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Apple Blacklists "Rumor Promoting" Publications
Billy_D_Goat writes "Talk about control, Apple has now decided it can block users from recieving media passes at MacWorld Expo It blacklists these users by deciding if they run "rumor promoting" publications. This includs the webmasters of sites which have little to do with rumors or speculation such as Graphicpower.com/." Probably
just bitter cuz Steve's thunder seems to get stolen at every show, and
their lawyers can't seem to stop it ;)
from the wonder-where-we-fit-in dept.
You're more "rumro-Whomoting" than anything, I'd say.
--saint
at future shows. I think they will learn their lesson from the backlash they will get about this. MacWorld has had their own rumors, but they are not being barred.
These sites will just have to sit one out. I will be interested to see what happens at this show. Something big must going to be going down.
...doesn't seem like a wise idea on Apple's part. Why would you restrict access at ALL to a Mac convention? You could do that if you had an overpowering presence in the computing world... but seeing as Apple hasn't had that since 1984 , it just seems bogus to me. Restricting access for your own fans and users just seems like a daffy idea to me. Lordfly
hookers and grits.
No.
Apple didn't blacklist anyone; IDG did.
MacWorld isn't run by Apple. IDG is in charge of the show, and revoked the press passes.
Even sites like MacFixIt (which is NOT a rumor site) got their credentials pulled at first (but read below):
Get the facts please. Not saying I agree with IDG, but this is their doing, not Apple's. Maybe Apple's leaning on them, but they didn't pull the passes...
--NBVB
Snippet from MacFixIt:
Macworld Expo pulls press passes of Web sites Macworld Expo (apparently acting at Apple's request) has banned numerous Web sites (including MacFixIt) from getting press passes for Macworld Expo. This is so even in cases where the press pass had been previously approved.
Update: One press pass for MacFixIt arrived late today, despite our previously being told that MacFixIt was on a ban list. We are still waiting for one other. Perhaps there has been a change of position on this matter.
So? Apple can do what it likes. It runs the expo, and decides who gets the media passes.
It makes sense for them to not give special access passes out to those who they know are going to publish only the negative aspects of the expo. Obviously, they don't like bad press.
Really, they are just trying to get the media they allow special access to print more balanced reports. You can't say fairer than that!
But threatening the press is never good. "Never get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel."
That's why I can never own a mac. The community should be able to write what they want to write without fear that it will hurt their standing.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Don't go to MacWorldExpo(tm). Don't support Apple(tm).
Who is ever going to be turned away from LinuxWorld(tm)?
It must be sooo hard for Apple to deal with having such an enthusiastic fan base that they're willing to go to such great lengths to get previews of products. I feel sooo sorry for Steve Jobs and crew that they have to "put up" with this kind of thing.
I think I'll stick to PC hardware and Linux instead of a company that obviously doesn't value its user base.
It's their show, and they can do anything they want. Nobody's free speech rights are being infringed upon, since this is a private event. Apple is only trying to stop the wild speculation that diminishes the surprise of Jobs' announcements.
qslack.com
There are a limited number of press passes. Someone got pruned off the list and was told it was because he had rumors. I might feel sorry for him if he was making his living by running the site. If anybody spend any time looking at it, they would realize the site is just a hobby for this guy.
To: [omitted but starts with a 'w']@apple.com
Cc: [omitted]@graphicpower.com
Subject: Re: GraphicPower - Demoralized
I've just read the news on the Graphicpower website and I have a question;
Are you nuts?
Please reconsider your 'wide net' policy in classifying sites as rumor when they are valuable members of the Mac web community. I'm a Mac consultant and I keep my finger on the pulse of your customers and the web. You've stirred up an angry beehive in more than just this case (Graphicpower). Mac people monitor the web closely and the general consensus at the moment is not good for Apple. Apple has a loyal customer base yes, but much of that base is from word-of-mouth. The biggest mouths are the web sites that my clients (mac users) monitor and the word is not good.
You've got a revolt on your hands. Please reconsider your 'tight' classifications. For Apple to give a little in this regard would sure release some building steam in the community.
---
[ME]
President
[My Company]
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Their control over their hardware/software is justified, but they can't stem into free media, they must keep better internal control over there trade secrets rather than restrict access to trade shows.
IDG was directed by Apple to blacklist the sites. Nathalie Welch, from Apple's PR group, directed which sites were on the list. I don't know where she got her list from, but it's interesting to note that she herself worked at MacWEKK magazine before coming to Apple, so this is in no small way one person calling the kettle black.
My guess is that Jobs told her to do it.
Kevin Fox
Mod this parent down. This list was created by Nathalie Welch of Apple's PR department and the blacklist is being enforced by IDG. Why would the event organizer ban newssites? They have no reason to. Apple on the other hand has damn good reason to stop these news sites.
It still floors me to see the fan base of Apple's macs on ./ :eep: shoddy OSs? It makes me sick everytime I see a apple drone on the tv talking about the 'blue screen of death." I wonder if we starting seeing Lindows advertising that bashes Apple for selling their OS with a $3500 dongle? Nope, massive lawsuits.
Apple seems to be very neurotic about their image and want everything spin their way. Heck, how has slashdot avoided the Apple's lawyers reign of terror for their look of apple.slashdot?
Great, they wrote some stuff on top of BSD. How does that make of for their years of
I've seen many a hardware platform's obsolesence due to each sucessive release of an OS. I just upgraded my p166 to 2.4 and my p2-400 hosts WinXP just fine. Can I slap OSX on a mac from '97, nah just go out and buy a TiBook... that should last me a good year.
Why is it so wrong for Apple to protect their own products from being leaked before Apple gets a chance to release them? Apple is just looking out for their best interests in this case.
IDG's doing this anyway, not Apple. They are probably doing this because of some fear that Apple could bring some sort of legal action against them for what other publications invited to IDG's expo might publish.
Is this the right answer? No. Do I agree with this answer? No. This will probably be repealed next year anyway. But doesn't Apple have a right to protect their products?
Does anyone else find it amusing that at the January Macworld Expo, not only did Apple goad users into rampant speculation with their 5 day home page teaser campaign (changing the home page tagline to "Way Beyond the Rumor Sites" and the like), but that, in the end, the night before the keynote, the story was leaked by Time Magazine, who let out pictures and an Apple-sanctioned expose of the new iMac and iPhoto?
The rumor sites had nothing on them in January, and for all Apple's teasing, it was their own media partners who fucked up, but you don't see Time or Newsweek getting their credentials pulled.
One has to wonder what the point of this action is. After all, the damage that a rumor site does is done by the time they would get anywhere that a media badge would get them, unless Apple's planning on showing the press something cool under an embargo date which, given the Time debacle, you'd think they'd be ever less likely to do.
Kevin Fox
This brings back memories of Apple's "worst business moves era" back in the mid/late 90s.
Perhaps I am in the minority here, but we are only talking a press passes. Apple would be within rights to deny press passes to any particular person or group. They are not restricting overall access, just special press privileges.
Clearly, this is still a bad pr move... at least among the mac fanatics. But let's be real, we don't go to the rumor sites to read apple press releases. We (or at least I) like to surf the rumors sites for the pure humor, and occasionally a tip into what apple's thinking. Knowing of course that until 48 hours before the announcements the "information" has is more than often wrong.
