jww@bonnie.UUCP (Joel West) (02/24/85)
The following is based on a my visit to the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. The opinions are my own and not those of a fossilized mastodon. "The Macintosh Software Developers' Primer" (Feb. 23) Guy Kawasaki led this session before several hundred people: the 90 minutes included a long Q&A. The former "Software Evangelist" is now "Manager, Macintosh Software". He shared the podium with several managers who seem to report to him, including Alain Rossman (spelling correct), software evangelism (Guy's old job?); Dan Cochran, development tools and languages; Scott Knaster, tech support; Matt Cobb, co-marketing director. Also present was Joe Shelton, in charge of Apple-label software (MacPaint, Pascal, etc.). All except Cochran wore suits. Videos shown were the "1984" ad, the making of it, the Super Bowl 1985 ad, and "The Making of Lemmings". An attempt by a later questioner to challenge the tone of this ad was lightly applauded, but generally heckled. One panelist promised "Lemmings" wouldn't set the tone for 1985 advertising. Other highlights: --- 1984 GOALS: Kawasaki said they were achieved: 1) To ship 250,000 units; 2) 150 applications shipping by 12/31/84, actual 300 (350 now); 3) Establish Mac as third standard in PC's. --- 1985 GOALS: Establish Mac as the "2nd standard in business computing," i.e., the Macintosh office. Goal is more than 10,000 networks in 1985. Hope is by providing cheap hardware to break the vicious cycle of no one buys network hardware, so no one writes network software, no software means no hardware, etc... --- IBM: Many jabs were taken at IBM, particularly by Kawasaki. But he noted that competition for the heart of software developers was a "zero sum game," and he hoped that by exciting developers, the good new software would be on Mac's, not IBM's. --- CERTIFIED DEVELOPERS: He encouraged people to apply and vowed that certification and help would be available to all "serious commercial developers." "We really don't care about the size of your company" -- the only criterion is (the bottom line) whether your software helps sell hardware. Small-scale certified developers will receive E-Mail tech support via the Delphi network. He didn't note that this was a shift in policy, which currently allows telephone support. Cochran said this shift would in effect in about 6 weeks. [Registered developers who pay $1k a year will retain telephone support, although this was not mentioned.] --- INSIDE MACINTOSH: Price now $100. To be frozen 3/15/85, including hardware specs. To be printed by Addison-Wesley in late Summer. Intermediate version to be printed by Apple in "phone book" stock and binding, about $25/copy, available in April. Content identical between frozen (loose-leaf), phone book, and bookstore versions. Also plans to put it on-line in Delphi with keyword search. --- DEVELOPMENT TOOLS: Kawasaki said they are Lisa Pascal (requires a Lisa) MDS -- assembler, editor, linker, debugger and (phonebook) Inside Mac requires 128k Mac and 2 drives: $195, due in stores mid-April Development Environment -- C, Pascal, Assembly. Due "late Fall" Advanced Architecture group -- class-oriented Pascal and C; no date Kawasaki said the languages are intended not to make money, but to encourage the development of software for the Mac. --- ROM UPGRADE: Knaster ruled it out in spring but no comment for all of 1985. --- COLOR MAC: "There will be no color Macintosh in 1985," Kawasaki said. --- PROPRIETARY RIGHTS: Apple will not release ROM source code or hardware schematics. A panelist vowed to work with hardware makers to provide information, essentially on a "need-to-know" basis (my words, not his). -- Joel West (619) 457-9681 CACI, Inc. - Federal 3344 N. Torrey Pines Ct La Jolla 92037 jww@bonnie.UUCP (ihnp4!bonnie!jww) westjw@nosc.ARPA "The best is the enemy of the good" - A. Mullarney
lsr@apple.UUCP (Larry Rosenstein) (02/27/85)
In article <bonnie.422> jww@bonnie.UUCP (Joel West) writes: > > Guy Kawasaki led this session before several hundred people: the 90 >minutes included a long Q&A. The former "Software Evangelist" is now >"Manager, Macintosh Software". I am not sure what Guy Kawasaki's official title is, but it is not manager of Macintosh Software. That was an error in the MacWorld Expo flyers. They probably meant something like manager of Third-Party Software. The people listed do work for Guy and they are all part of the marketing, not engineering department. -- Larry Rosenstein UUCP: {nsc, dual, voder, ios}!apple!lsr CSNET: lsr@Apple.CSNET