https://www.dragthing.com/english/tenyears.html
A Short History of DragThing - Ten Years Of Tidying Up Your Desktop
DragThing
About
What's New?
History
Download
Support
Blog
Twitter
Macworld 4.5 Mice
Macworld Eddy Finalist 2002
MacUser UK Five Mice
Download.com Five Rating
May 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the original release of
DragThing 1.0. Ten years is a long time to be working on one piece of
software, so I thought it was only appropriate to celebrate the
occasion!
[1]
In the beginning...
This page will be updated over the next ten days with various bits of
trivia and previously undisclosed secrets about DragThing that you
won't find anywhere else.
If you are new to DragThing, you can find out more information about
it here, and download a copy of the latest DragThing 5.6 with Tiger
support here to try it out.
It's okay, we'll wait for you to come back before we start.
* 10 Things You Didn't Know About DragThing
* 10 Year Timeline
* 10 Killer Apple Technologies Of The Last 10 Years That DragThing
Didn't Support
* 10 Years Of Screenshots
* 10 Applications Used To Make DragThing
* 10 Comments
There have been thirty-nine different releases of DragThing so far -
if you've used DragThing since the very beginning or if you have any
questions, I'd like to hear from you!
Send me a comment to the address below and I'll add it to this page.
[adminemail]
Here's to the next ten years!
10 Things You Didn't Know About DragThing
1. The official story of DragThing's name is that I was working on
my drag and drop based dock during the summer of 1994, and a
friend of mine named Dair asked me something along the lines of
"have you finished that drag thing yet?" and the name stuck.
However, since I have told that story so many times, I can't
remember if it is actually true or not, and I suspect it isn't.
2. The name was originally intended to be a parody of the many "
InterCaps" product names of the time, especially in the Apple
world - AppleScript, QuickTime, MacWrite and so on. I'd never
originally intended to make any money with DragThing, so it
didn't matter - or so I thought - that it had a marketable name.
However, DragThing 1.0 proved very popular and I was stuck with
it. Over the years, quite a few products appeared from other
developers with the word "Thing" at the end which amused me to no
end.
3. DragThing was originally freeware, or more accurately "coolware".
The idea was, if you liked it and used it, you were supposed to
send me something cool. Most commonly this involved T-shirts, but
I got a lot of interesting stuff sent to me from all around the
world. Some time later, I got an email from a guy at a very large
advertising company who explained that his finance department
didn't understand the concept of coolware, and would it be okay
if they just sent a large cheque instead? And so, capitalism was
invented. A beneficial side effect of this change was that it
somewhat alleviated the mounting T-shirt storage crisis - to the
great delight of my significant other.
4. Early versions of DragThing used to expire a year after they were
released, and started warning people to download a new copy a
month prior to that. I did this because I was fed up with people
running ancient versions and asking about bugs that I had fixed
years ago. Some people thought it was a cunning scheme that I had
planned years in advance to make people to upgrade to the
shareware version, but it wasn't. Honest!
5. A certain utility software company once offered to buy the
exclusive rights to DragThing for $10,000. I respectfully
declined, and they bought out one of my similarly-named
competitors instead. When DragThing became shareware some time
later, it soon became clear that this had been the correct
decision!
6. DragThing Lite, the simplified version of DragThing which shipped
with DragThing 2, was originally written to be included with Mac
OS 8.5 instead of the AppSwitcher. The deal with Apple fell apart
quite quickly, but the code survived.
7. To enable the hidden debug mode in DragThing 2, open the
Preferences window and type on the arrow keys: up up down down up
up up up.
[sonic3]
This was the same code that enabled the debug mode in the game
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive.
8. The reason there wasn't much DragThing development between 1998
and 2000 is because I was then part of the team working in secret
on the Finder and Mac OS X Dock at Apple. I felt then that the
Dock would ultimately replace DragThing. However, for a variety
of reasons, I left Apple shortly after Aqua and the Dock were
announced in January 2000, and very little of my code survives in
the current Dock. I moved back to Scotland, and work started on
DragThing 4 soon after.
Update: I'm reliably informed that none of my original code
survives in the current Dock. Thanks John for rubbing that in :-)
9. DragThing 3.0 was an unreleased version of DragThing 2.9 that had
been adapted to run on early developer previews of Mac OS X.
Because of Aqua, I realised I would need to rewrite much of the
user interface code, and so I started working on DragThing 4
instead.
10. DragThing 4 on Mac OS X contained the coolest easter egg in the
world, but fewer than ten people have seen it.
Update: Many people have asked me what it is. I would love to
tell you, because it was really cool. But there would be
repercussions.
10 Year Timeline
Some notable events over the last ten years:
Work starts on DragThing 1.0 in the summer.
1994 PowerPC based Macintoshes first introduced.
System 7.5 released.
DragThing 1.0 is first released to the public in May.
1995 Cyberdog and OpenDoc announced at WWDC.
Windows 95 released.
1996 I start working for a well known computer company.
Apple buys NeXT.
DragThing 2.0, the first shareware version, is
1997 released in July.
Mac OS 8 released.
The official dragthing.com site goes online in
1998 February.
iMac introduced.
Mac OS X announced.
A quiet year for DragThing due to work on that other
1999 dock.
iBooks and Airport introduced.
