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June 15, 2005
Out of hiding and into the fire
At last year's WWDC, I (purposely) kept a really low profile. I was already working on a new app for OS X, stemming from an idea that Dan Wood approached me about a few years ago. Dan, of course, was across the street at JavaOne demo'ing Project Alameda, Sun's Java-based successor to Watson. Not wanting to really give any details about what I was working on, and sort of waiting to see what would happen with Dan and Watson, I kept pretty much mum.
That's not to say I wasn't listening. Core Image, Core Data, WebKit editing. Yep. I ate it up. Very tasty stuff. But, still, I wasn't ready to say anything.
This year, things went a little differently...
As it turned out, Sun dropped the ball with Alameda, Dan rejoined the team last Fall, and we've been coding away getting ready to ship this new app as soon as we can. Not wanting to go through another conference with my lips sealed, I pushed pretty hard that we announce by WWDC 2005. And I'm sure glad we did. Dan and I spent a good part of last week just huddled in the labs with Apple engineers and our code, hitting every major area we had questions about: Xcode, Core Data, Core Image, Quartz Composer, Automator, and, of course, WebKit. (Don't worry, Barry, I'll be bugging you about Sync Services in short order.) I really want to thank everyone I met last week for their help and suggestions. We walked away from WWDC 2005 with a ton of ideas to make this app even cooler.
So what's the app?! Of course, it's Sandvox. We unveiled it at Buzz's Weblogger Dinner at Thirsty Bear on Monday night. (Thanks Buzz!) I made Dan give demos until his voice went hoarse. (Thanks Dan!) I was nervous to see what the reaction would be. We couldn't be happier with the response. The people who saw it got it right away, even in the rough, alpha state it was in. Since that night we've gotten a tremendous amount of interest through the sign up on our site and a lot of great feedback that will surely shape the product between now and release.
So that's it. No more keeping silent. I'll be blogging here regularly, as well as on the Sandvox Weblog, about our progress, the present and future of OS X, Cocoa, Xcode, how design affects our lives, and the craziness of living in LA.
Stay tuned!
Posted by ttalbot at June 15, 2005 2:38 PM
Comments
Welcome back!
Posted by: Bobby Andersen at June 16, 2005 12:30 AM
Terrence,
When you get to Sync Services, let me know - I'm thinking about starting a mailing list for those using it to increase our knowledge about Sync Services. I hope to have it be a common sharing point for developers using it, in the absence of a list at Apple.
We have two developers at Mark/Space currently working on projects using Sync Services, and I know other companies out there will be releasing updates that use it. It is cool technology with a bunch of rough edges - but definitely has serious potential.
Let me know, and keep up nice the work,
b
Posted by: Brian Criscuolo at July 19, 2005 5:35 AM