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As a webdev it's occurred to me before that at almost every conference I've been to there have been employees from Google, Mozilla and Microsoft happy to chat a
by untog 10y ago
As a webdev it's occurred to me before that at almost every conference I've been to there have been employees from Google, Mozilla and Microsoft happy to chat about their browsers. They're also active online, via Twitter or whatever.
Apple, on the other hand... I've never once met a Safari dev. How does that help anyone - including Apple? Feedback with the people who develop on your product can be very valuable, and it seems Apple aren't interested in any of it.
- pavlov 10y agoApple expects you to go to WWDC to meet employees and engage in dialogue. This way Apple controls the setting and the information being disseminated. (One could call it the "Mountain comes to Muhammad" approach.) It worked pretty well in the 2000-2009 period when you could just buy a WWDC ticket like any other conference pass... But after the iOS App Store exploded, tickets became impossible to get because they started selling out in minutes.
- fauigerzigerk 10y ago>It worked pretty well in the 2000-2009 period when you could just buy a WWDC ticket like any other conference pass... It may have worked well for those who are happy to replace continued, in-depth, online discussion with travelling half way around the world to exchange a few words with someone after paying a ton of money for it.
- y4mi 10y agoyou pretty much nailed down apple culture with that.
- threeseed 10y agoNice straw man there. Apple never replaced their existing online discussions with WWDC. You can continue to talk to WebKit developers using the mailing lists any many Apple developers continue to be present within the Developer program forums.
- fauigerzigerk 10y agoApparently (or rather allegedly), some Apple developers feel constrained in what they are allowed to discuss publicly. I'm merely saying that the availability of WWDC conference tickets doesn't fix that. For me anyway. I never said that Apple actively replaced anything. That's your straw man.
- untog 10y agoIt also seems like a downer for Apple employees. Do they ever get to leave Apple's campus?
- realityking 10y agoThey are around at conferences. They just don't make a big deal out of it and generally don't appear on stage.
- eddieroger 10y agoWell since WWDC has been in Moscone for ages, and San Francisco isn't Cupertino, yes?
- rm_-rf_slash 10y agoHardly. When I worked there WWDC at Apple was like lunchtime in Italy: everything shuts down with an audible clank as everybody floods conference rooms to watch the presentations.
- rched 10y agoThis has also bothered me for a long time but they've actually been doing a much better job of this over the last couple of years. I had never met a member of the Safari team either until this year where I got to chat with one, at Google's Chrome Dev Summit no less. They also revamped the webkit.org site and started releasing developer previews of Safari every two weeks. They still have long way to go in this area but they seem to be moving in the right direction so I'm hopeful.
- santaclaus 10y ago> Apple, on the other hand... I've never once met a Safari dev. Don Melton (creator of WebKit and Safari) is super cool -- if you run into him at a conf he is full of amazing lore and wisdom.