Power Mac G4 ships.
2000 I stop working for a well known computer company.
Aqua shown publicly for the first time.
DragThing 4.0 for Mac OS X is released a few days
2001 before Mac OS X is.
iPod revealed.
DragThing 4.5 adds full support for Mac OS X 10.2
2002 "Jaguar".
LCD iMac ships with a bundled copy of PCalc.
DragThing 5.0 adds full support for Mac OS X 10.3
2003 "Panther".
Safari introduced.
iTunes Music Store opens its doors.
DragThing 5.5 finally adds support for spring-loaded
2004 folders!
30" cinema display unveiled.
iMac G5 ships.
2005 DragThing 5.6 adds full support for Mac OS X 10.4
"Tiger".
10 Killer Apple Technologies Of The Last 10 Years That DragThing
Didn't Support
1. Copland
2. Rhapsody
3. OpenDoc
4. PowerTalk
5. QuickDraw GX
6. QuickDraw 3D
7. Publish & Subscribe
8. Newton OS
9. Dylan
10. Cocoa
10 Years Of Screenshots
Click the images below to see how things have evolved:
About Preferences Dock Options
[1] [1] [1]
[1] [1] [1]
[2] [2] [2]
[2] [2] [2]
[4] [4] [4]
[5] [5] [5]
10 Applications Used To Make DragThing
1. Metrowerks Codewarrior - the development environment I've used
for the last ten years
2. Apple Xcode - the development environment I'm likely to be using
for the next ten years, unfortunately
3. Bare Bones BBEdit - simply the best text editor
4. Adobe Photoshop - the best image editor, but certainly not simple
5. Resorcerer - at least it runs natively on Mac OS X!
6. ResEdit - the original. Still runs on Tiger
7. PowerGlot - so much nicer than AppleGlot
8. Iconographer - because everybody needs icons
9. Installer VISE / FileStorm - for installers past and disk images
present
10. PCalc - the only software older than DragThing
10 Comments
1. From Cletus Waldman at ResExcellence:
You've read this many times I am sure about various pieces of
software. "It is the first item i install when I load a new
system." But that is what is done on my machines with this little
jewel. There is nothing I have ever found to replace DragThing.
Nothing! Sure there are alternatives out there in third party
space. None with the feature set of DT. I happen to be a point
and click person and not a keyboard shortcut guy. So this fits my
work style perfectly and flawlessly.The amazing thing about it
however, is that it is such a dynamic and customizable program
that one can literally have the best of both worldso both point
and click and keyboarding. It seems it is always literally one
step ahead of the curve. I have been fortunate to be on the beta
team also, so I know the care and work James puts in on this
program. James you have one great little program there. I
congratulate you, and wish you continued success in this world of
one shot shareware wonders.
2. From Guillaume Gete:
I began starting working with DragThing since 1995, or something
like that. And to say that DT is one of the most stable pieces of
software I've ever seen, even at the time of Classic Mac OS, is
an understatement. Funny to see that one of my oldest files on my
Mac is still the DragThing preferences file from 1996O That could
be a proof by itself. The fact is, from all the applications and
utilities I have tested for years on the Mac platform, DragThing
is maybe the one with the most respect for the Mac itself,
whether it is in its programming execution, its carefulness of
using the best Mac OS technologies in the best possible ways (do
you know so many applications that on the 29th of April could use
Quartz Extreme effects, AppleScript and support Finder's Smart
Folders while the new OS was just released ?). Finally, all of
this would not be possible without talentuous programming, but
also real humanity and love of the Mac behind. James Thomson is
one of the finest, and also most generous (and funniest)
developers I've dealt with. So far, my most recommended piece of
software on the Mac if you want to amaze people while enhance
your productivity with a really *usable* Dock. You need it.
Period.
3. From Rich Shupe at FMA:
I think I got hooked on DragThing around version 1.5. I have a
fairly firm memory that the v2 'About...' window was a great new
look, but that might have been my initiation. That's not
important. What IS important is that, since I installed this
wonder app, I have not used my computer one time without using
DragThing dozens--even hundreds--of times a day. In fact, I would
guess that many DT converts don't even know how powerful it can
be. Today people think of it as a Dock substitute. While I would
never, ever, ever trade DragThing for the Dock, it is so much
more than that. It's not just powerful, convenient, and
productive. It is indispensable for me.
Here's an anecdote that might be telling. I lecture and/or train
at trade shows two to four times a year and have done so fairly
consistently for years. I haven't gotten through even ONE
presentation without someone asking about DragThing. It got to be
so routine, that I included DT in a "Cool Stuff" final slide at
the end of every presentation. Each audience watches me access
every app, every document, every URL, every server, every window,
and every drive out of DragThing and can't help but want to know
how I can do all of that. It's a shame that now that Expose is in
wide use, the audience doesn't even know that a lot of switching
and window control is actually being handled by DragThing.
My biggest regret? The number of disappointed Windows users when
I have to tell them that DT only runs on the Mac platform.
4. More coming soon... Hopefully!
Last Modified 24th September 2018 / A TLA Systems Ltd. Production /
Copyright (c) 1994 - 2020 James Thomson / All Rights Reserved
Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the
US and other countries.