But let's remember... This is really only pissing off the people that run the "rumor" sites who enjoyed (and rightfully) one of the few perks they get. For the average rumor site surfer, it means nothing. For the average mac user... less than nothing.
I think that this move is in line with apple's move from mac fanatics to well informed macintosh advocates. While this might piss off some people, in the end, I think the over all trend is good for the OS...
But, Jobs is a different twerp .
but inside information.
Remember, revoking the ability to have news coverage of the actual event could dissuade otherwise respectable news organizations from attempting to scoop each other by accidentally acquiring and disseminating ILLEGAL information for someone else's leverage in financial markets.
If the famous Microsoft deal had been leaked back when Jobs took over, there would have been financial mayhem if someone acquired the inside info. If I remember right, the stock doubled the day of the announcement.
Apple legal probably came to the (justified) conclusion that not dissuading the rumor sites was a de facto invitation (i.e. liability) for their own employees to pimp their insider status.
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
but this doesn't ban them from the show.. it just revokes their press pass. Well that is NORMAL.
Press passes are handed out to those whom you want to report on the activities.
Nothing is stopping any of these poeple from going to the show and reporting on everything anyway.
with all this Positive Press....
it makes me want to switch...
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
Yes, Jobs is a control freak, and this is a classic example of Jobsian stupidity. But, now that we all know the rules of the game, anybody who cares can simply register under a different name. If they cross-check addresses, a friends address or a cheap PO Box will get around it. Dumb, yeah. But it's not like Steve isn't above shooting himself in the foot on occasion. He rather seems to enjoy it based on past history.
ehintz
Comment removed based on user account deletion
He may innovate on interface and have some minor hardware achivements, but overall, Apple has only moved ahead as Microsoft caught up. Without MS there wouldn't be anything worthwile from Apple.
Everyone says look how stable the Apple OS is, of course, it only achived that by dropping all their old code and building upon BeOS.
Now he blacklists the very people who love him dearest. Images of abused housewives coming back for another beating fill my head... Here's some advice.. The jackass isn't worth it... Walk away!
Troll me if you want... But Steve's action speak for themselves, this guy has a fear of being insignificance...
Way to go Apple, shoot yourself in the foot again... Next time aim closer and blow it off.
Tournament Management Online &
I'd expect this kind of treatment from Microsoft but never Apple. As far as I'm concerned screw OS X ... I'm moving back to Linux.
I like rumor sites a lot. I read a number of the Mac rumor sites religiously because I'm constanly curious to find out what's next and when. But I support Apple in doing whatever it needs to to cut back on the flow of future info. Why?
Back when I was a mere bouncing boy I had this wonderful portable computer called an Osborne 1. 1mhz cpu. Two floppy drives, a 300 baud modem and a CRT all running CP/M (DOS without subdirectories for you youngins). All this in a portable case the size of a suitcase. I loved the thing and did much productive playing of infocom games on it. (I had DBase 2, but could never figure out why I'd want such a thing).
Then came tell of a NEW Osborne coming out in, like, six months or so. And this one would run PC-DOS!!! Almost instantly Osborne went out of business. Their cashflow dies as people canceled their orders for "old" computers and planned on waiting for the new one. And along came this _other_ company selling their 'compaq' briefcase computers. I imagine Adam Osborne was pissed.
The moral of this story? Rumors can kill companies, and while Apple isn't small enoght for that to happen easily, I know for a fact that I've told people to "wait a month" to buy a mac based on rumor reporing of a new Powerbook coming real soon now. So, go Apple. Feel free to limit the rumor folks. And rumor guys, please keep working. I'd just die without my inside scoop.
Probably just bitter cuz Steve's thunder seems to get stolen at every show, and their lawyers can't seem to stop it ;)
And with good reason. Apple's events are carefully timed to dramatize the unveiling of new products. When the thunder is stolen by a rumors site, it seriously affects Apple's stock price and makes the show itself less newsworthy. So while this sucks, and it seems they're shooting themselves in the foot, I can see why they think this is something that needs to be done.
It's also the building of expectations that are too high or just plain wrong. There've been at least a few MacWorlds where what Steve did present wasn't nearly as big as what the rumor sites had been saying. I think the 'new' iMac had been expected at least a few events prior to its appearence, and DDR pmacs have been rumored about since shortly after they first hit the PC market.
... the Eric Cartman marketing tatic.
"You can't get into my amusement park!"
* Windoze/M$: Facist, neoconservative bastards (war mongering, we'll do the thinking for you, etc.)
* Mac/Apple: Total Communists (censoring, controlling, we'll do the thinking for you - but it's in your best interest! at least we're not facists!)
* Linux: Libertarians (freedom of choice, of speech, etc. Resistance to tyranny!)
Then only outlaws will have rum... what?
nevermind.
Did you mean Apache or Apple?? Or have been sitting in front of this thing too long........Preview before you submit, please ;-)
It's there show..
If they think your publication doesn't reach enough people or meet there criteria they don't give you a pass.
It used to be circulation was used (you print and distribute so many copies...), but with the web it's cheap to publish, so everyone with a web site probably wants press credentials..
people should stop whining..
Just thought it was a little strange...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It was submitted as a news article, which it appeared as for a good 30min and oddly changed a few minutes ago to apache.
As a journalist focussing on 'digital lifestyle', of course I get free media passes, rebates and free goodies from some companies. From others I don't. Just two days ago I was informed that my radio show won't get to give away a brand-new PDA (as a prize), because another show will do a marketing-like interview with the product manager - that's when I'm out. I won't let them buy me. From Apple, e.g., I'd can get new hardware for a test - but unfortunately, I have to return it. That is clearly o.k.. But some other companies won't even talk to us, because our reporting was not in favor of them.
Such a negative behavior is clearly un-professional from the perspective of the Public Relations guys, because it will just worsen the pictures media will draw about their company.
It is known that Steve Jobs usually goes far in planning every detail of a press briefing. It's all in his story book: even the brand of mineral water everyone gets to drink there is part of the company C.I..
Just curious to know what this topic has to do with Apache? For some odd reason, one might be inclined to believe that this post belongs in the "Apple" section. Just FYI ;)
a Steve "Borg" Jobs icon.
Think Different!
Think Lawyers!
Think Blacklist!
Think maybe Apple was portraying THEMSELVES in their classic "1984" commercial...
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
It has nothing to do with "diminishing the surprise of steves keynote".
I ALWAYS tell my friends to "Wait till macworld" to buy macs. (if its close to macworld). However this attitude CLEARLY hurts apple. Apple is trying to stop the osborne effect.
On the flip side, how far is it from keeping "rumor mongers" out to keeping out people that report things Apple doesn't like? For instance, how the platform actually preforms?
Depending on how Apple's move impacts the willingness of independent reviewers to freely discuss Apple products, we may have to seriously consider future acquisitions.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Why is this story under "Apache?"
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
The real press is just that--paper, ink, subscriptions, ads, circulation. Websites are not the press. Now that the dot bombs are going belly-up, Apple and others have figured out that there's nothing to gain by assisting the unfettered electronic publishing of rumors and innuendo that happens here and at other Mac rumor sites.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
The issue isn't quite as clear-cut as the people at graphicpower.com or thinksecret.com might suggest. True, it's not entirely fair to deny access simply on the basis of what MIGHT happen, but Apple knows that these sites have definitely been apt to post very real (and hence very secret) information before a MW expo. Last year we saw a genuine (if somewhat muddy) photo of the Quicksilver PowerMac case, and of course there have been multiple other instances of information being exposed days in advance. Denying press-level passes may prevent the rumour sites from getting information at the show that would be under NDA for the press (but would likely be leaked at some point by a rumour site).
