Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP, started introducing Display Ports into their products months before the new Macs were introduced, so I wouldn't go putting Apple on a pedestal, they're following not leading. You just didn't hear much of an outcry, because the other manufacturers continued to include VGA/DVI/HDMI as options. So great news for Display Port, and the business/conference/IT guys will start to acquire the Display Port cables as more and more PC people start asking for them. But even when that happens, Apple's decision to go with a physically proprietary Display Port leaves Mac users in the dust. Yeah thanks Apple, think different, not think stupid.
Yes, this is the scenario that I am imagining. That in a few years time the DisplayPort standard ( which sounds really good ) will be quite common, but all based on the standard size connector, not the mini version. So, in someone else's office, someone will probably be able to produce an adapter from their equipment to DisplayPort, but not for mini DisplayPort. And, since the mini DisplayPort on the Macbook is very close to the USB port, there will need to be a bit of cable too. In business, you will always be able to tell the Mac guy by the bulge in his trousers. ( DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort << this is the stupid bit )
Yes, this is the scenario that I am imagining. That in a few years time the DisplayPort standard ( which sounds really good ) will be quite common, but all based on the standard size connector, not the mini version. So, in someone else's office, someone will probably be able to produce an adapter from their equipment to DisplayPort, but not for mini DisplayPort. And, since the mini DisplayPort on the Macbook is very close to the USB port, there will need to be a bit of cable too. In business, you will always be able to tell the Mac guy by the bulge in his trousers. ( DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort )
The notebook market overall is moving to smaller and lighter. Their is no reason why they wouldn't use the mini- DP port.
Apple moved it's entire line to USB before anyone else widely adopted it. PC manufacturers continued to support parallel ports for years afterward.
The notebook market overall is moving to smaller and lighter. Their is no reason why they wouldn't use the mini- DP port.
Apple moved it's entire line to USB before anyone else widely adopted it. PC manufacturers continued to support parallel ports for years afterward.
Apple have now created a competition against a good standard that was already gathering momentum. Either Apple will have to move to the standard DisplayPort connector in future Macs, or Dell, Toshiba, Sony and HP, which already use the standard, will have to switch to Apple's non-standard connector size. Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
Video and Display... lacked the capacity to drive a 30" resolution display despite having a DVI connector with the pins available. Resolutions lower than 30" only require single-link DVI...
30" is not a resolution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
The new MacBooks now have the best of both worlds: a small connector and the capacity to handle very high resolution. Somewhat ironically, the converter for adapting the MacBook's Mini DisplayPort for use with the dual-link DVI signal required by the 30" Cinema Display not only costs $99, but it's not even available for purchase yet.
And it also appears to require both the Mini DisplayPort and a free USB port -- i.e., if it can be used with the MacBook Air, you have no more USB ports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
... although the "Mini DisplayPort" used by Apple isn't common (it appears Apple invented it)...
Mini DisplayPort is a proposal working its way into the DisplayPort standard. Without any additional details, I would equate Apple's implementation of Mini DisplayPort with the pre-N routers of a few years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
There are no converter boxes for turning DVI signals from a Mac mini or Mac Pro into DisplayPort, which uses not just different physical wiring but an entirely different signaling protocol.
The Apple TV will likely retain HDMI rather than mini DisplayPort, as it doesn't need to drive display resolutions higher than HDTV's 1920x1080, which HDMI has no problem doing.
But then Apple won't be able to sell you a $30 adapter... I think the Mac Mini will also get Mini DisplayPort.
Does this mean that over time if you buy an Apple you will be forced to use their shitty glass screens? What the fuck is up with Apple lately, they becoming worse than Microsoft.
Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
I recommend staying away from generalizations. I am not sure about the UK, or you are working with IT teams that are not particularly flexible, but I have observed different trends with the companies I am working with, particularly...
- IT used to dictate OS platforms and supported hardware for PC's & mobile devices. I have seen the reverse trend. Users (especially top-down) now dictate which platform they choose & require support for. I guess this includes cables... Business users don't care what IT thinks anyway
- The myth of Windows OS-based platforms to reduce TCO (Total cost of ownership) has unravelled. I haven't seen anybody dare to push that argument anymore. Same BS as they used for build versus buy in enterprise software.
