8 ms·

Dev stays without pay to finish Mac Graphing Calculator as skunkworks project

117 points by maryrosecook 17y ago

mahmud 17y ago
A great classic. People who enjoyed it are urged to read more like it at the mac-oriented Folklore website: http://www.folklore.org/ http://www.folklore.org/ A treasure!
- maryrosecook 17y ago
  Steven Levy's book about the creation of the original Macintosh is also wonderful. http://www.amazon.com/Insanely-Great-Macintosh-Computer-Everything/dp/0140291776/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246522804&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Insanely-Great-Macintosh-Computer-Ever...
jrnkntl 17y ago
"We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security" For once they do something good, are they still being bashed for it :)
dukeofchutney 17y ago
This is a good story, well worth the time spent reading it. Mac developers devotion to duty is admirable. :)
- heroin 17y ago
  That was not their duty to do that. they were not on a pay roll, and nobody assigned that project to them. It seems they wanted to do some kind of commitment. Nice to see some people works not just for money, but for a higher good. I wish more people, and not just in software industry, have this kind of motivation.
  - vorador 17y ago
    You'd be amazed to see how much time some people spend on free software projects.
  - InkweaverReview 17y ago
    Exactly. I'm amazed by the effort that they went to, sneaking into the building to work on the code. I'm also tickled by the fact that other employees helped them, and knew about their situation despite the fact that the big shots in charge didn't.
SwellJoe 17y ago
Every time I read, or hear anyone speak about, working for Apple, I always think, "Who would put up with crap like that from a multi-billion dollar corporation?" And yet, many people do. Just goes to show what good design, maniacal focus, and a charismatic leader can do, I guess.
- pmjordan 17y ago
  This story taking place 1993-1994, Apple would have actually been without its charismatic leader.
  - wglb 17y ago
    But didn't his values from his earlier stint kind of set the culture?
  - SwellJoe 17y ago
    Jobs still built the corporate machine and culture. It takes a while for that kind of thing to wear off or evolve.
- zimbabwe 17y ago
  As somebody who may apply for a job at Apple in the near future: Because working for that multi-billion dollar corporation means getting to work on possibly the best set of electronic devices on the planet. If I work for a company rather than for myself, I want my work to be contributing towards as grand a project as possible, and if that end goal is valuable enough, working insane hours to meet insane requirements sounds like a fair trade.
pietro 17y ago
They gave a talk at Google about it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7497796873809571567 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7497796873809571567
christofd 17y ago
very enjoyable read. thanks.
diN0bot 17y ago
i like these oldies but goodies, too, but can a story from 2004 really be considered (hacker) news ? i don't think the chronologically "what's new" aggregator is not the right solution for "best things of all time". it's no good if this story pops up every year. hacker news should prevent duplicate urls, and perhaps provide more browsing options, eg monthly top stories.
- pchristensen 17y ago
  1. Despite the name, it's not just for news. 2. Some people weren't here a year ago and haven't seen it before. 3. There are 50-100 items per day on the front page - it won't kill you to see a few repeats a week.
wglb 17y ago
I had not seen this before. What a beautiful marvelous story.
jlees 17y ago
Awesome story. I love the final line.
enra 17y ago
Previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1741 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1741, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=169149 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=169149, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=170373 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=170373 (video) It would be nice to add year to the title if the article is old.
- maryrosecook 17y ago
  Sorry. I didn't realise it had been posted before.
lpgauth 17y ago
"We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security." Best line.
keefe 17y ago
uhm, call me cynical but maybe he could have spent his time more profitably? Could he have launched this as a $2 app?
- jonah 17y ago
  In the This American Life episode referenced at the bottom of the story, it is mentioned that they ultimately received a sizable royalty check for licensing it to Apple.
  - keefe 17y ago
    nice! I scanned, lots of text for an at work distraction (:
bayareaguy 17y ago
The secret to programming is not intelligence, though of course that helps. It is not hard work or experience, though they help, too. The secret to programming is having smart friends. I think there's a lot of truth to this. It's the real reason some of the best software comes from universities.

