On my recent Daring Fireball spree that came about as a result of Free Feeds Week, I came across an article from about three years ago. It’s an interview that John Gruber conducted with Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire. NetNewsWire of course, is probably the most widely used RSS newsreader (not counting Safari’s built in capabilities) available on Macs today. It, along with the rest of Ranchero Software (Brent’s company) was acquired by NewsGator a little over a year ago.
While the interview is a bit old (it was conducted shortly after the release of NetNewsWire 1.0,) it contains many interesting tidbits and insights on the future of RSS (which we’re seeing today,) decisions concerning the price of software, and a note of particular interest, the relationship between Apple and third party developers:
Apple has to think about John and Jane Doe, while I'm lucky, I get to write software for John and Jane Einstein. I get to take risks that big companies can't.I really think it’s an interesting point about the drawbacks that Apple faces while having to develop for such a wide audience. Due to its commitment to ease of use, Apple has an obligation to dumb things down, so to speak. Third party developers don’t.
Just a warning, it’s a very long interview, conducted by email, meaning both interviewer and interviewee had the chance to think out their responses fully. Nevertheless, it’s a great read, and provides many thoughtful points on developing a truly great Mac app.
