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What exactly has BSD won? Just recently, Apple decided to close up XNU. Granted, I'm now hearing that they have changed their mind again, but doesn't that seem like any possible benefit to BSD is totally at the whims of Apple?
No, you're just at the whims of bad journalism. Apple never "decided to close up XNU"; they just took longer than expected to publish the x86 version after Intel-based Macs were released, because they had to audit the code and split off a few parts which could not be open sourced (drivers depending on third-party proprietary code, and the kernel support for tying the closed-source OS X GUI to Apple's hardware) into a small collection of closed-source extensions, distributed separately. Once this was done, the sources for XNU on x86 were released.

Again, there was never a decision to make the kernel closed-source, just a lack of communication while the sources were being prepared for release, which sensationalist journalism turned into "XNU goes closed source OMGZ".

As for what Apple has provided, apart from making the entire core OS (Darwin) open-source, they released a lot of their own original work, such as IOKit, launchd, ZeroConf, CoreFoundation, etc.

OSX is a vendor lock-in solution, and not many people like that.

OSX is substantially slower on most benchmarks than Linux and Windows.

OSX isn't a serious solution.

I guess I'm struggling to see how yet another way to launch things is a revolution in security, given that it's a brand new (and therefore untested) codebase and already has reports of it "freaking out".

Well, you need to take the timeframe in which I wrote that article into account. I started writing it back when launchd was brand new and had it share of issues. (FWIW, I think the reported SSH issues were due to a, now corrected, bug in lookupd.) My hesitant approach to it was due to a healthy dose of old fashioned administration by skepticism. For a while I was turning back to xinetd and cron, but now I use launchd where I can.

Since then it has matured nicely to the point I would consider it a 1.0 product. It still has a few annoying limitations for sysadmin level folks, but overall is incredibly flexible and useful.

If you want to look at the codebase you can. Apple has always released it under the ASPL, and as of WWDC has turned it out as an active OSS project under the Apache 2 license at http://www.macosforge.org./

Personally I thought TFA was pretty lame, the author shows misunderstandings of some very basic Mac OS X facts.

Um, if you are worried about holes in launchd, why not audit the source code yourself? http://launchd.macosforge.org/

launchd is open source; it even uses the Apache license instead of the APSL.

Lightning supports CalDAV for sharing calendar information. Apple announced yesterday that Leopard iCal Server and the iCal application will both talk CalDAV, they released the server at http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/collaboration. Bedework is making a lot of progress as an institutional calendar server.

Oracle has a CalDAV stack. IBM has some stuff in the works as well.

It looks like exchange will have a fight on its hands very soon.

I've been helping on a CalDAV plugin for Outlook called Open Connector, which allows Outlook to take to CalDAV servers like Apple's and Bedework. We always need help, if you have a lot of experience developing COM apps in C++, come help out.

Not really. Take a look at http://macosforge.org/subversion.html, where it says:

        Several projects hosted at Mac OS Forge use Subversion. Subversion is not available by default on Mac OS X Tiger, but you can download and install it from Mac OS Forge with the following commands from Terminal:

        $ curl -O http://www.macosforge.org/files/Subversion.root.ta r.gz
        $ sudo tar xzf Subversion.root.tar.gz -C /

Notice the complete lack of any checksums or PGP signatures of the software: you're just supposed to slap it on top of your root filesystem and never look back. And since Subversion by default stores user passwords locally, in cleartext, for any servers using HTTP or HTTPS or svnserve access, and even if you use svnserve+ssh it could be programmed to steal your password free SSH keys or information about your SSH keyring setup and mail them to the mothership, it represents a serious risk to the Subversion user, and a risk to any software repository at MacOS Forge.

Subversion is vastly preferable to CVS for a lot of reasons, but these people should not be trying to re-invent the wheel this way without noticing that previous wheel inventors already invented brakes and axles.

Not really. Take a look at http://macosforge.org/subversion.html, where it says:

        Several projects hosted at Mac OS Forge use Subversion. Subversion is not available by default on Mac OS X Tiger, but you can download and install it from Mac OS Forge with the following commands from Terminal:

        $ curl -O http://www.macosforge.org/files/Subversion.root.ta r.gz
        $ sudo tar xzf Subversion.root.tar.gz -C /

Notice the complete lack of any checksums or PGP signatures of the software: you're just supposed to slap it on top of your root filesystem and never look back. And since Subversion by default stores user passwords locally, in cleartext, for any servers using HTTP or HTTPS or svnserve access, and even if you use svnserve+ssh it could be programmed to steal your password free SSH keys or information about your SSH keyring setup and mail them to the mothership, it represents a serious risk to the Subversion user, and a risk to any software repository at MacOS Forge.

