Nice finger wagging there. Honestly, I've embraced more changes than you even realize existed unless you took a course in ancient computing. So your comments do come off as thin, yes. The fact that the HDMI port and SD card are not important to you is not the standard of a pro machine. Again, Apple makes two nice laptop lines that do not have these options, if that is what you are looking for. But generally people buying a high end computer want as many of the likely ports they might encounter internally so as to avoid schlepping extra dongles. That is one of the reasons you pay the big $ for the MBP over the MB.
HDMI is still the video standard for TVs. People, that's professional, do on occasion make presentations and hook in their computer to a monitor. So to say workflows are changing, well, the presentation hasn't changed that much yet. And the SD card, it's just convenience. It costs Apple minimal and it just sits there patiently until it's needed. That is a lot more useful than shaving off a few mm of the case. I don't see how workflows are enhanced by a thinner case in that regard.
I have no bones about the move to USB-C. In fact I've been cheering it on here at MR. Glad to see it, but, in addition to the other ports like HDMI and SD slot and, yes, even a dedicated TB3/MDP port. A $2K pro machine with just 4 USB-C ports -- one which must be used for power unless, hey, you have a dongle -- is ridiculous, not tech forward.
And as for your Jobs history lesson -- He ditched the floppy on a brand new model first, the iMac. It was a couple years before the pro machines didn't have a floppy and by that time they really were obsolete because of CD-R. In fact, I owned the first PowerBook w/ no floppy. Fantastic machine.
Old Apple I/O - you mean like NuBus and SCSI? They were obsolete dinosaurs too when they were ditched. Nothing like HDMI today.
Optical drives - again Apple ditched them when it was clear there were better alternatives. As I write today, TV monitors still use HDMI almost exclusively, and cameras largely use SD, with a few top end DSLRs using CF. So yes, HDMI and SD are still relevant in 2016 unlike all the examples you chose to give.
Don't assume that just because I have a different opinion that I am finger wagging. And if I am, I'm only finger wagging because I find all of the endless complaining that people do here these days tiresome. I'm not talking about you in particular, of course, but you would honestly think that it was the end of the world sometimes. I guess I just come all of this from a different angle because I am not someone who thinks of the MacBook Pro as a professional machine in any way. All of the people that I know who have MBP's are the furthest thing from professionals (some of who can barely use and troubleshoot the computer in the first place), and it's obvious to me that despite what Apple says, they aren't really catering to the Pro market anymore. It's completely clear to me at least, and I think that everything around here would be much better if people could realize that.
As for HDMI and projection, all of the times I've encountered this involved the use of the mDP and not HDMI, so perhaps I am incorrect about it's importance. And sure, these technologies are still relevant to you, but are they relevant to Apple? They are increasingly promoting an all wireless world, and they would rather you use AirPlay Mirroring to connect your Mac to your TV and not HDMI, just like they are ditching USB-A because they feel that there is a far better alternative in USB-C. Apple does seem to think that there are far better alternatives (to HDMI, SD card reader, etc.), even if you don't, which is why they are making these moves. And for that SD card? It might only have a minimal cost associated with it, but should Apple really be adding it if people don't use it very much? Most people are using photo services like iCloud Photos and Google Photos and such. And don't cameras have WiFI these days anyways? And again, I am not coming at this from the Pro angle either, because I am not convinced that this machine is geared towards actual pros. I mean, Apple is willing to slap the Pro moniker on an iPad that doesn't have file system access, so I don't think we can put any stock in the name.
Overall, I'm convinced that Apple looks at these ports the way that you looked at NuBus, SCSI, and ADB when they were ditched, like old dinosaurs. I think that the evidence is in their philosophy of the rMB. This is what they seem to think computing should be like in their view...for everyone. Keep in mind that tons of people in 2008 felt that the optical drive was still extremely relevant, but again, it wasn't to Apple because they, among other reasons, would rather promote their iTunes Movie rentals and sales.
Oh, and I just meant that the HDMI port and SD card reader were not important to me. I didn't mean to insinuate that they were not important to anyone. Even though I don't need all of the power that the MBP possesses, it's nice to have it at times, and I insist on a 15" display. So any other Apple notebook is really not my cup of tea. If Apple were to create a 15" rMB, I might consider it as I do all of my computing over the internet or wirelessly at the very least. I use the Cloud, backup wirelessly, transfer files via iMessage or email, etc, so all of these ports are not totally necessary for me, and I'd argue for most others these days.
