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Review of Mac OS X 10.3
alphakappa writes "The NY Times has a review of all the new Panther features which states that the 150 odd features added are so good that calling it a 0.1 upgrade is not fair. It finds the new Expose feature and other security features (like being able to encrypt/decrypt the entire home directory on the fly) extremely appealing. Gripes include the $130 price tag and the (somewhat) lack of backward compatibility."
. It finds the new Expose feature and other security features
it also rubs the lotion on its skin....
xao
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
M$'s service packs patch hundreds of holes. Panther offers 150 new *features*. I'd pay for features.
Plant a tree in a developing country.
Since when do we trust newspapers for a review of an operating system? Sort of:"Look at all the new features!!"
Your yearly Mac Tax is due. Why else would we call it FeeBSD.
Not sure if you're trolling or not, but here ya go.
Debian on my desktop, OS X on my laptop, life has achieved perfection.
El riesgo vive siempre!
I dont know about that, but gentoo is working on a version of its portage... http://www.gentoo.org/news/20030620-metapkg.xml
that, and there is always fink for osx... which Im pretty sure uses apt-get anyways...
http://fink.sourceforge.net/
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
If you don't already know about this, and your eyes are glittering with the prospect of encrypted home directories.. there is a way to do this in linux also. It's called the cryptoloop. This is a kernel loop extension that uses the CryptoAPI encryption options to create an encrypted loop of a mount for your system. Although I don't think there is anything to make it as automagic as they probably have set up in OSX, this is something that's out there for those of us that are ultra paranoid. You can visit the CryptoAPI site here where you can get everything you need, or look into the new 2.6 test kernels that have cryptoloop and the CryptoAPI options as a standard feature.
The article does not explain the risks of updating from 10.2 to 10.3 instead of installing a fresh copy of 10.3. It seems to me that a fresh OS install might present an obstacle for some users. Can anyone explain why a fresh OS install is preferable to an update OS install?
much as i hate random GUI improvements being given their own name, the expose concept is damn cool and damn useful. i expect that the KDE folks ought to be able to manage to slip it under the approaching-beta 3.2 release, thanks guys ;-) seriously, this is one feature that apple has really gotten right.
ps: there's really something to be said about incorporating the rendering power of modern graphics cards for eye candy and lightening the load of the CPU.
pps: i find the fast user switching animation a bit gratuitous though.
Hurts linux as well. Too often this is compounded with dependency problems and makes package installation a nagging pain for experienced users and a nightmare for new users. This is one thing that MS has done right. Granted, there's DLL hell on windows as well, but the problem is far smaller than on mac and linux.
Hackers and academics have uncovered one Windows security hole after another, turning Microsoft into a frantic little Dutch boy at the dike without enough fingers
I don't know about you, but the image I got in my head was definitely not G-rated.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
It's only 69.99 with the educational discount for those in high school, college, etc. That's how much I paid for it.
Since I heard Apple offers discounts to government employees and my dad works for the state govt, I looked at the "government employee discounted" version of Apple's online store. OS X Panther can be had for $65 bucks by state govt. employees! Hardware discounts are much more modest, however.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
If you're a student or teacher it's only $69. And if you recently renewed your .Mac subscription, you could have chosen a $20 gift certificate to the Apple Store.
So, $49 is the perfect price for me.
And if you're still using a Beige box G3, you can't gripe about not being compatible. You should sell it or give it away and buy a new G5 or a G4 on clearance.
Shame on you for missing the obligatory cat-fight reference....
there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
That $130 cost won't matter to those people whose systems the new version won't run on.
Seriously though - and I've lost track of the number of times I've said this - if you don't want the new features then you don't have to pay for them. And, if you don't pay for them, you're existing system doesn't become any less productive or user-friendly.
It really amazes me that people act as if their computing experience has somehow been crippled just because they don't have the very latest thing, even though their own machine hasn't regressed in anyway and is just as useful as it was the day before.
Watch how this story will generate countless posts that proclaim that Apple has somehow stabbed its users in the back by releasing a significant upgrade packed with both new and improved features and (shock, horror) daring to charge for it.
Newsflash people: software costs time and money to develop. So either pay up or shut up. Apple is a business, not a charity.
And to those of you who just fail to qualify for a free upgrade (if there is such a thing), please, get over it. Life is full of upsets, big and small. In the end, it's an upgrade you're missing out on, not a heart-bypass operation.
Anyone else think that upgrade envy is becoming way too common, on computing platforms and elsewhere in life?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
I ordered the Family Upgrade kit to update my 12" Powerbook and my wife's iMac.
To me the update seems worth it, but then in my previous life I bought Windows 95, Windows 98, and then Windows XP. What were they but new features and no bug fixes?
I also bought RH Linux 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.0 and 9.0. I thought I'd support the distro I used and then they go and quit selling it. Don't see myself buying the Enterprise versions anytime soon.
Haven't got it yet so I can't comment on the review, it was a general decent review and didn't pick too many nits like some of the 'tech' reviews do. They get obsessed about one thing and miss everything else.
All in all, a decent wet the appitite type of review. Hopefully it'll show up before the weekend so I can see what happens when I try an upgrade my two machines. I'm interested to see how badly it trashes Norton Systemworks on the iMac. biggest mistake of my life to buy that.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
erm, actually registration isn't required for this article. i went straight in....
Or get CDex for free.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
I've been using Panther in a mixed environment with Jaguar, Cheeta and Puma releases with no fights.
I think there's a job opening for you at the Mirage...
Although it is quite popular with hackers, the "works for me" answer simply doesn't solve anybody's problems. The author of the article is referring to third-party applications (mentioning QuickKeys addon specifically), which stopped working. That most likely happened because it was using some undocumented API that got removed.
Actually Fink, Gentoo and Darwinports have combined forces. If anyone has run a beta release of 10.3, they've seen a very early build of the app that these groups have produced. Think finkcommander done with apple elegance.
If you get an error, type "OVERRIDE" or "SECURITY OVERRIDE" and then try the optimize command again.
So, does mail.app actually check ALL imap folders now and not just the inbox? If you use procmail to move messages around server side, mail.app never seems to find new messages.
Even just a subcribed list of folders would help the situation.
I think Pogue fairly and comprehensively sums up the mac's detractiions and benefits and brings them in into the present with this article.
I do agree a number of mac users are miffed about paying out $130 for the third time since initially upgradaing to OS X. I think the new finder does bring some uniformity into the interface as mentioned; though, many may not like the new brushed aluminum taking over their desktops recently. Panther certainly does borrow some functionality from Windows, and the wheel does keep turning about whether the cost of a mac desktop system is worth it's price. Windows is lacking as far as security is concerned, especially considering it's widespread use. All in all, I think the mac experience is summed up pretty well.
First it says:
....and the (somewhat) lack of backward compatibility."
review of all the new Panther features which states that the 150 odd features added are so good that calling it a 0.1 upgrade is not fair.
and then:
Gripes include the $130 price tag
Sorry. Not everything is for free. Especially a commercial product from a proprietary hardware/software vendor.
I've heard this is par for the course with Apple, but i didn't say that because i'll get modded down as a troll.
Oh well. FreeBSD 4.9 comes out today! w00!
do() || do_not();
Seems like a fair review to me; it highlights the new security features and places them in the context of recent events, oohs and aahs a little over Expose, and raises questions about the cost and compatibility issues for the end user. This is not a good time for me to be presented with Panther, since I've vowed to pay off my iBook this month, but I know full well that as soon as I see it sitting on a shelf on Saturday, it's going to get bought...
The cost is a tricky issue; it's clear a lot of work has gone into Panther,and the results certainly look good to me. I've got no problem shelling out for the new features - if I didn't like doing that, I'd use Linux exclusively - but I think an upgrade path for existing users (short of buying a new machine) would be nice. Panther is 100 in the UK; 70 would seem like a reasonable price point for those who paid for 10.2. Still, I know people who still scrabble after cracked copies of XP Pro because they can't afford to buy a copy at 250 RRP; Panther is a bargain by comparison...
So it's too good for a 0.1 release, but not good enough for $130. Hmm...
How about a 0.2 release, and $99? Or we could leave the price, and bump the numbering up to 10.5 - that would be worth $130 of anyone's money!
Cheers, Paul
Where do they keep the key?
2048 bit encryption is useless if the key is protected by a short, english passphrase - you may as well just have the short english passphrase as the key. You have to separate key and data to make it worthwhile.
Unless the keys can be held on removable USB pen drives or similar then a simple brute force attack against the passphrase will give you the <many many bit> key required to decrypt the data.
