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Apple's focus is and always will be: 1) Apple, 2) Marketers, 3) Users, 4) Developers, and #4 has always been a distant one at best (anyone remember the Rhapsody

Apple's focus is and always will be: 1) Apple, 2) Marketers, 3) Users, 4) Developers, and #4 has always been a distant one at best (anyone remember the Rhapsody fiasco?) Keep that ordering in mind, the latest changes make perfect sense.

Perceval 17y ago
While I think putting marketers in that list is a bit trollish, I think you've hit on something that's broadly true. Developers reacted with rage to Apple's app screening process and are reacting with rage again to Apple's banning of intermediary layers/languages. Whereas Microsoft's slogan is "developers, developers, developers..." Apple's is decidedly not. Apple prioritizes the end user experience over the developer's experience and aren't shy about rubbing that in. More than that, Apple prioritizes having control over its own fate, and if developers using intermediary layers have to suffer for Apple to retain its relative autonomy then so be it. Microsoft's philosophy has the logic: if we have all the developers, then the end users will flock to us, so we're going to cater to the developers. Apple's philosophical logic is: if we make something that 'just works' and that all the end users lust after, the developers will come to us, so we have to retain our ability to push things forward. I'm not sure which philosophy, if either, is better overall. But it seems pretty clear which one angers developers more.
- BudVVeezer 17y ago
  The reason I put marketers on that list (and higher than users) is because Apple sometimes goes with "shiny" things which are marketing fodder instead of things which truly improve the user experience. But you expounded on my point nicely -- Apple and MS have different philosophies about developers.
  - chc 17y ago
    In my experience, it is the users who go gaga over the "shiny things." If the media pays attention to these things at all, it's simply because they know that's what a lot of users will be interested in. If I tell my mom that the new OS X has a totally rewritten Finder that follows OS X standards much better and deals with failure much more elegantly, she'll just blink and say, "Oh, cool." If I show my mom the graphical interface for Time Machine with all the versions of my files apparently falling into a black hole, she'll point and scream and call people over to see how cool it is. The moral: Never forget that people really do like using shiny things a lot better in many cases.
- MWinther 17y ago
  I would add Support Engineers along with the devs in that list. I was an AASE back in the late 90s, and working with Apple behind the scenes in the retail chain was quite the different experience than being an end user. Of course, I firmly believe this is as it should be.
rimantas 17y ago
2) Marketers, 3) Users 3 is 2. The hype about iPhone and iPad was there before Apple said a word about these products.

Perceval 17y ago

While I think putting marketers in that list is a bit trollish, I think you've hit on something that's broadly true. Developers reacted with rage to Apple's app screening process and are reacting with rage again to Apple's banning of intermediary layers/languages. Whereas Microsoft's slogan is "developers, developers, developers..." Apple's is decidedly not. Apple prioritizes the end user experience over the developer's experience and aren't shy about rubbing that in. More than that, Apple prioritizes having control over its own fate, and if developers using intermediary layers have to suffer for Apple to retain its relative autonomy then so be it. Microsoft's philosophy has the logic: if we have all the developers, then the end users will flock to us, so we're going to cater to the developers. Apple's philosophical logic is: if we make something that 'just works' and that all the end users lust after, the developers will come to us, so we have to retain our ability to push things forward. I'm not sure which philosophy, if either, is better overall. But it seems pretty clear which one angers developers more.

BudVVeezer 17y ago
The reason I put marketers on that list (and higher than users) is because Apple sometimes goes with "shiny" things which are marketing fodder instead of things which truly improve the user experience. But you expounded on my point nicely -- Apple and MS have different philosophies about developers.
- chc 17y ago
  In my experience, it is the users who go gaga over the "shiny things." If the media pays attention to these things at all, it's simply because they know that's what a lot of users will be interested in. If I tell my mom that the new OS X has a totally rewritten Finder that follows OS X standards much better and deals with failure much more elegantly, she'll just blink and say, "Oh, cool." If I show my mom the graphical interface for Time Machine with all the versions of my files apparently falling into a black hole, she'll point and scream and call people over to see how cool it is. The moral: Never forget that people really do like using shiny things a lot better in many cases.
MWinther 17y ago
I would add Support Engineers along with the devs in that list. I was an AASE back in the late 90s, and working with Apple behind the scenes in the retail chain was quite the different experience than being an end user. Of course, I firmly believe this is as it should be.

rimantas 17y ago

2) Marketers, 3) Users 3 is 2. The hype about iPhone and iPad was there before Apple said a word about these products.