TweetFollow Us on Twitter

Dec 97 Viewpoint

Volume Number: 13 (1997)
Issue Number: 12
Column Tag: Viewpoint

Viewpoint

by Eric Gundrum

A Sense of Community

One thing that separates Mac developers and users from those of other platforms is our sense of community. We tend to seek out each other and band together to discuss our ideas, opinions, and the state of the industry. Macintosh users have created a variety of groups and organizations to help accomplish this. Consider events such as MacHack and the plethora of Macintosh user groups around the world. No other computer platform has such a diverse, yet well connected community of users.

I suspect our sense of community comes from our roots as an excluded platform. Many readers will remember the early days of the Mac when the only way to get one into a business office was through the back door, under cover of darkness. Macintosh users could not call on corporate support staff for assistance or advice about new software. In fact, often Macintosh users were pretty isolated, not having any other Macintosh users around. Macintosh users quickly overcame the limitations of this isolation by locating other Macintosh users and exchanging experiences. Not much time passed before many of these loose associations became formal user groups with regular meetings, special events, newsletters and bulletin boards.

To my knowledge, few such organizations exist in the DOS and Windows communities. I've seen groups of Windows users try to get started, but they never were able to sustain themselves. Other platforms have had some success forming user groups, often with significant sponsorship from the platform vender. However, few such groups have attained the strength of community we Macintosh users take for granted. With so much changing at Apple, the value of our community seems more important than ever.

Sharing Technologies, Sharing Code

The success of the Mac is built upon many powerful and interesting technologies. In fact, these innovative technologies are often a large part of what draws programmers to the Mac, enabling them to create software that would not be practical, or even possible, in any other environment. However, with the recent popularity of the Internet, the world of computing has begun moving so fast that Apple alone cannot provide us with the technologies we need. We can benefit even more by sharing our own technologies with each other. Rhapsody offers many new opportunities for developers to leverage each other's work. The Rhapsody development environment is designed specifically to make sharing code much easier than it has ever been. In fact, there was once a thriving market of third party libraries among NeXTSTEP developers. They understood the value of not recreating code just because "it's not invented here."

With the recent release of Rhapsody you have undoubtedly begun looking at how your software can be moved to the new platform. As you review your own legacy technologies for Rhapsody, think carefully about which of your technologies represent significant differentiation from your competition, and what is just another implementation of the same thing everyone else has to implement. What you should find when you examine your technology is that most the value your product gives to a customer is how you have chosen to connect your various technologies together with a useful presentation to the user. That, and one or two core technologies developed from your own specific expertise are what your customers purchase. All the rest of your program is likely support code added to make your program easy to use in a Macintosh environment.

Looking at Rhapsody's toolbox, Yellow Box, you will probably find that much of the code you struggled so long to get just right on the Mac is already built into Yellow Box; things like styled text with rulers, drawing controls and such. However, there are many technological holes in Yellow Box; network protocols is a big one. Some of these holes have been filled by NeXTSTEP developers in the past. Get on-line and find them. Check out their objects and see if you might save money and release your software sooner by licensing them. Keep in mind that the technology you license doesn't have to be a perfect fit. The dynamic-binding features of the Rhapsody runtime model allow programmers to get in and modify the behavior of existing objects, even without the original source code. You can change a third-party library to work better with your application; you can even change how the Yellow Box objects work.

If you don't find the technology you want already implemented by someone else, then you have another market opportunity: port your Mac code to Rhapsody, making it an independent library, and license it to other developers. If you don't want to be in the business of licensing objects, there will be people who will do it for you. Today, people do this in the Mac community, and if more developers take advantage of the service, more people will offer it. Even if you don't want to license your objects to everyone who wants them, they still are a valuable asset. As you explore other Rhapsody software, you may find another developer has a technology you would like to use. Through private negotiating you may strike a deal to exchange some technologies, some objects. Both of you come out ahead, and our community gets more software, sooner. Share your technology with the rest of the community, and they will share with you. As a result, we will build more software, faster and better than developers of any other platform, and we will do so by working together.

