Le Club Macintosh de Montrİal
Publication: InterFace
Issue: January 1992
Author: John Markle
Series: NeXTdirections
Title: Custom Development
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NeXTdirections ±± Custom Development
NeXT intelligence gathered by John Vincent Markle

The following quotations were taken from the Fall 1991 edition of NeXTWORLD:

Foremost among these is our fundamental belief that NeXT systems, software, and networking comprise the most exciting computer platform available today.  ...  NeXT's biggest distinguishing advantage right now is the ease and elegance of custom development with NeXTstep and Interface Builder.  I think that's the way to get in the door.   (Editorial, p. 3)

While Kunt's interface to the program is new, the computational kernal is a 20-year-old physics analysis tool comprising 7000 lines of Fortran.  Revitalizing old programs is one of the key benefits of Interface Builder, Kutz believes.  "There are hundreds of thousands of programs out there that have nothing wrong with them except their user interface."  ...  "If you put this tool in the hands of people who know their own business, as opposed to the business of programming, that's when you get real innovation," he says.   (Accelerating Innovation, p. 8)

NeXT claims that it has a trump card in the race to woo application developers±±the NeXTstep user interface and development environment.   (NeXT draws battle lines for 'pro workstation' market, p. 13)

He (Mike Slade, NeXT's Director of Marketing) said that NeXT would pick two or three application areas, possibly custom development and professional graphics, to emphasize in upcoming marketing campaigns.  Instead of spending on advertising, NeXT will favour programs like seminars and road shows that "get the product in front of people," said Slade.   (NeXT realigns marketing team, p. 14)

The best part of developing a user interface with Interface Builder wasn't the ability to design a single interface quickly; it was the ability to try out a lot of them.  "It let us develop a lot of bad UIs," says Salas,  "We could have an idea, and in an hour we would have it on the screen." (Improv: The Inside Story, p. 35)

Spahr has been surprised at how fast he's been able to build custom applications to accomodate the rapid swings of the market.  "These custom applications enable me to be on top of those changes."  Quite simply, NeXT is helping him get the job done±±fast.  "What it is allowing me to do is to buy some shrink-wrapped software and combine it with other stuff I write and satisfy what people need to do, without techs."   (Bull Market, p. 37)

Finally, NeXT has created effective developer programs and tools, including a developer training course that's run twice a month in California, once a month in Pittsburgh, and once a month in Europe; a ten-volume documentation guide to writing NeXT software; and on-line bulletin board support.   (Vanishing Point, p. 80)