On this page you will find information about the computer programmer named Donald A. Yacktman, Jr. Not the finance guy. Really. Emailing me finance questions or trying to reminisce about good times you and my father had together is a waste of your time and mine. You'd think that this paragraph is good enough to explain that I'm not my dad, but you'd be surprised how many idiots still can't figure it out after reading this. If you want to talk to my dad, please contact him, and not me!
I received a Master's degree (MS) from Brigham Young University (in December 1994) and was married to my wife, Marcie S. Yacktman, on August 5, 1995. A copy of one of the engagement pictures is available here. We don't exactly look like that any more, but don't expect to see any pictures of our modern, rounder selves any time soon!
As of June 11, 2004, we now can officially call ourselves parents. You can find more about our first arrival, Joseph Arthur Yacktman, on this page. We're also beginning the process of designing and building a new home. A lot in Eagle Mountain, UT (in The Ranches), has already been purchased, but we don't yet know when construction will begin. (We're still working on floor plans right now.) Marcie's brother Bret, whose lot is adjacent to ours, has already started construction on his little castle, however.
I'm the oldest of seven, with four brothers and two sisters. They are, in descending order of age, Steve, Jenny, Missy, Brian, Robby, and Mike. Recently Jenny has a massive stroke, and we're all praying for her recovery. If you want to learn more about how she's doing, I've been setting up a web site (jennylynn.org) where our family can keep up to date with her progress.
One of my biggest pet peeves would have to be spammers. These days, the inbox gets around 500-600 spams per day. (If you try to email me and I don't respond within a day or two, my spam filter probably ate it. It is very aggressive. Either try again, or call me so I can whitelist your email address.) We should all remember to not abuse technology! Have you taken the "Boulder Pledge" yet? If you haven't, you should. It probably won't completely solve the spam problem, but it could help at least a little. If nobody buys from the spammers, they don't make any money. No money, and eventually they go out of business and disappear. I've taken the same attitude with telemarketers. Call me with a sales pitch and you will regret it. Basically, any form of interruption marketing is guaranteed to make me mad. It will not make me a customer, I promise you that!
On a more positive note, I am a big fan of Apple Computer products, at least since NeXT Computer did a reverse takeover of Apple. (Apple is now pretty much run by the guys who were the top executives at NeXT -- Steve Jobs, Jon Rubenstein, Avie Tevanian, and others.) In particular, the G5 is a fine machine and the Cocoa programming environment is one of the best you can find anywhere. Remember, think different! (OK, I will admit that I do have a Windows PC, too. However, the only thing I ever use it for these days is to play games. If I want to actually get something accomplished, I simply find the Mac to be a much better place to get real work done.)
Other projects include the MiscKit, a collection of NEXTSTEP/Objective-C objects which may be freely used, even in commercial apps. The GameKit, a collection of Cocoa-specific objects for building games rapidly, is still in progress. (At the moment, it is being used by illumineX and is not available to the public. Sorry!) I was also one of the authors of the book Cocoa Programming.
I am sometimes available as a consultant to help you out with Cocoa programming projects. If you want to have me work as a consultant for you on some special project that you have to get finished yesterday, give illumineX a call. The rates are quite reasonable, and we work hard to make sure that our customers are happy with our work. The most recent project I've worked on as a consultant was the new user interface in the OpenBase 8 Manager app. To find out more, check out OpenBase International.
I'm also a reseller of web hosting from Verio. I used to work for them, so I know my way around the products pretty well (and I still think that they're some of the best web hosting solutions anywhere). If you need a discount on a virtual server for a basic web site, let me know. But if you want to host WebObjects applications, don't use Verio. If you want a pleasant WebObjects experience, you should contact a specialist. I may be biased, but I think that the best one has to be illumineX. All WebObjects hosting plans, even the relatively inexpensive shared hosting plans, are custom tailored to match your application(s) needs!
I also do a lot with music. I like playing keyboards and guitar, arranging and composing music, being a mobile DJ, and ballroom dancing. Oh, and I also happen to be the organist and choir accompianist in church.
Given that I write computer games, it should come as no surprise that I have collected many game consoles (and plenty of games for them). The sad truth is that lately I lack the time to play them very much. My console collection includes an actual Atari 2600, a SNES, a Sega Genesis and Dreamcast, an N64, a GameCube, an original PlayStation and a PlayStation 2. There's also a couple of hand helds -- a Sega GameGear and an original Gameboy.
I am also a roller coaster and theme park enthusiast. As you might guess, my all-time favorite PC game so far is RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. If you want to see things I have done with the game, check out my RCT2 pages. You might also spot me as "yackd" in some of the RCT related forums. Be sure to say hi!
Don Yacktman 4279 N. Ivy Lane Provo, Utah, 84604 (801)221-0344 (home) (801)471-7672 (cell)
(Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
[Don's comment: Might as well be talking about Microsoft!]
It really is coming down to just Apple and IBM. If, for some reason, we make some giant mistake and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter a sort of computer dark ages for about 20 years.
(Steve Jobs, February 1985)
You'd think it's a conspiracy by the networks to put bad shows on TV. But the shows are there because that's what people want. I think people are happy using Windows, and that's an extremely depressing thought.
(Steve Jobs, January 1996)
[Don's comment: Do I even need to say anything?]
Never ask a man what computer he uses. If it's a Mac, he'll tell you. If it's not, why embarrass him?
(Tom Clancy, email signature line)
But since any reasonable person would choose a Mac over a PC, Apple's market share does provide us with an accurate reading of the percentage of reasonable people in our society.
(Roger Ebert, Macworld, February, 2004)
