Apr 96 Viewpoint
Volume Number: 12
Issue Number: 4
Column Tag: Viewpoint
By Scott T Boyd, Editor Emeritus
While everyone else takes pot-shots at Apple, I’ve got to think that developers face a
tremendous set of challenges. We’ve all got plenty on our plates just trying to build
cool stuff for the Macintosh. The last thing we need is an entire media machine
nay-saying the platform, especially when developers have rarely faced such a wide
array of opportunities.
The Macintosh developer has long had to deal with people who question the merit
of developing for the Mac’s smaller market share. In fact, each of us probably has a
sophisticated litany of justifications, good for dealing with friends, neighbors,
co-workers, family, and people we bump into in computer stores. Well, I don’t know
about you, but my real reason for doing Macintosh development is simple - Macintosh
is cool. I still remember the mind-boggling paradigm shift I felt the first time I saw
the interface. My notion of computing changed forever.
As I learned to build Macintosh software, I came to know not only the machine,
but also the Macintosh Way. Guy Kawasaki popularized the phrase and offered cogent
lessons for developers, but the Macintosh Way was evident even to those who didn’t
benefit from his writings.
Boldness to innovate
The Macintosh screamed, “My inventors went way out on a limb when they built
me!” While the rest of the world was clamoring for a faster, cheaper IBM PC-clone
with more RAM and disk, a team of upstarts built what they thought a computer should
really be. A graphical interface, a mouse, a synergistic blending of
hardware/software, and even a large set of standardized routine libraries for
programmers (complete with late-binding for those routines).
Insistence on excellence
Feature after feature, Macintosh pushed the limits of technology to benefit users.
No one offered a CRT with square pixels, but Macintosh had them. And they were at a
1:1 ratio, making life for developers much sweeter.
Auto-inject/auto-eject floppies. What can I say? It was cool, and users learned
to love them.
Documentation, well written and designed to serve the needs of real
programmers.
Confidence they’d come
When they built Macintosh, the total market size was zero. There was absolutely
no market whatsoever for it. Nevertheless, they pressed ahead, built it, and then did
everything it took to build a market for it. Many of those efforts worked less well than
others, but twenty-two million machines later, I must say, I’m impressed.
Thinking back to the early days, Apple wooed developers vigorously.
Documentation was early, cheap, and plentiful. The developer program was free, and
developers got excellent prices on equipment. Frankly, without those prices, I don’t
know that I would ever have been able to afford to join in the fun. Developers formed a
sense of community and camaraderie, and some energetic souls at Apple found lots of
ways to encourage us along the way. Some even went way out of their way to seed
young, unproven college kids with an alpha version of MPW (thanks Technostud!),
building a sense of excitement that led to me losing so much sleep that I started having
those dreams where I find myself realizing that I have a final exam and I forgot to
attend any of the classes (oh, come on now, admit it - you’ve had these, too, right?).
The Macintosh Way
Coolness. That’s what drew me to the Macintosh. The product, the company, the
community, and the vast possibilities, all built up coolness.
OK, so that’s how many of us got into this business. Now we’re surrounded by
“realists”, nay-sayers who would tell us that we’re wasting our time on the
Macintosh. Now, you might suspect that I’d say one of two things. For one, I might say,
“Defend the Macintosh at all costs. We’re too deeply vested to turn back now.” On the
other hand, I might say, “Look, Windows has won, Apple has lost, and the Macintosh
can’t ever catch up, so why fight it. Go where the market is.”
Well, I won’t say either one of those things. Remember why I got into this
business? Coolness. I trusted my gut instincts and went where the action was. While
I’ve never believed that Apple had an exclusive on coolness (in fact, they lately seem to
have discovered a wellspring of “interesting” behavior that challenges their innate
coolness), I’ve taken Apple’s coolness for granted for years.
What’s my take on all this then? Simple. Go for the coolness. Macintosh offers
lots of it, and a whole host of Macintosh developers couldn’t ever exhaust the
possibilities. By the same token, coolness lurks in other places, too.
“Going to the coolness” suggests that coolness always comes from somewhere
else. Let me suggest this - in the quest for coolness, sometimes you may simply have
to take the coolness with you, and that applies whether you’re exploring a new
platform, or unearthing new treasures on an old favorite. That’s the Macintosh Way.