2 ms·

Out of curiosity, how do you think you'd react if Apple implemented something that closely resembled 10/GUI? Do you have any patents for it? Didn't they interv

by blehn 16y ago

Out of curiosity, how do you think you'd react if Apple implemented something that closely resembled 10/GUI? Do you have any patents for it? Didn't they interview you for a job at one point? Did they indicate if they were experimenting with new desktop UI frameworks?

mortenjorck 16y ago
Off the top of my head, I guess I'd just count myself among the ranks of the inventor of Cover Flow, the creators of Konfabulator, and the creators of Quicksilver. It happens, and the best thing to do is just to double down and never stop thinking, exploring, and making. As disappointing as it might be, it would be an enormous validation. My experience with the Apple recruitment process didn't tell me much about the company's plans for the desktop (I didn't get far enough to sign an NDA), but I did learn something important: Their interaction designers, the concept guys whose explorations eventually filter down into shipping products... are also developers. Apple hires the best of both worlds, idea people who don't even stop to sketch ideas out on paper but head straight to XCode and an NSWindow. That's literally their process. The best thing that came of it was that it inspired me to set out to learn Objective-C and Cocoa. I'm not as far with it as I'd like to be yet, but it's opened my eyes to the possibilities of becoming a designer/developer. Even if, in the future, I'm still the archetypal designer looking for a technical co-founder, hopefully I'll be good enough that I can at least carry my own weight.
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  More importantly, you'd have an intimate understanding of the trade-offs required for various designs. Of course, the flip side is that you have to learn to ignore those trade-offs at times or else you start designing based on trade-offs instead of trying to push the limits. FWIW, I'd love it if Apple did something like 10/GUI.

by blehn 16y ago

mortenjorck 16y ago

Off the top of my head, I guess I'd just count myself among the ranks of the inventor of Cover Flow, the creators of Konfabulator, and the creators of Quicksilver. It happens, and the best thing to do is just to double down and never stop thinking, exploring, and making. As disappointing as it might be, it would be an enormous validation. My experience with the Apple recruitment process didn't tell me much about the company's plans for the desktop (I didn't get far enough to sign an NDA), but I did learn something important: Their interaction designers, the concept guys whose explorations eventually filter down into shipping products... are also developers. Apple hires the best of both worlds, idea people who don't even stop to sketch ideas out on paper but head straight to XCode and an NSWindow. That's literally their process. The best thing that came of it was that it inspired me to set out to learn Objective-C and Cocoa. I'm not as far with it as I'd like to be yet, but it's opened my eyes to the possibilities of becoming a designer/developer. Even if, in the future, I'm still the archetypal designer looking for a technical co-founder, hopefully I'll be good enough that I can at least carry my own weight.

SoftwareMaven 16y ago
More importantly, you'd have an intimate understanding of the trade-offs required for various designs. Of course, the flip side is that you have to learn to ignore those trade-offs at times or else you start designing based on trade-offs instead of trying to push the limits. FWIW, I'd love it if Apple did something like 10/GUI.