Bertrand Serlet

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Bertrand Serlet (French: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ sɛʁlɛ]; born 1960), is a French researcher, a PhD in Computer Science at Université Paris-Sud 11 (Université d'Orsay); he worked first at the Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA). He left France for the United States in 1985.

He is the former Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple Inc, where he worked from 1997 to 2011.[1] He succeeded Avie Tevanian to the position in July 2003.[2] In this position he was primarily responsible for the release of Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Before Apple he worked at Xerox PARC and NeXT.[1]

Serlet holds a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Paris-Sud, France.[1]

He spoke at WWDC 2006 on the perceived similarities between Mac OS X Tiger and Windows Vista, including the comparison of Apple's Aqua interface and Microsoft's Aero interface. Serlet poked fun at the apparent visual similarities and referenced a 2004 WWDC banner that read, "Redmond, start your photocopiers" — a reference to Microsoft headquarters which is in Redmond, Washington.[3] He also spoke at WWDC 2009 and gave an in-depth demonstration of Snow Leopard, which included further references to Microsoft's Windows operating system — claiming that Windows 7 is just another version of their highly criticized Vista release, citing the ongoing use of the Windows registry, DLLs, the User Account Control subsystem and existence of an interactive disk defragmenter.

He led development of the Workspace manager in NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP.[citation needed] He also led the Mac OS X team from its inception.[citation needed]

On March 23, 2011, Apple announced that Bertrand Serlet was leaving the company "to focus less on products and more on science."[4]

According to BusinessInsider, he has founded a startup in cloud computing called Upthere with other former Apple employees.[5] In November, 2012 Upthere raised an undisclosed amount of VC funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Elevation Partners, and Google Ventures.[6]

In July, 2012 he joined the board of directors of Parallels, Inc..[7]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Apple - Press Info - Bios - Bertrand Serlet". Apple Computer. July 2003. Retrieved 2006-09-16. 
  2. ^ "Avie Tevanian Named Chief Software Technology Officer of Apple". Apple Computer. 8 July 2003. Retrieved 2006-09-16. 
  3. ^ "Macintouch 2006 wwdc coverage". 
  4. ^ "Bertrand Serlet to Leave Apple". Apple Press Release. Apple. Retrieved March 23, 2011. 
  5. ^ Seth Fiegerman (2012-06-29). "Bertrand Serlet Is Working On A Mystery Startup in Palo Alto With Ex-Apple Employees". Business Insider. Retrieved 2012-08-13. 
  6. ^ "New site reveals Ex-Apple SVP Serlet’s Cloud startup UpThere funded by KPCB, Elevation, Google Ventures". The Next Web. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 20012-04-28. 
  7. ^ "Former Apple VP Bertrand Serlet Joins Board of Parallels". 

External links [edit]