Before Hit the Deck: If Then Software.
Hit the Deck Software is not my first Mac studio. In 2002 I started publishing small Mac OS X utilities as If Then Software, written in AppleScript Studio, back when Jaguar and Panther were the new thing and podcasting was brand new. This is the story, pieced together from the original pages preserved by the Internet Archive.
| Studio | If Then Software, founded by Mark H. Delfs |
|---|---|
| Years active | At least 2002 to 2007 |
| Built with | AppleScript Studio, for Mac OS X |
| Titles | Around thirty small Mac utilities, games and tools |
| Press | MacAddict (June and July 2003) and Tech TV's The Screen Savers |
| Best known | PDF U, with over 10,000 downloads |
| Price | Free, with optional donations and small unlock fees |
Timeline
- 2002
The first titles
By November 2002 the If Then Software site was live, listing HomeCalc, Dragster, Labor Day, VideoCalc and My Favorites Martian, a bookmark synchronization tool. Every title was listed on MacUpdate for Mac OS 9 and OS X users.
- 2003
Press and a bigger catalog
Labor Day, a contraction timer, was featured on Tech TV's The Screen Savers and in MacAddict in June 2003. eSanta, which let children email Santa and get a reply, was in the same June issue, and VideoCalc X followed in July. The catalog grew to around twenty titles, including PDF U, Spacey, Terminalator, MacTrivia and Ipanema. My Favorites Martian was discontinued after an iSync update and the end of the Chimera browser.
- 2004
Donationware and the Retired Collection
In the spring of 2004 the site announced an online eStore with a simple pitch: the software is free, but we need your support. In July, ten of the earliest applications were retired and offered to anyone who donated. New titles followed, including PoddumFeeder 1.0 in December, a podcast client for the new podcasting craze, plus ClipClavin, iChat2Cell, DeskLapz, DeepSix, D.B. Cooper, ShareAlike and Sheethead.
- 2005
A blog and a second collection
The studio moved its news to a blog called If Then Software Headquarters, tagged "High quality AppleScript Studio-based software for the Macintosh OS X platform". In June, a second Retired Applications collection added Gooshie and others.
- 2007
Twitter
In April 2007, Twitteromatic 1.5 arrived for posting playful updates to Twitter from the menu bar.
PoddumFeeder
A podcast client written in pure AppleScript, December 2004
Podcasting was brand new when PoddumFeeder 1.0 appeared in December 2004. The product page admitted If Then Software was late to the party, and then set out to see how far AppleScript could be pushed. It was still built with pure AppleScript, and the page says AppleScript is all the studio did. It worked on Mac OS X 10.3 and later, you could try it for free with up to three podcast subscriptions, and a $4.95 registration unlocked unlimited subscribing.
- Subscribe to podcasts and have new episodes downloaded straight to iTunes or your iPod
- Update your iPod automatically
- Automatic start and checking, with your choice of how many days to check and download
- Check one subscription or all of them
- Export your subscriptions as OPML, and load OPML directories from within the app
- Subscribe to PoddumFeeder OPML lists on the web with remote subscription
- A built-in podcast hotlist
- Email a podcast to a friend, or send what is playing through Mac OS X Mail
- A brushed-metal interface refresh, because metal was in
- A master reset and built-in bug reporting
In print
PoddumFeeder turned up in ten books, from podcasting guides to general guides to the web, found with the Internet Archive's full-text book search.
- Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide, Todd Cochrane (2005). Lists PoddumFeeder 1.11 among the Mac podcatchers and includes a figure of its operating screen.
- Podcasting Hacks: Tips and Tools for Blogging Out Loud, Jack D. Herrington (2005). Covers PoddumFeeder as a commercial Macintosh podcatcher, with its web address.
- Secrets of Podcasting: Audio Blogging for the Masses, Bart G. Farkas (2006). Shows PoddumFeeder in a figure as a quality Macintosh aggregator, and notes the free version's limit of three podcasts.
- Podcasting Now! Audio Your Way, Andrew Dagys (2006). Describes PoddumFeeder's features, including converting MP3 files to AAC.
- Educator's Podcast Guide, Bard Williams (2007). Lists PoddumFeeder among the Mac podcast tools.
- Your Life Online, Terry Burrows (2007). Lists PoddumFeeder as an AppleScript-based podcast client.
- Blogs, Wikis, MySpace, and More: Everything You Want to Know About Using Web 2.0 but Are Afraid to Ask, Terry Burrows. Lists PoddumFeeder as an AppleScript-based podcast client.
- Citizen-Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways Every American Can Fight Terrorism, Michael Mandaville (2009). Lists PoddumFeeder among the Mac podcast software.
- Blogs, Wikis, Facebook, and More: The Beginner's Guide to Life Online, Terry Burrows (2012). Lists PoddumFeeder as an AppleScript-based podcast client and in its index.
