Apple Terminates Safari Seed Program

coolmacdude writes "This morning Safari beta v67 was leaked to the Internet. Because this is the third time it has happened (v62 and v64 were leaked), Apple has apparantly had enough and decided to terminate the seed program that provided unreleased beta verisons to selected developers. In a email sent to all developers and posted on Mike Wendland's blog, Apple says: 'Due to Safari 67 postings to the internet, we have closed the Safari Seed project. We know that the majority of you are not responsible for the leaks to the internet, and we sincerely appreciate your feedback, time and effort with this project.'"

Comments

Re:So what?

[bob670]

Did you think this article was about Microsoft? Your post make complete sense if I put Microsoft eveyewhere you put the word Apple. When you go for your weekly shock therapy, tell them to up the voltage.

And is there any real measurement that show Linux is on more desktops than Apple? I thougt not, you may go back to sleep now...

Interesting

[motox]

I wonder if khtml group should stop allowing Apple to test betas as well

What the hell is Safari anyway?

[doubleyou]

It would be nice if the post gave some indication of what Safari was, or included some relevant links for background. Instead, the guy who wrote this post just assumes I know what he's talking about when he says "Safari".

The only Safari I know of is O'Reilly's online books service, but I somehow doubt that's related.

Re:Why not just open the beta to everyone?

[RoLi]

Oh my god, I can't believe how somebody can be so naive and paranoid at the same time.

Policies? Courtcases? Judges legalizing piracy because of "they didn't prosecute in the past"? What a bunch of nonsense.

The only reasons for closing the betas is:

• So that Steve gets a good feeling showing off new features at the next keynote
• Integrating it in a new version of MacOSX (and possibly making sure it doesn't run on an older version) to create upgrade incentive and buying incentive. Apple has a long history of crippling their own products (just like the lack of PCI-slots in their customer machines), they just don't get that they hurt themselves in the long run.
• Company stupidity/paranoia. Essentially that's the same point as the one above.

Imaginary court cases have nothing to do with it.

The ethical violation is all Apple's.

[twitter]

I consider this to be a small ethical violation on the part of the individual who leaked the beta ... I would still like to see that individual publically flogged.

Yeah, I understand that's a joke. Some people out there, unfortunately don't. Tha larger picture is not so funny at all.

You have the whole situation reversed. It's Apple's actions that are reprhensible not the developer. The developer did what comes naturally. Apple is working hard to limit our freedoms. It's not morally wrong to want to share useful things, it's morally wrong to make things that are useful and keep others from having them.

It's natural to want to share software. Software is as close a thing to ideas and speech as tangible object can come. Like an idea, it is easy to copy and costs the original owner nothing when others make use of it. Good software, like a catchy tune, is something people want to share.

Apple has not, "placed their trust in a group of developers." Apple extorted a promise from those developers in return for the chance to see and work on a beautiful thing. In return for that, these developers could not share their work or that of others. Because someone violated the master's will, Apple has cracked the whip. You don't need to use whips on people you trust, you need them for your slaves..

This is a minor incidence of something Apple has done before. All closed source software houses make this deal with their developers. Apple has gone out of it's way to shut down other people's independent work as well. Viewed from the free software perspective, this is nothing new or surprising, though it still stings to see it.