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I think it's more your comment that is useless, not Gruber's reporting. It's evident from your comment that you don't like Gruber, so you excerpted a couple lines from the long article he wrote and attacked them, glossing over all the other details he did report on.

It's cool with me if you don't like Gruber, but we don't really need to hear about it. Instead, just stop reading Gruber. It's particularly useless to read your ad hominem attacks against both Gruber AND his readers in the last sentence you posted.

Gruber TOLD us what is "different" now; what's different, clearly, is that journalists are being given briefings like this to spread the word in advance about OS changes. That's quite obvious from his entire article. You're just being obtuse. As for why Siri isn't in this release, well, one assumes it's cause Apple isn't done with it. It's not Gruber's job, nor is it interesting to readers, to post his guesses about things which are NOT in the new release; what's more interesting is what IS there.

It's not Gruber's job, nor is it interesting to readers, to post his guesses about things which are NOT in the new release; what's more interesting is what IS there.

He _literally_ guesses that other journalist will receive the same personal briefing he gets.

Gruber TOLD us what is "different" now; what's different, clearly, is that journalists are being given briefings like this to spread the word in advance about OS changes.

You fell for his writing. "This is an awful lot of effort and attention in order to brief what I’m guessing is a list of a dozen or two writers and journalists." He never asked the question "How many other people will get this private presentation?" or anything equally basic.

An Apple VP specifically targeted Gruber's fanclub. He's a trustworthy sycophant.

You have no idea whether he guessed, or whether he found out from Schiller. It's you who is guessing. BTW, he was right. Others did get the same briefing.

I didn't "fall for" anything. Nor do I care that you are guessing about what Gruber did or did not ask. You especially have no clue about other, conveniently unspecified things which you assume Gruber didn't ask about which are "basic", so I care even less about that.

Again, you are personally attacking Gruber's readers, as I pointed out earlier. Now you're doing it again. It's tiresome. Please stop.

Gruber's readers are not merely a "fanclub". They are readers who read Gruber's blog because they get information there. When I worked at Apple, I saw quite a few folks walking around in Daring Fireball t-shirts. I don't think that's an accident, nor does it reflect your reality of Gruber readers being a bunch of hypnotized fanboys.

Nor do I care that you are guessing about what Gruber did or did not ask.

He literally says he didn't ask about things being "done differently now" because it was uncomfortable. He literally says he guesses a list of others will receive the same briefing.

>When I worked at Apple

oh.

The way I took "done differently now" was that it was in reference to Job's death, and I can understand why it would be uncomfortable to talk about it.

Uncomfortableness is often an excellent clue that you're close to something interesting and important. It's really too bad he didn't follow that one up.

> oh.

Acting like someone doesn't have meaningful contribution to a dialogue because of where they have worked says more about you than the person you're conversing with.

I read this as him _literally_ guessing what the size of the list was, not that there was a list.

As has been noted elsewhere, a Time reporter described a personal briefing as well. I think you're assuming that his article is a complete transcript of the meeting and any followup conversations, rather than a vignette.

Gruber was clearly not the only person briefed in this way. A cursory glance at other tech news outlets show that many reporters were given the same treatment.

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/16/apple-os-x-mountain-lion-...

PC Mag: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400311,00.asp

Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/os-x-mountain-lion/

Time: http://techland.time.com/2012/02/16/apples-os-x-10-8-mountai...

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/story/2012...

Cnet: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-57378751-248/apple-mac-os-...

Jim Dalrymple: http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/02/16/first-look-os-x-mounta...

Slashgear: http://www.slashgear.com/meet-apple-os-x-mountain-lion-16213...

The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/16/2801047/mac-os-x-10-8-moun...

Macworld: http://www.macworld.com/article/165407/2012/02/hands_on_with...

Gruber was clearly not the only person briefed in this way

I gave up after reading a handful of those. Which of those people did Apple brief "in this way"?

Anyone could have written those articles just from the copywriting on https://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/features.html

I only picked articles that made their source clear.

"We can report on Mountain Lion a half-year before it ships because Apple, for the first time, decided to give the computer press a look at a new OS X version long before its release. Normally, we see a new OS X version at most a few days before the shipping date. The early version of Mountain Lion that Apple gave us is substantially the same one that its registered developers will be able to download starting today. After using Mountain Lion intensely for a few days, I'm deeply impressed with its new convenience and security features, its subtle interface improvements, its cloud-based file synching, and its compatibility with software written for earlier versions." http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400311,00.asp

"For the past week, I’ve been using an initial demo version of OS X Mountain Lion." http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/os-x-mountain-lion/

"We got our hands on an early version of the OS -- so early, in fact, that it's something of a pre-developer build. (Heck, there isn't even an image of a mountain lion to choose from in the default wallpapers.) The version available to developers today should address some of the kinks we encountered during our testing, not that we suffered all that many hiccups." http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/16/apple-os-x-mountain-lion-...

Your quotes make no distinction between a bike courier leaving a package to the front desk, and the Senior VP of Apple Worldwide Marketing giving a private presentation to an individual.

