Blue Meanies (Apple Computer)
Encyclopedia
The Blue Meanies of Apple Computer
was an engineering group primarily responsible for the architecture of System 7
during the early and mid 1990s.
The name, a reference to the evil characters of Pepperland in the movie Yellow Submarine, originated with the "Pink"/"Blue" split in Apple's operating system planning, where "Pink" was to be the further-out project that ultimately became Taligent
, while "Blue" designated incremental improvements to the shipping Mac OS. The "Meanie" part of the name derived from the group's architectural role, which frequently entailed telling engineers in other groups what to do.
While the Meanies have sometimes been characterized as the "coders of System 7", the Mac OS was by then sufficiently large that major subsystems such as QuickDraw
and QuickTime
were developed and maintained by specialized groups, and the Meanies primarily focused on getting the pieces to work together.
The name appeared outside of Apple as an Easter egg starting in System 7.0.1, where the text "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!" and "The Blue Meanies" was followed by a list of names. Subsequent releases were updated to track the comings and goings of people in the group.
Since many of the Meanies were also the senior engineers interacting with developers at the Worldwide Developers Conference
(especially on the Stump the Experts
panel), MacHack
, and in other venues, the group came to be well known by its nickname.
A number of notables of the Macintosh world were in the Blue Meanies at one time or another, including:
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
was an engineering group primarily responsible for the architecture of System 7
System 7 (Macintosh)
System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997...
during the early and mid 1990s.
The name, a reference to the evil characters of Pepperland in the movie Yellow Submarine, originated with the "Pink"/"Blue" split in Apple's operating system planning, where "Pink" was to be the further-out project that ultimately became Taligent
Taligent
Taligent was the name of an object-oriented operating system and the company dedicated to producing it...
, while "Blue" designated incremental improvements to the shipping Mac OS. The "Meanie" part of the name derived from the group's architectural role, which frequently entailed telling engineers in other groups what to do.
While the Meanies have sometimes been characterized as the "coders of System 7", the Mac OS was by then sufficiently large that major subsystems such as QuickDraw
QuickDraw
QuickDraw is the 2D graphics library and associated Application Programming Interface which is a core part of the classic Apple Macintosh operating system. It was initially written by Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld. QuickDraw still exists as part of the libraries of Mac OS X, but has been...
and QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
were developed and maintained by specialized groups, and the Meanies primarily focused on getting the pieces to work together.
The name appeared outside of Apple as an Easter egg starting in System 7.0.1, where the text "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!" and "The Blue Meanies" was followed by a list of names. Subsequent releases were updated to track the comings and goings of people in the group.
Since many of the Meanies were also the senior engineers interacting with developers at the Worldwide Developers Conference
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions...
(especially on the Stump the Experts
Stump the experts
Stump the Experts is a popular session of Apple Inc's annual Worldwide Developers Conference conference. The first Stump took place at the WWDC92 in San Jose. - Structure :...
panel), MacHack
MacHack (convention)
MacHack was a Macintosh software developers conference first held in 1986 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The final MacHack conference took place on June 19-21, 2003. In 2004 the conference was renamed ADHOC...
, and in other venues, the group came to be well known by its nickname.
A number of notables of the Macintosh world were in the Blue Meanies at one time or another, including:
- Darin AdlerDarin AdlerDarin Adler was the technical lead for Apple Computer's System 7 operating system release. During 1985–1987 he worked for ICOM Simulations as primary developer of the MacVenture series of games, including Shadowgate. Adler went on to work at General Magic and Eazel., he is the engineering manager...
- Scott Boyd
- Lew CirneLew CirneLewis Karl "Lew" Cirne is a Canadian-American Silicon Valley-based technologist and serial entrepreneur who is known as the creator and driving force in application performance management technology...
- David CollinsDavid Collins-People:* David Collins , 18th-century cricketer associated with Hampshire* David Collins , played for Wellington and Cambridge University...
- Wayne Correia
- Chris Derossi
- Pete Helme
- Fred Huxham
- Don Louv
- Kevin MacDonell
- Brian McGhie
- Greg Marriott
- Jeff Miller
- Fred Monroe
- Sean Parent
- Stan Shebs
- Eric Slosser
- Ed Tecot
- Dean Yu
