David Rocks wrote:
| It isn't about what Apple think developers need, but
| what developers think they need.
The flaw in your argument is this: you're wanting *Apple* to do the work, and *Apple* to foot the bill. Since what you propose competes with all the other things that Apple is doing the work for, and footing the bill for, it's *Apple* that decides what gets done, and that means it *is* about what Apple thinks developers need. If you were proposing a developer consortium to do the work, then you'd be right in saying that Apple's opinions didn't matter, since Apple has no say over what other developers choose to do (Apple Legal possibly excepted). But since you want Apple to do it, Apple's opinions take first priority.
The best way to get Apple to do what you want is to show Apple that what you want done will benefit Apple where it counts: at the bottom line. Vague statements like "developers want 1.5 now" don't do that. What will persuade Apple is hard evidence that shows that *Apple*--not developers--will suffer if Java 1.5 isn't made available Right Now! (If, for example, you can present solid support for (1) 87% of Java developers will be stopped dead by not having Java 1.5, and (2) 79% of current Mac users will switch to Windows, never to return, without the Java programs no longer being developed, and therefore (3) Apple will finally fulfill the decades-old prediction of its imminent bankruptcy, then Apple may take your advice seriously. Or not. Steve Jobs is nothing if not mercurial.)
For example: you want Java 1.5 to run on Panther. On the face of it, Apple is better served by *not* providing a Java 1.5 for Panther, as that will be one more reason for people to buy Tiger. What can you offer Apple that will make up for the lost Tiger sales? (Not "more sales of Macs": the people who will run Java 1.5 will already own Macs, and having 1.5 available will, if anything, *delay* the purchase of newer models, as that will make the current ones useful that much longer. As well, Apple clearly doesn't consider Java a significant selling point for the Mac; if they did, Steve Jobs would bring it up rather more often than the "never" that's currently the case.)
Keep in mind, too, that nothing you say here can be counted on to reach *any* Apple employee, much less the ones that make these decisions. Whatever you say here is, at best, rehearsal for the real presentation to Apple, which will necessarily be done through other channels.
Glen Fisher
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