From: mattd@apple.com (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Apple Press Release
Date: 13 Apr 92 01:45:41 GMT
Organization: Developer Technical Support, Apple Computer, Inc.

In article <31912@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (unknown toad) writes:
> 
> 	If that's correct, it's NOT WHAT __DTS__ does.  DTS is Developer
> TECHNICAL SERVICE.  They help developers with problems and such. (I actually
> don't know all of the stuff they do, I just know they have nothing to do with 
> actual product development in terms of engineering work)

Close, but not quite.

DTS is "Developer Technical Support," just like it says in the .signature
and at the top of all the Technical Notes.  (I never can understand why so
many people have so many weird expansions for the "DTS" acronym -- it's not
like we don't spell it out most of the time.)

DTS, as part of Apple's Developer Support Center (which includes the core
technical support group and the Developer Hotline folks as well) answers
1-1 questions from Apple Partners and Associates on all aspects of
development (although only Partners recieve code-level technical support),
creates and publishes Technical Notes and Sample Code and many articles
available in other places (like _develop_ or third-party magazines such
as MacTutor or GS+), reviews documentation, works closely with engineering
and developers on unreleased products to insure developers understand our
design decisions (and to make sure engineering understands developer
concerns).

We also review the documentation, provide technical sessions at conferences
like the Worldwide Developer Conference and maintain presences in other
developer-related areas to help keep programmer on track and out of the
weeds.  We assign file and auxiliary type combinations, SmartPort and GS/OS
device IDs, scrap types and other registered system components as necessary.
We also assist developers with design, human interface and philosophical
issues concerning all aspects of program development.  Seven Hills new
background printing utility Express is just the most recent example of a
product that had significant input from DTS.

We've also helped evangelize public file formats, standard data types like
AIFF and Apple Preferred graphics, promoted file-system independence long
before anyone had seen HFS or DOS 3.3 FSTs, and generally tried to have
a good time while doing it all.

True, it's not our job to create the products, but especially in the past
that hasn't always stopped us.  I wrote (with Dave, while we were both in
DTS) the code in the Finder that reads file type descriptor ($42) files and
maps them to file type and auxiliary type combinations.  In writing IR 2.0
for sample code, we found several ways the Finder's (and the system's) IPC
capabilities could have been and were enhanced -- srqGoAway and finderSaysIdle
are just two of the messages that weren't included before IR came along.

There's a perception among a lot of people that DTS is just a bunch of
junior engineers who either look in the manual or ask engineering and can't
think for themselves.  (We do answer a lot of questions straight out of the
manuals, but we know where to look.)  Other people think DTS does everything
including writing the code and testing it.  The truth is somewhere in the
middle, obviously balanced a little bit more towards the "intelligence
required" side of the scale.

And, in case you're wondering where I fit in all this, I work in DTS's
Printing, Imaging and Graphics Support group (the PIGS - it's what we do,
not who we are, some exceptions do apply), mostly on LaserWriter printing
and fonts on the Macintosh.  I'm DTS's lead on the Apple II family, and I
have no plans at this point to reduce my Apple II involvement any at all.

============================================================================
Matt Deatherage, Developer Technical  | The opinions expressed herein are
Support, Apple Computer, Inc.         | not those of Apple Computer, and
Personal mail only, please.  Thanks.  | shame on you for thinking otherwise.
^^^^^^^^ Technical questions are not personal. Please post them instead.
============================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2