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No Abiword For Mac?
aliya writes "With Abiword's version 1.90 coming out, their cocoa developer has announced that he will no longer work on a Mac version of the software because he doesn't want to support the company which treated him so poorly. There is a still a somewhat-supported X11 version available, though it is not kept current, and it appears that Abiword will join the abundant ranks of 'almost supported' word processors for Mac OS X."
Boy, if this isn't the pot calling the kettle black. I can't count the articles and responses in forums like this one where so many computer users are labelled "joe sixpack", "jane user" and "phb" simply because they do not care about computers as much as those who frequent these web sites. I truly hope this guy takes an introspective look at his decision and realizes that perhaps he was treated so poorly by the community because the community felt they were treated poorly by him.
...abi was canceled. I made the trek over to the net lab simply to use a copy of abiword installed on my network drive. Whenever people ask me what it is, I usually tell them it's MS Word that works.
Sounds prety corny but think about it, how many times have you wanted to use word and just have it leave you alone? Everytime I've used Word, even on a mac, im constantly annoyed by pop ups and "hints."
Yes they can be disabled but with Abi they're not even there in the first place. In my opinion, Abi is the most full featured software that lets me get my work done, without bugging me the entire while. I was hoping the Abi team would pick up the mac and make a full os x native version. Hopefully someone else will pick up the code and finish the job, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
If you get an error, type "OVERRIDE" or "SECURITY OVERRIDE" and then try the optimize command again.
Going on what the developer perceives of the situation, it's completely understandable.
He was working as a new Apple employee after a year of contract work and was an eager supporter of the platform making many sacrifices to take the job. Additionally, he developed the Cocoa/AbiWord software as a hobby on top of his paid work. He says that Apple terminated him during his probationary period with the reason of "incompetence" and he feels that this is documentably untrue and unfair.
Personally, I think AbiWord is cool and I think Apple makes some cool stuff. But whether this story is true or fair is irrelevent. This is his perception of the way he has been treated and I feel he's absolutely right for terminating this hobby if this is what he perceives.
It's disappointing. I sympathize with the guy in his current situation. And I hope that someone takes over AbiWord development (it is pretty cool stuff). It's too bad that this had to happen in this way.
Of course. I agree that a Cocoa interface
1. feels much more native
2. doesn't require an X server
3. is more work than a simple backend port (which already exists)
. That doesn't make this word processing app a killer app at all. Wonderful features, where are thou?
Notice they hired him AFTER they had him as a contractor for some time. Incompetance usually results in lots of boss-employee meetings and generating of "improvement goals" and shit, and you know you are the "problem employee" long before they take you into the conference room for "the talk."
Firing people is one of the things most likely to generate legal fees for an employer, even in an "at will" state. Because of this, mediocre managers usually avoid offering a reason if they live in an at will state, or even if they don't. If you are ever in the position to fire someone, always document the incompetance with a number of reviews and memos beforehand. Ideally, the person sees the writing on the wall and finds another job.
Coming out of the blue and firing someone for incompetance is a sure way to get your manager ass canned, in a real company that is. Maybe Apple "Thinks Different."
Yeah, firing someone for performance reasons (i.e., failing to adequately peform the duties of their position) gives the former employee lots of appeal rights, but if this guy was fired during his probationary period that's a whole 'nother matter. Probationary periods exist to give the employer an opportunity to see if newly hired employees really are as good as the resume/interview/background checks indicate they should've been. If it turns out the employee doesn't cut the mustard the employer can release the new employee with (near) impunity. Any employee who is employed beyond their probationary period is deemed to have implicitly "passed" a review of competence and THEN they get all kinds of rights if you fire them.
Which makes sense... if the employer says you really are competent (by keeping you after your probationary period) then if at some future point they say you suck it's reasonable to assume that they'd have to prove it. This is why well-run organizations take new employee probationary periods VERY seriously, because they know they could easily get stuck with a bad apple if they let the probabtionary period pass without reviewing the situation.
But the rules on probationary employment are generally so lax that it's possible to fire someone for lots of reasons that have little or nothing to do with competence. Personal hygiene. Shoe size. Rudeness. Whatever. So who knows? The bottom line is Apple didn't want him anymore so they made him go away. If he's having trouble dealing with this he really should see a therapist... even if he had issues with his work group or manager it's silly to think Apple, Inc. has any feelings one way or the other about him.