iPhone NDA -- some thoughts
When the news came out today that Apple has chosen to lift the iPhone NDA, I (like many developers) breathed a sigh of relief. I would like to take a moment to thank my peers for being so outspoken and to thank Apple for finally deciding to make my life as an iPhone developer excedingly easier by allowing the members of the development community to do as they so often and so unselfishly do to help one another with various recurring difficulties that crop up in our craft. The Mac OS X software community that I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last couple of years continues to astound me. I'm proud to count myself among them. They are, to a person, a wonderful, well-meaning, honest, and interesting group of people who, as evidenced by the recent brouhaha over the aforementioned NDA, are very vocal about their beliefs and try to treat others as they expect to be treated. I've decided to take a page from that book and voice a belief of mine: A contract is a contract.
Having had the pleasure of arguing over contracts (including several of my own), intellectual property, personal liberty, and many similar topics with more than a few software developers, attorneys, students, musicians, my astonishingly intelligent parents, and various other people I have admired over the years, I've come to a few conclusions. One of the fundamental principals I try to follow in my own dealings with others is, I'm told, a basic brocard of civil law -- Pacta sunt servanda ("agreements must be kept").
Having had the pleasure of arguing over contracts (including several of my own), intellectual property, personal liberty, and many similar topics with more than a few software developers, attorneys, students, musicians, my astonishingly intelligent parents, and various other people I have admired over the years, I've come to a few conclusions. One of the fundamental principals I try to follow in my own dealings with others is, I'm told, a basic brocard of civil law -- Pacta sunt servanda ("agreements must be kept").