Tales of WWDC - 1987


One in a possible series about WWDC. This one takes place in 1987.

In 1987, I attended my second Apple developers' conference (they were still referred to as Apple Developers' conference - WWDC came later). This one took place at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It was a month after the release of the Macintosh SE and the Macintosh II, so it started on April 1. They had a little fun with that, telling us at the opening that the new Mac II would support C/PM so that a leading pundit (Jerry Pournelle, perhaps) would be happy.
There were a number of notable things about the conference that year. It was the first one in which we got a shirt (a blue polo shirt complete with the conference logo which I still don't understand). We gave the Mac II hardware team a standing ovation. The conference party was held at a mall which was closed down just for us (I don't think it was doing too well, actually) and The Bobs (a terrific Bay-area A cappella group) sang for us. It also the first year that snacks were provided - do-it-yourself ice cream sundaes after the last session of the conference.
The thing that really stands out in my mind about this conference, however, came about as the result of one of the strangest bits of conference scheduling imaginable. Now, the developers' conference was a lot smaller in those days, so we didn't take up the whole convention center, as small as the center was. In one of those coincidences that defy belief, IBM (remember, they were the big enemy back then) chose that very same convention center on the same day (actually, it was the second day of the conference) to release its PS/2 - OS/2 combination. (Actually, I don't think it as the only site. I think they had multiple downlink sites, and this was only the Silicon Valley downlink).
The IBMers did not seem to be too happy to be in the same place as all of us Appleites. They had a table set up in front of the auditorium with literature about the new products. When attendees of the Apple conference asked for a copy, they were told "no" in no uncertain terms. It seemed a bit short-sighted to me, but they were adamant.
So I was very surprised at dinner. Dinner in those days was a lot different, also. It was a sit down thing, with candle light and waiters and fancy food. I happened to be sitting at a table which had a couple of empty seats when everyone was seated. A few minutes after we were all sitting down, Scott Knaster and Guy Kawasaki walked in and sat down at our table - in full suits! (Unusual even in those days.) They said they had been at the IBM rollout. Someone asked how they had gotten in. They said they just put on the suits and walked in (I suspect now that they had invitations, but it was a good story). When asked their opinion, Guy smiled broadly and said "We've got nothing to worry about."
I'm not sure why this stands out so in my memory. I'm sure at the time is was the "Apple as outlaw" aspect, putting one over on the man. Now it seems to me that it is an example of how all of us, Apple and IBM included, were confused about who the opposition were.

Posted: Sun - January 14, 2007 at 04:40 PM          

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