Re: e$: Watching the MacRubble Bounce

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@netscape.com> writes:
> Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:
> >
> > Apple computer is dead, for all intents and purposes. It will be "officiall
> > dead (bankrupt) within a couple of years. Writing any sort of software for
> > Mac - crypto or otherwise - is a waste of time.
>
> If you accept that, then doesn't that make writing crypto software for
> any Unix platform *even more* of a waste of time?  Because last time I
> checked, there were way more Macs on mom-and-pop's desks than Unix
> machines, counting *all* vendors.

Irrelevant. Unix boxes are multi-user.

> Even if Apple folded *tomorrow*, those machines wouldn't vaporize.
> If you put easy-to-use strong crypto on a significant fraction of
> those desks six months from now, your work could easily have a lifetime
> of a year and a half even in your worst case scenario.

Scenario 1: writing a multi-platform comm program with strong crypto, and
including a Mac port (like Mac PGP, or clients for various tcp/ip protocols)
is only a minor waste of time.

Scenario 2: writing an encrypted filesystem for the Mac is a minor waste.

Scenario 3: Writing a comm program that lets Macs talk to each other with
no consideration that some Mac users may wish to talk to other platform
(or any other Mac-only software) is a major waste of time.

Of course, Apple is pushing #3. They're worse than Microsoft.

---

<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps