Category Archives: Work

Update on my job at Extensis and an opening to join me

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So, I’ve been meaning to write an entry on my new job at Extensis, but don’t seem to have time these days (I’m blaming the managerial finance class homework, which is killer). So, short and brief. Extensis rocks. The people here are smart, passionate about what they do, and care about customers. Very similar to Intuit, but better frankly.

My current task is working on a brand new project, where the goals are simple: made it the best Macintosh application. World class. Don’t skimp on things like appropriate animation, proper flow of the user interface, really great look and feel. Not The Delicious Generation, but what I think is really world class stuff.

It’s very very refreshing to be able to work at a company that values a proper look and feel on a Macintosh project, and is giving me the time to do it correctly.

And…. you can join the team. We have another opening for a Macintosh developer, very recently posted on Steven Franks CocoaDev Jobs board.

Here’s a link to the actual posting. If you’ve got any questions about Extensis or the position, feel free to drop me a line at lwdupont at extensis dot com.

Oh.. I’ll be down at Apple next week for some meetings, Monday through Thursday morning. :-)

Moving on..

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As some of you might have realized by reading my blog, I am a software engineer.. a Macintosh one specifically, having worked for Intuit for the past 6 1/2 years, the first three or so on Quicken, and the last 3 or so on QuickBooks.

I say having because today was my last day at Intuit. I’m sad, as I fondly remember those late nights swashing Quicken bugs in Mountain View, Ed’s “Hamster Dance” (this is a video, but think of the song) at 1:30am when we signed off on a release. I remember us switching QuickBooks to Cocoa a few releases ago, and really having fun learning and developing in Cocoa every day.

However, time marches on. I’ve been working at home since my wife got a position at Nike almost 6 years ago, and we moved to Oregon in November of 2000. The one thing I’ve learned since that time is I’m a people person, I don’t thrive working at home, staring at a screen with no people interaction. What’s really helped me in learning this is going to school to get my MBA, graduating in February of 2007. I might write more about my MBA soon…

So, new job! I start with Extensis on Tuesday morning! Downtown Portland, commute on highways and taking the Max train and all! I am really really looking forward to it – one from seeing people again during the day, to working on something different than finance software for 6 1/2 years. Time to diversify, time to learn, time to have fun!

Scott Thompson, lead CocoaDev of MindManager on CocoaRadio

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I’m just listening to this now, I meet Scott once at WWDC, he is a nice guy. They briefly mention QuickBooks for the Mac about 1/2 way through, talking about how we add Mac specific features and UI, which was a nice mention.

Go listen, it’s a good interview.

Update: They slam QB Online right at the end for not supporting any browser but IE 6. Fair shot for sure. :-)

Scott Thompson, lead CocoaDev of MindManager on CocoaRadio:

If you are a mind-mapping addict or business switcher, you’re going to enjoy this interview with Scott. He is a former developer on Macromedia Freehand with a great story to share about a company doing things right on the Mac. Mindjet didn’t just port their Windows app (thank you!) as Scott explains, but intentionally set out to create a solid Cocoa app and true Mac experience. Simple logic other software companies should adopt!
Previous post about MindManager beta is here.

Knowing that many non-iTunes PC users don’t care for AAC files, I’ve encoded this show as mp3. I’m just too busy or lazy to add pictures in Garageband too.

Direct download: mp3  or subscribe already via iTunes

(Via CocoaRadio.)

QuickBooks Transition To A Cocoa App

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Our article on QuickBooks transition to a Cocoa App (among other things) is now up on the ADC web site.

I am not quoted in it. :-) I think I was on vacation when they asked for quotes, or they forgot about asking me cause I’m remote. :-)

However, Peggy’s very nice comment about one of the features I wrote last year is pretty cool:

“It’s really a beautiful thing,” says Chang, “to have this as an automatic process in the background. It’s a major benefit for customers who no longer have to copy and paste.”

My favourite thing that we have right now is our build machine stuff, coded by Chad. It sounds easy, but it’s very powerful (although not as powerful as the Newton build farm, but we’ll get there):

The list of Mac-only benefits in QuickBooks for Mac goes on. Here’s a final example: have you ever considered using iChat in your build process? Probably not. But the team creating QuickBooks for Mac did, and they’ve found it to be a useful tool. Here’s what they do. The build server is on the iChat buddy list for the team. An AppleScript process on the server checks for incoming iChat messages. When someone on the team sends a message (any message – “Hey there!”), the server automatically starts the build. The server then uses iChat status messages to reflect the status of the build—in process, complete, and so on. The team can easily keep track of what’s going wherever they are—in a meeting, in a cubicle, or in the Intuit cafeteria.

In any case, if anyone has any technical questions on what we’ve done, feel free to post a comment, and I’ll try to reply.

And go read Keith’s blog, he’s another developer on the team. Far more technical elegant in his blog than I. :-)