I've heard though that a press pass isn't always ideal. Supposedly, Apple employees fasten their lips about some things when they see a press badge, but will sometimes give important info off-the-record to someone who only has a badge to visit the exhibits. I'm sure Apple wouldn't like that either... but it's easier to deny (or ignore) a few names and clock speeds than a photo!
Who knows, this may even be a very sneaky (if not entirely smooth) PR stunt. Remember how MW San Francisco had that "way beyond the rumour sites" hype leading up to it? Denying press passes may be a way for Apple to suggest that there's something particularly juicy being shown at the expo, whether at the keynote or behind closed doors.
One thing I do know: graphicpower.com acted very immaturely with their response. Beyond the colourful language and shutting down the site, the vow to 'use the existing computers forever' is a joke. You can be sure that the person or people from the site will probably either scream for mercy at the prospect of buying a Windows (or even Linux) system, or will be getting another Mac within two years.
because they published how to crack the free upgrade CD's of 10.1, that is why they were blacklisted. If you forgot about that then you do not follow the mac world that much.
I have heard that neither the National Enquirer nor the Weekly World News are being given White House Press Passes. This just shows what control freaks are running the white house for the past few decades...
Freedom of the press! How DARE they!
First, I think Apple / IDG are smoking something funny if they think this is a good idea. I mean, yeah, Apple does have to clamp down on leaks and such. Anyone who doesn't understand Apple's necessity to do this really doesn't understand their business and should shut the hell up. But is this a good way to do it? Shit no.
After having said all that, l have a few comments on the "way to go Apple, shooting themselves in the foot again...This is why Apple will go out of business...The entire world is in chaos because Apple did it again!" crowd that has crawled out of the slashdot woodwork for this one.
Imagine it's, oh, five years ago. I come to the slashdot crowd and ask the following question:
What would Apple have to do to earn some of your business and respect?
Can you imagine? After the flames and guffaws died away I might get some answers like these.
"Sure. Call me when they open source some of their products."..."If they would only use more standard hardware I might think about it"..."If they had one or two killer apps that made everyone stand up and take notice"..."maybe when I can run Apache and Gimp on it. As if."
And let's flash forward to today when all of those ridiculous-sounding ideas have come true. Does the average slashdotter have one iota of additional respect for Apple? I've yet to see it. Frankly I think Apple could make a completely open source, totally off-the-shelf hardware-based, fit-in-your-pocket, fanless, never-crash, artificial intelligence, world changing computer that also levitated, kept your breath fresh and costs $1.99 and most here would sneer at it still.
Parting shot - Libertarians shouldn't use the Internet until they're prepared to discuss how a Libertarian society would have ever created it.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
I really don't see why this is a big deal... The sites that have been "banned" are not real press organizations.
.html files, and suddenly I'm eligible for special treatment as a member of the press? I don't think so, but that's what these sites are expecting. Nobody has told them they couldn't attend, only that they'd have to pay for admission like anybody else.
So, can I just publish some
I completely agree with that decision. Also, nobody is trampling on anybody's right to free speech, as all of the "rumor" sites are free to continue publishing as normal. If they want to publish stuff from MacWorld, they have a few options:
1. Buy a pass like everyone else.
2. Watch it live via streaming video, like everyone else.
3. Throw a hissy fit and bitch and moan that they aren't being treated like they belong to the Wall Street Journal or some such thing.
It is pitch dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
So Apple have finally decided to differentiate from NEWS and FAN sites. News is Macworld et al, Fan sites and rumor sites don't deserve MEDIA passes (get in for free, get fed, get watered, get free net connection).
Obviously the list comes from Apple. You don't even need to read the story to figure that out.
As a Mac user, I take pause when reading news such as this. Apple has a serious problem which is also one of its great strengths, hubris. It looks at the odds and then often goes against them. This has led to some amazing products, but on the other hand it has led to some of its greatest mistakes. I look at Apple cracking down on "rumor sites" and think, why? These are some of the company's stanchest supporters. They buy computers and ensure its continuation. A company is based upon customers. It needs their money to survive. The benefit of these banned publications vastly outweighs the damage. While they may leak some details about upcoming products, they drive an intense interest within the platform. A blacklist is a sickening, pitiful, and cowardly move. Apple should embrace their supporters, not make them outcasts. This is merely another example of Apple hubris and, unfortunately, nothing good will come from this.
Speaking of expos and conferences, I wonder if the folks at H2K2 would pull bullshit like this for their show? I know that this is kinda ranty and off topic, but DAMN!!! Jobs and Gates have build these behemoth companies that are flailing around like some giganticus-hydra-swamp-thing on meth. Fuck MacWorld and the PC Expo - go see a real conference and have some fun without being told HOW you're to have fun. No, I don't work for 2600. End of rant.
Anyone notice that the section for this artice is Apache when it should be Apple?
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
But don't you think that the 'open-faced sandwich' approach that Apple has is better than being totally proprietary? At least Darwin is advancing the BSD 'art' and is contributing back to the community.
The Linux/Unix/BSD community has had decades to stop splintering and produce a product that is usable by the common people.
Have they?
And what has Apple done to ship *nix in the last year? It's not black and white. Apple at least is open-sourcing the foundation.
Credit where credit is due.
I'm a Mac guy who has been introduced to the wonders and power of unix because of Apple.
Zero tolerance means not thinking. Think about advancement of the art, think about a stable smooth, easy interface with geek guts. Geez - I'm running early Jaguar and I can't get it to crash.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
I, for one, couldn't care less about what Apple is trafficating with the press badges and who's going to get the scoop of what's cooking in Cupertino. For some time, I just gave up on the rumors of what's happening on the platform. It's not that I don't like the Mac. I own an entry level iBook. But I'm getting tired for lake of interesting software (games), slow overpriced systems, and inability to deliver when new stuff is announced (3 months later and sometimes with features that get removed.) Last time I visited an Apple store, I almost ran away: I am scared of hospitals and was almost terrify about the look of their clinical displays. One goes to wonder why the sales people are not dressed in white blouse.
The fact that Apple is secretive about stuff is no news to the community. After all, Steve was very unhappy about the latest coup with the iMac and looks at what's happening to his buddy Scott from Sun when the whole speech was online one week before he gave it to the Linux keynotes. This is not really good PR. But this is also a double sledge hammer. When the ipod came out, no third party accessories were available for the little device because Apple didn't want anybody to know about it. It takes time to manufacture stuff when you are a little shop and you want to make good margins. This is also somewhat killing the inventive side of addon shops. When the mac color scheme switched from Flowerpower to white, all the 3rd party ended up having tons of accessories that looked totally out of place on the pasteurised looking device. You can even still find blueberry and lime usb ports in some shops. Yuk!
