

Regarding fake projects and loyalty tests - siglesias
http://donmelton.com/2013/03/18/regarding-fake-projects-and-loyalty-tests/

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guelo
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.

~~~
dasil003
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.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
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.

~~~
dasil003
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.

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ohwp
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.

~~~
jfb
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.

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

