I’ve Been Macbroken

I was honored this week to be invited as a guest host on the excellent MacBreak Weekly podcast.

MacBreak Weekly 108: Pull My iTunes

I listen to the show regularly so it was a bit strange to record with the guys I’m normally listening to passively. Every so often I had to remind myself that I could actually open my mouth and add something to the conversation!

A particularly well-timed (or poorly-timed, depending how you look at it) topic was that of the iPhone developer NDA, which we discussed a bit, carefully tip-toeing around any actual violation of the NDA, which was still in effect when we recorded, but was lifted a day later.

Developer Austin Meyer of X-Plane fame was also on the show, and one of the points we disagreed upon was whether or not it is productive for people outside Apple to present dissenting opinions or otherwise make a fuss about the inner workings of the company.

Austin tended to believe that we should trust Apple to work its magic in secrecy and with autonomy. I believe those of us on the outside can offer a unique perspective which Apple is itself sometimes blind to. A number of positive changes have happened in the past few years only after the public collectively agreed that Apple was taking the wrong course. It’s possible that Apple’s decision-making process has always been completely independent of outside influences, but I prefer to believe that they value the collective wisdom of their customer base, and are at least taking it into consideration as they develop their products and services.

I really appreciate Leo Laporte’s letting me take part in the show this week. If you haven’t given MacBreak Weekly a try before, this would be a great week to start!