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So we have got today on HN front page Research from Google, Microsoft and Facebook, nice. Note, there is no Research-Publications at Apple. They do their resea

by tzury 13y ago

So we have got today on HN front page Research from Google, Microsoft and Facebook, nice. Note, there is no Research-Publications at Apple. They do their research secretly and silently.

threeseed 13y ago
Neither does Nike, Samsung, Coke, BMW etc. Apple is a product company. The above are as well but they also deal a lot with raw engineering problems which lend well to being shared and communicated with others.
- selmnoo 13y ago
  > Neither does Nike, Samsung, Coke, BMW etc. Apple is a product company. Apple is more in line with Microsoft (what with the operating systems and all) than your other examples. Apple should be duly faulted for their closed nature ways in this context.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- ekianjo 13y ago
  Apple is mainly a software company (outsourcing manufacturing to other partners, while they do the design internally). So I don't really see why they shouldn't share anything about their software/engineering work just like the other companies.
  - rimantas 13y ago
    Apple makes software mainly to sell hardware. Does Nike make shoes in their HQ?
    - adventured 13y ago
      This is not correct. Steve Jobs: "Apple views itself as a software company" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs
      - gwu78 13y ago
        Does Apple's view of Apple matter more than an objective view of Apple? The Apple Store sure sells a lot of hardware - proprietary hardware, no less - for a "software" company. How much software in the App Store is written by Apple? A "software" company that writes software that only runs on its own proprietary, tamper-resistant hardware? A "software" company that sues competitors not on software copyright infringement but on hardware design patent infringement? Apple might view itself as a software company, but I am quite certain they are still a hardware company. If they were to only sell software and stop selling hardware, then I believe their business would fail.
mattquiros 13y ago
How about Amazon? I imagine they also have pretty good R&D there but I couldn't find anything.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
midgetjones 13y ago
I wondered if it was a day when companies were supposed to release research papers. I guess it's just the NH hivemind instead.
zdw 13y ago
Apple provides developers for quite a few projects like LLVM, webkit, and the like. Their OS level projects end up here: http://www.macosforge.org http://www.macosforge.org They just don't have generic "research" divisions like the other companies. This is one (of many) result of Steve Jobs return - anything that wasn't product focused got canned.

by tzury 13y ago

So we have got today on HN front page Research from Google, Microsoft and Facebook, nice. Note, there is no Research-Publications at Apple. They do their research secretly and silently.

threeseed 13y ago

Neither does Nike, Samsung, Coke, BMW etc. Apple is a product company. The above are as well but they also deal a lot with raw engineering problems which lend well to being shared and communicated with others.

selmnoo 13y ago
> Neither does Nike, Samsung, Coke, BMW etc. Apple is a product company. Apple is more in line with Microsoft (what with the operating systems and all) than your other examples. Apple should be duly faulted for their closed nature ways in this context.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ekianjo 13y ago
Apple is mainly a software company (outsourcing manufacturing to other partners, while they do the design internally). So I don't really see why they shouldn't share anything about their software/engineering work just like the other companies.
- rimantas 13y ago
  Apple makes software mainly to sell hardware. Does Nike make shoes in their HQ?
  - adventured 13y ago
    This is not correct. Steve Jobs: "Apple views itself as a software company" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs
    - gwu78 13y ago
      Does Apple's view of Apple matter more than an objective view of Apple? The Apple Store sure sells a lot of hardware - proprietary hardware, no less - for a "software" company. How much software in the App Store is written by Apple? A "software" company that writes software that only runs on its own proprietary, tamper-resistant hardware? A "software" company that sues competitors not on software copyright infringement but on hardware design patent infringement? Apple might view itself as a software company, but I am quite certain they are still a hardware company. If they were to only sell software and stop selling hardware, then I believe their business would fail.

mattquiros 13y ago

How about Amazon? I imagine they also have pretty good R&D there but I couldn't find anything.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

midgetjones 13y ago

I wondered if it was a day when companies were supposed to release research papers. I guess it's just the NH hivemind instead.

zdw 13y ago

Apple provides developers for quite a few projects like LLVM, webkit, and the like. Their OS level projects end up here: http://www.macosforge.org http://www.macosforge.org They just don't have generic "research" divisions like the other companies. This is one (of many) result of Steve Jobs return - anything that wasn't product focused got canned.