I'm not 'appeased'; it's not like I'm rushing out to buy a Dell machine based solely on the posts I've read on a few weblogs.

My point was intended to be about communication, and the willingness (or otherwise) of large corporations to communicate openly with customers and users.

I simply don't accept the argument (made elsewhere in the comments here) that MS's apparent openness is a result of it being so behind the competition, *and that by logical consequence*, Apple has no need to open up at all. It just doesn't follow. Why can't a market leader allow just a little insight into its internal activities? Being market-leading web services hasn't stopped Google and Yahoo opening up with official and not-so-official communications channels.

From my point of view, the good thing about this article was the fantastic response it triggered from readers, almost all of whom had a valid criticism or useful additional insight to add.