192 lines
9.3 KiB
Erlang
192 lines
9.3 KiB
Erlang
------------------
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MACTEAM CONFERENCE
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[ Below are highlights of an online conference conducted recently in MAUG,
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the Apple users section over on CompuServe. Special guests were Cary Clark,
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Guy Kawasaki and Dan Cochran, three key Apple managers involved in Macintosh
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software development and technical support. They answered questions on
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writing commercial software for the Mac, on upcoming Apple products and on
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other topics of interest to Mac software developers. The conference took
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place on 9/9/84, the day prior to the introduction of the 512K Macintosh. The
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questions were asked by various MA UG members.]
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---<*****>---
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Q: Many user groups have purchased " Inside Macintosh" and the Software
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Supplement for their members. Can any of the software in those packages be
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freely distributed to user group members, in particular the Resource Mover and
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Font Editor?
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A: Those last two are okay for you to informally distribute. We do sell
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the Supplement to ensure that everyone receives updates to documentation and
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software. It is in your best interest to purchase the Supplement. Also, you
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should be forewarned that the Font Editor and Resource Mover have many bugs and
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are hard to use. They will both be replaced by the Resource Editor, part of a
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future software supplement.
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Q: I would like to know what is necessary to get certification for
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development.
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A: The Apple Certified Developer Program is administered by the Developer
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Relations Group. We are looking for a serious commitment to commercial
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development of products to enhance the saleability of our hardware. To get an
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application, please write to Developer Relations, Apple Computer Inc., 20525
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Mariani - MS 23AF, Cuper tino CA 95014.
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Q: Is there a license fee for developers to pay to Apple on products?
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A: The Finder, desk accessories and system can be licensed for unlimited use
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for under $100 per year per product. Such a deal. For licensing, please
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contact Toni Tommacci at 408- 996-1010.
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Q: What's the holdup on the Lisa 1 upgrades? When will the free one and
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the Lisa 2/10 be readily availab le?
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A: If you are an Apple certified developer and are having trouble getting a
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Lisa 2/5 upgrade, please contact Kathy Schlein at the 20525 address, MS 2T.
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The Lisa 2/10 upgrades are not readily available.
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Q: I am working on some desk accessories. The problem is that they are too
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big, around 16K or more. Is a 512K Mac going to alleviate any problems I am
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having with the 'opendeskacc' call NOT preventing a bomb?
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A: When you're a desk accessory, you 're a guest in someone else's house so
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you gotta be inconspicuous. 16K is toooo big. As a point of reference, the
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control panel, which is the largest desk accessory, fits into 6K, with all its
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pictures. The 512K really won't help you, since people writing applications
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for the 512K Mac will still expect small desk accessories, and there will
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still be the large installed base of 128K Macs.
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Q: Is floating-point (SANE) stuff going to be transparent in any future
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languages? It is a real pain to use it when formulas are complex.
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A: Yes, it will be transparent (in-line) in future development languages,
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including the Lisa Pascal compiler by the end of the year. SANE is an
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insanely great package, IEEE-certified, better than most mainframe pack- ages,
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so now we're just making it easier to use. You might say that it's the
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numerics package for the rest of us!
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Q: I've heard rumors that the Mac ROM has already gone through several
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revisions since the Mac started shipping. Any truth to that?
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A: The ROM has not been revised since Macintosh shipped. The System Disk
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was revised once, on May 7th.
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Q: Whatever happened to CoreEdit? "Inside Mac" now says the documen-
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tation for it doesn't even exist, and yet I HAVE seen CoreEdit docs in an
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earlier version of IM.
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A: CoreEdit is only the assembly-language part of MacWrite and has no
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system support. It is only a piece of an application. Way back before the
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Macintosh was born, CoreEdit was going to be part of the ROM. That's why the
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documentation was written back in March of '83. But nothing has been done
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since then. The CoreEdit of today would allow you to write only one
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application: MacWrite. And that's already been done.
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Q: I am a non-certified owner of Inside Mac and the Software Supplement.
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But I would really like to know the internal details of the MacWrite file
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format. Any way I can get that information?
