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They didn't open WebKit. It's a fork of the LGPL'd KHTML code base. Apple is legally obliged to keep it open, so whatever anyone thinks about Apple's open sourc
by avar 10y ago
They didn't open WebKit. It's a fork of the LGPL'd KHTML code base. Apple is legally obliged to keep it open, so whatever anyone thinks about Apple's open source record using WebKit as an example makes little sense.
- comex 10y agoEh, not quite. Apple could satisfy its LGPL obligations by throwing source dumps of WebCore over the wall - without releasing the rest of WebKit, exposing SVN history, or having a public bug tracker. In fact, for the first two years of Safari's life, that's exactly what they did. Then in 2005 they opened it up properly, voluntarily: https://dot.kde.org/2005/06/07/apple-opens-webkit-cvs-and-bug-database https://dot.kde.org/2005/06/07/apple-opens-webkit-cvs-and-bu...
- toyg 10y ago"Voluntarily" after they were rapped over and over by KDE developers and community...
- AlphaSite 10y agoAh yes, the KDE community, holders of the ear of Steve Jobs. Frankly, I'm not sure Apple ever cared for their thoughts on the matter.
- toyg 10y agoOf course, they only cared about PR: by pure coincidence, they "voluntarily" changed development model on webkit right after several news outlets had picked up the umpteen blog post by a grumbling KDE developer. Yes, Apple historically doesn't give a shit about the OSS community unless they can exploit it or it becomes a dangerous nuisance. And this is why it gets a bad rep in OSS circles.
- scarface74 10y agoYes because Apple in general and Steve Jobs in particular is a company that goes out of it way to be accommodating to the masses....
- pyre 10y agoI'm pretty sure you're wrong about this one: > Steve Jobs in particular is a company