Plus, it's not like it's gonna big and change the world (like the last time they said that, this was when they introduced the ipod.) If the g5 was out, we would have Mot and IBM all bragging about it just to slam back Intel and AMD way before it makes it to the mac platform because prices would be still too high for Apple to make the type of fantastic margin they can achieve with G3 and G4 (chips that are solely used in network gear beside them). So maybe another gizmo that works only on the mac platform (for sure) or a software bundled with the machine that competes (and kills) another group of developers all together. Imagine if Apple had as much market share as Microsoft. That would be called anti competitive and Jobs would be the tyran. But wait, it's obviously time to ship 10.2 (aka Jaguar) a year and half after the original OS, and finally come up with something that was on the specs announced at the 10.0 release. The only trouble is that it won't work well on system that were bought last quarter. Insanitely great marketing folks! Thanks to the community I happily run Linux on my 2001 iBook. No need for rumors to do that, let me tell ya.
PPA, the girl next door.
--
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
that this says "Apache: Apple Blacklists "Rumor Promoting" Publications" Folks, although Apache may now run on OSX, this should be Apple. [mandatory complaint about suckage of editors here]
--pi
The graphics / multimedia stuff is getting ported, if one wants hardware quality comparable to Apple, be prepared to spend a lot of time checking out published and user reviews of things like motherboards, cases, power supplies, but it's possible.
I've been seriously considering Apple... but if I want to buy from a company that tries to control its own press, I might as well buy an AMD box and run XP on it.
As I said, it's becoming a marginal choice, and I'm not a Mac fanatic.
If Apple continues to blow off its fanatics, they may find their fanatics discovering that the choice between *nix/86xxx and Mac-unix-OS/Gx is also a marginal one, and that they'll be trying *nix/86xxx .
Didn't Apple almost kill itself once already by blowing off their hard-core users? Do they learn from their mistakes?
Tech Public Policy stuff
in a way i can see how they do this. why have an NDA if you are going to fire the people that leak info, yet reward the people they leak to? the story is that Apple pushed for this "lockout", but supposedly for whatever reasons Apple was going to tighten up on the sheer number of press passes in general. in they are going to do that i would think the web only rumor sites are the first to go.
the one crazy rumor site behind the iWalk fever, spymac.com, responded to this news by saying they totally see where Apple is coming from.
weather or not you agree with Steve Jobs being a control freak, he did get the company back in the black. he does seem to require a lot of control over things, and i guess it works for them. it is odd that they are doing this, though they have been strangely slack on sites showing screen shots and info on Jaguar (the next OS upgrade due out in late summer). you figure pushing Jaguar is going to be a big part of MacWorldNYC in 2 weeks and theya re letting a lott of that info out (where they used to make people pull screen shots within a few days).
anyway, they do seem to be a little silly with the tightness on passes, but in a way you can't be too suprised that they are not the happiest with sites that make a living off of people that violate they Apple NDA.
The choice is even more marginal now.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Why do we want 20 different sites all recycling the same content?
I'm not talking about the rumors, this is about the Apple party line, which is what you would get with a MacWorld press pass.
Don't get me wrong!
"Without the innovations of Apple, we would still be using dos based OS's."
They certainly popularized the WIMP GUI, but they didn't invent it (PARC), and its likely that someone else would have brought WIMP to the masses.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Is partial freedom better than none? I suppose. But, with all due respect, I don't think that argument even holds water, in this context: Corect me if I'm wrong, but, Mac OS still runs on proprietary hardware, right? If Mac OS X ran on Intel, AMD, or VIA, all things being equal, you could try and make the point that partial freedom is better than none, but I don't see it.
Also, in fairness to Open Source fans, the first real attempts at creating a contemporary GUI were initiated about five (not thirty) years ago and have come a long way since. Within the last two months, I've been able to leave Microsoft (and Apple, for that matter) products completely behind by running Red Hat Linux and KDE 3.01 almost exclusively. Although, I'm sure it lacks the polish of OS X or even Windows XP, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to use (yet still marvelously "tweakable")... very stable and very free. And, it's just keeps getting better. In fact, the only problem I have run into, recently, is that I can't play... um... certain proprietary media (read: QuickTime -- who makes that, again?) without using proprietary software. This has partially changed, due to new developments in Xine, but still no plugin... sigh...
Perhaps this is an "agree to disagree" thing, though. However, I have yet to hear or read a compelling reason for abandoning the x86 platform in favor of Mac.
cdh
My G4 is up for sale on ebay. If Mr. Stalin (Steve Jobs) wants to control it, all he has to do is bid.
Actually switch "apple" to "microsoft" and it would change a "You what!" story into a "I'm not supprised" story.
Do you mind, your karma has just run over my dogma.
"I really don't expect an apology from Apple, but that is the only thing that would reinstate my spirit. I will never buy another Apple computer. The several computers that I have now will have to satisfy my computing needs indefinitely."
I guess Microsoft has their first candidate for "Unswitch" commercials...
Am I missing something? Why is this under the Apache section?
"Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
Did Apple install a surreptitious mod_macrumors to block out traffic to Mac Rumors sites.
Please change this to the apple section of the site. Hate the awful poop and purple color scheme for the Apache section
Seriously, has anyone else known a business who hasn't made more repeated and seriously horrible business decisions as Apple Computer? It's absolutely amazing they're still holding on to that 4% market share. Having Microsoft in power is much better than what these guys would do if they ever had risen to the top.
Who uses Apple's crap these days anyway?
Not sure what this story has to do with Apache. Maybe somebody should preview things before they post.
People over 25 rarely call someone "immature".
Damn, I thought Macs were fucking extinct. Losers. Go join the AmigaIdiots in the corner.
I've been using Apache since 1984 when I first fell in love with that bouncy Indian maid throwing a sledgehammer into the face of the nameless authoritarian white man, and I can tell you, the familial quality, the tribe-like feeling I would get among the Apache elite, is definitely going, going, gone.
Now the chiefs of the Apache wish to silence those braves among us who publicly fantasize about beating our anasazi and their ugly gooey desktops and Windows--and how do they do it? By forbidding us entry into the peace pipe hut of Jacob Javits! We must be silent, or lose our place? I say No!
Oh, wait, this is an Apple story? Sorry.
He was a verray parfit gentil knight.
Ever noticed you can't get a Mac below Apple's prices, PERIOD? Nobody...and I mean NOBODY, sells below Apple.
It's called "Price maintenance", folks...try a search for that on Google.
weather or not you agree with Steve Jobs being a control freak, he did get the company back in the black.
And Mussolini made the trains run on time in Italy.
Your are right. Apple can do whatever they want. IDG can do whatever they want. These (toy) sites can do whatever they want.
It's pretty simple. It's a fucking free country.
geezus...
"but still no plugin... sigh..."
psst.... have a look at: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover/
shhh don't tell everyone though.
They just weren't given free passes. They can still go if they want to, but they'll have to pay their way like everyone else. Most of the people whining about not getting free passes aren't real reporters. And why do people in the "press" think they're so special and above us little people, anyway? Screw 'em, let 'em pay like everyone else.
So Apple behave like a proprietary software/hardware company and try and control information. Big deal. They are not a charity or a co-operative, but a company.
Sorry, folks - he may be a bit freaky, but RMS is right - proprietary software and hardware hurts us all.
No, this is not a flame. It is a reminder. This is how companies behave. This is how they are supposed to behave. And this is why free software/OSS (I don't buy into the theology, just the liberation) exists.
