| The Mac Observer has been tracking and talking about all the various signs that the Mac market is once again healthy for many months (Whoa! Wall Street Money Manager Says Apple "Under Appreciated!", Chalk Up Another Wall Street Fan Of Apple, Electrifier Raises US$1.5 Million In Financing, MacAddict One Of Four Tech Mags That Sees Growth, to name a few of the most recent articles). Two other important measures of the health of the market is student developer interest and developer involvement at Mac related developer conferences. The WWDC is coming up on May 10th, and this year's certainly looks to be a great one, but another very important conference is MacHack which is also coming up relatively soon (in June). The good people at MacHack released a press release that shows us that these important markers, students and developers, are also showing a renewed resurgence.
MacHack is saying that they are seeing record enrollment. According to MacHack:
Paralleling the rise of Apple Computer, Inc., the Macintosh platform's premiere developer conference is experiencing rapid growth. The June 23-26 conference, MacHack 14, has already demonstrated strong registration and a new level of excitement.
"It's amazing," said Carol Lynn, conference manager. "We've never seen this kind of student enthusiasm. Attendance is at record levels."
The early registration drive that ended April 15, generated a record number of registrations. There is still room, but the conference is limited to 400 attendees and is expected to fill at the current pace of registration. Student registration is somewhat tighter as it is limited to 50 and is filling quickly.
Students may register for $50 which includes full conference attendance as well as a special meal package provided by MindVision Software. Regular attendees can register for the conference at the regular rate of $525 which includes the full conference package.
There's still plenty of time to register, simply go to the conference web site and register either via the secure online form or via the snail mail form. Conference registration includes meals and full access to all conference events. See the web site for full information.
The MacHack planning committee is putting the final touches on the overall conference plan which can be examined at the conference web site.
MacHack, in its fourteenth year, remains centered around cutting edge software development. Each year the conference brings together well-known names in the software business, as well as many students and upstarts whose names we'll know soon enough, and fosters interaction between all of the attendees. MacHack's uniqueness derives from the informal feel and the LIVE coding that occurs around-the-clock during the conference.
MacHack 1999 will take place June 23-26 in Dearborn, Michigan.
The Mac Observer Spin: You may actually be asking yourself why this is so important. The circle of health for any computing platform includes developers and consumers. Developers won't make anything if no one is there to buy while consumers won't invest in a platform where nothing is being made. Consumer involvement is usually measured in terms of market share and the profits of companies while developer involvement is usually measured in terms of number of developers, profits, new products, and most importantly, especially during market recovery, in terms of attendance at such events as developer conferences.
When developers are confident about a platform, they will become more involved in events like the WWDC and MacHack. MacHack and the WWDC both had seen marked declines in attendance during the last few years until last year. At that time, attendance rose, a little, for the first time in several years.
This year MacHack is seeing record attendance and this means that the underlying mood among developers is positive.
The issue of students follows similar lines. Any computing platform must see new, and in some degree young, developers entering the market. New ideas are always important. When we see students paying attention and enrolling in conferences like MacHack we can see that there are more students around the country who think that the Mac platform is an area where they can make money.
To summarize, what is good for MacHack will translate into good things for the entire Mac market.
[Editor's Note: Thanks to Kenneth Badertscher for his input on this issue.]
MacHack
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