Subversion is vastly preferable to CVS for a lot of reasons, but these people should not be trying to re-invent the wheel this way without noticing that previous wheel inventors already invented brakes and axles.

Browsing through the new MacOSForge.org, I noticed something on the page for the Calendar Server. In a list of compatible clients, it lists "Apple's Teams". I've never heard of this application, and I did a little poking around on Apple's website. I noticed a page describing OS X Leopard Server's built in Wiki Server, specifically the repeated mention of teams using the Wiki server to collaborate on projects.

This along with the iCal Server leads me to believe that OS X Leopard will include systemwide collaboration functionality that will integrate with any Apps that are programmed to use it. More evidence: How come during the demo of iChat's ability to share Keynote presentations, photos, videos, etc., we never saw the interface for the person sharing the documents? I would guess it's part of Leopard's collaboration system, named Teams.

The official announcement by Ernie Prabhakar of Apple is here:

From: Ernest Prabhakar prabhaka@apple.com
Date: August 7, 2006 4:15:51 PM PDT
To: darwin-dev@lists.apple.com, fed-talk@lists.apple.com
Subject: Apple Opens Up: Kernel, Mac OS Forge, iCal Server, Bonjour, Launchd

Hi all,

In conjunction with this week's Developer Conference, we have four great pieces of news for Open Source developers:

A. Intel Kernel Sources

As of today, we are posting buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs alongside the usual PowerPC (and other Intel) sources, starting with Mac OS X 10.4.7. We regret the delay in readying the new kernel for release, and thank you for your patience.

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/tarba lls/apsl/xnu-792.10.96.tar.gz

B. New "Mac OS Forge" for Community Projects

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.

http://www.macosforge.org/

C. New Open Source Calendaring Server

In order to encourage community participation, source code to the new iCal Server in Leopard Server is now available on Mac OS Forge under the Apache License.*

http://collaboration.macosforge.org/

D. Apache-Licensed Bonjour and Launchd sources

To further enable and encourage cross-platform adoption, the APSL** sources for Bonjour service discovery and Launchd process management are being re-released under the Apache License and hosted on Mac OS Forge:

http://bonjour.macosforge.org/
http://launchd.macosforge.org/

Apple is more excited than ever about the power of Open Source development to create value for our (and your) products and customers. I'll be offline much of this week due to WWDC, but I look forward to working with all of you as we move forward to Leopard.

Sincerely,
Ernest Prabhakar
Open Source Product Manager, Apple
WWDC 2006, Aug 7-11, San Francisco
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc

* Apache License, Version 2.0
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

** Apple Public Source License 2.0
http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt

And as always, Darwin and Darwin component sources are available here:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/

The official announcement by Ernie Prabhakar of Apple is here:

From: Ernest Prabhakar prabhaka@apple.com
Date: August 7, 2006 4:15:51 PM PDT
To: darwin-dev@lists.apple.com, fed-talk@lists.apple.com
Subject: Apple Opens Up: Kernel, Mac OS Forge, iCal Server, Bonjour, Launchd

Hi all,

In conjunction with this week's Developer Conference, we have four great pieces of news for Open Source developers:

A. Intel Kernel Sources

As of today, we are posting buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs alongside the usual PowerPC (and other Intel) sources, starting with Mac OS X 10.4.7. We regret the delay in readying the new kernel for release, and thank you for your patience.

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/tarba lls/apsl/xnu-792.10.96.tar.gz

B. New "Mac OS Forge" for Community Projects

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.

http://www.macosforge.org/

C. New Open Source Calendaring Server

In order to encourage community participation, source code to the new iCal Server in Leopard Server is now available on Mac OS Forge under the Apache License.*

http://collaboration.macosforge.org/

D. Apache-Licensed Bonjour and Launchd sources

To further enable and encourage cross-platform adoption, the APSL** sources for Bonjour service discovery and Launchd process management are being re-released under the Apache License and hosted on Mac OS Forge:

http://bonjour.macosforge.org/
http://launchd.macosforge.org/

Apple is more excited than ever about the power of Open Source development to create value for our (and your) products and customers. I'll be offline much of this week due to WWDC, but I look forward to working with all of you as we move forward to Leopard.

