Volume Number: 23 (2007)
Issue Number: 06
Column Tag: Industry Influence

The MacTech 25, 2007

By Edward Marczak and Jeffrey Rochin with contributions by Dean Shavit

The MacTech 25 honors the most influential people in the Macintosh community. How do we know who these people are? You tell us! Once a year, we open up voting to you, the Macintosh community. This is this second time that MacTech Magazine is running the MacTech 25: a version 2.0, if you will. Since we're jumping an entire revision number, you will see differences from last year, the first ever MacTech 25.

Has the event grown in popularity in a single year? There were certainly more votes cast this time around. Additionally, the honorees are also more varied. There's a stronger developer presence this year -- a group of people that have clear influence in the Macintosh community. From coming up with foundational ideas to doing things with technology that no one had envisioned, these are core influencers. Of course, many developers like to develop! Another group represented here are people that help run technology companies -- turning blood, sweat and code of developers into a shipping product.

Finally, there are three groups that are related enough to be grouped together: the writers, the trainers and the press. Writers are authors, and the medium is varied. While the message starts on a computer, sometimes the message stays in electronic format, such as a blog, or an e-book. Other times, it goes to a printing press, and we find it on the bookstore shelf. In either case, they help guide us through the world created by the programmers. Similarly, trainers do the same, sometimes using material created by the writers. Finally, the press helps spread the word about a new product -- the one you never knew you needed, and now need training on.

MacTech is thrilled to be part of the Macintosh landscape, and part of this cycle. Presented here in alphabetical order by first name are the honorees. The mission here is not to rank, but to honor. We're very happy to be presenting the 2007 edition of the MacTech 25.

Aaron Hillegass

Anyone deep into the guts of the Macintosh has heard of Aaron in one of his many forms: author, programmer or trainer. For those of us who have met him in person, he's not soon forgotten. Maybe it's his easygoing personality. Maybe it's because he knows so much about Cocoa. Maybe it's the cowboy hat. Whatever the case, this is Aaron's second year in the MacTech 25, and it's well deserved.

His Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X is still a best seller its category. The depth of his knowledge here should come is no surprise when you look at his background. Aaron worked for NeXT and then Apple before founding Big Nerd Ranch, which provides all manner of training for Mac OS X and Unix developers. Fortunately, he's a trainer that keeps in touch with real-world experience. One of his more visible projects comes in the form of the Mac OS 10 client for AOL. Find out more about Aaron and Big Nerd Ranch at: http://www.bignerdranch.com. - erm