Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert
5:00 am, July 19th, 2008, Lonnie Lazar
Software engineer Satoshi Nakajima, the lead architect of Microsoft’s Windows 95, picked up a Mac for the first time two years ago.
He was so impressed, he says he’ll never touch a PC again.
Satoshi loves Apple products so much, he started a company in April, Big Canvas, to develop for Apple’s iPhone platform full-time.
“We have chosen iPhone as the platform to release our first product (for) several reasons,” explains his company’s website. “We love Apple products… You need love to be creative.”
Based in Bellevue, WA — right next to Microsoft’s home turf of Redmond — Satoshi spent nearly 14 years at Microsoft, serving as the software architect of Windows 95 and 98. He also oversaw the development of Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0. While at Microsoft, he developed the third largest portfolio of intellectual property of any employee at the company, according to his bio.
Last week, Satoshi released his company’s first iPhone application, Photoshare, a free, social networking app for sharing pictures with the iPhone.
Photoshare is like Flickr for iPhone photographers. The downloadable Photoshare app allows users to upload pictures to Photoshare’s website, and then share those pictures publicly or privately — without any required registration or the need for a computer.
We spoke with Satoshi about the pleasures of writing software for the iPhone SDK and got some of his thoughts about Apple’s UI, its distribution model for iPhone apps and the future of handheld communications.
The interview continues after the jump.
After working so long in the Windows environment, what attracted you to start exploring the Mac?
It was really just the look and feel, and also Apple was a competitor of Microsoft. We studied them as a competitor, so once I was outside Microsoft I felt like maybe I should learn more. So it was getting into it [initially] more like a competitor, and then to understand why some people are so into Apple products and yeah, I think I got it. The have some kind of emotional high that’s very strong, very attractive - most addictive (laughs).
What’s the biggest difference between developing for the iPhone and developing on the Windows platform?
Even though it’s based on the OS X operating system, the actual API sets we call [in Cocoa] are very different and really optimized for the iPhone environment. So a programmer can pay a lot of attention to power consumption, memory usage and most importantly, the user experience. With Windows Mobile, they simply brought Windows to mobile phones, so you program for Windows and that’s it, versus Apple’s optimization for the iPhone.
Were there other aspects of developing for iPhone that you found attractive?
The rest of the wireless world is so fragmented. We have 8 years of experience planning a business in mobile. I know that it’s so difficult to make money in the regular cell phone market because of this fragmentation, and the marketing costs, the channel costs of business development with wireless operators and then the porting costs to individual hardware way exceed the revenue, so a lot of developers lose money. With iPhone, it’s very unique because it’s one hardware, one channel, so the costs of distribution and the costs of developing for the hardware is a lot lower. And the addressable market is right now 6 million and its going to be 10 million by the end of the year, which is big enough for us.
So you’re OK with Apple’s 30% AppStore fee?
I think that’s a fair number. A lot of people are complaining about that but compared to the other costs you’d have to bear to market for multiple hardware and also the complexity of provisioning for a lot of wireless operators are costs you avoid with iPhone, because it’s a one-time cost. So I think it’s fair, yes.
How was it developing under the limitations of Apple’s SDK?
Well, I think it was a good decision to limit applications to running one at a time, if that’s what you mean. I think that limitation is very beneficial to power consumption and memory usage and we didn’t find it difficult to work around Apple’s limitations for our application at all. They updated seven times during a very short period of time and I was impressed by the amount of work they did. But it was painful to us to have to modify our code to keep up with the changes, so there was some pros and cons but I think they made the right decision to drastically improve the platform. And I know because of that a lot of application developers had a hard time to adjust and they missed the deadline or they shipped an unstable product.
What do you think about the future of Open Source mobile platforms such as Android?
That’s a good question. We’re watching it, but at this moment there’s no business reason to go there. Right now Google is offering it as a platform to build phones, not applications. So some device manufacturers, especially manufacturers in Taiwan and China, they love it because it allows them to compete with Nokia and Motorola. But for software developers, they want to make money, so at this moment they need to become job shops to either those device manufacturers or wireless operators to build the software for them. But as you know, the job shop is not a great market. Once there are Google platform based phones and somebody like Google opens an AppStore, then we can go there.
So you think the AppStore business model has a great future, not just for Apple, but that it might be the model for Google, Microsoft and whoever else wants to get in this game?
Yeah. Nokia, for sure. Every industry needs to have some kind of consolidation to optimize. Right now, all over the world, we have thousands of stores, fragmented. Very expensive to sell, and Apple has proved that having a single app store does make sense to users as well as the offerers, so I believe Microsoft, Nokia and possibly Google will follow and we’ll have five stores, and that’s ideal. It’s almost like a miracle that Apple has managed to make this happen, I think this is Mr. Job’s contribution. He did it once with the music industry and he’s doing it again with the wireless industry. And he’s doing the same thing with the applications market. His reality distortion power is amazing.
