macOS Archive

Almost a year after our much discussed Mac OS X 10.1 review, it is time to write down our impressions from the new version of OSX, Jaguar 10.2. Is Jaguar worth the full $129 USD? Dive in for more. Update: Slashdot seems to agree with our review, at least on the backwards compatibility issue.

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.

Tim O'Reilly made an informal survey of some members of the Geek Elite and confirmed that Mac OS X has generated significant enthusiasm. He also found that Linux and Unix users are even more likely than sold school Mac users to make the switch to OS X. Read more at O'Reilly's Mac Dev Center.

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.

"Although it's been quite some time since MacOS X first hit the shelves, and although many hordes of users have made their homes on the system, MacOS 10.2 is the first version of X that I would really recommend for someone to use. MacOS versions 10.0 and 10.1 had vast amounts of potential, yet they remained nothing to write home to mom about. Finally Apple has capitalized on their potential, and created a system that is refined, streamlined, and ready to take out of the oven." Read the preview over at ArtificialCheese. In the meantime, SpyMac listed a number of incompatibilities between Jaguar 10.2 and previous versions of OSX (which are pretty natural to occure when you bump up a whole new version of an OS, especially when using a very different version of the compiler). I could add one more to the list.

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.

A lot has been said about the roots of Mac OS X and there is quite some confusion about its exact Unix geneology. We asked Jordan Hubbard, engineering manager of the BSD Technologies Group at Apple and one of the most important figures throughout the FreeBSD history, about the older releases of OSX, the current one and the future ones, and this is what he replied to us: "The earliest releases were based on FreeBSD 3.2 and NetBSD, though I'm not as clear on what version of NetBSD was used. For 10.2, we did a massive re-sync with FreeBSD 4.4 and 4.5 and regard FreeBSD as the primary reference code base going forward." Update: Read for some more clarifications from Jordan. Update 2: More updates from Jordan! Read on.

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.

"The widely anticipated update to Apple Computer's Mac OS X will appear earlier than expected, sources say, which is good news for the company in a tough year." Read the report at News.com.

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.

A new MacOSX update was just released. Update 10.1.5 delivers enhancements which improve the reliability of MacOSX applications, delivers improved networking, security, support for PC Card serial communication devices, and expanded peripheral device support. Specific improvements include:

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.

"Apple's CEO says it's tough times for corporate and education sales--but consumers are still buying. His biggest challenge? Convince the majority of Apple users to switch to OS X. At the start of the year, Apple had only 1 million of its 25 million Mac owners actively using OS X. That number is now in the range of 1.5 million to 2 million, although about 3 million Macs have been sold with the new OS on the hard drive. However, Jobs remains confident the company can end the year with 5 million OS X users." Read the report at News.com. Update: TheRegister features an article where they chat with Apple's Tevanian on Windows CIFS, networked Quartz.

This is the first installment in ThinkSecret's series of news coverage for the next major update to Mac OS X, code-named Jaguar. They take a look at tweaks to OS X's Finder and System Preferences, as seen in the first developer preview of Jaguar, build 6C35, and include lots of screenshots.