

WWDC vs Google I/O - doubletake
http://nayna.org/blog/?p=87

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rbanffy
The funniest part is that, at the same time as WWDC happens, Microsoft's
TechEd happened in New Orleans.

<http://www.microsoft.com/events/techednorthamerica/>

I haven't heard from it. No news. No announcements. No nothing.

~~~
kanwisher
TechEd isn't the big Microsoft event I believe its PDC so not really
comparable.

~~~
kenjackson
Yeah, TechEd is not supposed to be an announcement conference. It really is
more of an education conference.

The big announcement conferences for MS is PDC and MIX.

~~~
Zev
_Yeah, TechEd is not supposed to be an announcement conference._

Neither is WWDC. Aside from the keynote, the rest of the week is under NDA and
devoted to teaching developers about the new tech in Mac/iPhone/iPad/whatever
and helping them figure out how to use it, not to major product announcements.

And it is _incredibly_ helpful if you've got a major problem that you need
help with. One on one with engineers who built the frameworks! I've had
multiple major problems either solved/worked around, or been put in touch with
people who can solve them each time I've been at WWDC. And I'm not alone in
that.

~~~
rbanffy
I find this NDA thing deeply disturbing. It's like EULAs that prohibit you
from publishing benchmark results. Seen a couple those. It's a policy designed
to fragment the developer community in a way they have only Apple to resort
to.

Not healthy, IMHO.

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rtrunck
Interesting comparison. I wonder how many people attended each of the
respective events? Could the lines, price, "you're lucky to be here", etc. be
based on supply and demand? I mean if WWDC sold out in 8 days AND they charged
almost 4 times more, there has to be some issue with supply and demand.

~~~
ergo98
These events have been overrun by non-developers, so it really doesn't say
anything about developers: WWDC is a million crappy tech bloggers live
blogging about the latest unveiling.

Android simply doesn't have that. The devices are released frequently and
uneventfully.

Though note that Google I/O sold out very early (well in the early bird
period). And here's the best part: No one who signed up knew they were getting
ANY free phone, much less two.

So when someone says "See they had to bribe you to be here", it doesn't really
wash given that the bribe wasn't known until you were already there.

Google wants developers developing and testing on the top devices, so they
give them out.

~~~
stevejohnson
Clearly, your only experience with WWDC was the keynote. If you had bothered
to look into anything else about the conference, you would know that the
entire rest of the week is filled with tech talks about relevant technologies
(both newly announced and pre-existing) and labs staffed by every breed of
Apple engineer.

What I'm trying to say is that WWDC has _not_ been overrun by "non-
developers." The keynote is the only part of the event open to the press, and
they exploit it as much as they can, but the rest of the conference really is
devoted to working with useful, relevant technology.

This is not to say that WWDC is better or worse than I/O, just that bloggers
have not hijacked the event from real developers.

~~~
ergo98
>The keynote is the only part of the event open to the press

What's with the WWDC defensiveness? Seriously, relax.

They keynote sees a lot of press, many of whom got press passes. Yet it also
sees a lot of less credible press (e.g. Gizmodo) who buy standard event
tickets, clogging a spot, to be there. The same thing happened at I/O.

And I've met enough non-developers who were sent there for whatever reason to
realize that it isn't the core of developers.

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kenjackson
I found this line funny from the article, in reference to WWDC: "I can’t
remember a single incident where things did not go exactly to plan"

Really? You think Jobs planned having the iPhone browser not work and having
to plead with the audience to turn off WiFi?

~~~
jstevens85
He was referring to the technical sessions.

~~~
kenjackson
I'm sure he was, but the comedy is not lost on the fact that the most high
profile presentation is the one with the biggest hiccup.

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Jun8
Very good list, it's amazing how these events provide a clear picture of the
various strengths and weaknesses of these two companies.

I liked this part:

"All the women at I/O were interviewed, as were all the women at WWDC. Both
the ladies attending I/O and all three attending WWDC said they liked the
sessions."

~~~
silencio
I have no idea what the OP was talking about in that respect. I was one of the
many women at WWDC this year, and what? What interview?

A whole bunch of us ladies had lunch together one day, and an Apple
photographer was very excited to take too many photos of us, but that was it.

edit: Oh, the original author wasn't specific about who was being interviewed,
I presume he/she meant interviewing three specific women. And for what it was
worth, the security/non-Apple engineer staff at Moscone West were sort of
dismissive about trying to help us organize a lunch area and to let other
women know about what we were planning for lunch. Only fellow attendees,
engineers, and the photographers were excited to see so many women in the same
place.

~~~
c3o
It's sarcasm. "I interviewed all three women who attended" as in: there were
hardly any there.

~~~
silencio
Hah, it was so poorly written and in bad taste it just went _whoosh_ over my
head.

It's also irritating to read, as there were a lot more women devs this year at
WWDC compared to the past three I attended, and Apple employs a lot of very
talented female engineers that showed up for sessions and labs. Not sure what
prompted this increase (the iPhone? :P ), but it was really nice to see.

~~~
stevejohnson
Not only that, but Sophiestication won an Apple Design Award.

My estimate of the percentage of women at WWDC is 5%.

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abrahamsen
I assumed that being nerdy was part of the Google brand, just as being hip was
part of the Apple brand, and that explained the difference in presentations.

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periferral
let me guess. apple fanboy.

~~~
stevejohnson
Rather than guess, you could have read the article, which is just about as far
away from 'fanboy' in either direction as you can get. Not a perfect article,
but not unreasonable either.

~~~
stanleydrew
Not that I support the use of the term fanboy, but this did seem fairly pro-
apple.