Get over it.
Okay, you're not meant to grouse about unaccepted submissions, but this joke was too tempting not to make ;-) I posted this several days ago, and I have been blacklisted! Nooooooo!
mogorific carpentry experiments
Paging Robert Halpin
Paging Robert Halpin
Report to Steve Jobs office
Steve wants another blowjob
2002-07-05 21:55:43 Apple "Rumor Police" Brutality (apple,apple) (rejected)
Nope, this wasn't newsworthy when it was a fresh story, but now that it's aged 48 hours, it's suddenly time to post it.
And you'd think that after two extra days to get it right, the morons could at least put it in the right category-- but I guess not.
Isn't the point of this site to discuss the news WHEN it IS news, and not a few days later?
"Slashdot.. Stale news for Nerds. Stuff that mattered a few days ago, but it's too late now, so no point in getting worked up over it."
Someone needs to clue Jobs into the fact that the Mac market is way too small for him to be pulling this kind of shit over and over. Is he trying to alienate EVERY last Mac user (hint: there's not too many left)?
What a fucking idiot.
So what you're saying is that Apple shouldn't be a religion, but you have no problem with them being our government? ... I think you have the cart before the horse. I agree that it is the corporations that run the country, but I feel this is the fault of the government not having balls, and the public not voting in a meaningful manner. I do not at ALL support the notion that corporations should become governments just because the government isn't stepping up to the plate.
Solve the problem, not the symptoms.
Um... I haven't really been hiding under a rock. I meant that to read/imply "no Xine (read: free) plugin" -- I believe one is in the works. But, I suppose it would be a good thing to throw a little cash in the direction of Codeweavers for all the fine work they've done on all variants of Wine.
I don't work at Apple, but I do work with the press at my job a lot.
If this is like other trade shows, the media passes are free to the legitimate press (or are a lot cheaper than a regular attendance badge), and they offer special access to some events. Thus, one wants to limit access to the badges to legitimate reporters. Why would you want to do this? Oftentimes we'll talk to the press about stories "under embargo", meaning they can't publish information on something until a certain date. A legitimate reporter can be counted on to respect the embargo (though I can think of a case when they didn't, the bastard!), but some joker who pretends to be a reporter can't be counted on to do the same thing.
Apple is not blacklisting these rumor sites; someone involved in MacWorld Expo is just cracking down on giving away media passes to web sites that pretend to be real journalists. Oftentimes these web sites are basically being run by some guy who publishes unsubstantiated rumors onto the web. I don't read Graphic Power, but it's certainly not in the league as real media sites like Macworld, MacCentral, MacAddict, eWeek, CNET, etc.
Despite how these guys call themselves part of "the media", it takes a lot more than a domain name and a few articles to call yourself a journalist so you can get a media pass. Media passes are intended for journalists, and giving them away to every wank that can upload some screenshots and half-baked opinion pieces is unnecessary.
If someone were blacklisting the sites, they wouldn't be able to purchase a general admittance pass to the event at all. But in the Graphic Power story, they were encouraged to pay for the attendance fee to get in, like person who wanted to attend the show.
The web sites supposedly blacklisted are more like blogs than real news sites, and denying them a media pass makes sense to me. Next you'll have the geek that runs http://www.startrekfans.com or whatever demanding to be invited to press-only screenings of the new Star Trek movie.
To me this is a good illustration of why Apple is apparently not too happy with the fanboy sites. Even though these sites might sometimes might post something interesting (seemingly good for Apple), they can be a bad source of publicity if they aren't given the special treatment they think they deserve (like coveted media passes to a trade show). And as we all know, Heav'n has no rage like love to hatred turn'd. Nor Hell a fury, like a fanboy scorn'd.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
who needs to be bitch slapped. Man I'd love to break his nose and watch him cry to his lawyer (that would be standing within earshot as usual)
...trouble is, there's nothing rumor-worthy in the Linux community. :-) So the set of rumormongers is empty.
Speculate 10 different things you expect Apple to do and 7 of them will be spot on. They can't tout innovative or revolutionary products because their "innovations" are obvious.
The flat panel iMac was not revolutionary. Hell, we were all expecting them to build one the year after the bondi arrived. The fact is they could have done it then. The were very late with that "revolution".
DDR support on the desktop. Obvious. They'll say it's a revolutionary new step to insure their voracious G4 gets fed data. Sorry, 2 years late is not a revolution, it's joining a crowd that has already passed you by. With a 133 non DDR fsb, the G4 can't take advantage of the bandwidth anyway, except in pairs, which is required to keep up with a plain old single processor x86 machines anyway.
Basicly, rumors prevent Apple from spinning their mediocre hardware into revolutionary and inovative crap. Since Apple's performance figures are all about spin without substance, the journos catch it in the teeth.
Apple will never deliver what we expect them to. Unless we expect crap hardware. I predict there will be more crap hardware announced at mac expo. They will not let me down.
OS X is not slow. OS X is great, it's just running on crap hardware!
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
More FUD from PPA, who's still bitter that she was unable to properly run OSX on her old iBook [check her old posts, kids]. Where are my Moderation points when I need them?
...." /first/, or to do something in a novel way.
/that/ long to fabricate injection-molded neoprene sleeves.
..."
... genetic acheivement. However, when you pose as knowing what you're talking about, but you're really full of shit, you should be sure to understand that someone's going to knock you down.
PPA, to counter your babbling:
" I, for one, couldn't care less about what Apple is trafficating with the press badges and who's going to get the scoop of what's cooking in Cupertino. For some time, I just gave up on the rumors of what's happening on the platform. It's not that I don't like the Mac. I own an entry level iBook. "
-We can safely ignore this part, as it is irrelevant.
"But I'm getting tired for lake of interesting software (games)"
-WarCraft 3? Neverwinter Nights? Return to Wolfenstein? UT? Q3? D2? I wonder which games PPA is into. M$ Flight Sim?
"slow overpriced systems"
-More baseless FUD. PPA equates MHZ rating with the racing stripes on riced-out Hondas. It sure makes 'em go FASTER!
"inability to deliver when new stuff is announced"
-Say what? "Announced" by whom, an Apple 'rumor' site, or Apple Corporation?
"Last time I visited an Apple store, I almost ran away: I am scared of hospitals and was almost terrify about the look of their clinical displays."
-I suppose having psychoses is a legitimate reason for hating Apple, but it doesn't lend credence to your technical statements.
"The fact that Apple is secretive
-Apple is secretive because they must be. They have a tiny fraction of a huge industry, and oftentimes their only way to success is to do something
"no third party accessories were available for the [iPod]"
-This is true, for PPA's stated reasons, but moot. Third-party accessories quickly came to market, as it doesn't take
"somewhat killing the inventive side of addon shops"
-Wildly incorrect statement, but has nothing to do with the main topic. Besides, third parties have just as much right to existence as Apple Corporation --that is, none. Those who can adapt will. Those who can't will die.
"If the g5 was out"
-If the G5 was out, Blizzard would release the Diablo2 1.10 patch and Hell would also freeze over. Again, PPA displays her love of racing stripes and tinfoil spoilers. There is no real need for the G5; the G4 demolishes AMD and Intel chips that run at twice the G4's clockrate in some tests, and conversely the G4 is demolished by the same chips in other tests. What matters is code optimization and the actual real-world uses of the chips.
