Re: Push for AppleScript in OS X
Re: Push for AppleScript in OS X
- Subject: Re: Push for AppleScript in OS X
- From: Mark Alldritt <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 09:19:11 -0800
on 1/2/2001 11:27 AM, email@hidden at
email@hidden wrote:
>
> I think it would be in our best interests if everyone sent their desire to
>
> have AppleScript in OS X.
>
>
The good news is that you're about one year too late, Jason. There has been
>
very well-publicized evidence for a long time now that AppleScript will be
>
alive and well in OS X. There have only been about 1000 references to it on
>
this very list so far, plus official announcements from Chris Nebel of the
>
AppleScript team here. You can begin to look forward to March 24 (or maybe
>
give it a little longer to be working smoothly).
This issue occupied much of our time during a panel discussion I was
involved with at Macworld.
The issue at hand is actually quite serious. While its true that the
AppleScript language its self is well positioned in MacOS X, scriptability
in MacOS X as a whole is in a terrible state. During Macworld it became
very clear that with the initial release of MacOS X we are not going to
enjoy anywhere near the level of scriptability in the core OS (Desktop,
Dock, Preferences, Networking, Printing) that we enjoy today with MacOS 9.
It has taken several years for Sal and the crew to get MacOS 9 to the point
it is now. My great fear is that its going to take 1-2 years to get all the
infrastructure back under MacOS X.
Additionally, all of Apple's recent consumer applications (iTumes, iMovie,
Final Cut Pro, etc.) are *not* scriptable. I see this as a very bad
precedent.
So, to conclude, its not the language that's at risk, but support for
scripting in the OS that's the problem. If scripting in MacOS X matters to
you or your organization, you must make this clear in a respectful way to
Apple. If we are not making our needs clear to Apple, they may choose not
to do this work in favor of some other feature enhancement.
Cheers
-Mark
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