Mailing Lists: Apple Mailing Lists
Image of Mac OS face in stamp
 
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Google Chrome and Java

Joachim Zittmayr <email@hidden> wrote:
even our mates from iphone development feel the effects of apple's NDA...
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080728-iphone-nda-doing-more-harm-than-good.html
....
no more free information flow, no more helping out in forums, no more public discussons.
...
personally i find it ridiculous that bug reports are not publically available.

In past years when we had to sign an NDA about a beta version of Java on the Macintosh, Apple provided a special listserv where we could discuss issues with other developers who'd signed the same NDA. I haven't used any Java betas in over a year. Are such special NDA listservs for Java on the Macintosh eliminated as they are for iPhone developers?

The iPhone situation is even worse because the secrecy is extended to the period after the release of the product. One iPhone developer told me that he couldn't add the clicking sound to provide audible feedback for iPod Touch users because he doesn't know how to trigger this clicking and he was unable to ask other users because of the iPhone SDK NDA. (The iPod Touch is able to make a clicking sound despite not having the actual speaker on the iPhone; using the special clicking allows programs such as Apple's calculator to give audible feedback to iPod Touch users even if they are not using earphones).

One workaround is (http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-apple25-2008aug25,0,2200545.story?page=2) "Some developers who are seeking help have resorted to paying each other $1. That way, if challenged by Apple's legal department, they can argue that they are subcontractors and therefore free to discuss the software." but this doesn't have the same efficiency as a forum on which one can ask a question of other developers who've signed the NDA.

The issue of bug reports being available publicly is different. For bugs on software no longer in NDA, developers are free to post the bug reports that they submitted, as several of us used to do at http://www.segal.org/macjavabugs/ (there are few bugs left because Apple did such a good job at fixing the bugs). 

_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Java-dev mailing list      (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/java-dev/email@hidden

This email sent to email@hidden


Visit the Apple Store online or at retail locations.
1-800-MY-APPLE

Contact Apple | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.