AppleScript, the perfect adjunct to iTunes: An open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld:

I was chagrined to learn that Sal Soghoian, who was Apple’s Product Manager of Automation Technologies, was let go for “business reasons.” Mr. Soghoian had been with Apple for nearly 20 years, and was the keeper of the flame for technologies such as AppleScript, Automator, and more.

And:

It’s not clear whether the termination of Mr. Soghoian means the demise of AppleScript altogether, and particularly in iTunes, but many developers, iTunes users, and others are concerned by this decision.

You see, it’s all about freedom. Freedom to do things we want that Apple doesn’t think we need to be able to do. Freedom to explore. Freedom to discover new ways to link applications, to interact with files, to create our own solutions. We can’t expect apps to cater to all our whims, and tools like AppleScript and Automator allow us to go a step further and discover ways to do things that Apple never even considered.

Nice job by Kirk, passionately capturing the essence of the value of AppleScript and Automator. Technologies like AppleScript and Automator expose just enough of the wiring to allow pros and hobbyists alike to build out their own infrastructure, make their Apple products more powerful than they were when they came out of their boxes.