To whom are you comparing Apple's documentation? When I search Microsoft API, I get about 7 different documents about the same API call, each slightly different, with no indication of which one I should use. Apple may have a few API for which documentation is difficult to find, and a few where the API documentation is slightly out of date. I prefer having it be clear that I have the right documentation once I find it, rather than finding too many copies of the same thing in a single installation of the developer environment. It seems that the Microsoft approach is to throw everything they've got at the developer, no matter how old, even if it is redundant, and even if it wastes a lot of the developer's time to wade through the excess. My impression is that both companies have a lacking in coordination of documentation.
Sun seems to do well at documentation, but my experience there is limited.
In other words, I don't think Apple has some dirty secret that would result in nobody using their products anymore. They do have room for improvement and coordination, though.
Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting
On Nov 24, 2008, at 08:59, tahome izwah wrote:
Forgive me for saying this but Apple's documentation has a tradition
of not being exactly up to par with their applications and
technologies. I guess this is what you get if you have an OS developer
that also sells applications: commercial interests come first, all
other things are secondary. Since their products are incredibly cool
you tend to forgive them for doing this, if it were any other company
this would be in the media 24/7 and noone would use their products
anymore. But since they are simply the coolest company on the planet
(and I mean it!) we just make do with what we've got and try to take
it with a smile... :-)