A New Body!
Wednesday, August 7, 1996 by Dave Winer.
Goooood morning!
And welcome to Macworld Expo.
It's coooool! It's not hot here. No sweat. Yah-hah. We're having fun!
I'm sharing a booth with some great people. To my right is ResNova, they make a fine new web server for the Mac. To their right is Microsoft Internet Explorer, Bare Bones, Akimbo, WebStar, Claris, Metrowerks, Qualcomm, Clearway. Across the aisle, they're singing over at the Power Computing booth! We're just going to have the best time at this show. Hi-ho! Come visit. Booth #5328 at the World Trade Center. We're having the best time. Y'all come down!
We have a website at this booth. Please check it out at http://206.33.196.39/. If you have an announcement to make at the show, stop by at Booth #5328, or send me email at dwiner@well.com. I want to link your site into mine. It's an experiment in dynamic sites. Come by the booth and make a contribution. Yeah!
Jean-Louis Gassee, http://www.be.com/, just came by, gave me a hug! This is our show! He asks "have you seen our stuff running on Power Computing hardware?" I say "No way!". He says -- it flies! No doubt. Cooool. "We have lots of dirty thoughts," he says. I say, yes, that's how you make babies.
Well on with the press release. If I keep taking visitors, I'll never get this piece out. It's fun, but it's also important that you know what's going on in the Mac community this Wednesday August 7, 1996.
A new body 
There's a major announcement being made today. A new body focused on creating standards from the great client, content, serving and scripting tools that only run on the Macintosh.
I believe it's important that we export our standards to other platforms, much as German and Japanese cars run on American roads, our technology will play on Windows and Unix. I believe this is critical for us to be effective on the Mac platform.
A platform is a lot of things. I want the Mac Internet platform to be a place of growth. And I want to participate in that growth.
The Macintosh Internet Developers Association. MIDAS. The press release is going out over the Business Wire right now. It's being talked about at the keynote at the Hancock Center, going on right now. And coming to you live from the Expo floor, via DaveNet, you get to be part of the announcement.
Macintosh Internet Developer Association
Formation of Macintosh Internet Developers Association (MIDAS) Announced at MacWorld
Group to Act as Clearinghouse for Macintosh Internet Client, Content and Server Standards
Boston, MA August 7, 1996 --MacWorld-- A consortium of Internet software developers for the Macintosh, representing the entire spectrum of commercial, independent, and educational developers, announced the formation of the Macintosh Internet Developers' Association (MIDAS) at MacWorld Boston. Among the members of MIDAS are Akimbo Systems, Aladdin Systems, Apple Computer, Inc., BareBones Software, Clearway Technologies, Cornell University, InterCon Systems, Maxum Development, Microsoft Corporation, Netscape Communications Corporation, ResNova Software, Stairways Software, the StarNine division of Quarterdeck Corporation, and Userland Software.
The charter of MIDAS calls for a forum in which Macintosh developers devise and refine standards and techniques for Mac-based Internet software, publish Mac-related standards proposals and documents, and coordinate activities with other standards groups such as IETF and W3C. MIDAS will also work to sustain and grow a robust market for Macintosh Internet software.
"The Macintosh provides the best platform on the Net today for integrating scripting environments and content tools," remarked Dave Winer, president of Userland Software. "MIDAS's collective effort will ensure that the Mac continues to lead in this area and that important standards such as Internet Config are carried forward and ported to other important platforms."
"We think MIDAS will help the Macintosh reach its fullest potential on the Internet, both as a platform and business opportunity for developers," commented Chuck Shotton, Fellow at Quarterdeck Corporation. "MIDAS provides the perfect venue for us to work closely with other developers to refine web server standards for the Macintosh."
"The Macintosh Internet community has worked together informally for years, producing such standards as Internet Config, command-clicking of URLs and the GURL AppleEvent suite." said Peter N Lewis, CEO of Stairways Software. "MIDAS gives us a way of continuing this effort."
"MIDAS has an important role to play both in creating a common context for Macintosh-based Internet innovators to leverage each others' work, as well as to offer the benefits of their insight to the broader Internet standards community which builds on all platforms," said Martin Haeberli, director of technology at Netscape Communications Corporation.
"As a MIDAS member, Netscape plans to work with MIDAS and Apple to help build consensus on the adoption of open internet standards such as common Java Runtime APIs and IPv6 and thereby drive internet-based business opportunities for the Macintosh developer community."
Among the first orders of business MIDAS expects to take up are discussions about web server standards, including the CGI standard, WebSTAR API, and server-side Java and developing standards for tighter integration between different types of Internet tools, including content creation tools, scripting environments, and browsers, such as BBEdit, Cyberdog, Frontier, Globetrotter, HomePage, Internet Explorer, NetCloak, NetForms, Navigator, and PageMill. In addition, MIDAS will examine proposals for providing system-level integration of basic Internet client services such as HTTP, FTP, and Mail. The current GetURL Apple event, FTP, and the Embedded HTML for Macintosh pictures standards will also be reviewed.
"MIDAS applies the open process of Web standard introduction and evolution to the Macintosh." said Don Bradford, general manager, IPTD Crossplatform, Microsoft Corporation. "It offers a focused venue for Macintosh developers to introduce opportunities, discuss challenges, propose solutions and disseminate information. We welcome this opportunity to participate."
"MIDAS will help us ensure that the recently introduced 'Virtual T1' technology is compatible with the full range of Macintosh Internet tools." commented Mark Kriegsman, president of Clearway Technologies. "It's good for our business, and it's great for our customers."
"The Mac Internet Developer's Association sends a clear message: the vibrant entrepreneurial community that has driven Apple's position on the Internet is continuing to focus on making the Mac the leading 'place to be.'" said Heidi Roizen, vice-president of developer relations at Apple Computer, Inc. "There's tremendous brain-power represented in this group and we are thrilled to have them focusing attention on the Macintosh."
Developers interested in joining MIDAS can do so by sending e-mail to midas@biap.com with a subject of "subscribe." More information is at the temporary MIDAS Web site: http://www.biap.com/midas/.
Brief comments
Writing a DaveNet piece from the show floor is proving difficult.
I'll have another piece soooon. In the meantime please watch the website.
Coool.
Dave Winer