"Imagine if Apple had as much market share as Microsoft
-Yes, and I'm sure that if PPAcorp had as much market share as Microsoft, she'd be just as ruthless as Microsoft, except all our devices would be Palladium-encoded to force us to watch anime 24/7.
"The only trouble is that [Jaguar] won't work well on system that were bought last quarter."
-Here, PPA based her research on rumors gotten from those EVAL REWMOR SITEZ, and meant to point out how the iBooks won't run Jaguar at all. Sadly, she doesn't understand that "recommended" doesn't mean "unsupported."
"Insanitely great marketing folks!"
-I'm not quite sure about this one. Maybe the Babelfish translator didn't work out.
"I happily run Linux on my 2001 iBook."
-And here we finally have it, Pinkpineapple's true credentials: she's definitely an OS X expert, because she runs LUNIX!
PPA: I'm really proud of you for being a girl. That's a fine
http://unxmaal.com
Apple's market share is increasing, and they are one of the few consistently profitable hardware companies. I don't always agree with Steve's decisions either, but there's a chance he knows what he's doing.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
Steve Jobs and Apple BLOW GOATS(tm). Wake up you ignorant Mac/Apple users. They deserve NO market share.
Apple is just hurting itself. Their rabid fans/sites have kept them alive through software & hardware droughts. This policy won't keep the big boys from publishing rumors and I doubt it will have any effect on the rumor sites
Scott McKarty is just making a big fuss. His reasons for a press pass are completely stupid. He says:
--
A media pass to Macworld Expo is absolutely essential for GraphicPower coverage of the show. GraphicPower and Thomas PR are even planning a press only event during the show.
--
What? Were they going to hold an exclusive press only event to do what? Tell the press what they already know? Give them the latest news from the MacWorld floor?
The real reason this guy wanted a press pass was for a free trip. Otherwise he would have paid to go there ($35 without keynotes, which you can get streamed live anyway)
Well, I guess 1984 wasn't like 1984, but it sounds like 2002 is.
Bah. Like it's hard to fake. There are several options on this page, but it seems like the easiest would be the User Group Media category. Anybody with a copy of Quark or InDesign and the name of a local usergroup could fake a newsletter within an hour or so. A resourceful person could pull it off easily enough. It wouldn't be all that much harder or more expensive to fake letterheads and business cards for some bogus local newspaper or something. I'm not saying I think the ban is a good idea, far from it. I think it's bloody stupid. Just like the Lisa. But also like the Lisa, it's fairly easy to work around or ignore. Yeah, if you're Ryan Meador you want to go to MWNY with MOSR on your badge. So what. It's not like they can't go at all or anything, hardly the end of the world.
ehintz
To my recollection--and checking a few "computer history" websites seems to back me up--Osborne wasn't killed by rumor sites, Osborne was killed by itself.
The new machine you're referring to was the Osborne Vixen. It could read PC-DOS disks but wasn't PC-DOS compatible; it was another CP/M machine, touted as being better than a PC (and perhaps given 8086 and even some 80286 competition, it was). The Vixen was preannounced by Osborne itself, nearly a year before they were ready to go into production (perhaps because the machine was actually being designed by a consultant rather than in-house). People stopped buying the Osborne 1 waiting for the Vixen, yes, and that did contribute a lot to Osborne's collapse, yes... but that contribution was Osborne's own fault.
It's not that Apple is trying to stop news from getting out. It WILL get out. But this is mostly a matter of marketing and revenue in terms of news control. Apple loses cash when "blog journalists" go in on press passes. They also have, as you said, info that's not yet for press--pressed.
I think it's mostly getting people to pay what they should pay. It does have to do with news control. Hey, it's their company. They will reap the rewards and wrath of the users looking for news.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
Chalk up this error to a snoozing editor. Apache comes alphabetically just before Apple on the topics list.
-- thinkyhead software and media
A few years ago, I was a worked for a graphics industry print publication. I noticed that oddly, for a time, Apple and Microsoft used the same PR agency, Edelman. The approaches were very different:
* Microsoft requests were met with meetings with engineers and project managers, and evaluation materials. They followed up and they gave me access to what I wanted - albeit under timed NDA sometimes.
* Apple would seldom let me talk to engineers directly, even in a moderated setting. I was offered press passes to MacWorld, but never any evaluation hardware/software, and even press releases were rare.
* Having MacWorld coincide with SIGGRAPH is a really dumb move. Journalists have tight travel budgets y'know, and we can't be 2 places @ once.
* I'm not an Apple-hater, I like their products - but their handling of the media makes it difficult to be enthusiastic about their products, especially in print.
* Only an idiot would let a lack free passes get in the way of covering something worthwhile.
Seems like the publisher of GraphicPower is ticked-off mostly because his feelings are hurt. He considers his site to be a "serious" site, which I don't doubt. Someone at Apple considers his site, MacInTouch, MacFixIt, and others to be "rumor" sites, which is a major stretch, no matter what hacks their editors may be. How-ever poorly Apple has decided to characterize its decision I don't think it's a bad one.
MacFixIt is a great site, but it's not the "legitimate" press, in Apple's view. Its editor gets dozens of emails daily informing him of troubleshooting issues end-users are having. He takes this information and distills it, and eventually it makes it into the next edition of "Sad Macs, Bombs, and Disasters." The site is an avocation and a research tool. As far as I know its editors do not belong to any reporters' union or press club.
Of the dozens of Mac Sites I regularly visit, only a scant few actually break stories based on press-releases received directly from Apple. Most of them include a short blurb and a link to ZDNet, the Wall Street Journal, or even MacCentral (MacWorld's breaking news site). With enough time on my hands even I could do that.
I believe the use of the term "rumor sites" was a political misstep by Apple, but will I miss GraphicPower or Scott McCarty? Hardly. I'd prefer to visit the sites that are run by mature individuals with a sense of humility, who can deal with Apple's oft-quirky timing and Jobsian mode of expression. Let these little pissed-off people go find something to do that's less dangerous to their fragile egos.
-- thinkyhead software and media
shit like this is why I won't buy a Mac. You listening Steve?
d@
Who gives a dam about your mod points you stupid fuck. Don't you have anything better than hanging around and harassing people on /. ? I've seen you doing this too many times. Targeting people you can remember and going down after them. You gay or you monk you stupid shit? Get a life asshole.
There wouldn't BE an Apple without Jobs. No OS X, barely G3's, no iAnything
>DDR support on the desktop. Obvious. They'll >say it's a revolutionary new step to insure >their voracious G4 gets fed data.
It's about damn time that somebody ported Dance Dance Revolution to the desktop. If this is true, I'm dumping my PC for a Mac.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
I'm a bit surprised about one issue in this discussion, namely, the idea that Apple has the "right" to control the dissemination of information about Apple produced products. Whatever happened to press integrity? Why are media organizations acquesing to "embargos" of information provided to them by Apple? Don't they realize that all they are doing is writing Apple's press releases for them, and giving Apple greater credibility by publishing them in "independent" media? Is it whoring for ad dollars?
I know that we all go koo-koo for the cocoa puffs of new technology, but why on earth would any self-respecting journalist sit on a story fed to them by a corporation? Alleged journalists are allowing themselves to be used as an arm in Apple's ad campaign. (I should say that Apple isn't the only corporation that does this, but this story has brought to light Apple's heavy-handed control of information.)
