Jean-Louis Gassée Interview (1998)

Jean-Louis Gassée Interview (1998)

Author: Derek May 14, 2024 Duration: 36:00

A snapshot of Be’s direction in 1998 post-Apple merger talks and pre-bankruptcy.

Original text by Henry Bortman.

Selected Jean-Louis Gassée quotes:

“Who could have put a date on not getting fired for using Linux?”

“One of my role models is Michael Dell. […] He looks like a sage in the industry now, but he didn’t always look like this.”

“The simple fact is, today if you write a line of C++ code, chances are you’re competing with Microsoft.”

The 1996 BeOS vs. NeXTSTEP bakeoff story as told by Avie Tevanian.

JLG refers to striking a deal with “a Japanese PC maker”, resulting in preinstalls of BeOS on the Hitachi Flora Prius (not that Prius).

Yes, Apple’s marketing slogan for the Macintosh really was “it does more and it costs less” in the early 1990s. Related comic.

In audio as in video applications, the talk-to-shipping-products ratio was extremely poor. Back in the day I only heard of one video editor shipping on BeOS, Adamation (ex-NeXT!) personalStudio. The BeBits software catalog reflects this as of mid-2000 when third-party application development seemed to stop altogether. I’m not counting the Edirol DV-7 because, like the Otari RADAR system, it was an expensive custom hardware appliance built on top of BeOS, priced mostly out of the reach of casual home users.

Windows NT on PowerPC did exist… briefly.


Derek hosts Mac Folklore Radio, a podcast that serves as a warm, nostalgic conversation about the machines that defined personal computing for a generation. This isn't a dry technical history, but rather a collection of stories, memories, and shared experiences centered on the Macintosh ecosystem from its early beige-box days through the colorful iMac era and beyond. Each episode feels like digging through a box of old software manuals and rediscovering the community, the quirks, and the sheer sense of possibility those computers inspired. You'll hear tales of first setups, beloved and baffling peripherals, the games that consumed hours, and the software that felt like magic. It's crafted specifically for those who lived through it-the users, tinkerers, and enthusiasts who remember the hum of a CRT and the distinct scent of a warm motherboard. Tune in for a dose of genuine, fond reminiscence that functions as comfort food for the Apple-centric soul, preserving the personal side of tech history one story at a time. This podcast is a love letter to the culture built around these machines, celebrating the folklore that official manuals never recorded.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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