- Blogs, Wikis, Facebook, and More: Everything You Want to Know About Using Today's Internet but Are Afraid to Ask, Terry Burrows (2012). Lists PoddumFeeder among podcast clients and in its index.
The software
Every title the archive shows, with the first time it appears.
| Title | What it did | First seen |
|---|---|---|
| HomeCalc X | Estimated a monthly mortgage payment, including property taxes and loan lengths. | Nov 2002 |
| Dragster | Fixed the Jaguar problem where icons could not be dragged in the Finder or the Dock. | Nov 2002 |
| Labor Day | Timed contractions and emailed a report. Featured on Tech TV's The Screen Savers and in MacAddict. | Nov 2002 |
| VideoCalc X | Worked out how much video fits on a hard drive. Featured in MacAddict. | Nov 2002 |
| My Favorites Martian | Synchronized bookmarks between browsers and Macs. | Nov 2002 |
| Journalizer | Turned Mac OS X file journaling on or off without using the command line. | Jul 2003 |
| xChek | Checked the hard drive, RAM, logic board and more. | Jul 2003 |
| eBreak | Tracked your break time at work and sent SMS reminders. | Jul 2003 |
| eScope | Delivered a daily horoscope to iCal, email or Mail. | Jul 2003 |
| Spacey | Published your iTunes top lists to iDisk, iCal, FTP or HTML. | Jul 2003 |
| Terminalator | Opened up to four Terminal windows with saved colors, positions and commands. | Jul 2003 |
| PDF U | Turned on the hidden PDF Services menu with one click. Over 10,000 downloads. | Jul 2003 |
| MacTrivia | A Mac OS X trivia game with question packs and a scoreboard. | Jul 2003 |
| eSanta | Let children write to Santa and get a reply. Featured in MacAddict. | Jul 2003 |
| Ipanema | Emailed you your IP addresses whenever they changed. | Jul 2003 |
| IDIot | Cleaned up internet-enabled disk images for developers and admins. | Jul 2003 |
| Pod 2 Pod | Cloned one iPod to another, or backed an iPod up to a hard drive. | Jul 2003 |
| Status Symbol | Set your iChat status with weather, stocks and quick buttons. | Jul 2003 |
| PoddumFeeder | A podcast client written in pure AppleScript that downloaded new episodes straight to iTunes or an iPod. | Dec 2004 |
| ClipClavin | Sent URLs, Safari text and your clipboard to an email address from the menu bar. | Jan 2005 |
| iChat2Cell | Sent SMS messages through iChat. | Jan 2005 |
| DeskLapz | Put live time-lapse webcam images on your desktop. | Jan 2005 |
| DeepSix | Removed AdobeFnt and font cache files that could crash Adobe apps. | Jan 2005 |
| The Blue Series | Controlled iChat and system functions from a Bluetooth phone with Salling Clicker. | Jan 2005 |
| D.B. Cooper | Browsed the hidden folders on Mac OS X restore discs. | Jan 2005 |
| ShareAlike | Shared iPhoto and iTunes libraries between users on one Mac. | Jan 2005 |
| Sheethead | Changed the speed of sheet dialog animations. | Jan 2005 |
| Gooshie | A menu bar tool for permissions repair, cache cleanup and other maintenance. | Jun 2005 |
| Twitteromatic | Posted weather, uptime, your current iTunes track and more to Twitter. | Apr 2007 |
Screenshots
Brushed metal, Aqua buttons and a lot of AppleScript. Images from the original If Then Software site, via the Internet Archive.
From If Then to Hit the Deck
The tools changed, the habit did not: small, focused Mac apps that do one job well, built by one person. Today that means Swift and SwiftUI, signed and notarized apps and automatic updates, and it still means AppleScript where it helps. Quint, a modern homage to GeekTool, runs AppleScript and shell commands right on your desktop. See everything on the home page or the downloads page.
Sources
Everything above comes from archived copies of the original sites.
Frequently asked questions
What was If Then Software?
A one-person Mac software studio run by Mark Delfs from at least 2002 to 2007. It published around thirty small utilities, games and tools for Mac OS X, most of them built with AppleScript Studio and given away free with optional donations.
What is AppleScript Studio?
A framework Apple once shipped with its developer tools that combined Xcode and Interface Builder with AppleScript, so you could build Mac applications with AppleScript. It has long since been retired.
Is Hit the Deck Software the same developer?
Yes. Hit the Deck Software is the same developer's newer studio, building native Mac apps in Swift. Quint, a modern homage to GeekTool, still runs AppleScript.
Can I still download the old If Then Software apps?
Not from this site. The old pages and screenshots are preserved by the Internet Archive, and they were written for Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3, so they will not run on a current Mac.