Editing MacApp (section)

===C++ versions===
By this point, in the late 1980s, the market was moving towards [[C++]], and the beta version of Apple C++ compiler appeared in 1989, around the MacApp 2.0 release.<ref name=mw1089_04 /> At the same time, Apple was deep in the effort to release [[System 7]], which had a number of major new features. The decision was made to transition to an entirely new version of MacApp, 3.0, which would use C++ in place of Object Pascal.<ref name=mactech1991_02>{{cite magazine| first=Chris |last=Knepper |url=http://www.mactech.com/articles/frameworks/5_2/Approaching_MA_3.0_Knepper.html |title=Approaching MacApp 3.0 |magazine=[[MacTech]] |volume=5 |issue=2 |date=February 1991}}</ref> This move was subject to a long and heated debate between proponents of Object Pascal and C++ in the [[Usenet]] and other forums. Nevertheless, 3.0 managed to garner a reasonable following after its release in 1991, even though the developer suite, MPW, was growing outdated. Apple then downsized the entire developer tools group, leaving both MacApp and MPW understaffed.

One of the reasons for this downsizing was Apple's long saga of attempting to introduce the "next great platform" for development, almost always in the form of a cross-platform system of some sort. Their first attempt was [[Bedrock (framework)|Bedrock]], a class library created in partnership with Symantec that ran on the Mac and Windows, which died a lingering death as both parties eventually gave up on working with the other. One of the reasons for their problems was the creation of [[OpenDoc]], which was itself developed into a cross-platform system that competed directly with Bedrock. There were some attempts to position Bedrock as an OpenDoc platform,<ref>{{cite magazine |first1=Kelley |last1=Damore 
|first2=Tom |last2=Quinlan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 |title=Bedrock not as solid as Apple originally planned |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |volume=15 |issue=49 |date=December 6, 1993 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=James |last=Daly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WESBpiNtNTEC&pg=PA69 |title=Apple, Symantec rethink role Bedrock will play |magazine=[[Computerworld]] |volume=27 |issue=51 |date=December 20, 1993 |page=69}}</ref> but nothing ever came of this.

While these developments were taking place, MPW and MacApp were largely ignored. It was more important to put those developer resources into these new projects to help them reach the market sooner. But when Bedrock failed and OpenDoc found a lukewarm reception, the Mac was left with tools that were now almost a decade old and could not compete with the newer products from third parties. Through the early 1990s competing frameworks grew into real competitors to MacApp. First Symantec's [[Think Class Library|TCL]] garnered a following, but then Metrowerks' [[PowerPlant]] generally took over the entire market.