While John’s Background Switcher has always been a Windows application, I’ve actually been a full time Mac user for the past 7 years. In that time I’d almost forgotten why I originally wrote JBS as I wasn’t using it myself. Also, frequent calls for me to write a Mac version fell on deaf ears as I knew it took me years to write the Windows version and I’d have to start from scratch again. Plus I’ll be the first to admit that working on JBS for Windows in my spare time and giving it away for free was becoming harder and harder to justify and motivate myself to do given competing demands on my time.
However all that changed in May and I decided enough was enough, it was time I built a Mac version. It’s taken countless late nights and weekends, waking up at 3am with an idea knowing I’ll never get back to sleep so walking to my desk and starting coding. I even spent a 2 week work trip in the USA coding into the wee small hours in the hotel while fighting jetlag. It was the last thing I thought about before sleep at night and the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning.
Mac applications are held to a higher standard than Windows apps so I took the opportunity to rethink a great many parts of JBS. Any photo sources that couldn’t give beautiful high resolution backgrounds were dropped and I made sure that every picture shown is presented at its highest possible resolution and as crisp as possible. JBS on Windows chooses a source at random (e.g. Flickr or Facebook) then creates montages from that one source, whereas JBS on Mac chooses from all active sets in all sources at once. It just makes more sense that way. I took dozens of similar decisions along the way.
Every piece of user interface, every button you click, action you take, every detail has been scrutinised again and again until I was happy with it. There are countless little details nobody will ever notice but I know they’re there and I resisted any temptation to compromise on anything. Except the name. I’ve never had much imagination with names so I just stuck with “John’s Background Switcher”.
To the many beta testers who helped me make JBS for Mac as good as it is by giving me honest and at times brutal feedback, I offer my most sincere thanks and promise that I owe you an infinite number of beers for all time. You know who you are!
JBS for Mac is currently only available on the Mac App Store and rest assured that if you buy a copy you’re not just buying John’s Background Switcher for Mac version 1.0. You’re investing in a host of cool updates I have planned in the future (which will be free) as building JBS for Mac has re-invigorated my enthusiasm for software development. Plus, if you want to make JBS better, tell me what you want it to do and I’ll build it! Windows users need not be too upset however. JBS for Windows will always remain free and where appropriate I’ll back-port fixes and enhancements from Mac to Windows. But the Mac version going forwards will be my primary focus – I’m a die hard Mac user after all!
So go read all about John’s Background Switcher for Mac here or get it directly from the app store. 🙂
Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
thank you for sharing
I do love my JBS and have used it on all my computers for many years. Thank you so much for this program, I know I feel better when an outstanding photo comes on my screen (every 10 minutes – that is how much I LOVE this program). I also use your photo converter. It saves me so much time.
Best wishes to you and yours, Pat
I have so missed JBS since switching from Windows to Mac (about 4 years ago). Thanks for doing this, there’s nothing else like it on the Mac that works.