So Job's typical keynote (complete with Feel Good Inc by Gorrilaz) has come and gone, and well, I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping they'd be an updated mini, which I'm thinking of getting. The Leopard announcements weren't all that ground-breaking, though I did like the desktop improvements, and it's great to see a giant games developer (EA) jumping on board. The cover flow for everything was ridiculous, and Quick Look is nothing new (see Vista), but it was about time Finder got an overhaul.
Anyway, as a developer-type, I was interested in Core Animation, Apple's answer to Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). I wanted to see how easy it would be to use, because whether you like to admit it or not, I don't think anyone can disagree that WPF and XAML have made it very bloody easy to create very, very cool and slick animations and interfaces. So off I went to the Apple Developer Connection site, then the Leopard Dev Center link.
In case you can't read that, it says:
Note that all information presented or provided to you by Apple through the Leopard Dev Center is considered Confidential Information and is subject to the terms and conditions of your ADC Membership Agreement with Apple.
WTF! I have to agree to the confidentiality agreement just so I can check out a technology that is public knowledge anyway? Apparently, only once I agree, do I get to see the technical aspects of it, some code samples and presentation videos. What is so secret about the innards of the technology? It actually doesn't exist and all they've been showing is pre-rendered videos because their outsourced code monkeys are on strike? Thousands of developers know about all this info at the conference anyway; letting the rest know is only gonna be good.
I don't know of any other company that does this. Adobe releases all their developer documentation unencumbered at devnet, their labs and not to mention the numerous blogs; Microsoft does the same at MSDN and blogs, and also releases all the conference session notes and videos, like this for MIX 07!
It's fair enough if the technology is unannounced (like maybe a new Mac mini), or only partially announced (e.g. private beta releases); after all, this is uber-secretive Apple, which works for them I guess. Core Animation though, is a developer technology. Ok, no one but attendees can make use of the sessions because only they have Leopard, but there's nothing wrong with drumming up some hype among developers to get them interested when Leopard does come out. The only reasonable excuse is if there are still unannounced features in Leopard and this is a general policy, which could well be true, but I don't see why the rule should be a blanket policy.
Hopefully it's only temporary for the duration of the conference, or someone will tell me I've been looking in the wrong place. Sorry I'm not signing away my freedom to find out something so small, even for you Apple. I might reconsider if it was some ground-breaking unannounced technology, but this isn't - Microsoft got there first, and until I find out what's under Apple's covers, they're doing it better.