macOS Archive

"Mac OS X gave us a host of interface enhancements, for better or for worse. Some are seemingly frivolous, such as the whiz-bang animations that dominate Aqua, and others haven proven truly useful, such as the Finder’s column view. Personally, I dig it all." The article at O'ReillyNet discusses the main Aqua enhancements, animated window resizing and the drawers.

O'Reilly Net features two interesting MacOSX Applescript articles: "Integrating AppleScript and Cocoa" & "Using AppleScript to Compile and Run Java Code".

Steve was drawing things out, as he is wont to do. We'd seen demonstrations by Adobe, we got to see the iBook's new larger look, he'd prattled on and on about the virtues of iPhoto, we were getting restless. We wanted to see IT. Whatever Steve Jobs had up the sleeve of that black mock-neck we wanted to see it. In all fairness those of us that are rabid weblog addicts had already seen it. Slashdot had broken the news the night before when 'Time Canada' plastered it all over their website. It was the new iMac, and inside the 'reality distortion field' that Steve Jobs projects at every MacWorld keynote, it was insanely great.

MacOSX 10.1.3 was released today and it is available via the Update Control Panel. Specific updates include: CD Disc Recording Peripherals: expanded support for QPS, EZQuest, LaCie, Yamaha, MCE Technologies and Sony devices. Image Capture and iPhoto: Improved support for several digital camera models from Canon, Kodak and Sony. Graphics and OpenGL Improvements: DVD Playback on external VGA displays on PowerBook G4 PowerBook video mirroring will be on by default when connecting to a new display. Improvements for iTunes when the full screen visualizer is used. Networking and Security Improvements: Login authentication support for LDAP and Active Directory services, OpenSSH version 3.0.2p1, WebDAV support for Digest authentication, Mail includes support for SSL encryption.

"Since Mac OS X shipped, announcements regarding new versions of software applications designed to run natively on the new OS have become a daily occurrence. Some of these announcements mention that the application is Cocoa-based while others mention that the application is Carbon-based. The smart developers mention neither, knowing that the average Mac user doesn't know the difference and doesn't care. Apple has been talking to developers about the benefits of Cocoa and as a result, many Mac users have started to get the idea that applications that are Cocoa-based are somehow better than applications that are Carbon-based. API or framework choices have much more impact on developers than on end users. This white paper explains what Carbon and Cocoa are, how they differ, and what impact they have on users of REALbasic." Read the rest of the story at Real Software, developers of the Real Basic.

"If developers could port their Motif-based applications to Aqua as easily as Mac Classic developers can port to Carbon, those nice UNIX apps might reach the Mac faster. As a sysadmin, I see OS X as a fantastic replacement for a UNIX workstation. But there are a few things Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) should think about if it really wants to compete in the UNIX space. I'm not saying that if OS X doesn't have these things, UNIX people won't look at it as an alternative. However, I believe that the following alterations would make OS X much more appealing as a replacement for current UNIX workstations." Read the rest of the editorial at OSOpinion.

This is an old article (Nov. 2000), but it is still a good read. Jordan Hubbard, the well known FreeBSD leader who later got a job at Apple's kernel team, had written this interesting MacOSX review for Salon.com. His article was from a different point of view than other review articles at the time: the open source hacker who tries to find and uncover the UNIX underneath OSX.

At Macworld Conference & Expo, Microsoft Corp. announced the immediate availability of Microsoft Windows Media Player for MacOSX (6.1 MB). The new player has been Carbonized to run natively on MacOSX and displays the operating system's new Aqua interface. Windows Media Player for Mac OS X allows Mac users to easily enjoy playback of high-quality Windows Media Audio and Video content. The new release supports the latest Windows Media Audio 8 and Windows Media Video 8, as well as Windows Media Digital Rights Management, and is available in six languages worldwide. The new player features the new Aqua interface, which provides a look consistent with many other new Mac applications. Also, The OfficeX Test Drive (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage the e-mail application and personal information manager) has been released for MacOSX as a free download (122 MB). Inside the OfficeX Test Drive you’ll see how it combines several new and improved features with core MacOSX technologies.

"Both John Siracusa at Ars Technica and Bruce Tognazzini have raised the same concerns, with Tog warning that Apple's dismal OS X user interface was leading the company into a New-Coke style disaster. But if we can indulge you, this is a battle-tested road report on rubbing along with OS X. That's eight months spent on our own personal kit, trying to justify the investment. And watching the gold CD-ROM cursor spinning, and spinning." Read the rest of the story at TheRegister.

Macslash.com reports that according to the Software Update readme, the 30.3 MB MacOSX upgrade brings the following: "The 10.1.2 update delivers improvements and new functionality, as well as expanded peripheral support for Mac OS X. Enhancements include: Updated and new USB and FireWire device support, including FireWire-based digital cameras, PC Card storage devices, including media readers, IrDA modem support for FireWire-based PowerBook models, Audio, Display, and Speech improvements, Networking and Printing improvements, AirPort v2.0, Apache web server v1.3.22, AppleScript v1.8". Update: Of the version that potentially will become 10.2 or 10.5, leaked screenshots have been released on the web.

"Mac OS X 10.2 may not make it to Macworld Expo San Francisco early next January. Sources close to the development of Apple's Unix-based operating system, cited by eWeek, claim that the major update won't be released until the summer, to cash in on the back-to-school period. In its place, Apple will roll-out more minor updates, just as it did a little while back with Mac OS X 10.1.1. A further update, 10.1.2, is expected early this month, having recently been seeded to developers. Then, in early spring, Apple will release what will presumably be known as version 10.1.3, the source said." TheRegister reports. In related news, thanks to cracking details posted on the Web, Mac diehards discovered a way to turn a complimentary MacOSX 10.1 upgrade CD into a free copy of the operating system itself.

"Phil Schiller, Apple's VP of worldwide marketing, has gone on the record to suggest March as the date when new Macs ship with OS X as default. Macs have shipped with both the old and the new operating systems preloaded since May, but with OS 9.x as default, and Apple has been pretty cagey so far on even suggesting a date for the big switch." TheRegister reports.

Apple has posted Mac OS X 10.1.1 and it is installable via via System Preferences' Software Update pane. Last week's Installer Update 1.0 must be installed first. MacOSX 10.1.1 "delivers improvements for many USB and FireWire devices, including support for additional digital cameras, and overall improvements to CD and DVD Burning. The update includes enhancements to AFP, SMB and WebDAV networking, updates to the Finder and Mail applications, as well as improved support for printing. In addition, hardware accelerated video mirroring has been enabled for the new PowerBook G4." The download weighs in at 14.4 MB.

"This is the third and final installment of my MacOSX 10.1 saga. For six weeks now, I have attempted to use 10.1 exclusively during my workday. When I first embarked on this adventure, I knew it would take several weeks to thoroughly test-run the new OS. In part two of my empirical extravaganza, I revealed software that I've found indispensable under 10.1, and admitted that I cheat daily by rebooting into 9.2.1 to perform backups. Now, I will present my final conclusions." Editorial by Stephan Somogyi.