Dear Readers,
The more observant among you may have noticed that we've made yet another change to
develop with respect to how it's dated. The last change happened with Issue 10, when
we stopped designating issues with the current season and went back to using the
current month, because the season isn't the same around the world. Now we've moved
the date ahead by one month -- also to accommodate worldwide distribution.
For the terminally curious, here are the details: Apple Direct , our vanguard of
information for business and technical decison makers, doesn't reach other countries
until two to eight weeks after it's distributed in the U.S.; it might, for example, be
folded into a local mailing whose schedule doesn't coincide. So by the time some
non-U.S. developers see Apple Direct , they think they've been sent a past issue
rather than the latest one. To help convey to them that it is indeed the latest issue, it's
now dated with a month that's closer to when they'll see it. The Developer CD Series
disc, Apple Direct , and develop all need to be in sync -- so there you have it. What is
now the December issue of develop was the Autumn issue last year and the October
issue in 1990 (when our production cycle was a month out of phase from where it is
now). Anyway, we hope those of you in the U.S. agree there's no harm in a little time
travel forward.
A little time travel forward would be really handy for me while I'm writing these
editorials, because I don't always know what the state of the develop -related world
will be two months in advance (that's the lag time before you actually read this). In
Issue 11's editorial, for example, I couldn't alert you to develop 's being in a new
format on the Developer CD Series disc, because at that time we weren't sure it would
make it onto that disc. Yes, we've responded to your complaints about develop in
HyperCard® by switching to that popular viewing tool that you may know as
"BlueNote" -- now "Apple DocViewer" -- the same tool that's used for viewing New
Inside Macintosh .
The Developer CD corresponding to Issue 11 contained a prerelease version of
DocViewer that still needed some work; for example, it wouldn't work at all on a
Macintosh Plus. In lieu of a time machine, I've consulted the Magic 8-Ball DTS uses to
answer developer questions, and it tells me that the CD corresponding to this issue of
develop -- called the "November/December" CD, to ease the transition -- will
include a version 1.0 release of DocViewer along with Issues 11 and 12 in DocViewer
format. Version 1.0 should work on Macintosh Plus and newer models, with system
software version 6.0 and later. Back issues of develop will eventually also make their
way over into this format (the 8-Ball is hazy regarding just when this will happen).
We'd really like your feedback on DocViewer and how well it works for reading
develop (or anything else). Please check it out, and send your flames or even praise to
AppleLink DEV.CD.
Whoops -- did I say "DTS"? Old habits die hard. Another change we're gradually
making in develop is to shift from "Developer Technical Support" (DTS) to
"Developer Support Center" (DSC). As you may have read in the April 1992 issue of
Apple Direct , the DSC is a gateway to DTS as well as other support-related resources.
It provides a focal point for developer queries -- a single AppleLink address,
DEVSUPPORT, and a single phone number, (408)974-4897. Developers who aren't
Apple Associates or Partners can contact the DSC for limited nontechnical support and
referrals. We'll be adjusting to this change along with others that are creeping in:
Tech Note references no longe rnumbered; Inside Macintosh references that include
New Inside Macintosh ; DocViewer as the on-line viewing tool; postdating; and other
changes that I foresee but don't dare reveal lest I upset the delicate balance of the
universe.
Finally, I feel compelled to explain my bizarre trivia answer in Issue 11, about the
upside-down character that wasn't. I claimed the offending character was "8," which
on the contrary looks perfectly OK -- not at all topheavy -- in printed develop . It
turns out that this "8" is topheavy only in LaserWriter output. That will teach me to
use a media-specific question! I think I'll quit while I'm behind and lay off trivia
questions altogether for a while (even though I'll miss those friendly letters from
you).
Caroline Rose Editor
CAROLINE ROSE (AppleLink CROSE) has been writing software documentation since
before there were personal computers or even lava lamps. Her total of five years at
Apple is (to use the jargon she helped coin in Inside Macintosh Volume I) a
discontinuous selection, interrupted by as many years at NeXT. When not reading,
writing, coining, or otherwise obsessing over words, Caroline enjoys the outdoors. (As
songwriter Greg Brown puts it, "People say small things when they stay too long in
little rooms.") The highlight of her summer was "swimming Lava Falls": being thrown
from a raft that capsized in the largest rapid (a 37-foot drop) on the Colorado River
in the Grand Canyon, and being rescued by a small paddleboat that braved the next
rapid with 12 worried souls aboard. Talk about an adrenaline rush! And she lived to
tell the tale.*
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