Sincerely,
Ernest Prabhakar
Open Source Product Manager, Apple
WWDC 2006, Aug 7-11, San Francisco
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc

* Apache License, Version 2.0
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

** Apple Public Source License 2.0
http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt

And as always, Darwin and Darwin component sources are available here:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/

The official announcement by Ernie Prabhakar of Apple is here:

From: Ernest Prabhakar prabhaka@apple.com
Date: August 7, 2006 4:15:51 PM PDT
To: darwin-dev@lists.apple.com, fed-talk@lists.apple.com
Subject: Apple Opens Up: Kernel, Mac OS Forge, iCal Server, Bonjour, Launchd

Hi all,

In conjunction with this week's Developer Conference, we have four great pieces of news for Open Source developers:

A. Intel Kernel Sources

As of today, we are posting buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs alongside the usual PowerPC (and other Intel) sources, starting with Mac OS X 10.4.7. We regret the delay in readying the new kernel for release, and thank you for your patience.

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/tarba lls/apsl/xnu-792.10.96.tar.gz

B. New "Mac OS Forge" for Community Projects

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.

http://www.macosforge.org/

C. New Open Source Calendaring Server

In order to encourage community participation, source code to the new iCal Server in Leopard Server is now available on Mac OS Forge under the Apache License.*

http://collaboration.macosforge.org/

D. Apache-Licensed Bonjour and Launchd sources

To further enable and encourage cross-platform adoption, the APSL** sources for Bonjour service discovery and Launchd process management are being re-released under the Apache License and hosted on Mac OS Forge:

http://bonjour.macosforge.org/
http://launchd.macosforge.org/

Apple is more excited than ever about the power of Open Source development to create value for our (and your) products and customers. I'll be offline much of this week due to WWDC, but I look forward to working with all of you as we move forward to Leopard.

Sincerely,
Ernest Prabhakar
Open Source Product Manager, Apple
WWDC 2006, Aug 7-11, San Francisco
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc

* Apache License, Version 2.0
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

** Apple Public Source License 2.0
http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt

And as always, Darwin and Darwin component sources are available here:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/

The official announcement by Ernie Prabhakar of Apple is here:

From: Ernest Prabhakar prabhaka@apple.com
Date: August 7, 2006 4:15:51 PM PDT
To: darwin-dev@lists.apple.com, fed-talk@lists.apple.com
Subject: Apple Opens Up: Kernel, Mac OS Forge, iCal Server, Bonjour, Launchd

Hi all,

In conjunction with this week's Developer Conference, we have four great pieces of news for Open Source developers:

A. Intel Kernel Sources

As of today, we are posting buildable kernel sources for Intel-based Macs alongside the usual PowerPC (and other Intel) sources, starting with Mac OS X 10.4.7. We regret the delay in readying the new kernel for release, and thank you for your patience.

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/tarba lls/apsl/xnu-792.10.96.tar.gz

B. New "Mac OS Forge" for Community Projects

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.

http://www.macosforge.org/

C. New Open Source Calendaring Server

In order to encourage community participation, source code to the new iCal Server in Leopard Server is now available on Mac OS Forge under the Apache License.*

http://collaboration.macosforge.org/

D. Apache-Licensed Bonjour and Launchd sources

To further enable and encourage cross-platform adoption, the APSL** sources for Bonjour service discovery and Launchd process management are being re-released under the Apache License and hosted on Mac OS Forge:

http://bonjour.macosforge.org/
http://launchd.macosforge.org/

Apple is more excited than ever about the power of Open Source development to create value for our (and your) products and customers. I'll be offline much of this week due to WWDC, but I look forward to working with all of you as we move forward to Leopard.

Sincerely,
Ernest Prabhakar
Open Source Product Manager, Apple
WWDC 2006, Aug 7-11, San Francisco
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc

* Apache License, Version 2.0
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

** Apple Public Source License 2.0
http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/2.0.txt

And as always, Darwin and Darwin component sources are available here:

http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/