I don't think most people have a problem with expecting people to keep their mouths shut in order to have the best splash marketing wise, in many ways that is good business.
I think the difficult bit is that for apple to do this as well as it does (and it does it VERY well), it seems to have to penetrate the business in every single area - where by default things are supersecret and closed - which I think it where it tends to get annoying. But its Apple, they are free to do that if it works for them, and if you want to work there, you have to live with that. On Jan 8, 1:09 pm, Casper Bang <[email protected]> wrote: > It's interesting to consider Apple vs. Google. Apple with their > gestapo methods, controlling leaks while carefully preparing gigantic > hype-fests with Steve Jobs as high priest. Google just invites 100 > journalists, hands them a new superior phone, and says "Oh btw, people > can buy it now from google.com/phone and we'll ship so you have it > tomorrow". > > /Casper > > On Jan 8, 12:04 am, Michael Neale <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I don't think Joe's experience is even remotely related to what a > > product engineer would go through: keeping your mouth shut over > > something really exciting and cool for a couple of weeks is nothing > > compared to certain death (dismissal) for a product you are beavering > > away on for YEARS. > > > On Jan 4, 1:43 pm, Casper Bang <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Sorry but I just have got to add a little additional scary context > > > here:http://gizmodo.com/5427058/apple-gestapo-how-apple-hunts-down-leaks > > > > For what it's worth, I don't think the Gestapo methods scale with > > > their new found success. You order 45 mio. OLED screens and it's bound > > > to leak. > > > > /Casper > > > > On Jan 4, 1:16 am, Spencer Uresk <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I've always thoroughly enjoyed the holiday episodes, despite them > > > > being a little lighter in news and Java content. One thing that > > > > intrigued me a bit in this episode was Joe's discussion of the > > > > measures Apple takes to maintain secrecy around new products, and > > > > their reasons for doing so. > > > > > Certainly, I understand the benefits of maintaining secrecy around > > > > consumer products - I think Apple does a really good job at launching > > > > products and that is one of their competitive advantages. However, > > > > I've often wondered why they are often so secretive on the developer > > > > side of things as well, and was wondering if Joe or anyone else had > > > > any insight as to why that is the case. > > > > > Two examples: > > > > > 1) The (in)famous Java 6 on OS X issues, which the Posse talked about > > > > in this episode as well. > > > > > From my perspective, this wasn't so much of an issue of Apple being > > > > slow to release Java 6 for OS X (other implementers are often behind > > > > Sun as well) as it was an issue of them not communicating what they > > > > were doing at all. There was no acknowledgment that they were working > > > > on Java 6 support, when they were planning on releasing it, or if they > > > > even wanted to support Java on OS X at all anymore. This situation was > > > > somewhat exacerbated by some anti-Java statements made by Steve Jobs > > > > at around the same time. > > > > > One unfortunate effect of this - At work, we'd been trying to convince > > > > management to let us buy MacBook Pros instead of the usual Dell > > > > laptops to use as our primary development machines. They didn't really > > > > want to allow us to purchase different hardware, and the lack of > > > > information from Apple surrounding Java's future on OS X gave them > > > > quite a bit of ammunition. > > > > > 2) iPhone Developer Program NDAs > > > > > Back when I was first taking a look at doing iPhone development, I had > > > > joined the developer program and was looking for some books on iPhone > > > > development. A handful of authors had books ready (or at least in beta > > > > form) but were waiting for Apple to lift the NDA before publishing > > > > them. Several of the publishers I talked to were pretty frustrated by > > > > the lack of communication from Apple - they weren't being told when > > > > they planned on lifting the NDA. At this point, the reason for even > > > > having NDAs in place was unclear - tens of thousands of developers > > > > were already working with the APIs and that isn't where the real > > > > competitive advantage for the iPhone was anyway. > > > > > This delayed potential developers from getting their hands on iPhone > > > > development books and frustrated authors and publishers who wanted to > > > > get their books out. > > > > > So, while I fully understand the need for secrecy when it comes to the > > > > launch of consumer devices, I'm left scratching my head at cases like > > > > these 2 examples where secrecy seems to only confound developers and > > > > offers no real benefit to Apple. What does Apple gain by not telling > > > > anyone what their plans are for Java on OS X? As a consumer, surprises > > > > are often pretty cool, but as a developer or someone looking to invest > > > > a lot of time and money into something, surprises are something I'm > > > > looking to avoid. > > > > > Is there some value in keeping stuff like this secret that I'm > > > > missing, or is this simply a case of a culture of secrecy that has > > > > maybe gone a little too far?
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