- IT itself has become more Mac friendly; I have yet to see anybody in our (12,000 sf) data center with a PC laptop. Everybody uses MB's/MBP's to manage servers, networks, telecom and remote support. There is simply no better machine to support a multi-OS environment.
Again, my personal observations, particularly mid-size companies...
Does this mean that over time if you buy an Apple you will be forced to use their shitty glass screens? What the fuck is up with Apple lately, they becoming worse than Microsoft.
Worse than Microsoft? While I prefer matte screens myself, could you point out which other PC maker offers laptops with matte or glossy screens?
Can anyone let us know if the new MB/MBP have the bloop/bleep problem with audio recent MBP and iMacs have had? (The issue is after playing a sound, an annoying tone will continue to play after the sound stops until a new sound is made.)
I find the tones really bothersome when using headphones or through my stereo, and I'm hoping that problem doesn't continue into the new machines.
Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP, started introducing Display Ports into their products months before the new Macs were introduced, so I wouldn't go putting Apple on a pedestal, they're following not leading. ...
I was talking about history really, not the specifics of this latest implementation.
Apple has always "led the way" with new standards and basically promoted the heck out of them. WinTel companies have historically failed to pick up anything new, and when they have, they have left the old ports right beside them. It's the laziness of manufacturers that just put every port known on the sides of their devices that are actually the problem. Give people an "easy way out" and the ability to use their ancient equipment ten years after it's out of date, and they will.
That's not how you get a new standard adopted. That's why multi-thousand dollar projectors still have VGA ports as their main (or only!) input ten years after VGA was a standard of any real usefulness. It's this very fracturing of standards, prevalent in the non-Apple PC world that causes all the problems.
Making a standard work requires it to be open, and for everyone to get behind it and push. Apples ADC connector could have been the display port of it's day, but WinTel manufacturers chose to completely ignore it.
Now Apple has (for the second time in recent memory):
- Got behind the biggest, most open video connector standard of the day
- Developed it further with their own engineers and given that work back to the community
Yet they get hassled to death over it before the products are even hardly for sale!
I think people are being ungrateful, short-sighted idiots about this just as they were with all Apple's previous attempts to get the WinTel manufacturers on board with *some* kind of standard.
It's like the FireWire/USB choice they had to make in the recent MacBook. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
It's gonna get pretty ugly in a year or so when Apple is the only computer maker to offer a DisplayPort interface. Probably no other computer manufacturer will use it just to spite Apple. It's the proverbial "Don't leave me hanging." But, of course, Apple users will be left "hanging" bareass to the wind. DisplayPort may be great and all that, but Apple seems to like going on it's own path regardless of the fact that Windows PC manufacturers are going to go the cheapest way possible.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use. I guess DisplayPort will be Apple's SCSI connector for displays. And we know how well SCSI went over for consumer hard drives.
Apple have now created a competition against a good standard that was already gathering momentum. Either Apple will have to move to the standard DisplayPort connector in future Macs, or Dell, Toshiba, Sony and HP, which already use the standard, will have to switch to Apple's non-standard connector size. Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
There are various port sizes between USB and Firewire. The different sizes don't compete directly with each other, they provide differing features.
Full size DP and miniDP won't compete against each other. They are the same standard and their will be connectors that will fit either. Just as their are connectors that run from 4 pin Firewire to 6 pin Firewire.
It's gonna get pretty ugly in a year or so when Apple is the only computer maker to offer a DisplayPort interface. Probably no other computer manufacturer will use it just to spite Apple. It's the proverbial "Don't leave me hanging." But, of course, Apple users will be left "hanging" bareass to the wind. DisplayPort may be great and all that, but Apple seems to like going on it's own path regardless of the fact that Windows PC manufacturers are going to go the cheapest way possible.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use. I guess DisplayPort will be Apple's SCSI connector for displays. And we know how well SCSI went over for consumer hard drives.
Dell and HP have already begun to support Display Port.
Display Port is the cheapest way possible. Its free.
No Apple did not invent Display Port. Its a VESA standard. The mini port is Apples creation and has not been officially made apart of the standard. But their is no reason why it could not be.