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Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Top stories, iPhone, iPod | Comment on this article
[...] Read more here. [...]
WINDOWS 95 ARCHITECT HEARTS APPLE « MRod says: Is the crew ready? Like spaghetti., on July 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Thank you for writing blog entry about me and PhotoShare. Unlike Flickr, PhotoShare is not a photo storage service. PhotoShare is a social networking service, which allows iPhone users to share their experiences with others using photos taken by their iPhone.
Please read my blog entry about the behavior change enabled by iPhone.
http://satoshi.blogs.com/uie/2008/07/life-logging-wi.html
Satoshi Nakajima, on July 19th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
[...] Software engineer Satoshi Nakajima, the lead architect of Microsoft’s Windows 95, picked up a Mac for the first time two years ago. He was so impressed, he says he’ll never touch a PC again. “We love Apple products… You need love to be creative.” [...]
Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert (urbanmainframe.com), on July 19th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
[...] largest portfolio of intellectual property of any employee at the company, according to his bio. Full Story I hope you enjoyed reading this article. You may now subscribe to my RSS Feed, scroll down to [...]
Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert |, on July 19th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
[...] Full Interview [...]
Windows 95 architect picked up Mac, releases Photoshare for iPhone, on July 20th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Satoshi you rock man!
Goobi, on July 20th, 2008 at 1:46 am
[...] (and I think he’s right about the others). Check out the full interview over at Cult of Mac. [Cult of Mac, PhotoShare] addthis_url = [...]
Windows 95 Lead Architect Is a Mac Convert, Launches First iPhone App, on July 20th, 2008 at 2:06 am
[...] Cult of Mac har intervjuat Satoshi Nakajima, huvudarkitekten bakom bland annat Windows 95 och 98 samt version 3 och 4 av Internet Explorer. [...]
patrik online » Snacka om vändning!, on July 20th, 2008 at 2:07 am
[...] can read the whole story here. digg_url=’http://macryu.com/windows-95-lead-architect-is-a-mac-user’; digg_skin = ‘compact’; [...]
Windows 95′ lead architect is a Mac user at MacRyu - The Worst Mac Blog in Singapore, and Some Say the World, on July 20th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
[...] Windows 95 and 98 Architect Converts to Mac | cultofmac.com [...]
14-year Microsoft Veteran and Architect of Windows 95 and 98 Converts to Mac, Says He’ll Never Use a PC Again, on July 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
[...] gratuita di photo sharing e social networking per il melafonino. Lonnie Lazar di Cult of Mac lo ha intervistato per cercare di capire perché anche un’ex colonna portante di Microsoft abbia deciso di [...]
Uno dei papà di Windows 95 è passato a Mac - TheAppleLounge, on July 21st, 2008 at 2:34 am
[...] (and I think he’s right about the others). Check out the full interview over at Cult of Mac. [Cult of Mac, [...]
Windows 95 Lead Architect Is a Mac Convert, Launches First iPhone App [Windows 95] | F-Default, on July 21st, 2008 at 7:01 am
[...] Heute ist Nakajima großer Mac-Freund. Wie er erleuchtet wurde und welche Vorteile das iPhone hat, erzählte er cult of mac. Die Details des interessanten Interviews [...]
Der japanische Doppelagent « Nakajima, Apple, iPhone, Microsoft, Windows, Entwickler, Während, Heute « i-Welt.de, on July 21st, 2008 at 8:59 am
[...] The Cult of Mac heeft een blog geplaatst met een interview over een voormalig Windows 95 “Lead Architect” (vertaling: geestelijk vader) Satoshi Nakajima genaamd. Deze meneer is er 2 jaar geleden gekomen hoe toppiejoppie Apple producten zijn en is daarom geswitched. [...]
Satoshi Nakajimawattus?, on July 21st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Couple of things.
- Why would the Apple cliques want the man responsible for Windows95/98 or IE3/4 ?
- Never touch a PC? Macs are PCs with a different OS.
- Wouldn’t the world be a better place if such an enlightened individual went to MSFT to fix the mess that it is rather than join the cult of Mac?
I am OS agnostic, and spend most of my time in Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD shells. Just an observation here.
Mick Russom, on July 21st, 2008 at 3:13 pm
[...] Nakajima, was the lead architect for Microsoft’s Windows 95. He picked up a Mac couple of years ago and never looked back. Satoshi even started a company back in April to develop [...]
