About Me

I’m Mike O’Connor, a software developer living on Long Island, New York. My online nick is Lepton, or occasionally Lepton68. My incredibly tiny corporation is named Leptonic Systems Inc.

I got started with computers in 1968, and made it my career. I’ve had a lot of fun working with hardware from microprocessors to mainframes, writing software in languages ranging from machine code to natural speech, and stored data on everything from punch cards, paper tape and toggle switches, to laser discs and holograms.

My specialty has always been writing interactive software that enables people that are new to computers to use them intuitively and effectively, and explaining technical things in plain English. After starting out writing languages like FORTRAN on keypunch machines, I cut my teeth on Selectric terminals attached to the IBM 360 mainframe, and the interactive APL language. When personal computers finally came along, I knew I’d be there big-time.

Of course I fell in love with the Xerox Star, then the Apple Lisa and Macintosh. It’s funny, I remember being laughed out of the machine room in 1984 when I brought my Macintosh 128K into our DECSYSTEM-20 mainframe shop. Imagine pointing at things and drawing pictures on screen with a plastic bar of soap called a mouse! A bunch of smart computer guys, yet they didn’t see the PC was about to take over.

I’ve been a professional Mac developer since 1985. One application I designed and wrote in the ’70s was the CompuServe Navigator, which automated collecting and writing forum posts on the big dial-up online service of the day. I later renamed it MacNav, letting some other company use the Navigator name for some other newfangled app…

Currently, I’m writing a couple of applications for the iPhone. One of them is Myallo Mobile. Check out the Myallo Mobile page here for info. If you have an iPhone, you’re going to want this.

I like to chat about technology in general, but more specifically I have fun predicting what Apple Inc. might do next with their products and software. I’ve been an Apple developer for decades, but have no special inside information. A lot of my posts say what Apple “will do”, but are mere speculation and educated guesses. Keep that in mind - just take a look at the older stuff, to see how very, very wrong I can be! But often enough, I think I’m on the right track.

Like a lot of techies, I’m online a lot. The “My Profiles” list in the margin of this page will take you to various sites where I have a social presence. If you go to the “Social Me” page here, you can follow my activities on some of those sites.

I hope you enjoy the blog!

Do you want to send me some mail? Go for it! I do read all my EMail, even if I don’t always reply.

An EMail address for me is: mike@myallo.com

A postal address for me is:

Mike O’Connor
Leptonic Systems Inc.
PO Box 92
Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11724

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