Volume Number: 24 (2008)
Issue Number: 06
Column Tag: Editorial

From the Editor, June 2008

It's that time of year, once again. Of course, I'm writing this in advance of that exact time. That time being WWDC. A promise of something new. A promise of some inside knowledge. As technology keeps moving along at this pace, you may wonder where it will end. We have no idea. All we can do is inform you of where it is and the direction it's facing. That's typically enough information for any one brain to handle. This month, we all get more than our share. Quite a bit is coming to you from MacTech.

Two articles this month touch on packaging files in OS X: Jose Cruz delves into Leopard's Package Maker.app while this month's Mac In the Shell talks about command line packagemaker. In both cases, packaging files is important to both developers and system administrators. The OS X package format is the way to deploy files to OS X systems. Interestingly, everything on Unix is a file. Packages can be used to add users and passwords to a system, change preferences or even install an entire operating system. Learn how to build and automate package creation, and do more with multiple systems.

We also bring you articles on Interface Builder, TextMate, and creating web-based apps for the iPhone (despite the new SDK!). MacEnterprise details changes to the printing environment (CUPS) in Leopard.

This month also marks the first of Andy Inhatko's articles for MacTech. Always enjoyable, take a respite, and gain some insight into why we all do What we do in this industry.

Finally, check in with Dave Hayden from Panic Software in the MacTech Spotlight. Enjoy all of the going-ons of WWDC. When it's all behind us, MacTech will be back next month with the next bit of technology in this industry we're wrapped up in.

Ed Marczak,

Executive Editor

by Dennis Sellers and Neil Ticktin

The world of Mac journalism has lost one of the great ones. Stan Flack, who founded both MacCentral and MacMinute, died on April 14th. According to his sister Julie, he "passed away due to health complications from his condition."

Stan was a good friend to many in the Mac industry, and certainly to many journalists and those in the Mac media. Frankly, he was always there to help and work with MacTech as well.

Stan founded MacMinute in 2001 to " keep you up-to-date on everything that is going on in the world of Macintosh as soon as it happens." Prior to creating MacMinute, Stan Flack founded MacCentral. He sold MacCentral to Mac Publishing, the company behind the MacWorld properties on June 1, 1999.

Eventually, the web site was folded into the MacWorld brand name and the last vestiges of MacCentral disappeared with the incorporation of the MacCentral Forum into the MacWorld forums in December 2007.

Things change, time passes and folks move on to other things, but Stan's impact lives on. Pretty much all of those involved with MacCentral are still Mac lovers and involved in covering Apple in the media.

So here's to Stan Flack, who would have turned 43 this year. Thank you for all that you've done for the Mac community.