More UNIX App Developers Interested In OS X

by , 12:00 PM EDT, April 6th, 2004

There are all sorts of indicators one can look at to determine the relative health of a computing platform, though many of them are not very accurate, or can be interpreted in many ways. Take general desktop market share, for instance: The number of new desktops Apple can claim has fallen over the years from a respectable 7% in 1995 to a worrisome 2% to 3%, or even 1.7%, depending on who you talk to. Yet Apple is about as healthy as it has ever been, and the platform itself also seems to be stable, which only proves that numbers don't tell the whole story.

Another indicator of the health of a computing platform is to look at who is developing for it. High profile reports of Adobe halting development of Framemaker for the Mac, and Microsoft discontinuing the Mac version of Internet Explorer may have many thinking that no one is developing for OS X anymore.

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to a report in Internetnews.com. The news outlet says that Apple Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations points to an increase in developer's interest in OS X and the Mac, especially in light of the upcoming World Wide Developer's Conference.

From the article:

Over the last three years, people who have experience in those areas are showing a great interest in our OS," Apple Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations Ron Okamoto told internetnews.com. "We're seeing a lot of first timers. It's really impressive."

[...]

Apple will now open its arms to the developers of open source and other program languages with some 200 sessions including categories like Enterprise IT, Hardware Technologies, and OS Foundations.

"This is a change from last year with our focus on enterprise and IT," Okamoto said. "One of the things we're doing is adding content and laboratories with more education. We're adding to our tools space including an update of our Xcode development tool."

Okamoto said Apple developers will be greeted with platform tuning applications for hardware and software including a new hardware platform in the PowerPC G5 processor and QuickTime sessions added in, which used to be addressed as a separate conference.

There's more information in the full report at Internetnews.com. You can also find more information on the WWDC at Apple's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Interest is one thing, new applications is another. While we applaud the fact that developers are interested, we wonder openly if their interest will translate into more applications for OS X. We certainly hope so.

Apple has made some very positive moves into the scientific and corporate IT domains, but to really make a mark, Apple has to be able to natively host applications that are commonly used in those areas. The only way to do that is if developers create versions of their apps for OS X.

Wisely, Apple picked a solid UNIX base for OS X, FreeBSD, and porting applications should be a relatively minor endeavor. Even so, it still takes time and effort, which equals money spent, and companies want to know that they will get a return if they spend it.

Still, one cannot deny that the numbers of developers attending Apple's WWDC has increased, and that is undeniably a good sign. Hopefully, this year's event will see yet another increase.

Apple Sees a Shift in Developer Profiles