Meet Tim and Mitch
Tim Holmes – San Leandro Times
Life Before Zocalo
Before my wife and I owned Zocalo Coffeehouse I worked in another world. Here’s more about that…
What can I say, after 15 years in the industry, and now a year out, there’s still no question that Apple makes the best computer for every day use. They are fast, easy to use, stable, and look beautiful.
A little anecdotal evidence? Well, how about the iMac that sits in Zocalo and hasn’t needed a drop of maintenance all year? How about the fact that EVERY time someone asks me for help with the wireless it’s a Windows user? How about the fact that in the 20 years I’ve been using a Mac I’ve never encountered a virus, not once…
Mac Daily Journal (MDJ) Power
25 – July 2002
“MDJ this week (July 2002) released the third annual MDJ Power 25 list. The list, distilled from surveys sent to industry movers and shakers (including journalists, executives, engineers, and Apple Computer insiders), is the Macintosh industry’s only serious attempt to track the perception of power and influence in the community.”
Here’s what they said about me:
#5 – Tim Holmes
2000 rank: #10
2001 rank: #11
The most powerful Apple manager you’ve never heard of, Tim Holmes is the manager of the Mac OS Technology Group in Apple’s developer relations group. Long-time Macintosh owners remember the term evangelist thanks to Guy Kawasaki, one of the original two evangelists for the platform. An evangelist sells (or evangelizes) Apple’s technology to third-party software and hardware developers, in turn taking their concerns back to Apple’s engineering groups to resolve problems. When done well, evangelism is a critical bridge between the people making technology and the people who have to use it. When done poorly, it’s nothing more than parroting of the company line because the evangelist is too ineffective to get other Apple groups to listen and change.
Tim Holmes is a good evangelist, which makes him a great choice to head the Mac OS evangelism group in developer relations. Holmes is well known to developers as well as to some users, having come to Apple after a stint at BMUG where he was editor of the BMUG Newsletter and of The Tao of AppleScript. Now at Apple for around seven years, Holmes’s job involves organizing developer events all over the world, including WWDC, all the developer kitchens, and meetings with individual developers. He attends MacHack, responds honestly when the answer won’t be popular, and leads a team of evangelists that are working more closely than ever with the top developers to keep the information flowing in two directions, both from and to Apple’s decision-makers. Although it’s a little old, you can read a 1999 interview Holmes gave to Dave Mark in the MacTech archives.
Pros: Adam Engst says, “His energy, honesty, and willingness to identify spades accurately put him head and shoulders above any other Apple employee dealing with the public.” Such sentiments are typical among programmers, too, one of whom said Holmes was “pulling the weight of most of evangelism.” Programmer Leonard Rosenthol, who’s been involved with programs ranging from StuffIt to Acrobat, says, “Coming up from the ranks of BMUG, and bringing his understanding of what users want with him, Tim is able to steer both Apple and the developers towards his vision for the platform.” Holmes comes in at #5 because over 80% of his votes were in the #1 or #2 position in our admittedly small sample. those who know him think very highly of him.
Cons: Not many. He’s blunt and somewhat cranky, but developers would rather hear cranky truth than pleasant stalling any day. By all accounts, Holmes loves his job and has brought much-needed stability to it, a satisfaction some pointy-haired bosses may see as lack of ambition. He’s not laying the groundwork to be the next Phil Schiller or Steve Jobs, but then again, there’s no sign he wants to be. As one Apple engineer put it, he’s just a “perennial power guy.”
And what they said when I left Apple:
Mac Daily Journal (MDJ)
December 12, 2002
Business News
There’s an important shake-up in the MDJ_ Power 25 today. Tim Holmes, a member of the list all three years we’ve compiled it (#5 this year,m #11 last year, #10 in 2000, MDJ_ 2000.07.1) is leaving both Apple Computer and the computer industry for now. Holmes is the head of Apple’s “Mac OS Technology Group” in developer relations, leading what used to be called “evangelism” for the platform. He rose to the #5 position in this year’s list by listening to developers, telling the truth, making sure information flows both ways between developers and Apple’s engineers, and by caring about the future of the platform, a heritage honed in years with BMUG.
So where is Holmes heading? He’s purchased a coffee shop (currently known as Dean’s Beans) in San Leandro, CA, where he lives, and renaming it the Zocalo Coffeehouse (The Zocalo is a large central square in Mexico City). Holmes’s last official day at Apple is 2002.12.27, the last Friday of the year, with the coffee shop to open sometime in 2003. No word from Apple yet on who will head his group, and there are serious doubts that Holmes can be replaced: don’t look for his successor to hold #5 in the 2003 MDJ_ Power 25. He had brought stability to the evangelism position that his successor must maintain, but even if that happens, he will be missed.
Stay tuned for a bio on Mitch . . .