werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (07/03/87)
INFO-MAC seems to have gone into (forced?) hibernation again, so I decided that it would be a good idea to post the following report here rather than letting it "get old and stale" in the input-queue of the INFO-MAC-moderator. ...which means, you may see it again in a later INFO-MAC-digest .... Subject: Apple Germany Developer Conference This is a report on the 'Software Entwickler Konferenz 1987' (S/W Developer Conference) sponsored by Apple Deutschland on 30 June 1987, written by Chris Borton. Headed by Marketing Director Gerid Wagner, this meeting of developers in Germany was primarily just an information session, nothing on training, and an opportunity for Apple to learn more about the developers here as well as to encourage personal contacts among the developers themselves. The conference took place in the Schloss Hotel in Kronberg, a suburb of Frankfurt (am Main). The setting was gorgeous--nice old castle, all preserved, and a good staff that served us well. Apple showed some of the flair characteristic of Cupertino in this choice, and it certainly was enjoyable. I had personally hoped for at least one room full of hands-on machines, but there were only two main rooms set up; one had a Mac II with a very large projector, the other a Mac Plus/HD20SC hooked up to a Beamer. The third room, which I didn't visit, dealt with the Apple //GS. The response to this conference was far greater than Apple had anticipated, hence the rooms were always overflowing. Personally, I must say that I found this event not completely well-organized from the start; the invitation contained a list of the general topics to be discussed, and to show up at 9am at the Hotel. I tried to get further information by calling Mr. Wagner; he told me I would have to wait until getting there, where all information would be passed out. They started things off with a bang using the new (?) demo for the Mac II from Steve Capps. It requires 25M of disk space and 8M RAM, so you can start dreaming what it's like. This was on a huge screen with Bose stereo, too :-). Wow! You seriously do not believe what you're seeing and hearing (more so) is coming from a computer. After the general introduction-type stuff, there were very general presentations about the Mac OS, ProDOS 16, A/UX, and data communications. I personally had looked forward to this event as a chance to finally see A/UX in action, and was sadly disappointed--it wasn't even there :-(. Although they hyped it a lot in the invitation, the only talk about A/UX was a history of Unix plus brief overview about what its advantages are. People got a bit more interested at data communications, talking about MS-DOS and all sorts of file transfer, but again the speaker refrained from saying much about non-Apple products. One of the primary reasons for this conference was to introduce APD (Apple Programmierer Deutschland), the equivalent of APDA over here. They've had some serious problems getting off the ground, but according to the president Hans-Juergen Steinhau, orders will be accepted starting 1. July 1987. For those interested, APD is at: Flensburger Str. 5, 1000 Berlin 21, West Germany. After a nice meal we convened again (only to go out again for an amusing group photo :-)) and then broke up into 'breakout sessions'. One dealt with APW (Apple Programmer's Workshop) for the //GS; that was attended by few. The other two were MPW and Fourth Dimension, with alternative emphases. I attended the MPW/4.D session, where MPW 2.0 was demonstrated. Parts of this were well done, but other sections (like select and enter => do it) were sadly lacking. Here is where I learned the one new useful item of the day: MPW 2.0 Shell commands, when appended with '...' bring up a dialog with all the options (most commands, anyway). BTW, this was done by one of the authors of RagTime who had to learn MacApp w/o docs by reading through the source... The 4. Dimension demostration was cut short, and did not really present the case of integrating outside procedures with a database (because the fellow didn't know anything about it), but the demo served to convince me even further of the value of this program. This will be THE database making vertical apps in the future. The official info given today was that the full release (they're on beta 12 now) will be in the beginning of August, and the price here hasn't been set yet; the price in the U.S. will supposedly be $695 for the developer version and $800 for a package of 4 run-time modules. Also due to be released by ACI is Writer Plus, yet another new word-processing program. The only review (preview, actually) I've seen of this program was in Clipboard IV, the magazine of the U.K. MacTel BBS. What was interesting here is that another feature will be included--mail merge with 4.Dim. Define a variable in 4.Dim,, use it as a variable in your Writer Plus document, and let it go. Looks to replace Word/OverVUE...:-) The next to last event was the explanation of the new 'Apple Partnership Program' here in Germany. This will provide support at several different levels to developers. Although it is independent of APD, it duplicates its functions in some cases (if I understood correctly) but provides more than just development support (i.e. marketing, etc.). The Apple VAR program was outlined. Afterwards there was a question/answer period. Now, to personal reflections. Simply stated, I was extremely disappointed with the information (or lack thereof) distributed here. On the other hand, I'm very happy that this took place because it signifies a new trend here that is very healthy. The planners had NO idea what the cross-section of people coming would be like, and indeed they got a very wide variety. The effort on the speakers, however, to accomodate everyone made the entire affair mediocre to useless. Several people I talked to agreed with me that they had not learned anything new today either; the personal contacts made today, however, could be advantageous, and the feedback to Apple about their developers here should do a LOT toward getting better developer support (which at present can be pretty poor). This reflects a trend I've seen in Apple Deutschland just this year: after years of exclusiveness and bad organization, things are finally starting to shape up a bit. Mr. Wagner displayed a very good attitude toward hearing criticism and on several occasions asking people to deliver their complaints written on the questionnaire handed out. He told me he intends to use the information gathered about the different groups of developers here today to plan future workshops which will be more in line with Mac College. Although this developer support seems to be growing a lot, my impression after talking to several people today and at both the CeBIT and Euro Mac Expo fairs is that for a developer HERE to have a chance at being really up to date, he/she really must have a good contact in the USA to "feed" him/her. It's a simple fact that programs etc. usually make their way over here 3-12 months after they are available in the U.S. One major difference is AppleLink: presently only Apple employees have access to it. I was informed by Dr. Adler (Apple in Frankfurt) a week ago that plans are being executed to get the dealers on-line during the next few months. When I asked about the possibilities for developers today, I was given an explanation of how GE's network will be too loaded down. Apple is not the only one at fault here: the Deutsche Bundespost (mail service also controls phones as a monopoly) is extremely harsh on modems. They must be approved by the Post, and are exhorbitantly expensive. This has gotten better in the last few years, but is still an extreme hindrance in comparison to the free communication style in the U.S. where BBS's abound and modems cost $200. I consider the Post here to be the greatest single hindrance to Germany's communications market, which, left to its own means, could be very large. Enough editorials. This conference disappointed me on the lack of information, but started what I hope becomes a series of such workshops and information-exchange events. Anyone interested in more information or broaching the German market (about to explode, in my opinion) should contact Gerid Wagner: WAGNER2@APPLELINK, or: Apple Computer GmbH, attn Gerid Wagner, Ingolstaedter Strasse 20, 8000 Muenchen 45, West Germany; tel: +49-89-35034180. Vielen Dank fuer Ihre Aufmerksamkeit! Chris Borton, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry MPC67B@DGOGWD01.BITNET (but only until 10 July; after that, ???)
jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) (07/04/87)
I should note that Apple has opened AppleLink to its developers in the
US, but I don't know what the impact of having European developers
online would do to the trans-atlantic communication channels.
Clearly, that is the single greatest thing Apple could do to keep
non-US developers up to date. Those who have it here tell me it's
a lifesaver.
--
Joel West, Palomar Software, Inc. (c/o UCSD)
{ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww or jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu