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Encrypting File System Options for Mac OS X?
fieldmouse asks: "I recently had a laptop running Mac OS X stolen. Despite the fact that I got it back, that incident has me looking for an encrypting file system for Mac OS X; preferably one that would create a psuedo drive that I could unlock once when I log on. Anybody have any suggestions?" About 2 years ago, Ask Slashdot did the Linux version of this question. Has this gap been filled in Apple's latest OS offering?
Apple hardware sucks. The os was a great attempt, but as you see below, there is not much time left for Apple.
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= 60 839
.mac accounts.
I see great amounts of RECENT evidence times are really bad. Why? They screwed me, a
former enthusiast who went PC/UNIX years ago and was never compelled to return. Why?
Exhorbitant hardware prices and total lack regard for my computing freedom, as is
exemplified below.
Neither product offered much consolation to Mac loyalists reeling at two spiteful examples
of corporate thievery: there will be no upgrade pricing to Jagwyre (Mac OS X 10.2), with
only the full $129 price available at the Apple Store; and $100 a year pricing ($49.95 for
the first year) for a rehashed iTools offering. The "dead silence" with which
this news was received, reports MacBlog is nothing compared to user comments.
To add insult to injury, the new iTools has a Microsoft-style name, to go with the
Microsoft-style pricing.
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Bruising by Apple
Roland Miller III
One notable fact concerning Apple's customer base is that it has always tested very highly
in the category of brand loyalty. "Once a Mac user, always a Mac user." Apple
has depended on this customer loyalty to get it through some rough times. It could always
count on a portion of the market to continue to buy Apple products and continue to upgrade
with Apple products. Despite (or perhaps due to) this loyalty, Apple has subjected its
customers to some decidedly anti-customer abuses.
The latest example of Apple bruising its customers is a doozy. Due to shortages of the
higher speed G4 processors, Apple speed reduced its entire line by 50 MHz and kept the
prices the same. On top of that, Apple unilaterally cancelled all outstanding G4 orders
with instructions that customers should reorder their systems. This has the net effect of
increasing everyone's cost for the same system.
Needless to say, this action produced a massive and immediate customer backlash. Based on
what I have seen on the net, this uproar lasted a few hours before Apple backed down and
started to rejoin reality. After about a day of total confusion and rampant rumors
followed by a week of small clarifications, Apple made right and reinstated all G4 orders
except the high end 500 MHz model. Those customers were offered the choice of purchasing
the "new" 450 MHz model at the original 450 MHz price, which is what should have
been done in the first place.
While it is possible for me to see some corporate logic behind the original decision,
never the less, this bright idea should not have left the meeting room where it was
hatched. It doesn't take an MBA (obviously) to predict the firestorm that was touched off
when this decision was implemented. The only positive thing I can see in this fiasco was
the speed at which corrective steps were implemented. The corporation responded to its
customer's will and proved somewhat nimble in the process.
Another recent example of Apple bruising was with AppleShare IP 6.2. Apple decided to
charge several hundred dollars for this upgrade (the previous being 6.1.) The only problem
was that aside from a few new features, it was mainly seen as a bug-fix and compatibility
upgrade for MacOS 8.6 (which itself was a free upgrade to 8.5.1.) You couldn't run ASIP
6.1 on 8.6 and you couldn't run the upgrade on 8.5. Again, the reaction was very
predictable: customer outrage. Apple listened to its customers and eventually made 6.2 a
free update to 6.1.
You may have also have heard about Apple purposefully preventing G3 owners from installing
G4 CPU upgrades with a firmware upgrade that officially solved another problem. People
were again outraged when the rumor was confirmed by all of the CPU upgrade companies. The
outrage keyed on false advertising and speculation that Apple released a Trojan horse.
There were unofficial rumors from anonymous Apple employees that this firmware block will
be removed with Mac OS 9. However, there has been no official word from Apple concerning
this issue. In the meantime, all the CPU upgrade companies have announced that they have
gotten around the block and that their respective upgrade will work fine when they ship.
While Apple has responded favorably to two of these examples, all of these misfires do
take a toll. Many people simply will not tolerate this sort of behavior from a major
corporation. A company simply cannot afford to make too many of these types of decisions
and still remain in business.
Ultimately what can be learned from these examples?
The perception of the "bottom-line" doesn't always coincide with the needs of
the consumer resulting in corporate mistakes of judgement. Some of them can be bad enough
to make the pages of the Laramie Daily Boomerang. I can't speculate on whether these bad
decisions were based on stupidity or on over estimating the loyalty of AppleÕs customers
or both. Apple has taken concrete steps in most of these cases to defuse the situation. As
long as Apple continues to admit that it is wrong and make things right immediately, I
will still tolerate being one of its customers.
Until next time. .
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Apple tried to block G3 owners from upgrading to G4. Nice guys.
PowerForce G4 ZIF
The PowerForce G4 ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) is the only G4 CPU upgrade you will want to
upgrade your "Beige" Power Mac G3, "G3 All-in-One" educational model,
Blue and White G3's and the Yikes Motherboard Graphite G4's. The PowerForce G4 ZIF is one
of the highest performance CPU products when used with "AltiVec enhanced"
software. Utilizing the second generation PowerPC 7410 processor ("G4") the
PowerForce G4 includes a full 1 megabyte of backside cache running at up to 220MHz.
G4 ZIF Upgrade vs. 800MHz G4 Apple: PowerForce ZIF G4 550/220/1MB Apple G4 733 Price $289
$1599
The Bottom Line: If you already have quite a bit invested in your Power Mac G3, it just
makes sense to upgrade the processor rather than opting for the new G4 systems from Apple.
Apple has finally eliminated all of the legacy ports with the removal of the ADB port on
the new G4 systems, not to mention the removal of the serial ports, and SCSI on the Blue
and White G3 systems. So the choice is clear. PowerLogix saves you hundreds of dollars
over the cost of buying a new system!
PowerLogix was the first to release a solution for the G4 ROM block for Blue and White
G3s.
=========
http://docs.info.apple.com/article2.html?artnum
TITLE Firmware Update: Firmware Updates 4.1.7 and Later May Disable Out-of-Spec
Third-Party RAM Article ID: Created: Modified: 60839 4/12/01 9/28/01
Read up. Apple is trying to make it harder and harder to use "out of spec"
hahahaha memory. Luckily www.crucial.com always works. But imagine, a firmware update that
DISABLES YOUR MEMORY.
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This is a good start (the buying public is sending a message to Apple, how do the intend
to GROW thier market share????????)
Apple profits halve in Q2
Jobs preducts flatness ahead
By INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 16 July 2002, 22:05
APPLE MADE A NET profit of $32 million for its third quarter, almost half the profit it
made in the same period last year, and turnover fell three per cent to $1.43 billion
compared to the quarter in 2001.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4467
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Funny, a BSD platform hanging in the balance because it fails an an MSFT VAR. Its not
BSDs
fault, trust me, its Apple.
Will Microsoft dump Mac support?
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4485
Two firms slag off each other
By INQUIRER staff: Wednesday 17 July 2002, 12:22
IS MICROSOFT CONTEMPLATING ditching support for Apple Macs?
That's the thrust of an article that appeared on Wininfo a day or two back, but if
Microsoft is getting out of the Mac market, it's not quite yet.
And all is not well in other respects, reports Mac Rumors, which has posted what it says
is an Apple FAQ saying people will have to pay for
Microsoft has already prepared a press release to time with the Macworld Expo saying
that
it has announced a Microsoft Office V.x "triple header", this being an
announcement which offers better mobility with Palm handheld for Entourage X, a way to
buy
Office v.X cheaper, and some Windows compatibility with the RDC client.
The Wininfo article, however, quotes Kevin Browne, who runs the Mac Business Unit at
Microsoft as saying Apple hasn't made much of an effort to promote Mac OSX, even though
there are opportunities.
He is quoted as saying that "if things don't dramatically turn round", it
might
be Goodnight Mr Chips for Steve Jobs firm.
But the same article says that Apple blames Microsoft for sales problems with Office
v.X.
Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates have traditionally had a somewhat strained relationship.
Is this the beginning of the beginning of the end between the two companies?
Wininfo.
Mac Rumors is providing a blow-by-blow account of what's happening at MacExpo on the
site
link above - it seems Apple may well announce support for Nforce 2, too.
On the Nvidia site, here, you'll see that Digital Vibrance Control is "currently
unavailable on Mac systems", which is more than just a hint, we guess.
*JOBS KICKS off MacWorld Expo at the Javitz Center at 09:00 Eastern time. There will be
a
live Webcast using Quicktime, natch, here.
When we remove the Negro and Mestizo numbers from American crime statistics, what do we find? We find that America has the lowest crime rate in the industrialized world. It is the Negro and Mestizo which skews that crime stats. America has a Negro problem, not a crime problem. The only solution is the expulsion of the Negro and Mestizo from America. Either ship the Negro back to Africa or seek a real technological final solution for the Negro problem.