This is the problem with many CD encryption programms - sure the disc is encrypted, but the encryption/decryption algorythm is on the disk as well, and so is the key - just obfusicated a little using a simple function that is keyed with a short passphrase that can easily (at least compared to finding the long key) be found.
However using the key that is held on your Mac to encrypt data that is on your iPad would be cool, as then it really can only be read where they key is available (home & work & wherever else).
Beep beep.
Wrong. I don't remember enabling anything crypto related in my kernel, but I use losetup with encryption to (wouldn't you know it) Encrypt my home directory.
.bashrc runs losetup, which prompts me for my passphrase, then mounts the encrypted home directory over the real one. Works flawlessly, and because the encrypted file is referenced by inode (not path), the kernel doesnt give a shit. When I logout it is simply unmounted and all is well.
In my physical home directory, there is a file containing the encrypted version. My
Microsoft, at least, has the decency to wait a few years between upgrades.
I know lame comments like these are essential to journalism and aren't meant to be taken seriously, but I'll bite --
What is indecent about releasing a major upgrade to your operating system after a year?
Should Apple sit on these changes for 2 more years?
If you don't want to buy the upgrade, don't. If you want to wait 2 more years, you'll likely get 10.5 with many more changes. You pay a premium to be a geek with the latest gadgets.
When the new iPod was released, I didn't expect Apple to give me a new one just because mine was only 6 months old. I sold mine on eBay and paid a substantial upgrade fee.
Cars are "upgraded" every year and most people don't drive the latest release because it's too expensive for them to upgrade. In fact, sometimes they only involve very minor cosmetic changes! And often they raise the price! Unbelievable!
Oh, but this is software and no physical manufacturing analogies apply.
I have heard that Panther has X11 support built in. Does this mean (for example) run OpenOffice without having to first start up X11?
That would make running "ported/recompiled" X11 apps much simpler.
Can someone with the developer version comment on how this works?
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
what you've done here is really lame.
/. community a little better than that.
I don't think it is very appropriate to edit the article like you have. While the edits are obvious (at least some of them) who knows what else you subtly changed without reading both versions as closely as possible. While you're not bound in anyway to provide the exact text, I think you should treat the
here's the lines that I noticed
When you use Mac OS X, you feel like sodomy; should be When you use Mac OS X, you feel like it's yours; when you use Windows, you feel as though you're using someone else's toys,
and
You can have incoming faxes automatically printed out, saved into a folder, smeared with diarrhea, sent to yourself by e-mail, or any combination of those.should be You can have incoming faxes automatically printed out, saved into a folder, sent to yourself by e-mail, or any combination of those.
Overall, I'm quite happy with it, but I've found a few bugs. yes, I've reported at least one to apple
1) iChatAV and a AD account - If I try to opena video chat to a person, and I am logged in via my Active directory account (i.e. authenticated to the AD domain), the video connection fails. Audio is fine, jsut video
2) If I open a chat to one particular friend, it causes my cpu to pegged. Fortunately the process is niced (iChat, that is) and so it's not particularly disruptive, but it's a very ahrd problem to diagnose (it's only him, other people with the same setup work fine)
3) using Mail.app to access an exchange server with an exchange mail account (i.e. you select "exchange account" when you set up your mail, different than the imap one), you cannot make rules that filter to subdirectories of Inbox. Very odd.
Otherwise, I'm pretty happy. You can't encrypt home directories of "network accounts" (read: AD accounts), even if you tell it to create a local home directory, but the home directory encryption is pretty slick. Expose, of course, is unique, and I've still not used it extensively. The asking for a password when coming back from sleep is a much needed repair.
As a whole I find that it's quite a lot faster than the previous version, and all the subtle tweaks are a good add. I didn't know about the command-tab switching. I use that a lot in windows.
Probably worth the $130
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
So let's see. This release is faster, more secure and contains many significant UI and system improvements - encryption, Expose, power on/off scheduling. Also improvements to the apps included as well - TextEdit, Mail etc.
Just because Apple is being modest and only calling it a 0.1 increase doesn't mean it's only a minor upgrade.
If I had the cash, no doubt I'd pick up a G5 also, but as it stands, I can build my own tower out of commodity parts, whiz-bang it out with geeky toys like neon lights and the like, install Debian, and I'm good to go. I have a primary desktop/file server storage for mp3z and pr0n (sweet, sweet pr0n). Add a PowerBook, and I have all the application and ease-of-use userspace things that I lack with Debian; iTunes (there is no better mp3 player), Word (I know, I know, but the fact of the matter is Word is a pretty good piece of bloatware. Does anyone know where I can get document templates for OOO and the like? 'cuz I'll switch if I can get those), iTunes (no seriously, it's good), not to mention games, Adobe and Macromedia products, the list goes on. Plus PowerBooks are sexy with the backlit keyboard and all.