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

ffWorks 3.3.5 - A Comprehensive Video Co...
ffWorks, focused on simplicity, brings a fresh approach to the use of FFmpeg, allowing you to create ultra-high-quality movies without the need to write a single line of code on the command-line.... Read more
Arq 7.19.11 - Online backup to Google Dr...
Arq is super-easy online backup for Mac and Windows computers. Back up to your own cloud account (Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Cloud Storage, any S3-compatible server... Read more
Opera 97.0.4719.28 - High-performance We...
Opera is a fast and secure browser trusted by millions of users. With the intuitive interface, Speed Dial and visual bookmarks for organizing favorite sites, news feature with fresh, relevant content... Read more
Google Chrome 111.0.5563.110 - Modern an...
Google Chrome is a Web browser by Google, created to be a modern platform for Web pages and applications. It utilizes very fast loading of Web pages and has a V8 engine, which is a custom built... Read more
Vivaldi 5.7.2921.65 - An advanced browse...
Vivaldi is a browser for our friends. We live in our browsers. Choose one that has the features you need, a style that fits and values you can stand by. From the look and feel, to how you interact... Read more
Ableton Live 11.2.11 - Record music usin...
Ableton Live lets you create and record music on your Mac. Use digital instruments, pre-recorded sounds, and sampled loops to arrange, produce, and perform your music like never before. Ableton Live... Read more
Adobe Acrobat DC 23.001.20093 - Powerful...
Acrobat DC is available only as a part of Adobe Creative Cloud, and can only be installed and/or updated through Adobe's Creative Cloud app. Adobe Acrobat DC DC with Adobe Document Cloud services is... Read more
Adobe Acrobat Reader 23.001.20093 - View...
Adobe Acrobat Reader allows users to view PDF documents. You may not know what a PDF file is, but you've probably come across one at some point. PDF files are used by companies and even the IRS to... Read more
Paragon NTFS 15.10.590 - Provides full r...
Paragon NTFS breaks down the barriers between Windows and macOS. Paragon NTFS effectively solves the communication problems between the Mac system and NTFS. Write, edit, copy, move, delete files on... Read more
Slack 4.31.152 - Collaborative communica...
Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, whether you belong to a large enterprise or a small business. Check off your to-do list and move your... Read more

