September 90 - Editor's overview
Editor's overview
Welcome to our first, special summer edition of FrameWorks! Actually, that's just a
sneaky way of finding a quick rationalization for the smaller, 48-page size of this
issue.
In reality, we're woefully short of funds, folks, and dropping two 8-page signatures
from our standard 64-page spread allows to continue to live in friendly coexistence
with our printer, who seems to like getting paid in a timely fashion for what he does.
But don't worry; be happy: next issue we'll be back up to full strength.
New Board And how can I state that so categorically? Because we've got a brand new
Board of Directors who are just full of wonderful schemes and ideas for rescuing the
Association from its current financial woes. Two hundred and six ballots came in and
it's now official; this is the new crew:
President Tony Meadow
Vice President Don Sawtelle
Past President Carl Nelson
Apple Representative Tom Chavez
Director at Large Jeff Alger
Director at Large Howard Katz
Director at Large Neil Rhodes
Director at Large Dick Trismen
Director at Large Dave Wilson
As you can guess, the (vast) majority of those who voted went for an expanded,
nine-member board. There were a few days of uncertainty while Apple Legal did a
little dance, trying to decide if Tom Chavez, who was also elected directly, could serve
in an official capacity as Apple Representative. In the end they finally went for it, and
what you see is what we got!
I can certainly speak for myself and say that I'm really pleased to have been elected and
look forward with enthusiasm to working with the other Board members in helping to
determine policy and direction for the next year. I'm also certain that they feel just
the same; it's going to be exciting!
MADA meeting in Boston
Those results were announced in Boston. Unfortunately I couldn't make it, and neither
could our official transcriber, who called in sick the morning of the meeting. I was
able to make a few quick phone calls to Carl, Tony, and Tom to find out what had
transpired. The big news from the meeting was undoubtedly E.T.O., and a few hints and
looks at what's coming down the pike with MacApp 2.1.
Just to mention, before we move on, that Carl notes that more than half of the audience
of 50 to 60 developers indicated that they're using both THINK and MPW for
development. The majority opinion seems to be that the THINK environment is
wonderful for prototyping, and final production code gets ported over to MPW for
recompilation before it goes out the door.
E.T.O.
E.T.O.-Essentials-Tools-Objects-is out. This CD-ROM package is going to form the
main core of Apple's plans for distributing development tools in future. The
full-blown disk contains MPW, every language that Apple supports, developer tools
galore, including MacApp (of course) and (according to Tom) a "boatload" of
documentation (including release versions of the standard docs in hardcopy format).
Updates will be provided on a regular quarterly basis, and you can buy into the whole
starter package with three updates for $995, or just pick up what you need, according
to what tools you already have on hand.
If you've already got everything on the ROM, for example, you can buy in for $300 and
just receive the three quarterly follow-ups with documentation. If you're only
missing C++, you can pick that up and receive the follow-ups for $125. And there's
every combination and permutation in between: check APDA for specific pricing.
The MacApp 2.0 shipping on the E.T.O. disk also contains (finally!) support for
windoids and tear-off menus, thanks to Chris Knepper. Tom says that Chris did a good
job of doing this in a way that's nicely compatible with the existing TView
architecture.
ME: DOUBLECHECK WITH TOM THAT WINDOIDS ARE OUT NOW, AND THAT THE
VIEWEDIT AND MOUSER BELOW ARE COMING W/THE NEXT ETO.
MacApp 2.1
The first E.T.O. update is scheduled to come out in November, and that's going to contain
the first alpha release of MacApp 2.1. This is the first MacApp release that's going to
contain a good chunk of System 7 functionality, so it's going to be well worth a boo. I
wonder what TDocument is going to look like?
The November update will also ship with the new ViewEdit that Lonnie Millett showed
off in Boston. The new ViewEdit actually lets you see what views are going to look like
as you edit them, with multiple view attribute windows to boot. If you edit attributes
in the textbox-attribute window, the view 'view' updates immediately. There's also a
"Save in Place" for faster saving to disk, and support-yeah!-for custom view types.
Mouser has some new stuff, too. Most importantly, it's been officially rechristened
MacBrows by Mary (the cat now has thick eyebrows), and 411-support now provides
online documentation, including the full class and method reference that's now
shipping as a HyperCard stack. (I believe that will also continue to ship as a separate
product in future.)
MacApp Conference 1991
Tony's made his first official announcement as President (after promising to never
sacrifice the lives of our brave hostages in Iraq): the Winter '91 MacApp Conference
is going to be held the week of February 4 – 8 in Phoenix, Arizona. This somewhat
easterly move in location is an attempt at placating the feelings of East Coasters and
European members, who will have to travel (somewhat) less of a distance to get there.
Besides, I was tired of getting winked at by horny (really horny!) sailors.
As I promised several issues ago, we've doing a bit better this time around at giving
you proper notice. We don't have a seminar list worked up as yet, but it's coming. So
mark your calendars, start beating on your boss, and treat your controller to lunch.
This is going to be a great event; you'll be sorry if you missed it! For the details, see
our double-page ad on pages xx-xx.
One final note: Phoenix in February is hot, sunny, and High Season, so hotel space goes
fast. 'Twould indeed be best if you booked early. Consider yourself warned.
Odds and sods
What else? Don Sawtelle, who's our official MADA sysop, has now taken over the
mantle of official ALink editor as well. I happily-this is known in the trade as
understatement-pass on the reins of responsibility to Don for his new "MADA OnLine
column. Thank you, fellow. Don worked up some spiffy new software to automate the
time-consuming formatting process.
And that's just about it. I had intended to say something here about the state of MacApp
and Macintosh development in Japan, a subject close to my heart (having lived there
nearly five years), but it's still a bit early in the game over there and I have to be out
the door in 30 minutes for a drive to (finger in throat) Los Angeles for my parents'
50th wedding anniversary.
So like the anchor fellow says on Saturday Night Live: I'm outta here!
–Katz