What I’m Most Excited About from the WWDC 2015 Keynote

Hint: It’s not Watch 2.0. It’s not music. It’s not even iOS 9.

The announcement that made me pound my fist in the air is Metal, the new underlying graphics framework in OS X. Metal sounds to me like Apple’s answer to Microsoft’s DirectX. The idea of a 50% speed boost on rendering and an added 40% efficiency means that my 7 year old Mac Pro should theoretically be able to run better with the same hardware. (Side note: If your Mac can run Yosemite, it should work with El Capitan.) Added to the fact that Adobe is working with Apple to deliver performance boosts on After Effects (an 8x improvement in AE rendering) and I’m totally in. Please, Adobe, perform these optimizations on Flash.

I’m pleased that Apple is taking time to refine their mobile and desktop operating systems. I don’t need new features – I need software that runs smoothly, with the requisite bug fixes. I’m just wondering how much folks running Macs with integrated graphics will benefit.

Other highlights for me from this year’s WWDC:

1) smaller over-the-air installer for iOS9 (1.3GB vs 4.6GB)
2) split screen viewing in the iPad (finally)
3) Swift is now open source

What about you? What are some of the more noteworthy announcements that tickled your fancy at this year’s WWDC keynote?

-Krishna