http://www.workthatmouse.com/
Arlo Rose is the other half the K dev team.
Following is an email from the list, from Eric (the "Kaleidoscope Evangelist", who manages the KSA, and the K List):
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on 8/17/01 9:28 PM, brian pink at brian@brianpink.com wrote:
> from workthatmouse.com:
>
> The last version of Kaleidoscope we released was 2.3.1. While we still
> support it, and encourage people running pre-Mac OS X machines to download
> and register it, we are no longer actively working on it or a version for
> Mac OS X.
>
> fuck. combine that, with Aqua, with WinXP interface by IconFactory, and
> EMBED no longer working in IE on Windows...
>
> its a sad day at my house.
Well, don't be too sad too quickly. For one, if you follow the links that
Arlo has created on his page, you can actually learn a lot of neat stuff,
totally unrelated to Kaleidoscope. You can find out that Greg has moved
from Boston to Redmond to Berkeley to Eugene in the last little while and
has worked for Microsoft! =D You can find out that Arlo has enough money to
buy whatever he wants and is able to choose to tun down Apple! =D You can
find out that I don't do much of anything!
Rafting the Arkansas and
riding mules into the Grand Canyon sure were fun, though.
Anyways, you all know that Arlo has never been the programmer behind
Kaleidoscope; his primary role was as graphic designer (of the bundled
schemes and promotional/web artwork) and figurer of difficulties: it took a
lot to conceptualize a format within which a complete interface could be
represented by individual bits and pieces. I remember hearing about many
late-night meetings about how to pull off some of the tricks that
managed.
With that in mind, I don't think there is anything to despair about... at
least not immediately. You've noted that Arlo has been gone from the list
for quite some time; he's terribly busy with a myriad of work-related
activities that have slowly pulled him away from Kaleidoscope. But as you
can tell from the above description of his part in the empire, Kaleidoscope
will still function fine while he is busy.
True, the programmer is also absent at the moment, still getting
acclimatized to his new role in Eugene, setting up his new house and such.
But, as Arlo's page says, Kaleidoscope will still be supported in terms of
bug-fixes and general communication of any ideas you may have, etc. So, in
actuality, the Kaleidoscope experience is no different now than before Brian
read that note.
With respect to future versions, I think Arlo might have been a bit more
vague: the reason 2.3.1 won't be updated is because we view it as pretty
much complete. I have tremendous faith that Greg would fix any terrible
bugs that were brought to his attention, but he's been an avid protestor of
my animation ideas since I suggested them to him years ago.
Also, the reason no X-compatible version is being worked on should be very
clear if any of you have ever believed Maury's news.
With Apple
threatening left and right over X reverse-engineering, now isn't the time to
[k]rak X and anger people. Let's wait until Apple confirms or denies their
intent to release a customizable theming tool and see what shakes down from
there. If they do, we all know there is no way Kaleidoscope could possibly
compete with a bundled, OS-level customization, and if they don't, well
then, maybe there will be an opening for Greg to come back and create some
magic a second time.
Until then, there are many of us who can't stand X, can't afford X or can't
understand X that will continue to use previous versions of the Mac OS. I'm
thankful to the people represented on the last few NAUSes who are making
sure that Kaleidoscope scheming remains a viable and valued art: the more
schemes people make, the more people will want to make schemes and the more
people will want schemes to continue into the future...
E
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The last statement is of special interest... classic MacOS is going to stick around for a -long- time (and I intend to release my own schemes, OSX version or not).
