“Apple Computer has reached a settlement with one of the men it sued for online distribution of its unreleased Mac OS X Tiger operating system,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “Apple said on Wednesday that it has reached a settlement with 22-year-old Doug Steigerwald. It did not discuss the details of that settlement, though it does involve money being paid to Apple, according to Steigerwald. The company still has legal action pending against two other men in the case, which was filed in December in federal court in San Jose, Calif.”
“Reading from a prepared statement, Steigerwald said that a criminal investigation had been launched against him. In the statement, Steigerwald said that the allegations made by Apple were true and apologized for his actions,” Fried reports.
Full article with details and comments from Apple here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Computer sues three for posting Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ on Web – December 21, 2004
Tip of the hat for at least admitting his error. Maybe he learned his lesson and will be a positive contributor to Mac development.
I hope its just to pay Steve Jobs salary. Which is $1 for those that didn’t know.
Poor kid, at least he has Woz on his side.
If you are not aware Woz contributed to the kids legal defense fund.
It worked… I gotta say before this mess started you could grab all the latest Tiger dev releases on Bittorrent sites no problem. These days… shoot you can’t even ask questions on IRC without people saying it’s all under NDA. Man I just wanted to ask a little about MPEG-4 ASP compliance in QT 7 and people were jumping all over me. Maybe I’m just going to the wrong places but there’s been a noticeable attitude change in general on loose lips.
And people say M$ is ruthless.
Apple of all companies should understand public relations and this doesn’t help their image at all.
In what way does this hurt their image?
Jobs has spent too much time in Hollywood if he and Apple think they can control everything with litigation. In this case, I think it’s warranted, but the rabid suits of gossip sites is a bit much.
Apple’s public image is one of their most valuable assets, and I think they’re doing a lot to ruin that image right now.
Chomper….. sorry, my fault.
The above post was mine.
“Maybe he learned his lesson and will be a positive contributor to Mac development.”
He’ll most likely switch to Windows now.
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“As a member of Apple’s Developer Connection program I received a pre-release version of Apple’s Mac OS X 10.4 ‘Tiger’ software, which I promised to keep confidential,” he said. “Instead, I disseminated it over the Internet, and thousands of unauthorized copies of Apple’s software were illegally distributed to the public.”
What part of the above statement shows any ruthlessness or unfairness on Apple’s part?
Being an Apple stockholder with a substantial investment involved, I along with all other Apple stockholders have tasked Steve and Co. to protect OUR investment. Steigerwald admits himself that what he did was illegal and went against him promise to not disseminate OUR property. I believe Apple was very fair and reasonable in this case.
“He’ll most likely switch to Windows now.”
What so they he can start disseminating pre-release versions of Longhorn as well? For my sake, I hope he does.
Steve Jobs and Wozniac used to steal from AT&T with the “Black Boxes” they sold back in 74. Jobs forgot this, Wozniac didn’t – If you live in glass house… Bad karma Jobs
So because Steve Jobs stole years and years and years ago, he should just allow some clown to freely distribute an unreleased OS that the company relies on for cash flow? Apple should just turn a blind eye to someone breaking the law because Steve Jobs and Steve Woz make their telephone box years ago.
Now THAT’S logic.
Woz didn’t forget this? No. Steve Jobs grew up. Woz did not.
Everybody acts like idiots in their young years… using that logic as an adult running a successful company? Apple would be dead in no time…
I’m sure the guy got royally boned by Apple’s lawyers, and I’m sorry for the guy about that. But, after pulling a stunt like that, you’ve got to expect you’re going to get hauled into court. It’s one thing to share the beta-release with a few of your friends; probably would help you with your evaluation. It’s another thing entirely to give it away on the Internet. Not too smart.
The Feds are still pursuing a case against him. I wait to see if they will be lenient. It will be a felony if he is convicted.
He should have done what all big corporations do when they get cought doing something. Pay the fine without aknowledging any wrong doing.
TO DOOBIE:
They were called ‘Blue Boxes’ first of all. They found a way to call long distance for free. A lot different than handing out an OS that has not been released yet.
Yeah, the kid didn’t know any better, and I can sympathize, I really can, cause I have done a lot of stupid shit in my day too…
‘Blue Boxes’ and phone phreakin’ those where the day’s. i used to have a number that i could us on a pay phone and for a quarter call anywhere in the world. back in the day international operators couldn’t tell the difference between a home phone and a pay phone, you could get collect calls from overseas on payphones. i once had half a phone bill negated cause i call an internation operator and told them i made a wrong call to china. oh those where the days.
I think Steve will have a better chance to have his surprise announcements in the future but it does come at some cost in PR. It is too bad that they had to sue the rumor sites rather than the true people who are at fault – namely the ones who broke their NDA.
They settled for Steve Job’s annual salary, I hear.
J J and ???
There were black boxes , blue boxes and then the infamous red which allowed us to actually trunk to Russia on the network. the black was capacitor based to keep the line form recognizing that the handset had been lifted . I phreaked met Steve sold one of his wooden Apples for him. We were kids and we were stupid and so are the kids distributing his code. AT&T did not throw the book at any one including cpt, Crunch. -yes we grew up but we should not ignore our past.
Tiger is still easily downloadable on the net – this has achieved nothing.
waste of time,
Breaking into YOUR home is easily done as well. Ask any well seasoned burglar. I guess using your logic, you would want law enforcement to ideally sit by after it happened to you and the intruder had left your home?
Sizewell, your logic is wrong.
If it was a model home and invitations had gone out to select individuals to tour it and then one of those individuals made copies of the invitation and sent them out to others, that would be similar to what this guy did.
Jeff,
Okay, I agree that your analog may be closer to the actual situation than mine.
Let’s use your analog for discussion. If the model home had a multi-purpose entertainment room which was showing propietary information that the the builder/reality company only wanted those select few to see. And, if all the invitees had agreed BEFOREHAND that if they were to receive an invitation that they were were not to make copies of the invitation and send them out to others, how is his actions justified and the actions pursed by Apple ruthless?
What Apple decided to do was make it less desirable for some “poor kid” to do the same in the future.
Let’s not try to justify something that was ethically and legally wrong.
Apple is acting like a bunch of niggers in their pursuit of success.
Forget about the fact that these are the soldiers that defend apple.
Aple is really rotten on this one.
Macs Suck, PC’s Rule!!!