macOS Archive

Apple is stonewalling open-source developers despite the company's recent release of much of the Mac OS X Tiger kernel source code, according to Proclus, administrator of the GNU-Darwin Distribution. "In order to have a free and open source system, two things are necessary. First, all the necessary source code must be obtainable by anyone, and second the system must obviously be bootable in order to use it," Proclus told MacNN. "Darwin OS is not bootable without the AppleACPIPlatform driver, which is closed source at this time." On a related note, a slew of unannounced features have been posted to the web, found in the developer preview of Leopard.

The build released to attendees at the conference includes a huge number of ground-breaking changes to the underlying technology in Mac OS X and the APIs exposed to developers. Also, "the Time Machine 3-D interface for backup and data recovery coming in Mac OS X Leopard is amazing. What's more astounding is that a 3-D interface really works for users."

Paul Thurrot, everybody's favourite Microsoft Apple Microsoft zealot, writes on his webpage: "It's funny. Apple calls Microsoft a copy-cat, and yet, I feel like I've seen some of these features somewhere before. Many of the features, however, are just sad. Is this really the best they had to show off right now?" El Reg agrees with him, saying: "On the basis of the evidence so far the sixth release of Mac OS X is, to put it bluntly, a point release." Update by ELQ: A related editorial by Wired.

Mac OS Forge, a new community site hosted by Apple, is being created to support WebKit and other open source projects focused on Mac OS X, especially those looking to transition from OpenDarwin.org. New buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs are posted there as well, finally answering the complaints from the community. Other than this, Xcode 3 now includes Sun's Dtrace.

Apple issued on Tuesday updates for its Mac OS X operating system to fix 26 security flaws, some serious. Several of the vulnerabilities affect the way in which Mac OS X handles images and the file-sharing capabilities of the software, according to an Apple security advisory. Other flaws were found and fixed within components such as Fetchmail, file compression features, and DHCP networking functionality, Apple said.

NeoOffice has released a 2.0 beta version of its OpenOffice-based office suite for Mac OS X, now with aqua look and feel. You can join the beta program for 10 or 25 USD, depending on purchase date.

This article looks at vulnerabilities detected in Mac OS X in the first half of 2006. It compares these vulnerabilities to those detected in the first half of 2005, providing an overview of the evolution of threats targeting this increasingly popular platform. While the author believes that Mac OS X is pretty secure by default, he states that "like any other platform, Mac OS X has software flaws. Such flaws inevitably draw the attention of malicious users, especially if users don't think they need to take action to protect against possible threats." In the meantime, Apple has launched a Bluetooth version of its Mighty Mouse.

On Symantec's blog website, the company writes: "Researchers and engineers who are working in the security field must have strong constitutions - especially when it comes to weathering negative backlash and tired conspiracy theories whenever security and Mac OS X are mentioned in the same breath. With that in mind, in an effort to improve the quality of the dialogue, I would like to discuss some important issues regarding Mac OS X and security. Let's start with the hot-button issue of Mac OS X viruses. Simply put, at the time of writing this article, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X."

CodeWeavers is in early testing with CrossOver Office for Mac now and plans to release a final version of the software in July or August. Wine is a compatibility layer, not a true emulator, so it works with only some Windows programs. Developers at CodeWeavers and others on the open-source Wine effort have to work on each program they want to make compatible.

"At the Worldwide Developers Conference in August, Apple plans to provide a sneak preview of the next major update to OS X, code named Leopard. Apple is typically tight-lipped about what to expect from Leopard, so we have no idea what new and improved features await us in August. But that's not stopping us from coming up with a list of things we'd like to see in OS X 10.5." And for when you're done reading.

Apple has confirmed that Steve Jobs will hold a keynote speech at the WWDC, which will be held from 7th to 11th August. Jobs will unveil the feature set of Apple's answer to Windows Vista, MacOS 10.5, Leopard. Apple fansites have been buzzing with rumors and screenshots (which were fake anyway) about Leopard; the main point of interest seems to be not if, but how Apple will provide support for Windows in Leopard.

"If you are a Cocoa developer, you already know that the dynamic nature of Objective-C and Cocoa is what makes them so flexible and powerful. In terms of development tools, the power of a dynamic object-oriented environment like Cocoa translates into original tools like Interface Builder or F-Script, an open source project that is presented in this article. F-Script is an integrated set of tools that makes it possible to interactively explore and manipulate Cocoa objects as well as script them using new high-level programming techniques. This article shows you how to use some of its most impressive features and demonstrates how it can be a useful addition to your developer toolkit."

"There's been a lot of talk about the Mac OS X kernel in the past few months. When Avie Tevanian left Apple in March, there was much speculation that Apple had plans to abandon the Mach microkernel that underpins Mac OS X, and that Avie helped to develop many years ago. There were two lines of reasoning to support this, both pretty silly." Update: Follow-up has been posted. Thanks to eMagius pointing that out.

An update to Apple's Mac OS X Tiger due within a matter of days will deliver audio enhancements for several of the company's applications, AppleInsider has learned. Specifically, people who claim to have tested the latest pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.4.7 say the update will offer fixes for audio playback in iTunes, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack and QuickTime. It will also improve Bluetooth file transfers, mobile phone synching and mouse pairings, these people have said.