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A: The problem with that is that there are already two formats in exis-
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tence, with more to come. If you write any software around it, it will only
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work for a limited period of time and will not be compatible with other
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programs. MacWrite will continue to change too frequently for you to benefit
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from the document format. Instead, you should be compatible with the TEXT
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format, which is defined as 'vanilla' text separating paragraphs with
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carriage-returns.
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Q: Do you plan to support Macintosh software development on machines other
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than the Lisa, like the Apple // or the Mac itself? There's already an
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excellent 68000 cross-assembler for the Apple // from S-C Software.
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A: Native Macintosh development environments are very important to Apple.
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The 68000 Development System will be released in October, and we are working on
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a 512K Mac-based native development environment. This environment will
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support assembler, Pascal and C in a common support environment. There are
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also a lot of third-party native development environments popping up.
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Q: Can you tell me what percentage of Macs have gone to Fortune 1000
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companies? What would increase penetration of this market for Apple?
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A: I'd guess that 5 to 10 percent of Macintosh sales are going to the
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Fortune 1000 market. We are expecting to increase our presence in this market
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with Macintosh office products such as Applebus, laser printers, file servers,
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etc.
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Q: What is the status of Applebus, in particular the status of an "Apple"
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hard disk or networking setup for Macs?
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A: You can get the complete specifications for Applebus by mailing $75 to
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Apple Computer Inc., 476 Saratoga Ave. - Suite 621, San Jose CA 95129. Please
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mention that you want "Inside Applebus". To get a 10-page quicky summary, mail
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a note to Apple Comput er Inc., 10455 Bandley Drive - MS 2T, Cupertino CA
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95014, Attention: Steve Hoyt.
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Q: Several questions. First, is there any possibility of a multi-tasking
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version of the Finder? Second, when can we expect 15-inch Imagewriter support?
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And finally, how far along is Lotus's product and will it be available when
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512K Macs are?
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A: Several answers. The Finder will run the calculator, the clock and the
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control panel at the same time right now. Really, it is not a Finder
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restriction, it is a ROM restriction . 15-inch Imagewriter support is in
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beta-test and should show up by the end of September. Lotus will be available
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in the mid-1st quarter of 1985.
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Q: Is there going to be a double-sided drive?
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A: The current ROM supports double-sided drives. Sony engineers are
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working on it.
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Q: Can you tell us what support MacBasic and MacPascal will have for ROM
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routines?
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A: MacPascal will support all of QuickDraw and a few of the most useful ROM
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routines. A future version will support the entire ROM. MacBasic will support
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about 250 of the ROM routines.
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Q: Why the delay with MacTerminal?
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A: MacTerminal is now in production, thanks to its authors, Mike Boich and
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Martin Haeberli. Did you know that Certified Developers can license the
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source codes for $2500 if they add value or customize it?
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Q: What are some of the reasons you're hearing from software developers for
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the delays in release of their programs? Are many waiting for the 512K Macs?
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A: In general, software developers are not waiting for the 512K release.
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Only Lotus is specifically targeting that version of the Mac. The delays are
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caused by the "learning hump" for writing Macintosh applications. There's
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just a lot to learn about Macintosh, so the second application is much easier
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and faster to write. Ask Bob Hardy of Penguin or Bert "BugBuster" Porter of
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Blue Chip. On the other hand, look at Filevision and Dollars & Sense. They
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wrote those applications in a relatively short period of time and they are in
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sanely great.
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Q: What are the chances of Apple using the new Motorola 68020 micro-
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processor in future versions of the Mac?
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A: The 68020 is a neat chip. The Macintosh architecture is processor-
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independent.
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Q: I get the impression that there is a whole family of Macs or other
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permutations in the wings. Can you comment on what versions are on the drawing
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boards or even possibly on the assembly lines?
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A: The next permutation of Macintosh will be the 512K version. We really
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cannot comment on future versions except to say that we are totally committed
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to the Macintosh a rchitecture.
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Q: What's the bozo bit?
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A: The bozo bit is a crude form of copy protection, hence its name.
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Q: What would Apple prefer to see concerning software copy protection and
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software pricing by outside developers?
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A: Copy protection should be invisible to the end-user. As for pricing, be
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sure your prices exceed your fully allocated costs.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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