MacTech Spotlight: Eberhard Rensch, Founder, Pleasant Software
Volume Number: 24 (2008)
Issue Number: 04
Column Tag: MacTech Spotlight
MacTech Spotlight: Eberhard Rensch, Founder, Pleasant Software
http://www.pleasantsoftware.com
What do you do?
I'm the founder and main developer of Pleasant Software.
Pleasant Software has been developing and selling high quality software products for the Macintosh since 1989. Currently, our three main products are "Übercaster" which is the most advanced podcast production suite for the Macintosh, "ShowMacster" which revolutionizes video conferencing by seamlessly extending Apples iChat application and "PiP", a free tool to present video from any webcam on the desktop.
How long have you been doing what you do?
First programming in 1982 on an Apple II in school, developing Mac software since 1988 starting with MPW on a Mac SE.
What was your first computer:
EACA VideoGenie I (a TRS-80 clone)
Are you Mac-only, or a multi-platform person?
All current main projects are Mac only Obj-C/Cocoa applications. There's also some software I've written in pure Java (with Swing GUI) a while ago, which I still support (running on Mac & Windows). I also used to work as freelance developer and consultant, which was all Windows stuff.
What attracts you to working on the Mac?
The Cocoa framework and Objective-C. I also personally have used Macs for more than 19 years and I love Mac OS X...
What's the coolest thing about the Mac?
From a developer's perspective: Cocoa! I've worked with a lot of frameworks during the last 2 decades and Cocoa is clearly one of my absolute favorites. It's easy to learn and extremely powerful! It saves a lot of work, especially for small companies like mine. I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have realized a project like Übercaster without Cocoa.
If I could change one thing about Apple/OS X, I'd:
I'd get rid of closed systems policy like .Mac-only functions in iSync or the missing/closed SDKs for AppleTV and iPod (classic/nano). The announcement of an iPhone / iPod Touch SDK is definitely a step in the right direction. We'll see how open this SDK will be...
What's the coolest tech thing you've done using OS X?
Back in 2001 I bought a PowerBook G4/400 Titanium with Mac OS X 10.1 and moved into the Alpujaras/Spain for 3 months to write a quite complicated and sophisticated business solution program. So I did, in a "Cortijo" on the top of a mountain, without access to the Internet or AC power (only one solar panel with an AC converter). That application was a true "greener Apple" project. And it was a really great experience!
The next way I'm going to impact IT/OS X/the Mac universe is:
To quote Apple: We do not comment on future products :) But Leopard introduced a lot of great technologies and I intend to use them...
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