MacApp is an Apple-developed C++-based object-oriented application framework that has a long and storied history on the Macintosh. MacApp seems to have more lives than the proverbial cat — it’s been declared dead more than once before, only to be resurrected. In any case, it looks like the gig may finally be up for the venerable application development environment.
According to a recent mailing sent to the MacApp developer’s e-mail list, Apple is “focusing its engineering efforts on projects effecting a wider range of developers and is not planning any subsequent updates to MacApp.” MacApp’s most recent update, XV.I, was posted this past August.
The e-mail list comments, penned by long-time MacApp maven Mike Rossetti, indicates that he and colleagues Tom Becker and Mark Dawson will be moving on “to new opportunities outside of Apple.” They’ll remain a part of the MacApp community, said Rossetti.
Developers who are now using MacApp may continue doing so under the standard license agreement, according to Rossetti. MacApp will continue to be available from Apple’s MacApp Web pages, as well — it just won’t be updated by Apple anymore, it seems.