|
30 Days is a Long Time (4/9/98)
|
 
|
| | |
Meanwhile, Apple's trying really hard to weather out the storm until the Worldwide Developer Conference next month. While the natives grow more restless with each passing day, Apple is attempting to smooth over the increasingly-bumpy relationship with its programmers by insisting that its currently-murky software strategy will be revealed in detail at the WWDC. A press release claims that over the course of WWDC's five days, Steve Jobs and gang will shed light on all manner of Apple technologies, including WebObjects, ColorSync, Applescript, Quicktime, Rhapsody, and of course the Mac OS.
AtAT will not be attending the shindig that starts on May 11th for a number of reasons, including the facts that 1) we have no way to get to San Jose, 2) we're not developers, and 3) there's no way on earth we could afford to shell out the $1045 attendance fee. (The new developer program costs aren't the only indication that you have to be rich to be a Mac developer these days.) And while Steve Jobs states that "this is a meeting developers won't want to miss," we're a little concerned that the event's high cost, coupled with recent Apple moves that have proven to be very unpopular with the developer community, will lead to a pretty sparse turnout.
After years of lukewarm developer relations, the recent Quicktime licensing ruckus-- followed closely by higher developer support costs and reduced benefits-- may well be enough to make a considerable number of Mac programmers start thinking very seriously about leaving the platform. After all, as my crazy uncle Remo always said, "too many kicks in the head can make anybody tired." And our personal advice to Apple is that a small teaser press release telling developers that all will be revealed at WWDC is not necessarily going to help matters, especially given the fact that the Mac development community should probably have been told Apple's software strategy a long, long time ago. Here's hoping that thirty more days isn't too long to patch things up.
| |
| |
 |
SceneLink (612)
|  |
 |
|
And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
| | | |
|
| |
|
 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/9/98 episode: April 9, 1998: Unhappiness in the Mac developer community seems to have reached a fever pitch, and if things continue unabated, it's only a matter of time before Cupertino is besieged by hordes of angry geeks. Meanwhile, Apple states that all will be made clear at the WWDC, and Microsoft tries to enlist the support of the American public in its multitude of antitrust battles...
Other scenes from that episode: 611: The Gnashing of Teeth (4/9/98) Okay, so it wasn't just the usual grousing. Developer sentiment regarding Apple's changes to the Developer Connection this week remains "icky." When we use the word "icky," of course, we are using it as the scientific term comprising equal parts anger, loathing, and incredulity... 613: Retreat to Easier Terrain (4/9/98) For the most part, Microsoft knows how to pick its battles. Given the beating they took in the courtroom in the continuing Redmond Justice case (which, as of yet, hasn't affected their business one iota, but still), they're now trying to shift the arena of the conflict from the court to the minds of the public...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
|
|