A tale of an architect - Macjuice, on July 21st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
According to a MS-centric site, a commentator reported that “Satoshi was responsible for several key technological innovations at Microsoft, such as Internet Explorer’s componentization and its integration with both Microsoft Office and Windows.”
“Componentization” might just be a MS version of the proprietary OpenDoc, no? So Satoshi copied from OpenDoc to achieve “componentization.” He then aided and abetted MS to tie Explorer to Windows which a court, I think, ruled was illegal because it, what, was predatory behavior because it prevented Netscape Navigator from competing on the Windows platform? Now, it seems, the copyist and likely criminal Satoshi has been hired by Jobs. What is he doing there besides introducing Windows crap-tmanship to the iPhone coding team? Is he also teaching Apple employees how to copy proprietary code and get away with it as he did at MS? And is he also teaching — even if by example — how to behave criminally to fellow Apple employees?
If what I say is true, is this good for Apple or is it bad? And do we want him at Apple at all?
Vito Positano, on July 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
@Vito Positano: Where did you get the idea Satoshi works at Apple?
Lonnie Lazar, on July 21st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Lonnie,
that article never said that he is now at Apple. I was wrong. I jumped to a wrong conclusion. I was wrong.
He most likely still works at MS.
Vito Positano, on July 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Vito… you fail at reading comprehension. Try reading the third paragraph - in fact, the third sentence - again.
asc, on July 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Dude, it clearly says he has his own company. Mind reading TFA next time? Jeez…
Iván Vodopiviz, on July 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
[...] Source: CultofMac [...]
#! vswSystems » Blog Archive » Star Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert, on July 21st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
[...] Full article [...]
Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert | Sarkle, on July 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 am
[...] (and I think he’s right about the others). Check out the full interview over at Cult of Mac. [Cult of Mac, [...]
MarsWebZone.Info » Blog Archive » Windows 95 Lead Architect Is a Mac Convert, Launches First iPhone App [Windows 95], on July 23rd, 2008 at 3:15 am
I would suggest judging the software, not the man.
Paul, on July 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
[...] Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert Tags: Mac convert, Satoshi Nakajima, Windows betrayerShare This Related StoriesThe Windows TaxVistaPerfection 2.0 on iPhoneInstalling the Windows Home Server Connector SoftwareLG announces KS20 Windows Mobile smartphoneWinCE InfoJack malware on Windows Mobile Devices [...]
How an Architect of Windows 95 Became a Mac Lover, on July 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
Windows Mobile is not Windows.
It is Windows CE.
Windows CE is an entirely new software product entirely unrelated to Windows except in its name and its API.
To hear him say that Windows Mobile is just Windows brought to mobile phones shows he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
There are several books on this subject. I recommend “Inside Windows CE” for the real story, in which they rejected Windows and the upcoming Windows 95 before deciding to write Windows CE from scratch.
Of course, if he were really paying attention at Microsoft, he probably resented that they rejected Win95 for Windows CE’s baseline.
What a troll.
Aegrotatio, on July 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
[...] Veja aqui toda a entrevista com Satoshi Nakajima [...]
Arquiteto-chefe do Windows 95 troca PC/Windows pelo Mac | MUNDO HI-TECH, on July 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Satoshi is like simply someone with somebody and someday somehow somewhere something is somewhat sometimes that some people in Somalia are somersaulting.
In other words, goodluck to us all.
Mark Guadalupe, on July 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I think this is Mr. Job’s contribution.
Mark Guadalupe, on July 24th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
@Aegrotatio:
you’re the troll, obviously. When he said what he said, he probably meant the APIs, which you yourself said are the same. Epic fail!
Dontmatter, on July 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
[...] Microsoft’s Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert [...]
New Technology » Blog Archive » How an Architect of Windows 95 Became a Mac Lover, on July 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am
[...] cult of mac [...]
The Inquirer ES : El arquitecto de Windows 95 convertido en un “Mac adicto”, on August 25th, 2008 at 7:07 am
[...] largest portfolio of intellectual property of any employee at the company, according to his bio. Read the full story on CultOfMac.Com Windows Alternatives September 2nd [...]
Windows Vista Sucks » Blog Archive » Windows 95 Architect Is a Happy Mac Convert, on September 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
[...] Podem ler a entrevista completa feita no Cult Of Mac. [...]
O Weblog do Universo Apple | O arquitecto que desenvolveu o Windows 95 é 100% Mac., on September 13th, 2008 at 7:18 am
[...] dois anos, Nakajima migrou para o mundo Mac… e está apaixonado. Ele ficou tão impressionado com a qualidade do ecossistema Apple que [...]
Arquiteto do Microsoft Windows 95 migrou para Mac e está apaixonado, on December 21st, 2008 at 4:53 pm