Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has commented on Apple’s ongoing campaign against one student who shared a copy of the developer release of Mac OS X “Tiger.” Woz wrote to DrunkenBlog.com:
“I was shocked reading the interview. Everything fits into place that this is an unintentional oversight and the interviewed student appears to be one of the most honest people on this planet. I have to question who is most right in this case.”
“I wish that Apple could find some way to drop the matter. In my opinion, more than appropriate punishment has already been dealt out. In this age of professional spammers and telemarketers making fortunes, we’re misusing our energies to pursue these types of small time wrongdoers. I will personally donate $1,000 to the Canadian student’s defense.”
Full article here.
interesting, i agree it’s a waste however
Maybe with Woz speaking out on the matter Apple will drop the case finally. But I think people giving out company secrets is wrong however.
A voice of reason. Sadly, I think Apple has recently begun acting more and more like the RIAA.
Let the punishment fit the crime. Don’t make an example out of someone. Remember, he put a copy of the Developer’s Release of Tiger on BitTorrent. This isn’t some secret project. Everybody in the world can receive a copy of this from Apple for $500.
With some of the bugs lately in Apple’s software (i.e. iLife ’05), maybe Apple should put their beta releases on BitTorrent themselves instead of letting users like myself paying to be the beta testers.
Unfortunately, this person needs to be punished. Has he served his punishment? That’s for a court/judge to decide.
How can anyone go out and share pre-release software, which is guarded by non-disclosure agreements, without the permission from the maker of the software? It doesn’t fly no matter how “honest” the mistake was.
While I agree that the person’s life shouldn’t be ruined (he hasn’t killed anybody or anything along those lines) for this. However, the appropriate punishment should be placed on that person. If they don’t, the wrong message will be sent out and things will get worse in the software industry.
If Apple should decide to allow more open testing of pre-release software, then they are free to do that. Until then, people who are interested in testing pre-release software will be able to find legal ways of testing.
Didn’t he get his ADC Membership stopped? Isn’t that punishment enough?
I agree with Woz, there’s more important issues to deal with than going after a student who knows better now.
Apple is full of greedy ass Mofo’s. All they want is money..Look at the three co’s they are suing now…They are like little baby’s getting their toys taken away. While it is wrong to sign an agreement and not uphold your end of the bargain, I think they went a little too far on this one.
“Nothing”, Apple, Please stop suing people for Nothing, Your beginning to look like the RIAA, MPAA
It’s interesting, because besides from his ADC Membership being revoked, I don’t believe the guy has received any punishment as of yet. But everyone keeps saying he’s been punished enough. Why? Because he has to go out an spend money on a lawyer to defend himself against actions he wrongfully took. Acknowledging your stupidity is not punishment. In all honesty, I doubt if Apple wants to make an example of the kid, and there probably will be some settlement in the future. But justice for doing something wrong, hasn’t been served up yet. Pretty much just embarrassment at being caught.
Woz has selective memory loss. Maybe if someone reminded him what happened in the early eighties, when the Mac OS code was stolen the first time, he would be a bit more circumspect.
I’m not about to slam the guy; after all, he (not Billy-boy) invented the personal computer. At the same time, he knows that if Apple doesn’t vigorously defend its IP, it will be viewed as worthless in the eyes of the law. So I wonder what his motivation is in saying these things: personal opinion, co-founder of Apple (and shareholder, I’m sure), or current competitor? I hope it’s just personal opinion…
“Canadian Student Sentenced to Windows”
That’d be appropriate. No contact with Mac OS X by court order.
Honest mistake? That’s B.S. I’m sorry, you can’t “accidentally” post a 2GB disk image on Bittorrent.
It’s not that Apple is out $500, it’s that Apple is out $500 x all the people who might decide not to buy a developer membership because they can get it for free.
It is also about the fact that because one person broke his non-disclosure agreement, thousands of others will now have access to the software without having to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and therefore are much more likely to share information about the software with Apple’s competitors, the press, etc.
It’s also about about the fact that since Apple started the lawsuit, it has become a lot harder to find the developer seeds on the internet, so Apple’s tactics have been successful. Is Apple going to lose sales because of this? I doubt it. Anyone who boycotts Apple’s products and decides to put up with using the alternatives just because some kid gets his just desserts from Apple needs to get his head examined.
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Magic word: involved. “I like MDN because it gets me involved in the discussions.”
SJ & SW both have to deal with issues of this in the Xerox (Parc) days, trade sectects? And BG was the one who benefited from using IBMs developments, or lack of. Young people with young ideas will move the technical world ahead of where it is in respect to innovation and new development. Apple should learn not to copy MS’s rule of the day and focus on the importance of common sense in dealing with such matters. Of coarse the person is bound with agreeing to the use of license in such a matter that he/she was taking his own chances in misuse of it.
Why doesn’t Woz just shut up. He has been sitting on his lazy ass for decades, while Apple and Jobs make him money. Maybe Apple should punsih Woz for opening his big fat mouth and getting in the middle of a dispute, where he doesn’t belong.
if it seems too good to be true, it probably is…
redistributing software that hasn’t been released, against something called an NDA.. or anything reselmbing such an act.. is probably a no-no.
Apple should continue to press the issue. Giving up trade secrets is just not acceptable. They signed agreements and did not honor them. With so many frivolous lawsuits that take place in America, people tend to look down on the ones that actually have merit. It’s a shame that people are no longer held accountable for their actions. Wrong is wrong.
Hmmm, it is a fine line. Apple can’t let themselves be seen as pushovers but they also do not want to be the heavies (and they SHOULDN’T be the heavies). I hope they can maintain the balance without falling off to much.
Amazing, trial and sentence by blog-mob opinion.
This law breaker ought to be thrown in jail.. He is a stinking liar. You cant do what he did ‘accidentally’. He is a low life liar and now gets star attraction of idiot Woz. He broke a commercial promise, and now he lies like a yellow dog.
Dogs like him must be punished. He aint no victim … he is a law breaker and then after that, he is a lying ass dog.
Why all the weak backboned sympathy for this liar?
PS: its not Apple thats going to punish said student its the court.
I can see that there is a lot of opinion on Apple’s side here, so I just wanted to point out a couple of things for people to think aboput.
Firstly I don’t condone his actions, it was a bloody stupid thing to do, and it was subversive in its nature. He knew what he was doing, but he was too stupid to understand its full consequences.
This does not excuse Apple’s decision to go after him. I think that this is wrong as well. For those of you who think that it’s going to be the courts punishing him, not Apple, you need a bit of a lesson in fundamental economics. Apple has a legal budget in excess of millions, our student has probably less than USD $10,000. Since a lawyer with the appropriate knowledge in Californian IP law (which is where Apple will *choose* to have the suit tried), will cost the student at least $11,000 for advice only, so help will unlikely be available.
In case you might think that the state may appoint a lawyer: wrong again. If the defendant fails to defend himself in the matter, the case is awarded to the plaintiff (i.e., Apple). Apple will be able to (within “reason”) name the damages.
I put the “reason” term in inverted commas because this usually applies to other companies with lots of money.
Now given the “actual” damage done to Apple (its not going to go out of business in the next few weeks because of this), and the “actual” damage that Apple will do to this student (a lifetime of debt), and I think the reason should finally rain down, rather than the hype.
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