The article on Time was more explicit:

"Apple recently briefed me on the new features and loaned me a MacBook Air loaded with a beta version of Mountain Lion. I’ve been test-driving for the past week." http://techland.time.com/2012/02/16/apples-os-x-10-8-mountai...

Maybe Gruber was the only one who keyed in on how big of a deal it was.

To nitpick, nowhere in that text does it says they got a personal presentation, just that they got their hands on Mountain Lion early

Has someone done a quick sentiment analysis of the resulting articles? I'd enjoy seeing a quantification along those lines.

As this event is rather unusual, I personally find the "feeling of the room" quite interesting. Though I must concede Gruber is rather poor when poetic.

Ps, if Schiller's presentation was as thorough as Gruber describes it, then I hardly see this as free marketing. Time is money, especially for a guy in Schiller's position. Also the coffee.

Hmm, I got the idea he understood what this was about from this paragraph:

"This is an awful lot of effort and attention in order to brief what I’m guessing is a list of a dozen or two writers and journalists. It’s Phil Schiller, spending an entire week on the East Coast, repeating this presentation over and over to a series of audiences of one."

(emphasis mine)

That's exactly it though! Gruber thinks he's on an select list of writers and journalists. Instead, I believe he's an item on the Apple marketing checklist. Can you find another author who got the same treatment as Gruber?

This random article I stumbled across while looking myself takes Gruber's assumptions as fact, which I believe to be Apple's intention.

"The company is also changing the way it handles press events, according to worldwide marketing VP Phil Schiller. While Schiller has refused to go into any more detail, Daring Fireball's John Gruber notes that last week, he and others in the media were given separate, solo product briefings on Mountain Lion." http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/16/os.x.updates.to.becom...

Gruber actually wrote, "I'm guessing" because he didn't have the sense, integrity, or care to ask "Hey guys, how many other people will you be giving this personal, private, ego-stroking presentation to?"

Oh, I see what you are saying. I guess we will see if anyone else got the "personal treatment". I'm also waiting for Siracusa's take - that is if they talk to him too.

IMO it's certainly a bold marketing approach.

> That's exactly it though! Gruber thinks he's on an select list of writers and journalists. Instead, I believe he's an item on the Apple marketing checklist.

You can have a writer on a marketing checklist; quality writing is important for marketing to certain demographics.

Indeed, making a select list of writers and journalists feel like they are on a a select list of writers and journalists has long been an important item on marketing checklists.

What is unusual, in this case, is that Apple made it the way they launched the marketing for Mountain Lion.

> You can have a writer on a marketing checklist; quality writing is important for marketing to certain demographics.

I agree. Many of the "news outlets" reported on the operating system itself, as that's what their readers want. They're not really that interested in the fact that this private Q&A is different, and who attended, and how good the coffee was.

Daring Fireball readers obviously do, and it's probably why Gruber runs a fairly successful site: he found a good niche.

Yep. Gruber thinks he's on a select list of writers and journalists.

And he's right. Gruber is perhaps the most influential Apple blogger out there. And he clearly merits personal attention from Apple execs.

And that seems to really piss you off. So you are attacking him on Hacker News where he can't respond, and also attacking his readership.

I agree with your sentiment, but it's just untrue that he can't respond on Hacker News. He may have reasons to not do it, but he certainly has the ability to.

Why can't he respond here?

>So you are attacking him on Hacker News where he can't respond

This makes no sense. Has Gruber been banned from HN or something? Where would you say is an acceptable place to post an issue with him? If I can't post it here, and he doesn't allow comments then what do you propose? Certainly you aren't saying he should be free from criticism?

Certainly not. I merely meant that Gruber is unlikely to be reading this thread, based mostly on the fact that I've never seen him comment on HN.

And I didn't say it was unacceptable for you to post "comments" about him; I said that your particular attacks on him were tiresome, misleading and pointless. Which is different.

You still didn't answer. Where do you find it acceptable for me to post?

The entire time I read this article, I was well-aware of the fact that this one-on-one presentation was only an Apple PR move, and I felt that he as a journalist knew it too. What he wrote reflects this as well. It seems condescending to both him and his readers to surmise that they wouldn't understand this.

Pretty sure the "now" sentence is a veiled reference to the passing of Steve Jobs.

(edited since I accidentally a word)

Perhaps it's because Gruber is aware that Apple wasn't putting on a Q&A session. They rarely do, and when they do, they let you know, in clear terms.

And who knows? Gruber may have asked about Siri on OS X, or may have been told about a host of other features but was asked not to publish them. You don't exactly want to go and do that if you want any hope of being invited to future dog n' pony shows.

> You don't exactly want to go and do that if you want any hope of being invited to future dog n' pony shows.

And that's exactly why Gruber's essay is a press release and not a journalistic report.

If you read his blog, I don't know how you could possibly classify Gruber as someone who does "reporting". It's quite clear that he is not your traditional reporter nor does he ever claim to be one. His pieces are personal opinion pieces with a personal voice. Whether his opinions jibe with Apple or with the anti-Apple crowd is besides the point. What matters is that his voice is authentic and provides unique insight into the world of Apple (not always but often enough) - which is more than what you could say for many other blogs covering Apple or any other technology company.