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Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

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Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#21

Post by blhack »

jacobolus wrote: post #18
blhack wrote: post #15

downvoters: Sorry if this question was offensive; I'm asking about if the "apple is like a startup" trend continues into developers being able to choose what kind of tools they want to work with. My complaining about my MBP isn't meant as a critique of apple, I'm just saying that if it was me I would probably choose a linux machine, not a mac. I apologize for the off-topic question, but is anybody here a coder for ap…

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html Also, in Exposé it's possible to tab between applications and use the arrow keys to select windows. As for right click: on an Apple trackpad, two finger click works much better for me than right click (either tap with two fingers or click with the thumb while two other fingers are on the trackpad) ever did on a windows laptop. YMMV. FWIW, I also prefer the Mac ⌘⇥…

Hmm... Thank you. Honestly though, I was just generally curious about if apple devs are allowed to use non-apple computers.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#22

Post by _delirium »

wriq wrote: post #12
commandar wrote: post #8

"The engineers on the Mac OS and iOS teams move back and forth between the two projects based on release cycles and what's needs to ship next." As somebody who has been rather dismayed with the way the Macintosh platform has started to stagnate in the past couple of years, I don't really view this as a good thing.

Stagnate? Snow Leopard is just under a year old. I wouldn't expect a desktop OS to have a same release frequency as a mobile os.

Oddly, Debian has about the same release cycle (once per 12-18 months), and ends up being the butt of lots of jokes about how they rarely ever release anything.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#24

Post by rimantas »

jacobolus wrote: post #18
blhack wrote: post #15

downvoters: Sorry if this question was offensive; I'm asking about if the "apple is like a startup" trend continues into developers being able to choose what kind of tools they want to work with. My complaining about my MBP isn't meant as a critique of apple, I'm just saying that if it was me I would probably choose a linux machine, not a mac. I apologize for the off-topic question, but is anybody here a coder for ap…

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html Also, in Exposé it's possible to tab between applications and use the arrow keys to select windows. As for right click: on an Apple trackpad, two finger click works much better for me than right click (either tap with two fingers or click with the thumb while two other fingers are on the trackpad) ever did on a windows laptop. YMMV. FWIW, I also prefer the Mac ⌘⇥…

See also this: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3211 You can configure some area on trackpad, clicking ther will register as right click (bottom right corner, for example).

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#25

Post by volski »

Maybe that's the problem at Microsoft: they think they can solve problems by throwing lots of people at them. They put together large teams to build products. And large teams require managers.

I didn't know Microsoft had a problem, they seem to be doing pretty well. They have some good products. Apple being successful doesn't necessarily translate to Microsoft sucking. They are both damn good companies.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#26

Post by Charuru »

wallflower wrote: post #2

The iBooks app, too, with all the sexy page turning animation was written by one guy (before it became big).

Am I the only person who hates that animation? This is about the only reason why I use Stanza, no animation to waste my time with.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#27

Post by larsberg »

This article, like many others, seems to overestimate how large the actual numbers of developers is at Microsoft, as opposed to full teams with Test and mgmt and their associated marketing, sales, etc. organizations.

The .NET GC was roughly 1 person (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more). Most of the base class libraries were one person. Even larger things, like the text editor, were usually a senior person and one or two very junior ones. And this is software that has to run on a not-at-all-fixed set of hardware platforms :-)

In my time there, I never saw or heard anyone "think they can solve problems by throwing lots of people at them." Uniformly, the decisions made to get things shipped were to either cut the features that were the combination of the furthest behind and least value to the market or to pull over extremely senior talent that had already gotten their parts shipped.

Of course, it was a big company, so YMMV. Can't speak for much more than dev tools, office, and windows.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#28

Post by wallflower »

blhack wrote: post #21
jacobolus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html Also, in Exposé it's possible to tab between applications and use the arrow keys to select windows. As for right click: on an Apple trackpad, two finger click works much better for me than right click (either tap with two fingers or click with the thumb while two other fingers are on the trackpad) ever did on a windows laptop. YMMV. FWIW, I also prefer the Mac ⌘⇥…

Hmm... Thank you. Honestly though, I was just generally curious about if apple devs are allowed to use non-apple computers.

Not devs but it is rumored that deep in the inner sanctums of the product engineering/design labs there are PC workstations running 3D/CAD/CAM/CAE software.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#29

Post by protomyth »

klauer wrote: post #17
wriq wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stagnate? Snow Leopard is just under a year old. I wouldn't expect a desktop OS to have a same release frequency as a mobile os.

I would agree with the general point, but if we're talking about end-user features, even Apple admits 10.6 was under-the-hood, so we haven't seen any UI enhancements since 2007 (10.5's release).

10.6 was the setup that is needed for the future. All the under-the-hood stuff is going to make a huge difference once developers focus on it and start ignoring <= 10.5.

Re: Apple is run like a huge startup (and the remote app was written by 1 guy)

#30

Post by mcritz »

Maybe if Apple had more people they could make Mobile Me work like it should, release a new Mac Pro more frequently than once every two years, have a 64bit completely multithreaded Final Cut Pro written in Cocoa APIs, or something something antenna something…
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