Just to add to to the current FoRK bit glut. This is a bit of a ramble,
but
I figured I'd may as well think out loud. And I'd be interested in your
critique.
I successfully located a color NeXT (actually Rohit and Joe did), so I
will
be giving the NeXT spiel on Jan 28th at the LA MacSIG. I only have 3.3,
not
4.0 and WebObjects. Which is OK, since there's still lots of cool
stuff.
The sad part is that most of the gee whiz stuff I'll be show them goes
back
to at least NS 2.0, which is what, 1993?
This is what makes me passionate about Rhapsody. The pace of evolution
in
software - not to mention the state of the art - is aboslutely abyssmal.
While NeXTSTEP is far from perfect, it is - like someone said about the
Mac -
the first development envrionment worth criticizing. And gives us the
potential to make a better world.
If just one tenth of the time, money, and creativity that people spend
on the
Macintosh is turned to Rhapsody - and assuming they leverage it to its
full
potential rather than trying to reinvent old Mac apps - we should see
some
blockbuster stuff. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but I saw more
innovative
software produced by a small developer community on NeXTSTEP in just
1993
than I have from all the legions of Mac and Windows developers since
then.
Of course, NS died largely because it was never large enough to sustain
a
large enough developer base to ensure a full range of productivity apps.
And
frankly, I don't know whether Rhapsody will be either. It could end up
in
the same position vis-a-vis MacOS as NT is to 95, which comes out to not
very
much.
What I am hoping is that Rhapsody will be significant enough to do what
Netscape did: define a new category, inspire innovation, shorten
time-to-market cycles, push companies towards open standards, create
alliances, etc. But NOT necessarily in the user environment. No, my
dream
for Rhapsody is that it will change the very way we think about software
development - maybe finally bring the OO revolution to the masses.
The Internet has created a massive demand for rapidly developed, highly
maintainable, sophisticated network applications. This has tied in with
business trends encouraing widespread communication and flexible
business
processes. I see Rhapsody - appropriately integrated with Java - as a
platform to make this all happen. It is powerful enough to create true
competition among developers - rather than a relatively static oligarchy
of
those few who can muster the resources to develop sophisticated apps
under
Windows and MacOS.
Anyway, I have no idea whether Apple can pull this off (especially if
they
fail to hire Rohit and I). But in all honesty I don't [yet] see the
Java
community going in this direction, which leaves Rhapsody our best bet.
What
is it Tim Byars is fond of quoting Jobs as having - "A flat out disgust
with
good enough." Amen to that, brother. Amen.
-- Ernie P.
P.S. Rohit, we really need to turn this into a Manifesto/marketing
plan.
Today the Web, tomorrow Rhapsody, the next day Munchkins!
"Some people see things as they are, and ask 'why?'
Others see things that never were, and ask 'why not?'
I see things that might be, and ask 'how?'"
-- me