Just for your information, I checked on the vesa site. The full-sized display-port connector is 4 cm wide (I let you convert that in inches if you need).
With a full-sized display port, you wouldn't get neither USB nor Ethernet. That's as simple as that.
That's the size of a internal circuit-board connection. The width of the cut-out required for an external device connection, according to the 238 page spec that I have, is 17.10 ± 0.10 mm.
There is ample room for the standard version. The only reason Apple can have for using this is to attempt to close off the platform. Again.
I love Apple's products, hard and soft, but sometimes their decisions are so mule-headed, I just want to scream!
It's gonna get pretty ugly in a year or so when Apple is the only computer maker to offer a DisplayPort interface. Probably no other computer manufacturer will use it just to spite Apple. It's the proverbial "Don't leave me hanging." But, of course, Apple users will be left "hanging" bareass to the wind. DisplayPort may be great and all that, but Apple seems to like going on it's own path regardless of the fact that Windows PC manufacturers are going to go the cheapest way possible.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use. I guess DisplayPort will be Apple's SCSI connector for displays. And we know how well SCSI went over for consumer hard drives.
Not sure about that. In the laptop business, Apple is a big player, not a small one. The fastest growth in market share on computers with by far the highest margins in the industry. They are the envy of the industry.
And the outlook even in bad economic times favors Apple, because they produce products that people want to buy.
Who would have thought that an Apple proprietary connector would become standard fare in cars and whole house audio systems? Mac sales won't go the dramatic way of the iPod, but the accessory market has long recognized that the most money is made with Apple add-on goodies...
That's the size of a internal circuit-board connection. The width of the cut-out required for an external device connection, according to the 238 page spec that I have, is 17.10 ± 0.10 mm.
There is ample room for the standard version. The only reason Apple can have for using this is to attempt to close off the platform. Again.
I love Apple's products, hard and soft, but sometimes their decisions are so mule-headed, I just want to scream!
You are being too short sighted. There may not be room in their future products.
In the standard business discussion, everyone is around a table with their windows PCs and there's a projector and they can ALWAYS connect - no cables needed.
P.
Funny, and why do almost all projectors are still VGA-only (or at least the cable running from the ceiling-mounted projector to the presenter's table is VGA-only)? Because almost all Windows laptops still have only VGA (at least the compact business-type laptops). And why do almost all Windows laptops still have only VGA? Because almost all projectors only have VGA...
What a way to advance technology. I rather carry a DVI-to-VGA adaptor with me than be part of that mediocrity (and enjoy digital display quality whenever my laptop is connected to a real display not a projector). Maybe in five years all LCDs will have a DisplayPort connector but projectors will only have cought up with DVI (or they will still be at VGA).
And it also appears to require both the Mini DisplayPort and a free USB port -- i.e., if it can be used with the MacBook Air, you have no more USB ports.
This is likely incorrect. The USB connection is for the hub in the monitor.
You are being too short sighted. There may not be room in their future products.
What? Of course there's room. The engineers can make room, but only if management let them.
DisplayPort is an engineering standard. It's been drawn up by a consortium of interests including Apple themselves, Intel, AMD (and therefore ATI), NVidia, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Samsung, Foxconn, Molex and Kawasaki. Apple have had the option to inter-operate with the rest of the industry but instead they have chosen to wall themselves and their users away.
In five years time, it's likely that DisplayPort will be as common as DVI, while Mini DisplayPort will be as rare as ADC.
The only hope is that Apple don't have any form of patent attached to their version. If they do then 3rd party adapters will be very thin on the ground.
Apple have had the option to inter-operate with the rest of the industry but instead they have chosen to wall themselves and their users away.
In five years time, it's likely that DisplayPort will be as common as DVI, while Mini DisplayPort will be as rare as ADC.
The only hope is that Apple don't have any form of patent attached to their version. If they do then 3rd party adapters will be very thin on the ground.
You use a lot of speculation to come to your conclusion.
The point of DP is to be an open standard. To patent any part of it is counter productive and I'm sure violates the agreement to use the standard. Apple supports many open standards.
