There's something about RADAR

Radar is Apple's bug tracking system accessible to registered developers. While Apple provide some fantastic developer support in some areas, Radar has been the subject of much debate. There have been many discussions over the years describing problems with this system, how it is used by Apple, the worth to and feedback that developers get and it's overall usability. Simply put issues have to be logged here for Apple to be officially aware of them, but there is no way of knowing if the issue is already known and no guarantee of any sort of reasonable feedback. This dissatisfaction has only grown with the increased use of and interfacing with the open source community over recent years. Apple may be many things but openness and transparency are not virtues they extol.

The latest issue I've seen described is this cracker from Brad Oliver (of Aspyr and previously Westlake Interactive, also known for his work on MacMAME). Basically Brad reported an issue he discovered to Apple, then after receiving no feedback whatsoever for a couple of years (the point release this popped up in was released in lat 2004) he recently got some 'interesting' feedback. Apple simply informed him of his own information on his employer's support website. This would be a poor example of tech support let alone another a poor example of developer support.

Apple do some great work and make some great software but some of these oversights when dealing with the people who support the platform and help make it what it is seem very sloppy and short-sighted. Especially from a company which is known for it's community and attention to detail.