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

Recapping All the Best Drama – The Touch...
In this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show we recap all the big drama of the week, because drama=clicks baby! I also talk about the new WaterField Magnetic Gaming Case for the Steam Deck, which just arrived in my hot little hands a couple of... | Read more »
TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Well Word...
We were already big fans of developer BJ Malicoat, who does business under the name Bird Cartel, due to the release of Pine Tar Poker late last year. Poker is one of those games that kind of is what it is, so it’s always very hard to come up with... | Read more »
SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring...
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 24th, 2023. It turned out to be a fairly busy one today. We’ve got a little news to look at, plus a review from our pal Mikhail. After that, we get into the many new releases... | Read more »
‘Honkai Star Rail’ Release Date Announce...
Last month, Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd developer HoYoverse began pre-orders and pre-registrations for the upcoming space fantasy turn-based RPG Honkai Star Rail. | Read more »
Tactical Card Battling RPG ‘Black Book’...
Developer Merteshka and publisher HypeTrain Digital just revealed an iOS version of the card battling tactical RPG Black Book . Black Book is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 right now. It will be coming to iOS on April 21st with... | Read more »
Clue/Cluedo: Hasbro’s Mystery Game+ Is T...
Clue: Hasbro’s Mystery Game+ from Marmalade Game Studios is this week’s new Apple Arcade release and it is out now alongside some notable updates. Clue: Hasbro’s Mystery Game+ or Cluedo: Hasbro’s Mystery Game+ depending on your region joins the... | Read more »
‘Stakes Winner ACA NEOGEO’ Review – A Ho...
When it comes to the NEOGEO, a few genres come to mind. Fighting games. Side-scrolling action games. Maybe shooters and beat-em-ups. The usual array of sports. You probably don’t think of horse racing games, but this was an arcade platform that was... | Read more »
SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring...
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 23rd, 2023. In today’s article, we kick things off with a couple of reviews. I take a look at Playism and kouri’s Ib, while our pal Mikhail has a look at the latest DLC... | Read more »
Snowbreak: Containment Zone is the lates...
Mobile gaming enthusiasts will soon be able to get their fill of sci-fi shooting, with Amazing Season announcing their upcoming game, Snowbreak: Containment Zone. Pre-registrations are now open for fans, and we also have their first trailer to get... | Read more »
Square Enix’s Card RPGs Voice of Cards:...
Back in late 2021, Square Enix released a new card-based RPG Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC featuring some of the staff behind the NieR and Drakengard games. This included Yoko Taro, Yosuke Saito, Keiichi Okabe... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Shop our Apple MacBook Price Trackers for the...
We’ve updated our Apple award-winning MacBook Price Trackers with the latest information on prices, bundles, and availability for 16″, 14″, and 13″ MacBook Pros along with 13″ MacBook Airs from Apple... Read more
Back in stock: M1-powered Mac minis for only...
Apple has restocked clearance M1-powered Mac minis in their Certified Refurbished section starting at only $469. Each mini comes with Apple’s one-year warranty, and shipping is free. The following... Read more
Apple to release updated AirPods Pro 2 with U...
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, in his latest post, suggests that Apple will soon release an updated version of AirPods Pro 2 with a new USB-C case, replacing the current case using an Apple Lightning... Read more
16″ M2 Pro MacBook Pros on sale for $150 off...
Apple retailer Expercom has 16″ M2 Pro MacBook Pros in stock today and on sale for $150 off MSRP, valid through March 28, 2023. In addition to their MacBook Pro sale prices, take $50 off AppleCare+... Read more
13-inch M2 MacBook Pros on sale for $100 off...
Expercom has 13″ MacBook Pros with Apple M2 processors in stock and on sale today for $100 off MSRP through March 28, 2023. Shipping is free: – 2022 13″ MacBook Pro M2 CPU/256GB SSD: $1199, save $100... Read more
Amazon is selling Apple’s 24″ M1 iMacs for $2...
Amazon has Apple’s 24″ M1 iMacs on sale for $200 off MSRP. Their prices are currently the lowest available for new iMacs among the Apple retailers we track: – 24″ M1 iMacs (8-Core CPU/7-Core GPU/... Read more
Apple’s 10th-generation 10.2″ iPads are on sa...
Amazon has Apple’s 10th-generation iPads on sale for $50 off MSRP starting at only $399. Their discount applies to all models and all colors. With the discount, Amazon’s prices are the lowest... Read more
Apple 13-inch MacBook Pros are on sale for $1...
Amazon has 13″ MacBook Pros with Apple M2 processors in stock and on sale today for $150 off MSRP. Their prices are the lowest currently available these MacBook Pros. Be sure to purchase from Amazon... Read more
Apple Pro Display XDR with Nano-Texture Glass...
Apple Authorized Retailer Adorama has the Pro Display XDR with Nano-Texture Glass on sale for $500 off MSRP today. Shipping is free: – Apple 27″ Pro Display XDR Nano-Texture Glass: $5499 $500 off... Read more
10-Core M1 Max Apple Mac Studio on sale for $...
Adorama has the base 10-Core M1 Max Mac Studio in stock and on sale today for $1799 including free shipping. Their price is $200 off Apple’s MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for a new Mac... Read more

Jobs Board

Omnichannel Associate - *Apple* Blossom Mal...
Omnichannel Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Hair Stylist - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPen...
Hair Stylist - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Read more
Beauty Consultant - *Apple* Blossom Mall -...
Beauty Consultant - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Sales Floor Associate - *Apple* Blossom Mal...
Sales Floor Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Cashier - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPenney (...
Cashier - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Mall Read more
All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.