Many people have contributed to The Tilery and its predecessor, Applicon. I have tried to list them all in The Tilery’s “About” box*, and I most sincerely hope I have not left anyone out. But there are a few who deserve special recognition, and here they are:
Ken Abrams, who started the whole business with his “why can’t I have the moon?” approach to software design. Whenever I tell him about some new project he always blows me away with about a zillion wonderful ideas on how to improve it, and some of them are even possible to do.
Mark H. Anbinder, who has been my tester-in-chief for many years now. The results of Mark’s excellent advice are visible all through The Tilery. His suggestions have improved the feature set, the user interface, the on-line help, the documentation… I think I’d be hard put to name a feature of The Tilery that Mark hasn’t improved. You can meet Mark at <http://www.ithaca.ny.us/People/mha/>.
Michael Hecht, who got me jump-started on Drag Manager programming with his generous contribution of source code. Michael has written any number of really excellent freeware programs including “About,” his own drag-aware application switcher that shows what the “About This Macintosh” box should have been.
Jamie R. McCarthy, who kept insisting that he was right and I was wrong about The Tilery’s user interface for remembered tiles. Sometimes I think I would have strangled him if you could do that via e-mail, but I’m glad I didn’t because (drum roll) he was right and I was wrong. (Cymbal crash.) The Tilery would be a much inferior product without his excellent (and relentless) advice.
Keith Rollin. Boy, if you ever want to talk to someone who knows the Mac inside and out, Keith’s your man. The book he wrote with Scott Knaster ("Macintosh Programming Secrets, 2nd Edition") is excellent, but he’s even better in person.
James Thomson. We call each other “bitter rivals” and grin because he also has written a desktop launcher/switcher. (A good one, too. I don’t think I’ll tell you what it’s called.) When I posted a tough question in comp.sys.mac.programmer, James responded with the answer. When we found we were working on similar projects, he asked me a question; and we’ve been trading help ever since. Here’s a lesson for the world: cooperation is better than competition! (...Okay, okay, it’s called “DragThing.” If you prefer docks to separate tiles, give it a look.)
                        
* “..but I only see one name in the About box.” They’re all there, trust me: the many beta testers, the programmers who suggested bug fixes, the users who first suggested particularly clever and useful new features. Use your imagination. Experiment a little. You’ll find them!
