back to article Apple fans may think they can't get viruses but Cupertino disagrees: WWDC 2020 dev summit goes online-only

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June will become a World Wide Web-only event due to health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, in a statement on its website, the comms-and-computers biz characterized the shift to an online format as an opportunity for community engagement rather than a concession to …

  1. Phil Endecott

    > Another unanswered question is whether Apple will make all its content available as streaming video or only some of it? And will anyone be able to view the developer-oriented sessions, or will certain presentations be offered only to registered developers?

    Previously videos of all the presentations have been available to anyone, I think.

    I’m not sure how long after the event they appeared though.

    See e.g. https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc2019/

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Ah thanks, yeah, we've watched back some of the previous WWDC content online in the past. We'll mention that in the article.

      C.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Phil Endecott

        Remember to boo when they announced that just the stand for a new monitor would cost a thousand dollars?

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Conferences and summits need to get with the program

    Entire countries are going into lockdown, other countries are shutting down the entire educational system, come on, isn't it time for all conferences and summits to declare forfeit and stop pretending that they can happen ?

    Anything scheduled before July 2020 should right now acknowledge that they are cancelled and will find out if they can happen in Q3 or Q4 or next year.

    Nobody is going to go anywhere with 500 other people at this point in time for the foreseeable future.

    Hell, I was in a supermarket a few hours ago and the cheese aisles looked like the aftermath of a war zone. The cheese. I know it's France but come on, people, you don't stock up on cheese, you plunder the canned goods and maybe the chips. Don't forget the toilet paper. At the checkout the family in front of me had no less than 5 extra-large bags.

    If this is the Coronacalypse, these people are all going to die because they bought chips instead of canned meat and veggies.

    Okay, I admit, I'm exaggerating, but you didn't see the state of those aisles. I was wandering through in a daze when I spotted an employee. I went over to her and I asked "Did a war happen ?". Completely unfazed, and obviously a bit tired, she answered straight back "Yep. It's been like that all day. At one point, we could have just left the entire palette in the aisle, people were taking everything so quickly". She then told me that the aisles of canned foodstuffs were in even worse shape.

    It was true.

    So, summits ? Not happening. Period.

    1. Sam Adams the Dog

      Re: Conferences and summits need to get with the program

      Maybe we need to have live summits to reduce the lines at the supermarkets.

    2. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Conferences and summits need to get with the program

      I believe I am going to be infected by the virus at some point so I'm kind of wishing to get on with it and get it done. I have a theatre event tomorrow night, booked many weeks ago. Maybe that will do it.

      If not I'm going by train to London for an event at Alexandra Palace this month. I'll self isolate and then I'll be back stronger.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Conferences and summits need to get with the program

        Or be connected to be a ventilator, if one can be found for you.

        Don't worry, Johnson says he's going to find some more for everyone literally at a time of peak worldwide demand.

  3. Claverhouse
    Happy

    Apple charged developers $1,600 to attend its in-person event last year and about 6,000 did so. A virtual event seems as if it should cost less.

    You're forgetting the extra cost of Apple Pro Electricity which has to be passed on to users.

  4. macjules

    Things are looking up!

    They actually responded to you?

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Gimp

      Re: Things are looking up!

      Some intern who didn’t read the memo. I’m sure they are no longer working at Apple.

  5. Psmo
    Mushroom

    It's the end of the world as we know it!

    Dogs and cats living together! Rich people getting sick!

    Apple media teams responding to the register!

    Surely these are the end of times!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I confidently predict

    That Apple will enable the radio function on older iPhones if the end times happens.

    They do actually have the chip but Apple are waiting until EOL on the iOS version, so impact will be minimal.

    Reception would suck but this may not be a problem as the FM transmitters for emergency use >5* as powerful

    as normal FM broadcast. Supposedly these have their own backup supply for >2 weeks!

    1. Psmo

      Re: I confidently predict

      Ummm.... and how would they distribute the update?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Any computer can get a virus

    All it needs is a service running as root/admin with an exploit or a user stupid enough to allow priviledge escalation. However MacOS and iOS with their *nix roots (along with linux, BSD etc) are a bit more immune to this than Windows due to the clear *nix user+group priviledge demarcation and not requiring admin privs to install non trivial software - eg you can install an entire RDBMS + libraries without ever touching root. Good luck doing that on Windows and not having to enter the admin password half a dozen times plus the inevitable reboot.

  8. fidodogbreath

    The Register cast these questions into Apple's media relations void and, to our surprise, received a reply. But it contained no new information.

    Baby steps...

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