Lisa Melton
I just realized that today is the 24th anniversary of when I started the #Safari and #WebKit projects at #Apple. 🤦♀️ Which just goes to show how much my life has moved on and changed since leaving the Fruit Company over a dozen years ago. 🤷♀️
Dog almighty, I am old AF. But let's keep that fact between ourselves, OK? 😂
It's also @kocienda's birthday. Which is why I remembered this at all. Happy birthday, Ken! 💖
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @kocienda
My husband started there in '87 and left in '08 not long after finishing the #Marklar project. His life is similarly unrecognizable
Happy anniversary
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @kocienda
He was in IL3 for most of it, but during Marklar he had his own building (Mariani 1 -- we ate a lot of lunches at Mandarin Gourmet when Caffe Macs was no longer as easily available)
And I don't say this often, but... I was the one who named Marklar. JK's IP names at the time were all South Park references
Those were days, when I went from eating lunch with JK at Apple almost every day to Bertrand telling JK, "Your wife cannot know what you're working on." Lol...
Lisa Melton
@kims Ah yes, "Marklar!" One of my favorite code names. 😊
I think Safari was the first "big" internal app to be ported to it. Probably because most of our codebase (i.e. WebKit) was cross platform. 🤔
Now I'm wondering how often I ran into your husband there.
Lisa Melton
@kims LOL! Yeah, that sounds like Bertrand. 😂
You know, a LOT us ate at Mandarin Gourmet too when we got tired of Caffe Macs.
While I actually managed to keep knowledge of the iPhone and iPad from my ex and son, hiding Safari from them was basically impossible. 🤷♀️
But I had no idea you named Marklar! You are a genius, woman!! I was so pissed off when they changed the code name later. 😠
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @kocienda
My fave part of the name Marklar was that the project stayed under wraps, no leaks, for two years. When it finally did leak in Sept '02, I can't recall if it was @gruber or Pogue who wrote,
"Specifically, I have a real problem believing that the project is
code-named "Marklar." (I don't have any problem believing such a project
exists for several of the reasons stated by others here previously.)"
[I personally think JK's biggest achievement at Apple was hiring Joe Sokol]
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @kocienda @gruber
JK was the director of A/UX, although he was John Kullmann then (he took my last name after we married)
Joe was JK's first hire. When JK started Marklar, Joe had since become his boss
JK's Apple trajectory was "acting director" in 6 months, and "director" within a year. After five years in that role, he did something no one else in the company had done—he demoted himself back to engineer. He missed writing code
Here's the mail that started it all:
Lisa Melton
@kims LOL! Another reason why I love that name. 😂
I did not realize that JK had _hired_ Sokol. 😮
I think I might have interviewed with JK in the early 90s(?) for a position on the A/UX team. 🤔
Lisa Melton
@titociuro Oh yeah, I definitely remember the Pepper Mill. 💯
Oddly enough, I did not eat there very often. I think that's because when I wanted to get away from Caffe Macs, I wanted to get *far* away. And Pepper Mill was practically on campus. 😂
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @titociuro @kocienda
I remember the Pepper Mill, but nowhere near as fondly as I remember the chinese chicken salad from MG. I think they put crack in that dressing
I loved Caffe Macs. It was as good as any Vegas buffet and dirt cheap. And it was so family friendly that I brought our one-year-old there nearly every day. I stood behind Steve in line dozens of times and though he barely noticed me, he sometimes made faces at the kid and never made us feel unwelcome
Good times...
Tito Ciuro
@lisamelton @kims @kocienda Speaking of which… remember the Pepper Mill, before it was replaced by BJ’s? 😬
Lisa Melton
@kims Oh yeah, that wasn't just MSG in all those Mandarin Garden dishes. 😂
I totally agree about Caffe Macs. It was always just good enough and sometimes truly great. Loved those meatloaf sandwiches! When they had them. 💖
But running into Steve there was usually a fraught experience for me. Many meals interrupted with fire drill action items. 😬
It was a blessing but also a curse when he knew your name and what you did for him. Oh well. 🤷♀️
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @titociuro @kocienda
JK was 100% a "get off the elevator when Steve gets on" kind of guy. His mantra was to stay as invisible as possible. That got harder when Marklar went from Skunkworks to Priority One, but he let Avi, Bertrand, and Joe do most of the Steve interfacing
I was mostly an on-demand pizza, caesar salad, and occasional sushi kind of person but I still remember the ciabatta. Hard to believe that corporate cafeteria ciabatta was the best in the Bay Area, but it was
Kim Scheinberg
@lisamelton @titociuro @kocienda
I would *love* to read the essay. Link, please?
Scott Forstall! You also just reminded me that JK did three months at the NeXT offices in Redwood City during the integration. I think he was working on the Rhapsody kernel, but it all blurs together now
Lunches in those days were at Max's in that El Camino strip meal. Weird how so many of my memories from back then are tied to food, lol
Lisa Melton
@kims I'm amazed that JK managed to avoid Steve. Sneaky! 😂
I didn't even get to decide that for myself as Scott Forstall, my boss, pushed me into executive reviews with Steve as soon as Safari was stable enough for UI review.
I've written about that in my "Memories of Steve" essay if you're ever interested in such minor history.
And, oh yes, the ciabatta! Also the pizza crust! Both surprising. The crust was actually better than the toppings.
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