m concerned, John Gruber and Joel Spolskey are the only two that got it right. My first reaction is that this is great for Safari users. Now there’s no excuse not to support Safari. Most of the educational and financial institutions that I’ve dealt with encourage me to use WinIE and sometimes Firefox whenever I logged on. It always irked me because Safari worked perfectly nearly all of the time. It really irked me when they wouldn’t even let me try to use Safari. Now whoever does their software can test in Safari without having to buy a Mac.

Sure, some people are saying that Apple gets ad revenue from Google. If that’s so, then it’s good for Apple. If it can kill off some of the pop-ups telling me to use IE, it’s a good thing for me.

Subnote: Web standards are a good thing for Apple because standardized web apps support Macs. Promoting web standards on Windows through Safari directly makes the Safari experience on the Mac better. I’ve got a dozen more sub points to argue that Apple is releasing Windows software to make things better for Mac users.

Making web apps for the iPhone is a great idea

Dashboard has already proven that the time for small web apps is here. The technology is robust enough to do some pretty amazing things. The Dashboard API/plugin technology also lets savvy developers extend their widgets is some really nifty ways. The technology is already proven.

Developers have been clamoring for an iPhone SDK. SDKs with frameworks and whatnot are hard to develop. Leveraging the web is easy. The iPhone is a set device. It’s very easy for designers/programmers to put something together that works on every iPhone because every iPhone will be running the same software (unlike the crazy world of web development). Better still, it’s exceptionally easy to test, anyone can do it, and Apple has already created all of the necessary tools (hello, Dashcode).

Making the web apps part of iPhone’s web browser is a bad idea

All of the good will that could have been generated from leveraging the web is lost when you realize that it really is the web. Dashboard works by hiding the browser. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for Apple to make this work right. Imagine this:

• A web designer makes an iPhone web app. Inside the HEAD element is some special meta tags made for the iPhone.
• A user navigates to the web app using iPhone Safari. The iPhone asks the user if s/he would like to run the app in Safari or install it. The user decides to install it.
• The iPhone adds the meta data to a small database. The meta data includes general information such as the name of the application, the URL of its location, and the URL to an icon image.
• The user can then navigate to a special “Apps” portal that lists all of the web apps they have installed. The icons are downloaded if they aren’t already cached and displayed just like normal applications.
• The user clicks on one of the apps. Safari opens to the page on which the app is hosted.

Suddenly, the web apps are kinda like 1st class citizens. Sure, they sit in coach, but it’s still a much better experience.

While I’m at it, Dashboard has shown that data can be bridged through to Javascript. Apple could produce a few little bits of code to allow access to information such as iPhone contacts and whatnot. Of course, this presents security issues but it’s an idea.