117 points by maryrosecook 17y ago

A great classic. People who enjoyed it are urged to read more like it at the mac-oriented Folklore website: http://www.folklore.org/ http://www.folklore.org/ A treasure!

maryrosecook 17y ago
Steven Levy's book about the creation of the original Macintosh is also wonderful. http://www.amazon.com/Insanely-Great-Macintosh-Computer-Everything/dp/0140291776/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246522804&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Insanely-Great-Macintosh-Computer-Ever...

jrnkntl 17y ago

"We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security" For once they do something good, are they still being bashed for it :)

dukeofchutney 17y ago

This is a good story, well worth the time spent reading it. Mac developers devotion to duty is admirable. :)

heroin 17y ago
That was not their duty to do that. they were not on a pay roll, and nobody assigned that project to them. It seems they wanted to do some kind of commitment. Nice to see some people works not just for money, but for a higher good. I wish more people, and not just in software industry, have this kind of motivation.
- vorador 17y ago
  You'd be amazed to see how much time some people spend on free software projects.
- InkweaverReview 17y ago
  Exactly. I'm amazed by the effort that they went to, sneaking into the building to work on the code. I'm also tickled by the fact that other employees helped them, and knew about their situation despite the fact that the big shots in charge didn't.

SwellJoe 17y ago

Every time I read, or hear anyone speak about, working for Apple, I always think, "Who would put up with crap like that from a multi-billion dollar corporation?" And yet, many people do. Just goes to show what good design, maniacal focus, and a charismatic leader can do, I guess.

pmjordan 17y ago
This story taking place 1993-1994, Apple would have actually been without its charismatic leader.
- wglb 17y ago
  But didn't his values from his earlier stint kind of set the culture?
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  Jobs still built the corporate machine and culture. It takes a while for that kind of thing to wear off or evolve.
zimbabwe 17y ago
As somebody who may apply for a job at Apple in the near future: Because working for that multi-billion dollar corporation means getting to work on possibly the best set of electronic devices on the planet. If I work for a company rather than for myself, I want my work to be contributing towards as grand a project as possible, and if that end goal is valuable enough, working insane hours to meet insane requirements sounds like a fair trade.

pietro 17y ago

They gave a talk at Google about it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7497796873809571567 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7497796873809571567

christofd 17y ago

very enjoyable read. thanks.

diN0bot 17y ago

i like these oldies but goodies, too, but can a story from 2004 really be considered (hacker) news ? i don't think the chronologically "what's new" aggregator is not the right solution for "best things of all time". it's no good if this story pops up every year. hacker news should prevent duplicate urls, and perhaps provide more browsing options, eg monthly top stories.

pchristensen 17y ago
1. Despite the name, it's not just for news. 2. Some people weren't here a year ago and haven't seen it before. 3. There are 50-100 items per day on the front page - it won't kill you to see a few repeats a week.

wglb 17y ago

I had not seen this before. What a beautiful marvelous story.

jlees 17y ago

Awesome story. I love the final line.

enra 17y ago

Previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1741 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1741, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=169149 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=169149, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=170373 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=170373 (video) It would be nice to add year to the title if the article is old.

maryrosecook 17y ago
Sorry. I didn't realise it had been posted before.

lpgauth 17y ago

"We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security." Best line.

keefe 17y ago

uhm, call me cynical but maybe he could have spent his time more profitably? Could he have launched this as a $2 app?

jonah 17y ago
In the This American Life episode referenced at the bottom of the story, it is mentioned that they ultimately received a sizable royalty check for licensing it to Apple.
- keefe 17y ago
  nice! I scanned, lots of text for an at work distraction (:

bayareaguy 17y ago

The secret to programming is not intelligence, though of course that helps. It is not hard work or experience, though they help, too. The secret to programming is having smart friends. I think there's a lot of truth to this. It's the real reason some of the best software comes from universities.