Why do you assume he'd want to work at Apple? He's certainly making more money on his own, doing his own thing, from his own home, on his own time. Working at Apple would be a step down.
Gruber has the magic combination of writing ability, old-school journalism skills, and getting Apple's product design philosophy. People like him because he makes good arguments supported by both facts and common sense.
The worst thing Apple could do would be to sully that with their money.
AFAIK, he used to work at Apple, but on apple.com. I don't think he was a software engineer, but I remember reading that he used to work on the web side. This was probably the mid- to late-90s.
A quick search of Wikipedia leads to an interview (link below) with this:
Now, correct me if I’m wrong – and please fill in any gaps – but here’s what your story looks like to me:
In 2002 you were doing freelance consulting, web-development and tech writing. Meanwhile, after months of picking out the right “slate blueish background color” you finally launch Daring Fireball and begin writing articles for which your wife was the first reader. Two years later you start offering the membership and also end up working at Bare Bones. Then two years after that, in 2006, you quit your day job and now spend your time publish DF from home.
JOHN: Your chronology is a bit off. I worked for Bare Bones from 2000 to 2002. I started DF a few months after that. Joyent was the company I worked for while writing DF, from January 2005 through March 2006. When I left Joyent was when I started writing DF full-time.
He's already evangelizing for Apple as a somewhat objective 3rd party. Bringing him in-house would cost them money and compromise his perceived reliability.
He's currently doing a good job of at least appearing neutral. See his recent comments on Apple's patent litigation against HTC -- he doesn't like that at all.
I’m quite confused about the meaning of neutral in this context. Being neutral in itself doesn’t seem like a virtue to me. Being neutral is a useful position if you don’t know what you are talking about. Being neutral is a useful skill if people expect you to present facts.
Both of those things don’t apply to either Cory Doctorow or John Gruber. It’s just normal that they hold and present certain views in their writing. Calling them out on not being neutral (or saying they successfully appear to be neutral) seems to not make any sense.
I expect them to not be neutral. I don’t read BoingBoing or Daring Fireball for news.
My comment was meant as a sarcasm. Of course both of them are not neutral, its hard to say if one can be truly neutral but at least we expect most journalist/author/reviewer/whatever-you-may-call-them to be somewhat objective in their views when doing reviews. Both Doctorow and Gruber have very polarized views on this subject.
Expecting Gruber (or Doctorow) to have neutral (or even an appearance of neutrality) views is quite silly.
Fan-boys will remain fan-boys and Gruber is a classic example of a fan-boy who will take any criticism of apple or their products, personally.
Yes, even fan-boys can say things against their idol occasionally, doesn't make them any less bias.
How long have you been reading his blog for? In order for my arguments to make sense to you, you will have to read more than just couple of his recent blog post.
I don't think it is ad hominem, I think it is widely accepted that he is an Apple fanboy. Your mileage may vary.
I am a happy macbook/iphone owner (but not exclusive apple user) and I think he is an apple fanboy.
