Prince McLean
Availability of the new forums is a significant shift from its existing, highly restrictive policy that has in general prohibited all of its developers from talking about the features and technologies related to its unannounced operating system, even to other developers bound to the same Non-Disclosure Agreements.
Apple has recently relaxed its developer policy in connection with iPhone development, easing the paranoia that had kept book authors and teachers interested in sponsoring iPhone development classes on edge.
The new move to not just allow developers to share their ideas and experiences with each other, but to actually provide an official forum for discussing the features of the unreleased new operating system, comes as welcome news to companies who can both benefit from and contribute to the discussions about Apple's latest software.
The developer forums won't be available to the public, nor to student developers, but only to members of Apple's Premier and Select developer programs, who also have access to the developer seed releases. Apple describes the forums as being in beta, a curious concept given that the company has operated forums on other topics for many years.
In a mailing to its developer program members, Apple said the new developer forums will "provide a collaborative environment to post Mac OS X Snow Leopard development topics and questions for an open discussion with other Mac developers and Apple engineers."
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80 Comments
"open"? Sure if you've got 500 dollars minimum. Microsoft is allowing people to download Beta and RC releases of Windows 7 to test it out. That's open.
I would expect Select and Premier developers to be able to discuss an OS they're supposed to have their applications ready for.
The secrecy thing is getting a bit old Apple.
So what are the repercussions against someone copying the discussions and 'leaking' them to the general public? Seems like Pandora's Box to me.
Not that I support Apple's (in)famous secrecy either...
"open"?
Sure if you've got 500 dollars minimum. Microsoft is allowing people to download Beta and RC releases of Windows 7 to test it out. That's open.
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This is less about secrecy (just because they are paying $500 does not make them less likely to release information) but more about reducing noise.
What is the purpose of a Beta? Its to improve a product before it is actually released. Unlike MS, Apple does not have unlimited engineering resources (don't forget how little money Apple makes from OS X, the S/W as compared to MS) and so restricting these forums to the "serious few" still gives them enough usage to find most problems, but greatly limits worthless feedback (FTFF!).
This is less about secrecy (just because they are paying $500 does not make them less likely to release information) but more about reducing noise.
What is the purpose of a Beta? Its to improve a product before it is actually released. Unlike MS, Apple does not have unlimited engineering resources (don't forget how little money Apple makes from OS X, the S/W as compared to MS) and so restricting these forums to the "serious few" still gives them enough usage to find most problems, but greatly limits worthless feedback (FTFF!).
Generally for something like this, the more testers there are, the better. If Apple can make money off it, they will do so, plain and simple.
This is less about secrecy (just because they are paying $500 does not make them less likely to release information) but more about reducing noise.
What is the purpose of a Beta? Its to improve a product before it is actually released. Unlike MS, Apple does not have unlimited engineering resources (don't forget how little money Apple makes from OS X, the S/W as compared to MS) and so restricting these forums to the "serious few" still gives them enough usage to find most problems, but greatly limits worthless feedback (FTFF!).
I wish this were the case. However, as good as Leopard is I believe it's pretty far from being a fantastic OS.
1. Applications stall too much and beach ball.
2. Contextual menus end up cluttered with stuff you don't want from 3rd parties
3. The UI is a bit cobbled together.
4. No decent notification system
5. No uninstaller
6. Niggling things like the OS forgetting finder window settings sometimes
Consumers simply want a better OS. The wow factor for OS is pretty much at its zenith. Apple needs to get the message that the whole "shhhhhhhh we're working on something weally seekrit" is pretty much played out.
Developers don't get to talk about the new OS so therefore consumers don't fully understand the changes and the ramifications of the new changes. Apple's milked this cow long enough.