The Blue Meanies of
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
was an engineering group primarily responsible for the architecture of
System 7
System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and also known as Mac OS 7, is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems. It was introduced on May 13, 1991, by Apple Co ...
during the early and mid 1990s.
The name, a reference to the evil characters of Pepperland in the movie ''
Yellow Submarine'', originated with the
"Pink" and "Blue" split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
in Apple's operating system planning. "Pink" was to be the further-out project that ultimately became
Taligent
Taligent Inc. (a portmanteau of "talent" and "intelligent") was an American software company. Based on the Pink object-oriented operating system conceived by Apple in 1988, Taligent Inc. was incorporated as an Apple/IBM partnership in 1992, and w ...
, and "Blue" designated incremental improvements to the shipping Mac OS. "Meanies" describes the group's architectural role, which frequently entailed instructing or negating engineers in other groups.
Though the Meanies have sometimes been characterized as the "coders of System 7", the Mac OS was by then sufficiently large that major subsystems such as
QuickDraw
A quickdraw (also known as an extender) is a piece of climbing equipment used by rock and ice climbers to allow the climbing rope to run freely through protection such as a bolt anchors or other traditional gear while leading.
A quickdraw ...
and
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
were developed and maintained by specialized groups, and the Meanies primarily focused on orchestrating the components together.
The name appeared outside of Apple as an
Easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
starting in System 7.0.1, where the texts "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!" and "The Blue Meanies:" were followed by a list of names. Subsequent releases were updated to track the comings and goings of people in the group.
The nickname became well known, because many of the Meanies were also the senior engineers interacting with developers at venues such as the
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...
(especially on the Stump the Experts panel) and
MacHack
MacHack was a Apple Macintosh, Macintosh software developers conference first held in 1986 in Ann Arbor, Michigan in partnership with the University of Michigan. The conference was organized and operated by Expotech, Inc. The final (18th) MacHac ...
. This included
Darin Adler
Darin Adler was the technical lead for Apple Computer's System 7 operating system release. During 1985–1987 he worked for ICOM Simulations as primary developer of the MacVenture game engine which ran Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True, Uninvit ...
and
Lew Cirne
Lew Cirne is a Canadian-American Silicon Valley-based technologist and entrepreneur who promotes software analytics technology. He was the founder and CEO of Wily Technology, which was acquired by CA, Inc. in March 2006. Cirne founded the compa ...
.
References
{{reflist
*Pogue, David, and Joseph Schorr. "Macintosh Secret: The Secret Message in the System File." Macworld Mac & Power Mac Secrets. Ed. Mary Bednarek. 2nd ed. San Mateo: IDG, 1994. 162. Print. Secrets.
External links
Blue Meanie lists in System 7 releases
* ttp://myoldmac.net/FAQ/picts/SecretAbout7.gif Blue Meanies hidden picture in System 7br>A fictional story, written by Greg Marriott, formerly of the Blue Meanies
Apple Inc. employees