First a few somewhat obvious observations about Microsoft. To whatever extent they are "opening up" via blogs or other content, it is arguably more out of necessity at this point than a newfound commitment to corporate "openness." It all boils down to marketing, no matter the flavor. Although tech blogs may have a targeted audience (corporate or otherwise unaffiliated technonerds), the fact remains that four years have now passed and Microsoft still has yet to produce a successor to XP (and XP is largely built on NT4/Windows 2000 which further enlarges it's legacy underpinnings). Microsoft made a huge error in tying everything ("bet the company" according to Gates) into a blunderbuss, next generation release of Windows that, by Microsoft's own decree, wasn't going to be encumbered by a release date.

The wisdom of that decision led to year after year with no product from Microsoft and XP aging less than gracefully. As of today, the biggest tangible accomplishment from Microsoft regarding it's next generation OS (in so far as users are concerned) is that it has a name: "Vista". Other than that, nothing. Microsoft finally relented from developing it's next generation browser from being specifically tied to (and released with) Vista by announcing IE 7 for XP, but...where is it? By the time it actually gets into users hands, it likely that Vista will have been released, or will soon. There just isn't any mincing of words (blogged or not) about this situation; it's a mess. Microsoft painted itself into a corner with Vista, and without any interim OS release to it's name, it will take ANY publicity, any traction, any interest at all for Vista that it can possibly get. They are so far behind the 8-ball with Windows now it's laughable.

Apple is a different story these days. It doesn't blog about its technologies in development, it releases them. It's OS has been updated almost yearly from, 10.0 to 10.4. I think Apple realizes that its far more valuable to put products into users hands than it is to blog about their development. Also, Apple is in a position where it must be extremely competitive. In order to maintain it's current position and competative edge - and remain relevant in an MS dominated world - Apple just can't afford to release products that aren't really noteworthy. It MUST put out products that surprise, amaze and impress when they are released. Nothing short of that will work. Telling the world about all of your great ideas you have in development isn't "openness" for Apple, it's suicide. It loses it prime marketing advantage of head-turning, deer-caught-in-the-headlights surprise.

Take the move to Intel. Apple only stated that it's next generation Macs will be equipped with Intel procs. Apple never said a word more, but nevertheless there has been countless theories and speculation everywhere on the net about the specific model of Intel procs Apple might use, and so on. But the reality is no one outside of Apple knows. Every article, blog, or post about the Intel switch has been nothing more than glorified guesswork. Is that really bad? Is it too "closed" on Apple's part?

Well, if you expect to see nothing more than a Dell box with an Apple sticker on it when the new Macs are released, then maybe you could say Apple is being too tight-lipped about it's products. But when the day comes when Apple takes the wraps of the new Intel-based Macs, you can expect at least one thing: you will be surprised. And that moment will prove to be exponentially more motivating to buy than having read developers blogs about it beforehand