Apple publicly acknowledges contributors to iCloud
Apple has published an extensive list of third-party software that it's been using in the making and running of its iCloud service, including contributions from Google and Facebook.
Apple's iCloud being built. (Scaffolding photo by Malcolm Koo, Wiki Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Apple has now publicly acknowledged the many software developers whose work has been used under licence to make iCloud work. At least some of the information has been available before to developers, but now the 116 contributors are acknowledged in a publicly accessible support document.
Running to 39 pages in PDF and some 22,000 words, the new acknowledgements page consists of all the licence agreements allowing Apple to use this software.
The software itself ranges from fonts used in the service to functions such as Javascript libraries, including Google's Closure Library and the jQuery Foundation's separate one. While Apple does not disclose which precise elements it uses from these libraries, Google's one is intended for functions ranging from animation and user interface controls to server communication and text editing.
Alongside predictable names such as Google and Adobe, the new document also acknowledges some surprising contributors. Gaming company Electronic Arts is credited, as is the Financial Times newspaper, and Facebook.
The Facebook elements have nothing to do with the social media site's own services. Rather, it's at least in part another collection of Javascript functions. The JavaScript Infrastructure Team at Facebook has separately described some of its functions as helping developers write efficient code.
Apple publicly published the acknowledgements page this week, some of the software it references pre-dates iCloud. While Apple introduced the cloud service in 2011, certain portions of its tools, such as those by Adobe, date back to 1990.
The publication may possibly have been prompted by Apple's recently joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation is a group of companies aiming to improve cloud services and advancing standards across the industry.
Apple's iCloud being built. (Scaffolding photo by Malcolm Koo, Wiki Commons CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Apple has now publicly acknowledged the many software developers whose work has been used under licence to make iCloud work. At least some of the information has been available before to developers, but now the 116 contributors are acknowledged in a publicly accessible support document.
Running to 39 pages in PDF and some 22,000 words, the new acknowledgements page consists of all the licence agreements allowing Apple to use this software.
The software itself ranges from fonts used in the service to functions such as Javascript libraries, including Google's Closure Library and the jQuery Foundation's separate one. While Apple does not disclose which precise elements it uses from these libraries, Google's one is intended for functions ranging from animation and user interface controls to server communication and text editing.
Alongside predictable names such as Google and Adobe, the new document also acknowledges some surprising contributors. Gaming company Electronic Arts is credited, as is the Financial Times newspaper, and Facebook.
The Facebook elements have nothing to do with the social media site's own services. Rather, it's at least in part another collection of Javascript functions. The JavaScript Infrastructure Team at Facebook has separately described some of its functions as helping developers write efficient code.
Apple publicly published the acknowledgements page this week, some of the software it references pre-dates iCloud. While Apple introduced the cloud service in 2011, certain portions of its tools, such as those by Adobe, date back to 1990.
The publication may possibly have been prompted by Apple's recently joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation is a group of companies aiming to improve cloud services and advancing standards across the industry.
Comments
From Q&A session at WWDC 1997:
(start at 9m:22s)
Jobs: "I think the wisdom here is not say that we gotta invent everything ourselves […] I think this whole notion of being completely proprietary has really hurt us. […] There's a lot of smart people that don't work at Apple, too."
Some Guy: "The only thing I'd like to add is that Apple be perceived as different otherwise we're just like everybody else."
Jobs: "No, I don't think it's good that Apple is perceived as different. I think it's important that Apple is perceived as much better. If being different is essential to doing that we have to do that, but if we can be much better without being different then that would be fine with me."
PS: In true Jobs fashion the "Think Different" campaign launched later that year.
Also, when are Apple going to start using their own computers on the back end...?