Keynote Speaker: Dave Winer


The keynote address will be given by Dave Winer, longtime Mac developer (remember ThinkTank? How about MORE? UserLand PPC?), author of the well-read, opinionated electronic newsletter "DaveNet," founder of UserLand software, and creator of the Frontier Web-centric scripting environment. Dave will open the conference at midnight Wednesday.

Here's some of what Dave had to say about the keynote in his "DaveNet" newsletter:

"I'll start talking about what it's like being a Mac developer in 1996, and what great things we have to look forward to, and how important it is that we work with each other, even competitively. And how we must stop looking to Apple to make everything right.

"I'm rehearsing for the MacHack conference. I'll be the keynote speaker when the conference opens at midnight in Dearborn on June 20.

"They made me an offer I couldn't refuse!

"What do I want to say about being a Mac developer in 1996? There's a huge mess at Apple to clean up. That's Amelio's problem. But there's also a huge mess in the developer community. How can we clean that up and get back on track?

"And that's where Respect comes into it. Listening to Mac developers, what's clear is how much they want respect. Look at my thing. It's soooo coool! With rare exceptions, none of our peers take note. We are all focused on Apple. Get a deal with Apple. Then come back to MacHack and be a real jerk!

"So, at the opening of MacHack I'm going to show a clip from The Godfather. Then I'm going to pick a developer at random from the audience. What do you do? How does your software work? What are you excited about? To everything he or she says, I'm going to say thank you! Thank you for making great software. Thank you for investing in the Mac! Then I'm going to ask if there's anything I can do to make their software work better. I'm going to listen and take notes.

"Then I'll do it again, until the idea sinks in. I expect it will make people uncomfortable. That's good.

"Can we work together? Sure!

"Will we? Why not?"

Dave Winer, dwiner@well.com

Home | About | MacHack 96 Info | Top Issues | Resources

Send comments or feedback for these pages to: www-machack@machack.com

Last updated: June 16, 1996 by dpk