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Who Really is the "Director" of Dashboard?

Posted by pudge on from the good-question dept.

MacManX writes "Does the director of Apple's upcoming Mac OS X feature, Dashboard, have something to hide? Or does he wish to remain hidden? Or are we just reading into this way too much? Rick has an excellent observation over at MacMerc. The evidence will astound you."

11 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Another Meaning by Angry+Monkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    An 'Alan Smithee' directed film also refers to a film that turned out so bad the director demanded the removal of his name (instead of having it taken away from him, as the IMDB quote in the article states).

    Example: the theatrical "Dune" movie was originally a David Lynch film, but subsequent prints bear the Smithee label.

    Fun fact: "Alan Smithee" is an anagram of 'i.e., the alias man.'

    Implication in context: rather than implying that Dashboard is so bad Apple took the project from its director, perhaps it means the project director doesn't want his name associated with it. Go Woz!

    --
    -- Apparently, some people are calling me 'Maurice' merely because I said something about the pompitus of love.
    1. Re:Another Meaning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean "the alias men" not man.

  2. Dashboard Information by SandSpider · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sadly, this article: not so funny. However, since we're talking about Dashboard, I recommend going to Surfin' Safari, the weblog of Dave Hyatt, lead programmer of Safari. Since WWDC, he's been talking about Dashboard, what it really is, and the development path they're taking.

    Dashboard is actually going to be a WebKit application, with some HTML Extensions to let you do things like put a transparent mask over the window and call local code. He's discussing putting the HTML extensions into their own default namespace right now, as well as submitting them for standards approval (well, some of them). It's a very interesting weblog, and certainly worth having on the RSS feed if you're at all interested in the development of Safari and webkit.

    =Brian

    --
    There is nothing so good that someone, somewhere, will not hate it.
    1. Re:Dashboard Information by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 2, Informative

      The native code in HTAs is also located in "plugins" (COM objects), which are "arbitrarily on your computer". The question is what the security model is going to look like and will it work better than IE's.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    2. Re:Dashboard Information by Chucker23N · · Score: 4, Informative

      Dashboard gadgets are indeed bundles with HTML, images, JavaScript, etc. and a plist in them.

  3. Re:Is there a new Alan Smithee? by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Informative
    Well, according to Alan Smithee's bio:
    The DGA decided that the name got so much exposure from the film Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, An (1997) that it was no longer an effective alias; the film Supernova (2000/I) was the first "post-Smithee" film.
    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  4. Re:This proves nothing by Jord · · Score: 3, Informative
    This isn't on /.'s first page. Might want to check your preferences. It is in the Apple section where all of the stories about Apple go.

    Perhaps you want to go into the BSD section next and complain about one of the stores in there?

    --
    seSales, Point of Sale software for OS X.
  5. Re:OK this is ridiculous by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 2, Informative

    But one keen observation: I'm a movie geek, so I searched for Alan Smithee on IMDB and I get that name for directors of some of the greatest movies ever made, several are on the IMDB's top 250 list. 12 Angry Men, the Original Manchurian Candidate, Cool Hand Luke, the first Superman, etc. Interesting stuff.

    No.
    Sidney Lumet is credited as "Sidney Lumet" for 12 Angry Men (1957). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Q&A (1990).

    John Frankenheimer is credited as "John Frankenheimer" for The Manchurian Candidate (1957). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Riviera (1987)

    Stuart Rosenberg is credited as "Stuart Rosenberg" for Cool Hand Luke (1967). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Let's Get Harry (1986).

    Jackie Cooper is credited as "Jackie Cooper" for playing the role of "Perry White" in Superman (1978). He is also credited as "Jackie Cooper" for playing the role of "Alan Smithee" in Moonlight (1982).

  6. Re:OK this is ridiculous by overunderunderdone · · Score: 4, Informative

    so I searched for Alan Smithee on IMDB and I get that name for directors of some of the greatest movies ever made, several are on the IMDB's top 250 list.

    No, the IMDB page is saying those directors, with their most famous movies in parenthesis so you'll know who they are, are sometimes AKA "Alan Smithee". So for instance John Frankenheimer directed "12 Angry Men" and was credited as such. He ALSO directed a 1987 TV movie "Riviera" under the name Alan Smithee - meaning that "Riviera" sucked, he hated it and didn't want his name associated with it.

  7. Re:Worried About Competitor Braindrain? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Any programmer on Apple has CERTAINLY signed an NDA, well-before they were even allowed to touch a 1-Infinite-Loop keyboard.

    I'm an Apple campus representative and had to sign one.

  8. Re:This proves nothing by sakusha · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're on to something here. Apple has a new rule against easter eggs or other hidden credits containing programmers names. The rationale is that Apple doesn't want to publicly release the names of specific programmers that worked on any specific project, it makes it easier for headhunters to poach critical personnel.

    So don't get your panties in a bunch over the smithee pseudonym. Obviously someone got bored creating demo data with the same old names like John Doe and decided to have a little fun.