macOS Archive

"Jaguar is the desktop that Linux should have had. I mean, don't get me wrong, KDE3 is very cool if you soup it up a bit, and I'm really enjoying GNOME2 on my actual cooker-based workstation. But OS X, and Aqua, have an elegance and refinement that KDE and GNOME are just lacking. Which leads me to believe that Linux has no future on PPC hardware as a desktop. Apple has that covered. Unless you're absolutely against commercial software, you don't need to use Linux." Read Vincent Danen's article. Vincent is a co-owner Danen Consulting Service and a Linux Mandrake employee.

"Using Mac OS X is like touring a land of fabulous ancient treasures - with a tourist authority that's still busy renovating them, and that hasn't quite completed the infrastructure. The sights can be breathtaking, but the roads are potholed and incomplete, and sometimes you have to get out and push." Read the review at TheRegister. More than 100,000 copies of OS X 10.2 are sold worldwide during its first weekend, and 50,000 people visited company stores Friday night, ZDNews reports.

Apple plans a contrarian celebration for the anniversary of the Windows 95 launch, unleashing a new operating system aimed at stealing customers away from Microsoft. Saturday, the official release date of MacOSX 10.2, also is the seventh anniversary of the day that Microsoft presented Windows95 to the world in the most extravagant product kickoff in computing history. Apple hopes to make a little history of its own with software it sees as capable of wooing Windows users to the Mac. Read more at C|Net.

"The rev formerly known as Pinot has been renamed Panther, sources reported, hinting that the faux-fur motif of the Jaguar release will continue when Panther ships in early 2003. Sources this month told eWEEK that the Panther release will mark another step away from MacOS 9, the "classic" MacOS that Apple continues to upgrade for compatibility with older applications. They said Apple is planning to "block" next-generation Macs preloaded with Panther from booting into MacOS 9 although the company will continue to support applications running within MacOSX's Classic environment." The report can be found at eWeek. In other Mac news, Microsoft is readying MSN for OSX.

The MacOSX beta was a preview for hardcore fanatics. OSX 10.0 was not for the faint of heart. And OSX 10.1 was the first version of Apple's new OS that was ready for everyday use. So what should we make of OSX 10.2 -- also known as Jaguar -- now that it has arrived? Read a review at MacWorld, and another one at RagingApathy. Expect the OSNews review for MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar on the 26th of this month.

The exclusive news we broke last Monday, regarding gobeProductive going GPL in the very near future, have been going around the biggest sites on the web. We hear that the C++ source code of GP3 is of exceptional quality, and its creators are hoping into a broad participation of developers after its release. Because of its very clean codebase, GP3 is many times smaller and easier to handle, programming-wise, compared to, let's say, OpenOffice.org. We asked Bruce Hammond, now CEO of FreeRadicalSoftware, regarding the general portability of the software and the possibility of an OSX port. Bruce replied: "A port to OS-X is possible and very likely in the near future (8 month timeframe). We are starting a project to clean up the cross-platform engine and make moving GP to new platforms simpler."

Good information at MacNN: "A PDF slideshow used at Siggraph 2002, written by Peter Graffagnino of Apple, provides information on Quartz Extreme. It will be available with Jaguar (10.2) on August 24th, and is the first OpenGL-based windowing system. It will feature true system integration (Quartz2D on a texture, Video on a texture), improved texture upload performance, programmable shaders, many new extensions, and new tools.". Read more to check out if your Mac can support Quartz Extreme.

In light of all the controversy surrounding the price of Apple's new OSX 10.2 Jaguar upgrade scheme, it is interesting that is today obtainable from Amazon.com for $79 USD ($129 - $50 rebate). On a related note, Macintouch is reporting that Apple is extending the MacOSX Up-to-Date and MacOSX Server Up-to-Date programs to include Jaguar Server upgrades for just $19.95 in response to intense criticism. Apple also added that people who bought MacOSX 10.1 retail in its own box, can get an upgrade if purchased July 17 or later.

Security Update 7-12-02 increases the security of the Software Update process for systems with Software Update client 1.4.5 or earlier. Packages presented via the Software Update mechanism are now cryptographically signed, and the new Software Update client 1.4.6 checks for a valid signature before installing new packages. Downloaded packages which do not contain a valid signature are deleted from the system.

ThinkSecret covers the new MacOSX version, codenamed Jaguar, by publishing an article on what is new and on the kind of updates are to be expected at the end of this summer. There are also a bunch of screenshots included in the article. Part I and Part II.

There's a new article on computer commentary site "The Idea Basket" detailing the features and importance of the Rendezvous networking protocol that will be shipping with next major release of Mac OS X. It should be a very interesting read for many computer users, as Rendezvous will profoundly affect the way people use their Macs as well as other computer systems in a networked setting.

Security Update July 2002 includes the updated components, Apache v1.3.26, mod_ssl v2.8.9 and OpenSSH v3.4p1, which provide increased security to prevent unauthorized access to applications, servers, and the MacOSX operating system. Download it via Software Update on your Mac.

Get it while it's hot (translation: before the Apple laywers take the site down)! MacNytt has put online an exclusive video showing Quartz Extreme's capabilities, the new 3D graphics acceleration technology used for the 2D desktop of MacOSX 10.2. Our Take: Let's hope that the brand new iBooks that feature a 16 MB Radeon Mobility AGP graphics card will be able to run Quartz Extreme at 1024x768 at 60 Hz. Depending on the resolution you run your desktop, you will need either 16 MB or 32 MB and above of VRAM and AGP 2x (PCI won't cut it because its bus is times slower). For anything above 1024x768 though, you should be considering upgrading to an AGP card with lots of bandwidth and lots of memory.

In Part One, Simson Garfinkel and Michael Mahoney explain why Cocoa and Mac OS X aren't nearly as revolutionary as they are evolutionary, beginning with Apple's genesis in the 1970s. Now they pick up the story with the Star Trek project and bring you to the current iteration of Mac OS X.