macOS Archive

An enhancement to the Mac OS X operating system under development by Apple looks to pave the way for active desktop pictures, or desktop backgrounds that can include motion graphics and alter themselves based on user actions or the time of the day.

"In case you missed it, there's a virus for the iPod. Yep, that's right, your MP3 player is a veritable hotbed of virus activity - but only if you're running the iPod Linux distribution, and only if you take great pains to make the virus function, since it doesn't really work. We can argue about whether or not this code actually constitutes a virus, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. The point here is that if it has a CPU, hackers will try to break it, and virus writers will try to write a virus for it. Given that there are probably only a few hundred - maybe a thousand - iPods running Linux out there, the fact that someone took the time to write this virus, or malicious code is an example of why Apple detractors clamoring that Macs aren't a target due to the lower market share are all wet."

"Sunrise Browser is an open source Web browser for Mac OS X intended for use as a Web developer's tool. It is not a groundbreaking achievement in that regard, but it is worth checking out due to its innovative and often unusual user interface choices."

Apple Inc. has developed an enhancement to its Mac OS X Finder user interface that will allow for different-sized icons within the same window as a means of representing their importance, a recent patent application has revealed.

"There have been a lot of rumors lately from 'unconfirmed' sources about Leopard's expected ship date. For a while, everyone was sure it was going to ship mid-to-late March. Then mysteriously, the ship date (according to these anonymous sources) got shifted to mid-April - perhaps because we are already in late March. Oops. Developers who work closely with Apple have been dying to tell the world how very, very wrong we all are. We have always maintained an air of skepticism regarding the early release speculations, but confirmation of these suspicions have been bombarding us lately. Our sources have told Ars that there is very little chance ('and that would be pushing it') for Leopard to ship in late April - that is, if Apple wants to ship with a halfway stable operating system."

"One thing that I've been playing with off and on for some time is a small efficient little solution for handling basic Bluetooth proximity detection, specifically for being able to perform certain actions when a cell phone or other Bluetooth device is in range of my Powerbook." More here.

Documentary evidence that Microsoft considered abandoning Office for Mac in order to cause 'a great deal of harm' to Apple has emerged. An emailed memo from Microsoft-founder Bill Gates to then Mac Business Unit chief Ben Waldman dated June 1997 talks about morale in the Mac Office development camp. At that time Microsoft's senior management were considering dumping Mac support. The email complains at poor sales of Office, which it attributes to a lack of focus on making such sales among reps at that time.

Apple seeded developers with a new build of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard late Thursday night. The new build, 9A377a, arrived roughly six weeks after the last Leopard seed, 9A343, was delivered. According to accompanying release notes, 9A377a delivers performance improvements over 9A343, features a new iSync plug-in maker, offers more powerful searching, and features Safari compatibility for rich text editing. In addition, the build features a new Sharing preferences pane and enhancements to the Address Book for taking photos.

"If you want to run Windows applications on your Intel powered Mac, you will be happy to learn that there are three different ways. The first method is by using Crossover for Mac, the second is using Parallels, and the third method is using Boot Camp. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. This article will explain the differences between these programs and from there you should be able to figure out which method works best for you."

"Parallels recently made a definitive statement saying that the company won't be making it easy for users to run OS X in a virtual environment anytime soon. The reasoning behind this was because they don't want to put their users at risk of breaking the OS X EULA - unlike Windows Vista, there is no version of OS X that can be run under a virtual machine - and more importantly, they don't want to strain their (currently good) relationship with Apple. As a followup to that statement from Parallels, I was able to also get in touch with Srinivas Krishnamurti, VMWare's Director of Product Management and Market Development in order to get VMWare's official position on the matter. "Apple does not currently allow running Mac OS X in a virtual machine," he said. "Apple is an important partner and VMware respects Apple's intellectual property."

Development of Mac OS X 10.5 is wrapping up faster than many at Apple even anticipated, and at present, a release can be expected as early as late March, sources say. Alongside the release of Version 10.5, code-named Leopard, will be new versions of Apple's consumer software suites, iLife '07 and iWork '07, which saw their release date pushed back due to expanded feature sets in both the applications. In addition, sources confirm that iLife '07 and iWork '07 will both contain numerous features dependent on Mac OS X 10.5, but whether Apple has made the unlikely and drastic move of completely axing support for earlier operating systems is less certain.

"Apple seeded a new build of the Mac OS X 10.4.9 update to developers late last week, Think Secret has learned. According to seed notes accompanying the Intel version (build 8P2125) and PowerPC version (build 8P125) of the update, there are no known issues with the latest seed, suggesting that Version 10.4.9 may be nearing release. The latest seed fixed a handful of bugs, including issues with OpenGL, CoreImage, CoreData, iSync, and the Sync Services engine." The Adium X team also released version 1.0 of their program, which is used by a lot of Mac users.

Apple on Tuesday released a security update for its QuickTime digital media software in response to a vulnerability discovered by security researchers associated with the Month of Apple Bugs website. In related news, new screenshots of Leopard have been posted to Flickr, while the WWDC this year is planned for June 10 through 15.

Apple is distributing a new pre-release version of its next-generation server operating system software that packs significant boosts to flexibility and stability, but also carries enough problems to put off any expectations of a near-term release. Testers experienced with this latest version said that its changes are more substantial than those of its mainstream sibling and revolve around substantial reworkings of the workgroup import process and Server Admin utilities, amongst other enhancements.