Posted By Paul Kafasis on October 31st, 2006

While on the final panel at C4, one issue that came up was the topic of openness by Apple. Quentin and I had previously discussed this at length, and I mentioned that Microsoft has great developer blogs while Apple has nothing. Then this weekend, Chuq Von Rospach posted about “why Apple doesn’t have a blogging policy”. He stated:

“It’s not about blogging. It’s about communication, and it’s about solving problems. And Apple doesn’t NEED employee blogs to do that. It’s been doing that all along.”

Chuqui used to work at Apple, and I think he’s still hooked on the Kool-Aid. I’m not the only one either. His statement is just not in touch with reality, at least not the reality of being a smaller ISV¹. Apple quite simply doesn’t talk to anyone, about, well, anything. Hearing anonymous information on a random list that might come from an Apple developer just doesn’t cut it – it’s a poor substitute for real communication.

Take a look at two recent posts from Adobe employees John Nack and Hart Shafer, regarding Adobe’s decision to release their new application Soundbooth with no PowerPC support. There’s a stark contrast between Apple’s “communication” and Adobe, where we hear from real developers talking about this issue, conversing with users, and being open about it. You’d never see that from Apple, not on a blog, nor anywhere else. Apple simply has not been “doing that all along”.

1. That’s pretty much anyone who’s not Microsoft or Adobe. Back