I've read many comments about the new MP looking like a trash can or ash tray but I highly doubt that those are what
inspired the Apple engineers to create the "iTube." The radical departure from the Mac Pro tower form factor may have
been imagined over a bottle of good French wine. Wasn't the new version of OS X codenamed Cabernet ?
If you look closely at this photo of a Japanese designed wine cooler sold by Le Noble of France, they may have a great
case for patent infringement. Doubt they've got the kind of cash that Samsung has to fight a multi country legal battle
costing billions of dollars.
Anyway, I don't see this as bad news for all of us using CustoMacs. It just means that we'll still be unable to afford a new MP
and all the pricey TB peripherals needed to connect hard drives etc. We should finally get better support for the functions
of the TB ports on GB and other compatible mobos. Even Crossfire and/or SLI gfx card setups may be possible in the near
future.We can always still find older G5 and Mac Pro cases to mod for that classic Apple form factor that looks really good
and is easily expandable and upgradeable.
As far as Tim Cook having anything to with this radical redesign, that is also highly unlikely. R&D and planning for this had
to start back as far as 2009 or 2010 when Steve was still the CEO. I'd imagine that he had some involvement in the design
of the cylinder shape of the MP as he always liked to come up with completely new concepts / designs that would get a lot
of attention for Apple and also create controversy. Look at the response to the "jelly bean" iMacs that came out in 1997.
To sum it all up, a completely new shape for the boxy rectangular desktop that has dominated PC design for over 30 years.
Eventually many other manufacturers of PCs and PC cases will try to imitate this even though Apple will sell more iPhones in
one day than Mac Pros in one or two years.