Regarding fake projects and loyalty tests | Hacker News Reader

Regarding fake projects and loyalty tests

donmelton.com

48 pointssiglesias15 comments

It's silly to blame outsiders for not understanding the internal processes of one of the most secretive tech companies out there, and one that is very selective as to which journalists it gives access to information. Apple doesn't like people making wild guesses about what they're doing? Then they shouldn't be so secretive.

Have you watched 'The Pirates of Silicon Valley'?

I'd suggest reading folklore.org before watching that so as to gauge how much of a pinch of salt to add whilst watching.

Of course. My point to guelo here is that Apple was open with Microsoft and got burned by them.

Ever since then Apple has decided that closed and secretive works best for it and I don't think any of us on the outside is in a position to argue that.

Fair point, I missed that!

No, it's silly to attempt to shift the 'blame' to Apple. It's really facile to, as Don says, make up "horseshit meant to draw flies" in a bid to merely get page views. Businesses, including Apple and Google, don't owe journalist or the so-called 'tech' press anything.

Silly? Maybe, but I don't think it's undeserved. The vast majority of "journalism" about Apple is just noisy sensationalism. The three bloggers that the OA cites (Gruber, Dediu and Dalrymple) may be biased partisans to more or less degrees, but at least they make a reasonable effort to be backed by the facts before they open their mouths. It's not Apple's job to shape their PR such that reporters do their job right—that's on the reporters for grasping to any unfounded rumor that makes a dramatic headline.

What's strange, given the intensity of the last two sentences: "So much of what is written about Apple these days is just horseshit meant to draw flies. And it makes me sad that somebody had to clean up after that particular pile." is that the people he picks out specifically as being the cream of the crop, happily pass on exactly those kind of articles if written about Apple's "enemies".

Google closing Android after Honeycomb? White-label Chinese Android a threat? Samsung forking Android? They simply don't care if those things are true or not, their audience wants to hear that Google/Android is failing/going to fail/is only for poor people etc.

Their hypocritical annoyance at others doing exactly the same thing is one of their worst features.

I'm not sure I see the hypocrisy. Dalrymple and Gruber in particular are very opinionated and know what they like. They prefer Apple to the point that if Android were better they would be the last to know because their worldview is already formed.

However, passing on a link that matches their worldview but may have factual inaccuracies is not the same as writing something that is complete bullshit. In other words, it's not their job to fact check other people's writing. Maybe they would be better journalists if they did, but if some factual inaccuracies slip into some of their links it's not the same as writing them up themselves.

Now it may be a question of degree; if they are posting blatantly false rumors about Android on a regular basis, that would be news to me and maybe I'd get in line with you. My impression is that they are pretty good factually (selectivity is not the same as factual correctness). But I don't read either of them precisely because I find their cheerleading tiresome and I'd rather read something that offers me personally a new perspective, so maybe they've slid down the slippery slope and I just haven't noticed.

Do you also think that gay people shouldn't be so gay so that intolerant people aren't forced to insult them?

Apple doesn't give a crap, I would suspect. Bullshit "reportage" intended to draw pageviews is about the least of their concerns.

So what you're advocating is that 'journalists' who don't know anything about a subject can just make it up. No one is blaming people for not understanding they're being blamed for writing fiction which purports to be fact.

The fact that you apparently attracted upvotes shows why people write rubbish about Apple. It gets support and attention from the hordes of anti-Apple zealots out there, no matter how witless the content.

I've got a strong feeling this is about RND projects that never launch. Those projects are real but can make you feel useless.

Unfortunately I did a lot of those "never launch" projects and they make you wonder if the company is testing your loyalty.

I did a few as well, and I never felt like it was anything other than a product of the world-state changing in unanticipated ways.

Obviously, Apple has him managing a fake team until they're sure they can trust him.

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