Bertrand Serlet
Encyclopedia
Bertrand Serlet, born 1960, is a French researcher. PhD in Computer Science at Université d'Orsay (Paris XI)
, he worked first at the Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA). He left France for USA in 1985.
He is the former Senior Vice President of Software Engineering
at Apple Inc, where he worked from 1997 to 2011. He succeeded Avie Tevanian
to the position in July 2003. In this position he has been primarily responsible for the release of Mac OS X
Tiger
, Leopard
and Snow Leopard
.
Before Apple he worked at Xerox PARC
and NeXT
.
Serlet holds a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Paris-Sud, France.
He spoke at WWDC 2006 on the perceived similarities between Mac OS X Tiger and Windows Vista
, including the comparison of Apple's Aqua
interface and Microsoft's Aero
interface. Serlet poked fun at the apparent visual similarities and referenced a 2004 WWDC banner that read, "Redmond, start your photocopiers" — a reference to Microsoft headquarters which is in Redmond, Washington
. He also spoke at WWDC 2009 and gave an in-depth demonstration of Snow Leopard
, which included further references to Microsoft's Windows operating system — claiming that Windows 7 is just another version of their highly criticized Vista
release, citing the ongoing use of the Windows registry
, DLLs, the User Account Control subsystem and existence of an interactive disk defragmenter.
He led development of the Workplace manager in NEXTSTEP
and OPENSTEP
. He has led the Mac OS X team from its inception.
On March 23, 2011, Apple announced that Bertrand Serlet was leaving the company "to focus less on products and more on science."
Paris-Sud 11 University
University of Paris-Sud or University of Paris-Sud or University of Paris XI is a French university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburb of Paris...
, he worked first at the Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA). He left France for USA in 1985.
He is the former Senior Vice President of Software Engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
at Apple Inc, where he worked from 1997 to 2011. He succeeded Avie Tevanian
Avie Tevanian
Avadis "Avie" Tevanian is a former Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple Computer from 1997 to 2003, and a former Chief Software Technology Officer from 2003 to 2006. He is a member of the board of embedded software tools company Green Hills Software. Tevanian was responsible for...
to the position in July 2003. In this position he has been primarily responsible for the release of Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
Tiger
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
, Leopard
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
and Snow Leopard
Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference...
.
Before Apple he worked at Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC
PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....
and NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
.
Serlet holds a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Paris-Sud, France.
He spoke at WWDC 2006 on the perceived similarities between Mac OS X Tiger and Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, including the comparison of Apple's Aqua
Aqua (user interface)
Aqua is the GUI and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests, with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects...
interface and Microsoft's Aero
Windows Aero
Windows Aero is the graphical user interface and the default theme in most editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, operating systems released by Microsoft. It is also available in Windows Server 2008, but is not enabled by default. Its name is a backronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and...
interface. Serlet poked fun at the apparent visual similarities and referenced a 2004 WWDC banner that read, "Redmond, start your photocopiers" — a reference to Microsoft headquarters which is in Redmond, Washington
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
. He also spoke at WWDC 2009 and gave an in-depth demonstration of Snow Leopard
Mac OS X v10.6
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference...
, which included further references to Microsoft's Windows operating system — claiming that Windows 7 is just another version of their highly criticized Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
release, citing the ongoing use of the Windows registry
Windows registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
, DLLs, the User Account Control subsystem and existence of an interactive disk defragmenter.
He led development of the Workplace manager in NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
and OPENSTEP
OpenStep
OpenStep was an object-oriented application programming interface specification for an object-oriented operating system that used a non-NeXTSTEP operating system as its core, principally developed by NeXT with Sun Microsystems. OPENSTEP was a specific implementation of the OpenStep API developed...
. He has led the Mac OS X team from its inception.
On March 23, 2011, Apple announced that Bertrand Serlet was leaving the company "to focus less on products and more on science."