Apple's Achilles heel

I, along with a couple hundred other people, are here at iPhone DevCamp. In his post Why Microsoft outplays Apple long term, Scoble blogged about this event, and he got some points wrong and some right, imo:

OK, let me set the scene here. Three weeks ago this event didn't exist. 300 developers are here in San Francisco. All voluntarily. All organized themselves.

I've already met a Microsoft employee. A Yahoo employee. A Verisign employee.

But where's the Apple employees?

That part, he's dead right about.

If this were a Microsoft event the evangelism team would be here in force with T-shirts, stickers, free dev tools, tons of geeks who could help people figure out technical issues, and more.

Yes, and no. For one, this isn't an Apple event, and thinking about it that way will lead you to some incorrect conclusions. But another way of looking at it is to go back to my post from January 2006, Apple doesn't, Microsoft might:

2. I ran the Dashboard Developer BOF at Macworld Expo earlier this month.

• Number of Apple employees who attended: 1.
• Number of Microsoft programmers from the Redmond campus who work on Windows who attended: 3.

Y'know, it's got nothing to do with whether it's an Apple event or not. Partly it has to do with control issues, and partly it's got to do with whether or not a company wants to hear what its customers think.

And yes, this is the same issue that I blogged about in January 2007 in Apple, Hire Me. My opinion hasn't changed; Apple needs someone, anyone, to at least attend these events.

John Dowdell is also here, and wrote about Corporate honesty:

Earlier today there were two Apple employees listed on [the BarCamp iPhone attendee list]. Now I see only one, and that one I'm not sure is real. But then I've heard reports of additional Apple employees here, not divulging their actual affiliation. That's just plain weird, and has changed my perception of the entire company. It ain't right.

Current count of Apple employees on the attendees list: zero. Current count of Apple employees I've talked to here: two (so far). I'm fairly sure there are several more I haven't yet met.

Leaving it to the professionals

Some days, other people say it better. In this case, Digby, regarding impeachment, and giving Slate's Tim Noah the bitchslap he so richly deserves for condoning Bush's obstruction of justice.

Scooter Libby is free, but he's still a traitorous scumbag

Like most Americans, I've been royally pissed off ever since I heard yesterday that Scooter Libby escaped justice, and that George Bush drove the getaway car. Today, Christy at Firedoglake says what I wanted to say:

But the remaining 72 percent of the United States? We’re disgusted. With you. With the Dick “I’m my own branch of government.” Cheney power grabs. With the George “Honk if you like mountain biking.” Bush hands off style of government. With a party that coddled the likes of Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay and every other greedy sumbitch who lined his pockets with public funds because he thought it was his due for being a Republican. The American public is sick of you and your self-dealing, crony-laden, above the law disrespect, and with the Grand Ole Imperial Party which thinks that it should pay no penalty when it gets caught lying, cheating, stealing or simply grabbing whatever it wants while the rest of the nation is left to clean up after their infantile tantrums and outright lies.

Bush's commutation of Libby's jail sentence is nothing more than a continuation of the coverup and obstruction of justice that Libby began and for which he was convicted. When Bush and his (even then, criminal) gang usurped the 2000 election, I knew things were going to be bad. But these past 7 years have been way-worse-than-Nixon bad. The only small, saving grace is that now, anytime a Republican uses the phrase "rule of law," the correct and swift rejoinder should be, "Shut the fuck up, you hypocritical jerk."

Wine Country Caves

Here's an article about a growing trend here in the Sonoma and Napa wine country: wine caves. Turns out there are lots here, and move all the time. It makes great economic sense for the wine business, and is environmentally better, too. Check out Bigger, Badder, Deeper.

(HT: Paul Music)