I wonder what would have happened to the first I-Mac mouse (the completely unusable round hockey puck) if someone in the media has the cojones to tell the world in advance about how much it obviously sucked (I have tried to use one - you can't tell which way it's pointed without looking). This is perhaps just a small example, but the way journalists treat the computer industry is sort of like the way that pre-Vietnam journalists treated government. The public is not served by the ra-ra journalism that leads to the lastest Apple product being featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Time's crime wasn't breaking the embargo early - it was agreeing to an embargo in the first place.
Wouldn't you love to see at least one journalist in a major news organization write about Apple, or Microsoft, or anyone else, and say, "I used it, and it's just not any good. Don't waste your money."
This kind of makes me wish that oldmanmurry was still around.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
How many people have ever heard of Graphicpower before? Nobody on MacAddict seemed to know them, either...
Well, let's see. Steve Jobs is a CEO. He's not a coder. He does not build macs. He does not build circuits. He's a CEO.
And part of being a CEO is knowing how to promote the company. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not a CEO of a major computer company. I didn't create a huge computer company. Steve Jobs did.
I'll bet he's an asshole of a guy. That's what I've heard at least. But I'll have to say this, Jobs can create and sell computers. He's good at it. You, however, evidently have never created a major computer company. So I'll take your advice at face value.
Now, one of the jobs of a person promoting a computer company is maximizing press exposure. I don't know how to do this. I dare say, only a few CEOs know how this is done. Steve has success with one technique: create anticipation and surprise with each announcements. We can disagree about this strategy, but see again my remarks above: You and I have never been the CEO of a company. So your opinions about how to better maximize press coverage are . . . questionable.
One way Steve makes sure there's maximum press coverage is to stop leaks about upcoming products. This means sometimes, people who violate the trust shown to other news organizations have to be treated like they are: people who can't keep their word, and hold information for a release date. That doen't mean they are locked up, or abuse, or even sued. It merely means that if you don't play by Apple's press rules, you are just an outsider. You're welcome to come to the conference and watch, but advanced word, materials, and special treatment from Apple is no longer yours.
So, there's this guy with a crappy Mac web site. It's not very good. There are few visitors. He wants to increase visitors. So, he decided he will scoop the other sites and leak information. That's fine; it's his right. But as a consequence, Apple will consider him untrustworthy in the future. That's fine too; it's their right as well.
This is a little like the White House press office deciding that the reporter for the National Enquirier, Mike Drudge, or other trash tabloid magazine does not get a press pass to board AirForce 1. It doesn't mean they are out of business. Instead, it means that the news organization is not part of the model of outlets that is being courted.
Look, a free market place of ideas goes both ways. People who make the news can be selective in who they talk to. And people who report the news should be aware that how they act will influence their relations with the people who make the news.
So, in short, we have a guy with a crummy little web site trying to drum up publicity for himself. And he pissed off Apple and messed up their marketing strategy. (Again, if you disagree with that strategy, go ahead and form your own multimillion dollar computer company.) So, Apple in turn says, "Hey, Jerk. You're not going to get all the perks of regular press outlet. We warned you, and you went ahead anyway."
Calling this a "blacklisting" is probably the last-ditch effort to get any more hits for this guys web site. I suggest that if he wants more publicity, he (a) work on content, (b) find out what his readership wants, (c) stop shitting where he eats.
Just about every auto company in the industry has the same policy. Ford, GM, and others have been doing it for years. If you start to write about rumors or unreleased products, your publication gets blacklisted. You will no longer be given credentials to attened press events, sneak previews, advance test drives, new vehicle launches and other things. It would essentially be a death penalty for many publications.
Why? Because like Apple, the auto companies sell their products based on design and image. New designs leaked out early enough can allow your competition to get a jump on you. Furthermore, like Apple, the auto companies present sales depend on conceling future products. Rumors about upcoming models cause auto companies to lose money. Perod.
All Apple is doing is coming up to 1950's era PR policies invented by the industry that defined the process of selling an image. The automotive press seems to flourish despite what some people call "oppressive policies." The rumormongering sites still exist and the other publications still give honest reviews of automotive products.
Up until this release I was in the market for a new Powerbook. Now, I've mailed Apple and told them that they have just lost me as a customer. Make no mistake, I think OSX is by far the nicest OS around today, but I'm tired of a company that is so frightened of the very sites that drive it's sales presenting more RDF than Steve Job's himself.
Apples hardware is fine. In realworld day to day tasks, I don't need a 2GHz Laptop, but the price is always high and PC's are simply cheaper and Linux seems to run fairly well on a crop of PC laptops.
I'm tired of Apple and it's antics. It's OS, no matter how good, hasn't helped get me a job.
It seems a high price to pay for a toy.
Before folks start flaming Apple about this decision, you may want to know that IDG had promised extra perks for it's Super Pass customers at the Expo. These perks include things like seating in what used to be reserved for press and VIP's. Evidently they want to use those perks to generate more income for the event and reward those who shell out the big bucks rather than give out free passes to web sites. Now if you had to limit the number of press passes handed out, what criteria would you use? You would try to eliminate rumor sites and smaller sites that are more hobbyist and recreational, saving space for "mainstream" press and the like. As stated elsewhere, these folks can still attend, they just don't get the free ride now. The rep from IDG that was quoted above doesn't seem to have all the info straight and shouldn't have said anything.
You must admit, that Apple Logo Death Star is cool! :)
It's quite possible there would be a healthy Macintosh clone market at this point. A whole bunch of nice PPC boxes from an array of manufacturers, that we could all be running Linux and BSD on. Maybe NT and BeOS. Oh, and MacOS.
Last year, I was invited to all the happening parties, both Apple hosted, and ones hosted by other publications and developers. Now they wont even let IDG give us press badges, even though in IDG's own words, we are "A legitimate media outlet" and even said they "wish they could allow us access." Then they do backflips in their story. First saying and error in their auto reply system and we were now a rumor site, then we were not a commercial media website at all, now they are saying they are trying to ward off terrorist attacks by rejecting some media. Every thing they tossed at us, we knocked down, they they tossed a new lie. I mean, what do they think they are pulling on us? Originally IDG said Apple has forced them to block the list of "rumor" sites, even going as far as to refer us to people at Apple who create the list. Now? IDG is saying they came up with the list by them selves and Apple had nothing to do with the blacklist at all. So, lets hit on what these rumor sites are. So far I know of MacFixIt.com, GraphicPower.com, Utterer.com, and AppleLust.com. Non of those sites are rumor sites, or at least not such big rumor sites as macosrumors.com, cnet.com, wired.com, eweek.com, maccentral.com, and not to mention Time Magazine's Canadian website (remember the leaked iMac photos?). I don't think I have to say that cnet/wired/eweek/maccentral/time did not get rejected, but are "VIP Press," while the legit, non-rumor, Apple loving small fry websites got rejected. MAKES SENSE, RIGHT? The only logical answer I can come up with is Apple has gone to hell or the entire PR department has tripped off some really bad acid. Personally I aint buying anything else from Apple until they personally kiss my ass. If Apple don't want me, they don't got me, nor me saying good things about them and giving them free promotion. At least on the WINTEL side of the industry I can MAKE MONEY. Im also sure all of Apple's developers will just LOVE the lack of press Apple related products get from now on, since I know a lot of sites are just giving up and closing down, or switching targets (ie GraphicPower), and those that are not, are sure as hell going to be a lot more critical now they have seen Apple's more evil side. This of course is all documented in emails and phone conversations, it will be a good read when the shit hits the fan for Apple. note to Apple: People don't like using your machines because they are faster (because they arnt), they don't like them because they can run the most software (because they cant), and they don't like them because they are cheaper (because they are overpriced), THEY USED TO LIKE THEM BECAUSE APPLE WAS A GOOD COMPANY (but now you aint). Play your own damn cards!
