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Mac OS X Secretly Cripples Non-Apple Software
spikedLemur writes "Vladimir Vukicevic of the Firefox team stumbled upon some questionable practices from Apple while trying to improve the performance of Firefox. Apparently, Apple is using some undocumented APIs that give Safari a significant performance advantage over other browsers. Of course, "undocumented" means that non-Apple developers have to try and reverse-engineer these interfaces to get the same level of performance. You really have to wonder what Apple is thinking, considering the kind of retaliation Microsoft has gotten for similar practices.
first post!
i cheated though, i'm using safari.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
... but I used a non-Apple browser.
<sigh>
"dude, what is this call?"
... ok. so wh... so how do we get it documented.... "
... i need you to brief me on this change you made ... tom can i get that report on the thing you were working on last week?
"its undocumented.... "
"what? why is it undocumented?"
"well, i mean, i have submitted the form like 3 times to 3 different people. one said they would get back to me. the other said
it was in process. the third one said they had approval but they got fired last week"
"wow, thats
(interrupted by someone else coming in) 'hey did you guys get the memo about the server migration, we all need to be off at 3.07
and jim
"yeah but i finished that report and gave it to susan... she said shed give it to you asap"
"well she has been out with the flu.... normally that stuff goes to janice... but she is on vacation"
"well i left it on her desk..."
"well, i went by her desk but i didnt see anything... maybe she put it in her folder though, sometimes she does that'
"i could just email you a copy"
"well my machine is out for the rest of the day because of the upgrade...
"oh really? what are you upgrading to?
"well im getting another g of ram, just to work on that new thing from last month..
"oh so they decided to go ahead with that?
etc etc et c
In Microsoft's case, the goal of keeping "secret" APIs was pretty clear: whoever controls the Windows browser market, controls the browser market, period.
I can just see Steve Jobs rubbing his hands and gloating to his minions..."Yes, and with Firefox handicapped, we will have five percent of the browser market all to ourselves! Ours...all ours! Muahahahaha!"
The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
If you read the article...
You lost me there.
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
Awwwwww... our little system is all grown up now! Who's a good system? Who's a good system?
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. But light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Its not that Apple is using an undocumented API. Safari is just a browser that people are trying to clone or weaken before it stomps IE and Firefox into the ground.
So when will the editors be debuting the Borg Steve icon? :D
I've been at a talk where the lecturer mentioned that we would, of course, recognize 10.99 as being "approximately seven-halves pi".
"Me failed English"
There, I fixed your sig for you.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Along with several other minuses, such as "Just Plain Wrong", "Talking Out of His/Her Ass" (yes, there are women on Slashdot, and yes, there are naked pictures, too), and "Obvious Fanboy/Hater". On the other side, there really ought to be a [+5, IAWTC].
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
proud caffeine whore
That's unpossible!
Al
Along with several other minuses, such as "Just Plain Wrong", "Talking Out of His/Her Ass" (yes, there are women on Slashdot, and yes, there are naked pictures
[citation needed], too), and "Obvious Fanboy/Hater".
I just thought people were trippin' balls on X.
Seriously though, your post was really hard to read. When you referred to OS X as "X", I was thinking "X Windows". Please, for the sake of everyone here and Slashdot reputation, declining or not, refrain from using such atrocious techniques. Really, who uses "%" instead of typing "percentage"? It's not that hard. Speaking about "X", Apple X11.app on Leopard has some amazing performance level, it seems it uses every single evil undocumented , secret API to make Konqueror 3.5.8 (not 4 even) draw even faster with less CPU than Safari on some cases. Until this massive scandal uncovering, I had no clue about its reasons. Now I know, Apple also hits Firefox via superfast X11 Konqueror, Opera 9.x and 9.5beta which is Qt4 application itself.
Oh wait! It is open source
Well I use it about 50% of the time.
Machine9dotNet
Why? it works fantastically for Fox-News on cable. they go for the sensational inaccurate reporting for viewiership and accuracy dead last. It's highly effective to the point that they are doing great.
Slashdot is better because of all the bitching and discussion afterwards on how it's inaccurate.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
IATWTC? I Ate the World Trade Center?
toresbe
You've researched that have you?
That's not true!
Slashdot has ads? Really? I've never seen them. I thought funding for this site came from a cranky old rich guy who was pissed at corporate America, political America, and half the entertainment industry.
[Thank You, ABP!]
I also use it 50 percent of the time.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.