
“My position as Product Manager of Automation Technologies was eliminated” - binaryapparatus
https://macosxautomation.com/about.html
======
binaryapparatus
Q. I hear you no longer work for Apple; is that true?

A. Correct. I joined Apple in January of 1997, almost twenty years ago,
because of my profound belief that “the power of the computer should reside in
the hands of the one using it.” That credo remains my truth to this day.
Recently, I was informed that my position as Product Manager of Automation
Technologies was eliminated for business reasons. Consequently, I am no longer
employed by Apple Inc. But, I still believe my credo to be as true today as
ever.

Because who needs or expects anything remotely 'pro' at Apple any more?

~~~
mikeyouse
Just for fun / boredom, if he was granted $100,000 worth of shares every year
since 1997 and reinvested his dividends after they started paying out, he'd
have somewhere near 800,000 shares today worth nearly $85 million.

~~~
Johnny555
Does Apple give anyone that's not a senior executive nearly that many shares?
If they do, I need to go return a recruiter call immediately.

~~~
microtherion
It's absolutely within the range of possibility, even for an individual
contributor.

------
Jerry2
Apple's plan for the future does not include Mac or MacOS. They've been
treating macOS as a second-tier OS for years and have been barely updating it.
And when they do update it, they just backport some iOS features to it. You
can also tell that macOS is not a priority because security updates for same
kernel issues always come weeks after they've been fixed on iOS.

And let's not even get into Mac hardware and how there's no more true Pro
options and how rarely they even update them.

Cook's infamous quote says it all about the future of Mac:

> _“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No
> really, why would you buy one?” – Tim Cook, talking about the iPad Pro_

Requiem for the Mac is in order.

~~~
rimantas
Or they have been treating macOS as a mature OS where there is little space
for the revolution. Except that part of "barely touching" is not really true.

    
    
      > You can also tell that macOS is not a priority because
      > security updates for same kernel issues always come weeks
      > after they've been fixed on iOS.
    

Or you can tell that iOS has much larger user base and hence the priority for
security fixes.

~~~
binaryapparatus
> Or you can tell that iOS has much larger user base and hence the priority
> for security fixes.

Yeah because that single guy that needs to code all security patches has to
finish iOS first before he goes to another building to work on macOS?

We are often discussing (me included) Apple moves like they have very little
resources to do anything. Then I think again and d'oh.

~~~
gumby
AKAIK Apple no longer has a separate MacOS group. You could interpret this as
a good or bad sign -- I interpret it positively. The Mac folks can develop
drivers or whatever they need but core tech (e.g. GCD) need no longer start on
one platform.

~~~
microtherion
Ultimately, all the various *OS functions report to the same senior vice
president. However, there still are teams that predominantly do macOS, iOS,
etc, and there always have been engineers who worked on multiple platforms.
Historically, the barriers have mostly been against porting iOS technology to
macOS, but that hasn't been an issue in several years.

------
cpr
Sad day. Sal is and has been the biggest cheerleader for macOS automation
technologies ever.

------
sarreph
What a shame. I really thought we'd see some interesting developments in the
macOS automation space, as only a couple of years ago JS was introduced as a
scripting language alongside AScript. However, this is worrying as there are
so so many individuals who rely on bespoke, fine-grained task automation (and
not just glossy consumer apps) to use their Mac productively.

~~~
matt4077
I'm quite happy with hammerspoon for MacOS GUI automation. I'm using it to
collect the screenshots for a hyper(term) theme gallery
([https://hyperthemes.matthi.coffee](https://hyperthemes.matthi.coffee)).

Although now I'm not sure how much hammerspoon relies on the official APIs.

~~~
i336_
Two things:

1\. You have "https:/" (<\-- one "/") in the hyper.io link

2\. "server can't find hyper.io: SERVFAIL"

I'm interested in terminals, but this has an impossible-to-Google name (for
obvious reasons).

The themes look really cool though!

------
mevile
> was informed that my position as Product Manager of Automation Technologies
> was eliminated for business reasons. Consequently.

Business reasons to not have a head of automation for an Operating System? It
truly could be the case, but honestly I'd be ok if someone investigated
companies like Apple to see if there's an illegal pattern of letting go people
over the age of 40.

~~~
jballanc
I can't speak for the Apple of today, but when I left Apple in 2010 there were
more wizened, "gray-beard" programmers working for Apple than at probably all
the SOMA startups combined. Of all the things you could accuse Apple of (and
there are plenty), I think ageism has got to be near the bottom of that list.

------
WesBrownSQL
Hey, 20 years come get your reduction prize. This guys salary is probably a
rounding error on a spreadsheet but what he knows about Apple in any line of
their business would be worth the money. Just a shame.

------
bluthru
This is a great way to scare pro users after a lukewarm reaction to the latest
MacBook Pro's.

------
crack-the-code
Does that mean that he was effectively fired? I can't help but think there
must be some additional context as to why he was terminated and not
transitioned to another role (assuming my understanding of the situation is
correct). Is Apple really doing that bad?

~~~
kasey_junk
Why would you think that? It's relatively uncommon for companies to transition
employees when they decide to remove whole business functions.

~~~
maxxxxx
It seems stupid that they just throw away talented people. And then they pay
millions for talented people through buying startups.

~~~
rhizome
Penny-wise and pound-foolish perhaps, but Apple absolutely doesn't have a cash
flow problem that would get in the way of any flavor of these decisions.

------
r00fus
Sad to hear about Sal's departure (I'm not going to speculate on the
reasoning).

What I guessing as I read into this is that Apple is likely moving towards
cloud-based everything, and de-emphasizing OS-level functionality that's not
tied to cloud.

------
bootload
_" UNIX CLI (shell, python, ruby, perl), System Services, Apple Events
(JavaScript, AppleScript, AppleScriptObj-C, Scripting Bridge), Automator,
Apple Configurator (AppleScript, Automator), and Application scripting support
in Photos, iWork, Finder, Mail, and other Apple applications."_

I can speculate why Apple has made this decision. Notice the amount of siri
integration into macOS? This theoretically makes automation by code the black
sheep in Apples grand plan. Do away with code, push voice.

~~~
cauterized
Yup, that's exactly what my company's open plan office is missing. 50 people
muttering aloud at their computers all day.

~~~
bootload
_" The integration of an at least partially voice-controlled intelligent
digital assistant into a desktop, laptop, and/or tablet computer environment
provides additional capabilities to the digital assistant, and enhances the
usability and capabilities of the desktop, laptop, and/or tablet computer."_

 _" Intelligent Digital Assistant in a Desktop Environment"_, 2013 Apple
patent ~ [http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=H...](http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-
adv.html&r=2&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=\(345%2F473.CCLS.+AND+20140807.PD.\)&OS=ccl/345/473+and+pd/8/7/2014&RS=\(CCL/345/473+AND+PD/20140807\))

------
draw_down
Unfortunately they have been neglecting this aspect of the Mac for a long
time. It's a real shame because it used to be a solid advantage of the Mac
over other OSs. Recently I looked to see if Automator is still on my system, I
was surprised it's still included. They clearly don't care about this part of
macOS and it's such a shame.

~~~
matt4077
It's there, it works, you haven't looked at it in years. Apple may or may not
care about it, but apparently neither do you.

Automation probably gets us excited about ideas to streamline our lives, but
nobody ever gets around to it. I certainly hope it remains well-supported
because there are people who actually need it (accessibility comes to mind).
Also because I did actually just use it in a toy project.

------
carsongross
Remember this the next time you hear corporations complain about ruthless
employees who are willing to jump ship for mere money.