The point of open standards is to allow anyone to be free to use the mini-port and third parties will be free to make full to mini connectors.
You use a lot of speculation to come to your conclusion.
The point of DP is to be an open standard. To patent any part of it is counter productive and I'm sure violates the agreement to use the standard. Apple supports many open standards.
The point of open standards is to allow anyone to be free to use the mini-port and third parties will be free to make full to mini connectors.
Is mini Display Port part of the standard yet?
There is a bit of precedence. As it is, there aren't any cables with mini-DVI on one end, you have to buy one of Apple's dongle adapters and connect it to a cable with full DVI connectors. Mini-DVI is a connector that only Apple uses as far as I can tell.
Comments
Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP, started introducing Display Ports into their products months before the new Macs were introduced, so I wouldn't go putting Apple on a pedestal, they're following not leading. You just didn't hear much of an outcry, because the other manufacturers continued to include VGA/DVI/HDMI as options. So great news for Display Port, and the business/conference/IT guys will start to acquire the Display Port cables as more and more PC people start asking for them. But even when that happens, Apple's decision to go with a physically proprietary Display Port leaves Mac users in the dust. Yeah thanks Apple, think different, not think stupid.
Yes, this is the scenario that I am imagining. That in a few years time the DisplayPort standard ( which sounds really good ) will be quite common, but all based on the standard size connector, not the mini version. So, in someone else's office, someone will probably be able to produce an adapter from their equipment to DisplayPort, but not for mini DisplayPort. And, since the mini DisplayPort on the Macbook is very close to the USB port, there will need to be a bit of cable too. In business, you will always be able to tell the Mac guy by the bulge in his trousers. ( DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort << this is the stupid bit )
Yes, this is the scenario that I am imagining. That in a few years time the DisplayPort standard ( which sounds really good ) will be quite common, but all based on the standard size connector, not the mini version. So, in someone else's office, someone will probably be able to produce an adapter from their equipment to DisplayPort, but not for mini DisplayPort. And, since the mini DisplayPort on the Macbook is very close to the USB port, there will need to be a bit of cable too. In business, you will always be able to tell the Mac guy by the bulge in his trousers. ( DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort )
The notebook market overall is moving to smaller and lighter. Their is no reason why they wouldn't use the mini- DP port.
Apple moved it's entire line to USB before anyone else widely adopted it. PC manufacturers continued to support parallel ports for years afterward.
The notebook market overall is moving to smaller and lighter. Their is no reason why they wouldn't use the mini- DP port.
Apple moved it's entire line to USB before anyone else widely adopted it. PC manufacturers continued to support parallel ports for years afterward.
Apple have now created a competition against a good standard that was already gathering momentum. Either Apple will have to move to the standard DisplayPort connector in future Macs, or Dell, Toshiba, Sony and HP, which already use the standard, will have to switch to Apple's non-standard connector size. Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
Video and Display... lacked the capacity to drive a 30" resolution display despite having a DVI connector with the pins available. Resolutions lower than 30" only require single-link DVI...
30" is not a resolution.
The new MacBooks now have the best of both worlds: a small connector and the capacity to handle very high resolution. Somewhat ironically, the converter for adapting the MacBook's Mini DisplayPort for use with the dual-link DVI signal required by the 30" Cinema Display not only costs $99, but it's not even available for purchase yet.
And it also appears to require both the Mini DisplayPort and a free USB port -- i.e., if it can be used with the MacBook Air, you have no more USB ports.
... although the "Mini DisplayPort" used by Apple isn't common (it appears Apple invented it)...
Mini DisplayPort is a proposal working its way into the DisplayPort standard. Without any additional details, I would equate Apple's implementation of Mini DisplayPort with the pre-N routers of a few years ago.
There are no converter boxes for turning DVI signals from a Mac mini or Mac Pro into DisplayPort, which uses not just different physical wiring but an entirely different signaling protocol.
And here I thought AppleInsider was claiming that Mini DisplayPort was "backwardly compatible with VGA, DVI, and dual-link DVI..."
The Apple TV will likely retain HDMI rather than mini DisplayPort, as it doesn't need to drive display resolutions higher than HDTV's 1920x1080, which HDMI has no problem doing.
