Interesting story from James Thomson about the development of the early version of the Mac OS X Dock.

So, we are coming up on a little anniversary for me this weekend. On the 5th of January 2000, Steve Jobs unveiled the new Aqua user interface of Mac OS X to the world at Macworld Expo.

By the way, my birthday is January 5th too.

On the other hand, I got a little bit angry when reading this part (especially how Space Karen talks crap about remote work lately).

Steve left, and then visited my manager’s manager’s manager and said the fateful words (as reported to me by people who were in the room where it happened).

“It has come to my attention that the engineer working on the Dock is in FUCKING IRELAND”.

I was told that I had to move to Cupertino. Immediately. Or else.

I did not wish to move to the States. I liked being in Europe. Ultimately, after much consideration, many late night conversations with my wife, and even buying a guide to moving, I said no.

They said ok then. We’ll just tell Steve you did move.

As a software developer who has been working remotely for more than 15 years, I have never understood why it’s so important to be in the office…