Re: Interface Builder popularity w/ Cocoa Developers
Re: Interface Builder popularity w/ Cocoa Developers
- Subject: Re: Interface Builder popularity w/ Cocoa Developers
- From: Chris Espinosa <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:14:19 -0700
On Jun 17, 2008, at 4:25 AM, Laurence Harris <email@hidden> wrote:
On Jun 16, 2008, at 4:47 PM, Todd Heberlein wrote:
(4) Commitment issues: By keeping things NDA (and other wordings
that Apple uses in its prerelease software), I wonder if it makes
it easier for them to withdraw features before releasing the
product. I've personally been excited to see planned features that
I I can use only to be disappointed when they cut out the features
before the product is released.
I really don't want to start another discussion about Carbon,
That's good, because this is not a place to beat dead horses.
but Apple has shown repeatedly -- most recently with 64-bit support
for Carbon -- that they have no problem dropping what they've
promised officially and publicly if it suits them to do so.
Larry's right in that Apple, like almost all other platform vendors,
reserves the right to change product specifications at any time
without notice, and even to discontinue highly-promoted products and
technologies. (Remember "Apple II Forever?")
The OP is also correct that the Beta release phase, and its attendant
nondisclosure status, emphasizes that products under development are
even more volatile and speculative, and that promised features may not
materialize. Platform development is risky, costly, and difficult, and
(looking at the industry track record) often unsuccessful. Developers
who commit to any new platform or technology -- be it Mac OS X, Vista,
Android, or whatever -- should be aware that the platform vendor's
aims for features, quality, and adoption may not be realized.
Try as I might, I haven't found a way to implement features in Xcode
that insulate developers from the risks inherent in developing
software on pre-release OS versions that are subject to change, though
I'm open to ideas. (We've looked at using refactoring to migrate off
of deprecated APIs but the cases are so disparate that most mechanical
solutions are inadequate).
Further discussion of how tools can help you manage change are on-
topic for this list. General discussion of the trustworthieness of
short- and long-term platform committments are not.
Chris
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