But then Apple won't be able to sell you a $30 adapter... I think the Mac Mini will also get Mini DisplayPort.
Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
I recommend staying away from generalizations. I am not sure about the UK, or you are working with IT teams that are not particularly flexible, but I have observed different trends with the companies I am working with, particularly...
- IT used to dictate OS platforms and supported hardware for PC's & mobile devices. I have seen the reverse trend. Users (especially top-down) now dictate which platform they choose & require support for. I guess this includes cables... Business users don't care what IT thinks anyway
- The myth of Windows OS-based platforms to reduce TCO (Total cost of ownership) has unravelled. I haven't seen anybody dare to push that argument anymore. Same BS as they used for build versus buy in enterprise software.
- IT itself has become more Mac friendly; I have yet to see anybody in our (12,000 sf) data center with a PC laptop. Everybody uses MB's/MBP's to manage servers, networks, telecom and remote support. There is simply no better machine to support a multi-OS environment.
Again, my personal observations, particularly mid-size companies...
Does this mean that over time if you buy an Apple you will be forced to use their shitty glass screens? What the fuck is up with Apple lately, they becoming worse than Microsoft.
Worse than Microsoft? While I prefer matte screens myself, could you point out which other PC maker offers laptops with matte or glossy screens?
I find the tones really bothersome when using headphones or through my stereo, and I'm hoping that problem doesn't continue into the new machines.
Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP, started introducing Display Ports into their products months before the new Macs were introduced, so I wouldn't go putting Apple on a pedestal, they're following not leading. ...
I was talking about history really, not the specifics of this latest implementation.
Apple has always "led the way" with new standards and basically promoted the heck out of them. WinTel companies have historically failed to pick up anything new, and when they have, they have left the old ports right beside them. It's the laziness of manufacturers that just put every port known on the sides of their devices that are actually the problem. Give people an "easy way out" and the ability to use their ancient equipment ten years after it's out of date, and they will.
That's not how you get a new standard adopted. That's why multi-thousand dollar projectors still have VGA ports as their main (or only!) input ten years after VGA was a standard of any real usefulness. It's this very fracturing of standards, prevalent in the non-Apple PC world that causes all the problems.
Making a standard work requires it to be open, and for everyone to get behind it and push. Apples ADC connector could have been the display port of it's day, but WinTel manufacturers chose to completely ignore it.
Now Apple has (for the second time in recent memory):
- Got behind the biggest, most open video connector standard of the day
- Developed it further with their own engineers and given that work back to the community
Yet they get hassled to death over it before the products are even hardly for sale!
I think people are being ungrateful, short-sighted idiots about this just as they were with all Apple's previous attempts to get the WinTel manufacturers on board with *some* kind of standard.
It's like the FireWire/USB choice they had to make in the recent MacBook. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use.
Apple have now created a competition against a good standard that was already gathering momentum. Either Apple will have to move to the standard DisplayPort connector in future Macs, or Dell, Toshiba, Sony and HP, which already use the standard, will have to switch to Apple's non-standard connector size. Businesses will evolve to one of these, not both, and IT departments are already anti-mac.
There are various port sizes between USB and Firewire. The different sizes don't compete directly with each other, they provide differing features.
Full size DP and miniDP won't compete against each other. They are the same standard and their will be connectors that will fit either. Just as their are connectors that run from 4 pin Firewire to 6 pin Firewire.
It's gonna get pretty ugly in a year or so when Apple is the only computer maker to offer a DisplayPort interface. Probably no other computer manufacturer will use it just to spite Apple.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use.
Dell and HP have already begun to support Display Port.
Display Port is the cheapest way possible. Its free.
No Apple did not invent Display Port. Its a VESA standard. The mini port is Apples creation and has not been officially made apart of the standard. But their is no reason why it could not be.
Just for your information, I checked on the vesa site. The full-sized display-port connector is 4 cm wide (I let you convert that in inches if you need).
With a full-sized display port, you wouldn't get neither USB nor Ethernet. That's as simple as that.
That's the size of a internal circuit-board connection. The width of the cut-out required for an external device connection, according to the 238 page spec that I have, is 17.10 ± 0.10 mm.
