During a press event yesterday where Steve Jobs officially unveiled Mac OS X, he said that over 10,000 developer organizations around the globe are working on over 20,000 Mac OS X applications. Those developers include 4D, Aladdin Systems, Alias/Wavefront, Avid, Connectix, Dantz, Digidesign, EarthLink, FileMaker, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, MYOB, Palm, Sun, Symantec, and Thursby Software Systems.
Apple said that some of the applications are out now, most will arrive this summer, and a few “stragglers” will come late to the party in the fall. Following are some comments from the aforementioned companies issued in an Apple statement:
4D: “4D Inc. is passionate about insuring that our software works with and takes advantage of all of the new benefits and features that Mac OS X will provide,” said Brendan Coveney, president and CEO, 4D, Inc. “The enhancements provided by Mac OS X will allow both the 4D and WebSTAR product lines to really show what they are capable of and provide better performance, speed, and stability.”
Aladdin Systems: “Having shipped StuffIt Deluxe 6.0 as a Mac OS X application shows Aladdin’s continued commitment to providing the Macintosh community with the best Internet experience possible,” said Jonathan Kahn CEO of Aladdin Systems. “We are excited about the release of Mac OS X, and look forward to offering all of our award-winning software solutions for the new operating system.”
Alias/Wavefront: “We’re very excited about the positive results we’ve been getting during our beta process with Maya on Mac OS X,” said Richard Kerris, Director of Maya Technology at Alias/Wavefront. “For the first release of a brand new operating system, Mac OS X has a ton of power at its core, and Apple’s done a great job of implementing their support for Open GL. The foundation of Mac OS X provides an open environment which will be familiar to our high-end customers, and on the surface is the amazing Aqua UI which will take Maya to a whole new market of graphic professionals.”
Avid: “Avid continues to provide the highest performance Macintosh-based editing systems in the professional post production market,” said Ken Miles, Director of Third Party Partner Programs and Relationship Management for Avid. “We remain committed to bringing the best solutions to our customers, and we look forward to leveraging the benefits of Mac OS X technology in our Macintosh-based products.”
Connectix: “Mac OS X is a another example of Apple taking personal computing to the next level, and it will improve the experience of all Mac users,” said Mitchell Cipriano, vice president of marketing at Connectix. “It provides us a great opportunity to demonstrate our continued support of the Macintosh. We believe Mac OS X is the ideal platform on which to build a better Virtual PC, the best selling cross-platform solution for the Mac. Look for Virtual PC for Mac OS X this summer.”
Dantz: “We congratulate Apple on delivering Mac OS X, the most powerful operating system ever designed for a personal computer,” declared Richard Zulch, chief technical officer at Dantz Development Corporation. “In keeping with our commitment to remain the number one provider of Macintosh backup software, we’ll release the first Retrospect backup product for this revolutionary new OS just three weeks from today.”
Digidesign: “Digidesign is excited about Mac OS X, in particular its compelling new performance, reliability and user interface capabilities,” said Dave Froker, General Manager of Digidesign. “Mac OS X remains the platform of choice for the majority of Pro Tools users and we are working closely with Apple to support this operating system with Pro Tools, Digi 001 and other award-winning audio products we offer.”
EarthLink: “We’re excited for the public unveiling of Apple’s Mac OS X, and we expect that people will appreciate its power and elegance as much as we have in our opportunities to preview it,” said Bill Heys, executive vice president at EarthLink. “As Apple’s preferred ISP, we’re committed to supporting Mac OS X fully, developing software that takes full advantage of its new capabilities, and integrating it with the OS interface as seamlessly as possible.”
FileMaker: “Mac OS X represents a leap forward which will enable a new generation of phenomenal Macintosh applications,” said Dominique Goupil, FileMaker president. “FileMaker is very excited about the user experience we will be able to deliver based on the vivid Aqua interface and other Mac OS X features.”
IBM: “IBM has worked closely with Apple to integrate its award-winning ViaVoice speech-recognition software with the Macintosh,” said Krishna Nathan, Director, Consumer Voice Systems, IBM Voice Systems. “Last year, IBM delivered the first continuous speech recognition program for the Macintosh. IBM’s current plan is to deliver IBM ViaVoice for the new Mac OS X platform in US English later this year, and is evaluating European and Japanese IBM ViaVoice solutions for the new operating system.”
Macromedia: “As a longtime supporter and partner of Apple, Macromedia is excited by today’s release of Mac OS X, which brings our developer community an impressive new platform upon which to create effective, user experiences for the Web,” said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia. “Macromedia is committed to bringing our market-leading Web authoring product line to Mac OS X, beginning with the next release of FreeHand, to ensure our Mac developers can help define what the Web can be on their platform of choice.”
Microsoft: “Microsoft congratulates Apple on shipping Mac OS X, the rock-solid new foundation our Macintosh customers have been waiting for,” said Kevin Browne, general manager of Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit. “Customers will find a native version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 for Mac Preview Release installed with Mac OS X, and Microsoft looks forward to providing a great native version of Microsoft Office 10 for Mac OS X this fall.”
MYOB: “We’re excited at MYOB about the revolutionary features of Mac OS X that give users even more control and flexibility,” said Cynthia Mackewicz, General Manager, MYOB US, Inc. “We’re proud to offer MYOB AccountEdge as the premier small business accounting system built for Mac OS X.”
Palm: “Palm is hard at work on new versions of Palm Desktop and HotSync manager for the Mac OS X platform,” said Satjiv Chahil, chief marketing officer and interim general manager of Individual Solutions Group at Palm, Inc. “We are committed to bringing all the performance and innovation benefits of Mac OS X to Palm handheld customers worldwide.”
Sun: “Combining the Java 2 platform with Apple’s Mac OS X makes an already sensational platform spectacular,” said Rich Green, vice president and general manager of Java Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “Mac OS X expands the Java platform’s value proposition, making Apple users equal participants in the universe of web-deployed graphical desktop applications.”
Symantec: “Through our support of the ground-breaking Mac OS X, we are pleased to be able to continue our commitment to providing superior Internet security and problem-solving solutions for Macintosh users,” said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of Symantec’s Consumer Products Division. “Symantec currently offers several products that support Apple’s new platform, with the momentum on releasing a complete range of Mac OS X compatible applications.”
Thursby Software Systems: “In our 15 years of developing Macintosh software solutions, the potential for Mac OS X is the most exciting we have seen,” said William Thursby, President of Thursby Software Systems. “The capabilities presented by the rich architecture allow us to further develop solutions such as our DAVE and MacSOHO products with increased benefits to our customers.”
And there are lots more (these are just the folks that Apple got to comment for their event). Others that we know of include Corel, MacSpeech, NewTek, Adaptec, Roxie, MindVision, SAS, QBeo, Beatware, Roxen, Miramar, ArcSoft, Lexmark, Virtual Ink, AEC, Chronos, Tenon, Power On Software, Totally Hip, WildPackets, SoftPress Systems, Smith Micro, Wolfram Research, Frontbase, Inprise/Borland, Wacom, and Maxon. Plus, there’s a whole host of others that you can find online.