Holy, I could literally build 6 PC's almost identicle (hence slightly faster) to a G4 with an 80 giger, 1ghz proc, 512 ram, and a cdrw with geforce4 ti card for the same price, over $3,000. Sorry they can revoke my press pass, I don't care, I can't afford to pay 600% the cost of a computer even if it is nice and shiney....
Believe it or not, the vast majority of websites out there are NOT members of the press, including our precious slashdot. These folks are paid to run websites. If this site was a member of the press, do you think we'd see the number of spelling and grammer mistakes that we do on a daily basis from the editors themselves? I don't think so. Just because you put up a weblog and a few thousand people read it religiously doesn't make you a member of the press. The whiney runt from GraphicPower.com and the others are just people who use macs. They may be smart enough to run a website, but that does NOT make them a member of the press. It does not, nor should not affect people buying macs. I can't get my free pass but I write a local article in a computer magazine about Apple every now and then. Boohoo...i'm going to dump my apple and run windows or Linux because I'm being oppressed. Help Help I'm being oppressed. Whine elsewhere.
"Full sources for linux currently runs to about 200kB compressed" --Linus Torvalds 31-Jan-1992
Apple is only going to piss people off by harassing and bullying it's fanzines. This monumentally stupid idea could only have come from a corporate boardroom, the most plentiful source of bad ideas ever, or from consultants who are not interested in Apple at all. If Apple wants to see its 3% market share drop to about 1%, keep it up!
How ya like dat?
Everyone seems to be saying "Apple can do whatever they want..." etc. Yes, they can, and so can IDG. But they can also be rightly criticized for it. This is not a case of whiners not getting something they want. It's a case of being given press passes because you were accepted, initially, as a legit member of the press by IDG, then having that pulled and being told that the host has called your legitimacy into question. Imagine that someone revoked your "sysadmin pass" or "dba" credentials that got you into sections of NetworldInterop or Comdex that you had access to before on the basis that CompanyX didn't think you were a legit admin. That is what happened here. And if a previous post was true, IDG acknowledged that other legitimate sites were targetted. Above and beyond that, Apple is stifling the community that supports it. Can it do this in a free country, sure! Is anyone here wrong to criticise them for it, uh...no! If sites are getting leaked information, then Apple has an internal problem. In the long wrong, however, very little harm is being done and arguably more good. Perhaps it's just a bruised ego on Job's part. Apple can little afford to stifle the people most responsible for what market share it has. >
Yes, Apple can do what they want. Heck, if they wanted to, they could even stop talking to the press entirely.
These web sites are produced almost without exception by Mac enthusiasts who write daily as a labor of love, not for money. Their audience is mostly comprised similarly of Mac-lovers who are simply hungry for details far too arcane for the regular media.
When I used to come in and cover MacWorld Expo, I saw that many of the enthusiast writers like Jason O'Grady, etc. were extremely knowledgeable journalists who worked very hard to cover Mac news in a way that most mainstream reporters just couldn't (because we weren't assigned to it 100%)
Apple is only hurting itself by cutting them out. Yes, they're just taking away free press access to conferences. But conferences at MacWorld are expensive if your company isn't paying, not to mention that many of these site authors have to fly in and pay for hotels, incurring hundreds of dollars in cost even if they did get the free media pass. If they can't get into conferences, the Expo is not very useful -- the salespeople manning booths generally don't know anything more than the average Mac enthusiast about what's going on. I remember asking questions at the Apple booth and realizing even their floor people didn't know the internals of the new systems yet. The conferences and private events are where the action is, generally.
Apple's action is a slap in the face at these Mac sites, especially given the "community-oriented" nature of the Apple/Macintosh world. Many of these guys treat Mac ownership as a lifestyle choice and identity, more than an OS choice (laugh, but so do Linux users.) Now they're being told to go away, because they're not "professional" enough. It's an ugly mistake by Apple, and it's going to hurt them.
(I used to cover Apple for a top online news site. It's thankless work, even for a Mac fan like me. No matter what you write, you get flames from PC users and Mac users about the story being biased (often claiming exactly the opposite bias.))
If only this was done by Microsoft. Wow!
wouldn't be a MacOS anymore. The clone companies would have undercut Apple's hardware profits so much that the hardware half of Apple would disappear. Problem is, the hardware division pays for the work of the software (OS) di
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And, why do you believe that IDG and Scott McCarty have phone call?
All of these "facts" *ONLY* exists in Scott McCarty's brain.
Or, show me any evidence. NOW!!!!!
Does the following story qualify as speculation and rumour.
Andrew Orslowski, supposed pro-Mac writer for The Register, has simply done yet another one of his hatchet jobs on Apple and the Macintosh.
/. readers aren't this ignorant.
Go back and read his past offerings. Read the tone of the language and innuendo in this article.
The guy who is doing all the complaining has pulled all the material for at least the last six months from his web site, is playing unhappy little boy and is taking his ball and going home with it.
Does the unhappy little boy have some reason for pulling all that material off his web site? Where are all the "sites" (plural; I count one) that Orslowski and and the eNews writer talk about.
This "story" is one week old! Where are the "cowering" Mac web sites? It's almost a badge of honor to get a thread from an Apple lawyer. It's part of the fun and games before Expo every year.
Then maybe Apple doesn't have a viable market.
A 'genius at the top managing thigns' is never a good business plan for any business. Not that Jobs is a genius. Maybe 'eccentric crank' would better describe him.
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OK so there's a bunch of sites with no access to press passes as they may have had previously. Just what -does- a press pass give the holder?
:)
I'm pretty neutral on the whole thing - except for daft huge bold text on some rumour sites saying they've been blacklisted from macworld. Makes it sound like there's no way to even get a look at the floor. I might get a bit more upset if I knew what benefit a press pass gave
a grrl & her server
i agree the clones would probably have done more damage in the long run. i don't know if the hardware still pays for the OS development (OS X selling really well), but it sure does pay for the purchasing/developing/tweaking of the iApps. Apple would be hard pressed to make money if there were clones and people could still get iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, Appleworks for free as well as all the bundled apps with OS X itself. all they would get is the fee from the clone maker and the OS sales. as much as it killed competition in the marketplace (generally a good thing), i think it was the only option at the time.
on a side note as of last year it was still being reported that Microsoft was still making more money from Apple products than Apple themselves. i do not know if it still holds true, but it kind of puts things in perspective when you think of profits of hardware vs software. i'm not saying people can't profit from hardware, but it's a strange mess.
Do you have any other homo-erotic fantasies you need to share?
Are you Eric Dodd from Huntsville, AL?