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Thursday, August 10, 2006
Did Apple hand deliver a copy of its coveted operating system to Microsoft? Maybe. At the conclusion of the WWDC opener, in which Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed a preview of Leopard, happy developers left with a beta copy of OS X 10.5 in their hands. While each developer has to sign their life away in the form of a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) promising many things, namely not to reveal or use the technology for their own gain, it’s hard to think anyone wouldn’t take such a hot commodity and ignore some of the rules.
With Microsoft developing Office for OS X, it’s little doubt it had some developers right there in the crowd. That said, one only has to imagine the glee on the MS developers face when they walked out of Moscone Center with Leopard in their bag. Yum.
Now it’s entirely possible that Apple’s NDA would exclude Microsoft from this due to a clause about competitors with operating systems. Apple’s lawyers aren’t dumb…they’ve had lots of practice with the Apple Corps lawsuit in the last few years. I haven’t seen the NDA, so I can’t say for sure, but it is a tantalizing question to ask if Apple handed it’s photocopying friend to the north a beta version of its latest baby. And if it did, what does Microsoft’s ethics say to this? 
August 10th, 2006 at 8:28
Of course they MS developers had access to the developer CDs, and one has already broken NDA and put confidential details online here – http://www.aeroxp.org/board/index.php?showtopic=5142&st=0&#entry58868
Interesting too. I don’t think this is the info that Apple really wants to hide. I think the interface changes Apple don’t want copied (new Finder and appearance and so on) will only be released when it’s too late for Vista, around MWSF.
August 10th, 2006 at 9:14
During the Speech demo, the new voicing from Vista was presented for comparison. Was that a recorded sound, or the Windows API called from a Mac application? The existance of Office for Mac and iTunes for Windows means there is a very high level of understanding of each operating system by the other company.
Never forget, shipping is the only feature that matters.
August 10th, 2006 at 11:22
Apple developers have been seen at Vista presentations, too. Isn’t it interesting that new OS X versions suddenly include features previously demoed at Vista developer conferences?
August 10th, 2006 at 12:30
Both Apple and MS developers see each others stuff all the time. What matters is who brings it to market first. Apple is king when it comes to operating systems and cool software. They know HOW to deliver and usually well in advance of anyone else. Even if a feature is “borrowed” they tend to implement it much better also.
August 10th, 2006 at 12:34
Note that Leopard will probably ship after Vista. Scheduled for a January (Macworld time frame) release, Microsoft has a large marketing budget to silience even Steve’s best keynote. Sure, MS will probably miss this ship date; however, if Apple waits until June, as most are speculating as a Leopard release date, then Microsoft should be able to beat that with at least OEM PCs out on the floors of Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City.
August 10th, 2006 at 16:49
Remember that Apple is also a Windows developer and was at WinHEC.
In regards to the whole argument over things like that, I’m sitting here at WWDC and one of the banners calls Leopard “Vista 2.0.” I think that accurately describes what Apple has done with it’s copied features.
The best example is back-up and restore. Windows has had this for years. Apple only has it now. So Apple is “copying” Windows. At least, if you don’t look to closely.
One of the elements of Time Machine that is the most interesting is that it is application-based. So, to use Steve’s example, suppose you accidentally delete a address book entry. You know you had it. You don’t know when you deleted it. But you need it back.
Well, under Leopard, you press the “Time Machine” button in the app, scroll back until you find the entry, and say, “OK.”
Under Windows, you run “System Restore.” You hope you know the name of the data file where your address book keeps this information. You restore the file from random dates until you luck upon the correct one.
I’m sure Vista 2.0 will have a similar solution in a few years. But Leopard/Vista 2.0 has it now.