Developers post top-10 list at MacHack

Attendees at the recently concluded MacHack developer conference decided to soften their approach when compiling their top-10 list.

The 13th annual meeting, held in Dearborn, Mich., and billed as the pre-eminent convention for Mac programming and development, has for the past four years created a developer wish list based on a feedback session with Apple representatives. This year, however, the often-contentious "Bash Apple" session was recast as a "Thank Apple" session to promote a more temperate top-10 list.

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"This list is a result of a healthy interchange between Apple and Mac developers, and the issues are not a list of demands," said A.J. Fuller, who headed up the top-issues segment of MacHack. "Instead, they are areas we as developers would like to encourage Apple to focus on for the benefit of Apple, the developer community and, as a result, the Mac OS community as a whole."

No. 1 on the list was a request to give small developers access to necessary portions of Apple's developer program at a reasonable cost. The second item echoed requests from previous years' lists and asked that Apple rejuvenate interest among students and young people to develop for the Mac platform.

Next, the conventioneers suggested that Apple provide developers with an OS build with full debugging flags. The Mac developers also requested that the company consider a smaller form factor for its portables that maintained all the power of the current PowerBook G3s.

No. 5 was a request to encourage the creation of quality Mac OS games. The sixth item asked that Apple remain committed to new technologies to help build confidence in the Apple community.

What would you like to add to this wish list? Add your comments to the bottom of this page.

Other suggestions from the list: Use advertising to play up the software advantages of the Mac platform; determine the direction of the company's TCP/IP network architecture; and supply better development documentation.

Lastly, the 10th item asked that Apple include development tools with the upcoming iMac All-in-one system to encourage new developer talent.