WWDC 2013 was the best WWDC that I've been to in a long time (and I think this was the thirteenth one for me). Unlike previous years there seemed to be a good mix of real technical content that benefited me, and the vibes around OS X were all very positive. The attendees were super respectful to each other (remember when folks would leave piles of trash on the floor?) and so were the folks working the floor. It was a good year.

So without violating my NDA, here are the highlights as I saw it:

The labs were super useful this time around

In previous years whenever I'd visit the labs I always seemed to get the runaround and would come away with more questions than answers. Not this year though - the couple of times that I went down to the labs I was able to get all the info I was after, and even got a nice overview about some Core Image details that I wasn't asking about but will certainly come in handy for the future.

Ten years

Apple is going to let OS X be itself, and let iOS do the same. Multiple times during the keynote we heard an exec say "ten years" — in reference to needing a new case design for the Mac Pro or in coming up with names for OS X. This is awesome news for Mac developers and what we've been wanting to hear for a long time now. Apple still cares about the Mac and you really felt like they meant it this year. From the session content to talking with employees about OS X issues to parity between new frameworks introduced on iOS and OS X- the Mac is still getting a lot of love down in Cupertino.

I got a bunch of my wishes

In my What I'd Like to See at WWDC 2013 post I mentioned a bunch of things that I was hoping for. I won't get into details (NDA) but it looks like I got a little over half of what I wanted. Awesome.

Female Attendance++

I don't want to make a big deal about this, but it does at least deserve a mention (especially if you contrast it with what was going on at E3 the same week). If felt like there were at least three times as many women in attendance a previous years (I doubt it was that high, but it seems to have reached some sort of critical mass that made it feel this way. I witnessed a line for the woman's bathroom for the first time at WWDC!). Everyone was respectful and professional. It was nice, and I can't help but feel like we passed some corner as a community.

I have no complaints

That really says it all I think. From everything they added to the new OSs to the way the show was run - it was all good. You'll hear no complaints from me about anything this year, which I think might be a first.