Software Developers Applaud Mac OS X
Apple Computer announced a new strategy for upgrading its operating system software that the company and some key software developers agree will make it far easier to make products for the Macintosh.
Mac OS X, scheduled for release in the fall of 1999, will also enhance the system’s speed and stability and allow several programs to run simultaneously, interim CEO Steve Jobs said at Apple’s annual developer conference Monday.
“They’ve figured out a strategy that we think will actually work,” said Greg Gilley, Adobe Systems vice president for graphics products.
Apple hopes its strategy will shore up support among restive developers--many of whom have reduced Mac efforts or abandoned the platform in favor of the far larger Microsoft Windows market.
Adobe, as well as Microsoft and Macromedia, all important Macintosh developers, greeted the plan enthusiastically. Support from such companies could dictate Apple’s long-term viability.
“This is a great time to be a developer of software on the Macintosh,” said Benjamin Waldman, general manager of Microsoft’s Macintosh business unit. Waldman said Microsoft earned record revenue on its Mac products in the last quarter.
Apple hopes that such endorsements will help recapture consumers who have avoided buying a Macintosh due to an erosion in long-term support among software developers. Many developers abandoned Apple due to its reduced market share and bungled attempts to modernize the Mac OS.
Jobs also retired the idea that the Mac OS ultimately would be replaced by the Rhapsody operating system. Rhapsody, to be released this fall, combines features from the Mac OS and Next Step--software acquired with Apple’s purchase of Next Computer in 1996.
But many important developers declined to create software for Rhapsody due to the complexity and time required to rewrite their Mac applications. With OS X, instead of facing one to two years of development to rewrite Mac OS programs for Rhapsody, software companies will be able to execute the shift with a “small tuneup” of one to two months, according to Jobs.
“I like the simplicity,” said Los Gatos-based market analyst Pieter Hartsook. “That instills confidence in people buying the products and investing in the company.”
Apple has historically been overly enamored of “cool technologies” instead of seeking efficiency and clear benefits to users and software developers, Waldman said. He views its OS X plan as a refreshing departure.
The key question is whether Apple can deliver on its promises after failing to make good on two massively expensive earlier efforts--the aborted OS known by the code name Copland, and the more recent Rhapsody.
“Because OS X is simpler, the likelihood of Apple’s being able to deliver is higher,” Hartsook said.
Apple’s plans call for OS X to run only on the current generation of Macintosh hardware--the G3 product series--and later models. For machines of earlier vintage, Apple will continue to sell and improve Mac OS 8, according to Avie Tevanian, senior vice president of software engineering. But programs written for OS X will also run on OS 8 systems, he said.
The move comes less than a week after Apple’s announcement of its reentry into the consumer PC market with the forthcoming iMac.
Apple’s stock rose 50 cents to close at $30.94 on Nasdaq.