There is ample room for the standard version. The only reason Apple can have for using this is to attempt to close off the platform. Again.
I love Apple's products, hard and soft, but sometimes their decisions are so mule-headed, I just want to scream!
It's gonna get pretty ugly in a year or so when Apple is the only computer maker to offer a DisplayPort interface. Probably no other computer manufacturer will use it just to spite Apple.
Did they say that Apple invented the DisplayPort? All Microsoft has to do is get wind of that and that will be the end of DisplayPort for any Windows use.
Not sure about that. In the laptop business, Apple is a big player, not a small one. The fastest growth in market share on computers with by far the highest margins in the industry. They are the envy of the industry.
And the outlook even in bad economic times favors Apple, because they produce products that people want to buy.
Who would have thought that an Apple proprietary connector would become standard fare in cars and whole house audio systems? Mac sales won't go the dramatic way of the iPod, but the accessory market has long recognized that the most money is made with Apple add-on goodies...
That's the size of a internal circuit-board connection. The width of the cut-out required for an external device connection, according to the 238 page spec that I have, is 17.10 ± 0.10 mm.
There is ample room for the standard version. The only reason Apple can have for using this is to attempt to close off the platform. Again.
I love Apple's products, hard and soft, but sometimes their decisions are so mule-headed, I just want to scream!
You are being too short sighted. There may not be room in their future products.
In the standard business discussion, everyone is around a table with their windows PCs and there's a projector and they can ALWAYS connect - no cables needed.
P.
Funny, and why do almost all projectors are still VGA-only (or at least the cable running from the ceiling-mounted projector to the presenter's table is VGA-only)? Because almost all Windows laptops still have only VGA (at least the compact business-type laptops). And why do almost all Windows laptops still have only VGA? Because almost all projectors only have VGA...
What a way to advance technology. I rather carry a DVI-to-VGA adaptor with me than be part of that mediocrity (and enjoy digital display quality whenever my laptop is connected to a real display not a projector). Maybe in five years all LCDs will have a DisplayPort connector but projectors will only have cought up with DVI (or they will still be at VGA).
And it also appears to require both the Mini DisplayPort and a free USB port -- i.e., if it can be used with the MacBook Air, you have no more USB ports.
This is likely incorrect. The USB connection is for the hub in the monitor.
You are being too short sighted. There may not be room in their future products.
What? Of course there's room. The engineers can make room, but only if management let them.
DisplayPort is an engineering standard. It's been drawn up by a consortium of interests including Apple themselves, Intel, AMD (and therefore ATI), NVidia, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Samsung, Foxconn, Molex and Kawasaki. Apple have had the option to inter-operate with the rest of the industry but instead they have chosen to wall themselves and their users away.
In five years time, it's likely that DisplayPort will be as common as DVI, while Mini DisplayPort will be as rare as ADC.
The only hope is that Apple don't have any form of patent attached to their version. If they do then 3rd party adapters will be very thin on the ground.
Apple have had the option to inter-operate with the rest of the industry but instead they have chosen to wall themselves and their users away.
In five years time, it's likely that DisplayPort will be as common as DVI, while Mini DisplayPort will be as rare as ADC.
The only hope is that Apple don't have any form of patent attached to their version. If they do then 3rd party adapters will be very thin on the ground.
You use a lot of speculation to come to your conclusion.
The point of DP is to be an open standard. To patent any part of it is counter productive and I'm sure violates the agreement to use the standard. Apple supports many open standards.
The point of open standards is to allow anyone to be free to use the mini-port and third parties will be free to make full to mini connectors.
You use a lot of speculation to come to your conclusion.
The point of DP is to be an open standard. To patent any part of it is counter productive and I'm sure violates the agreement to use the standard. Apple supports many open standards.
The point of open standards is to allow anyone to be free to use the mini-port and third parties will be free to make full to mini connectors.
Is mini Display Port part of the standard yet?
There is a bit of precedence. As it is, there aren't any cables with mini-DVI on one end, you have to buy one of Apple's dongle adapters and connect it to a cable with full DVI connectors. Mini-DVI is a connector that only Apple uses as far as I can tell.