“At least five employees of Apple’s retail stores have been fired after downloading copies of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard from the Internet that were distributed to developers at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference two weeks ago. ‘Dozens’ more also face termination,” Think Secret reports.
“The axed staffers had apparently been overheard discussing their acquisition of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with their co-workers, prompting Apple ‘corporate’ in Cupertino to investigate the matter and fire the employees,” Think Secret reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not very smart for Apple retail employees to be doing such things.
bone heads
MD Word: going: going going gone
naughty naughty, ONLY time Mac OS X is insecure though…
First?
From the way it is written, it sounds like they were downloading the software. They didn’t post it or distribute it online.
If this is the case, pretty stupid on Apple’s part. Why would you fire employees that were excited about a new product and wanted to try it out. It’s not like they downloaded it instead of buying it. I’m sure they would buy a copy of the official release when it comes out. (Unless Apple is too cheap to give a good employee discount, which wouldn’t surprise me either)
Honestly…I think the hype machine would be well fed if they DID release a special encoded copy to employees with NSA level code built in so it could be tracked. Issue the disk, let them use it so upon release they are quite familiar..
and weed out the bad guys easily by simply tracking any copies out in the wild back to the original source.
This is a pre-release version anyway… that doesn’t contain all the secret sauce. It’s a good way to get people in the company talking about it, and helps weed out the bad “apples”
or at the VERY LEAST, TALKING about it!
They forgot to read Apple Proverbs 10:5, NDA Violations and the Wrath of Jobs. It’s in the back of the new employee handbook.
Aah, biting the hand that feeds. Such a grand pursuit.
Now they are pillars of salt.
What can you expect when part of your recruiting scheme is asking if a potential employee eats, sleeps, and breathes Apple?
Hey, I downloaded it too, I’m just not an employee.
Now if I could only partition my HD non-destructively so I can install the damn thing and have a look.
m
Employees usually get a free copy anyway.
critic
Are you kidding? They’re just excited…they didn’t post it, that’s your defence for these people?
The software’s not even officially released and they have a copy…a stolen copy that’s not meant for the public. Maybe they also take a few items from the store too because they’re “excited” about the product and want to try it out.
Maybe fudge some numbers in inventory and get excited about iLife or an iPod or even a MacPro?
“From the way it is written, it sounds like they were downloading the software. They didn’t post it or distribute it online.”
If they downloaded Leopard using BitTorrent (which is likely), then they were almost certainly seeding the software to other BitTorrent users even as they downloaded it. That’s how it works.
anonymous coward: maybe employees do get free copies of OSX, but not 7 months before release..
One must at times shoot a few employees “…pour encourager les autres.”
I reckon retail employees will stay on the right side in future. And they’ll feel more proud working for Apple for doing it.
Exactly, Peter. These morons knew the rules and they broke them.
pr stated, “This is a pre-release version anyway… that doesn’t contain all the secret sauce.”
Does anybody know that the developers version did NOT have the “secret sauce”. Steve wouldn’t talk about the features during the public keynote, but isn’t possible and even likey that those with NDAs were given access to these hidden features so that could begin developing around them? Isn’t this the point of WWDC and a pre-release of Leopard to them?
Anyway, firing a handful of retail employees is a pretty “cheap” way to send a stern message to all Apple employees.
How did they catch them? Apple got it´s detectives checking all the ip addresses?
Tip: go through an ip proxy service to cover your ip.
You should see what’s being written on other sites about this event. (http://www.thinksecret.com/comments/0608retailleak.shtml is a good place to start.)
What it all boils down to is this: Rules and regulations are for saps, not US elitists. NDA’s be damned! Our curiosity and need to know trump all!
Down with discipline!
“anonymous coward: maybe employees do get free copies of OSX, but not 7 months before release..”
That was in response to another person’s post, not a justification for them taking it.
So, you work for Apple.
You pirate/bootleg unreleased Apple software.
You then proceed to yak about it *at work*.
You get a pink slip for your troubles. <<>> <<>>
Yeah, some real top of the line brain work going on there.
iB
TV boy Common Sense read the article: “The axed staffers had apparently been overheard discussing their acquisition of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with their co-workers.”
Basic common sense, when you do something dodgy don’t tell the world you did it. Especially people who can fsck you and your livelihood.
Well, even some employees at the London store told me, they are already running it ‘downstairs’, last weekend.
Kinda odd to reveal that to customers I thought.
Apple is shocked . . . shocked! that of its thousands of minimum-wage-and-under drones, a few might have figured out how to download something posted on the web. Duh.
I hope Apple fired the wrong person or persons. My ultimate hope is that Apple will prosecute for theft a fetus, a little old lady who doesn’t know what a computer is, or a corpse — after generously allowing 60 days for the family to grieve.
TV boy Common Sense asks: “How did they catch them?”
From the rather short article: “The axed staffers had apparently been overheard discussing their acquisition of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with their co-workers”
Reading, a dying skill.
Are we really sure firing is enough? Surely Apple’s legal department could get inventive and charge these curious clowns with something. Maybe along the lines of Appleinsider, et al. After criminal conviction they could pursue them in the civil courts, stalk their families, make a media campaign of legal downloading, etc., etc.
Come on, who put 10.5 out there? Apple did through its developers.
MDN: “worked”, as in former employment.