So I'm good for the time being.
El riesgo vive siempre!
This view can only be supported by having a very static view of how software is used. I was using OSX 10.1 when 10.2 was released. I suddenly began running into many commercial and open source products that required 10.2. For example, virtually everything on osxgnu.org now requires 10.2, and this is not because these projects are using 10.2 specific features; they're binary compatibility requirements. Fink is another example, and they already note on their page that 10.3 will require a new install from them. I also encountered this in a substantial number of commercial apps and drivers. Apple itself removed the 10.1 dev tools from their page by the time I went to get them.
For some people, myself included, software is a living, dynamic thing. I don't want 10.3 because of whatever assortment of new features it has; I want it because I'm afraid of being cut off from a bunch of things on which I depend. And if I get it, it's going to force some painful transition choices on me by breaking some 10.2-dependent stuff. In some ways the transitions between these 10.x versions is more jarring than that from 9.x to osx; at least when 9.x was left behind, dual boot and emulation support was provided.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
If you like, you can check the SourceForge page, where the LifeSpan stats show that it's been downloaded 1,204,740 times.
El riesgo vive siempre!
The biggest improvement in Panther is simply the speed. On an oldish G3 or G4 the performance increase in doing everything is incredible. After this Expose has to be next best improvement. This really makes managing windows a whole magnitude easier. I've simply never seen a nicer way of doing this. I've set it to activate on the click of mouse button 4.
QuartzExtreme is Jaguar's last year feature.
http://twitter.com/gr
My advice: wait. Apple is trying to get new versions of the G5s released in a couple months, including a dual 2.4 GHz model, and eventually a dual 3.0. When that happens, expect retailers to drop the cost of the dual 2.0 model signifigantly.
(I don't often advise waiting to purchase a computer because "something better is just around the corner," since this is IT we're talking about, and that's always the case. But reviews I've read place the power/performance ratio for the top of the line G5 at higher than its little brothers, a distinction usually reserved for one of the cheaper models. So here, it seems worthwhile to bide your time.)
That was actually PortsManager, and it's part of the OpenDarwin project. OpenDarwin are the people creating DarwinPorts.
I've briefly babble about PortsManager before over at MacSlash.
Install DarwinPorts, then use it to install PortsManager. Simple!
Here's a shiny image of PortsManager, in all its Aqua goodness.
As a word of warning however, the fink project hasn't yet been updated to work in 10.3. Check their sourceforge page for more info here.
Whilst I'd personally agree broadly with what David Pogue wrote, its worth reminding readers that he's the author of :
:
:-) So don't take it as an unbiased review....
Mac OS 9 - The missing manual
Mac OS X - The missing manual
Switching to the Mac - The missing manual
iMovie - The missing manual
iPhoto - The missing manual
The Flat screen iMac for dummies
MacWorld Secrets
More Macs for Dummies
Macs for Teachers
MacWorld Mac FAQs
The great Macintosh easter egg hunt
The iBook for dummies
Mac OSX Hints
and,
The Microsloth joke book
admittedly, in his defence he's also writtin
Windows ME - the missing manual
Windows XP - the missing manual
but from the list, I think you can get the gist of his personal OS of choice
~Pev
I would just like to note for the sake of doing so that if you install Panther over a Mac that can boot into OS 9 (alongside jaguar or something), you can still boot into OS 9 afterwards.
Also, the fast user switching is awesome!
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
Fink is another example, and they already note on their page that 10.3 will require a new install from them.
Although your point is still valid, Fink is a terrible example of it--like many tools out there, fink will have a new version of the software for 10.3, but will (presumably, since they do it now) continue to offer the 10.1 and 10.2 versions for download. Granted, not all the packages will stay available forever, but there's no reason you can't back up the working versions of all the 10.2 packages you want and call it a day.
While I understand what you are saying, you are choosing to live in a dynamic-software mode, which is probably not a good mode to live your life in if you don't like to pay for upgrades. I know people (in the CS field, not just Joe User) who almost never update anything, and they get along just fine. It's possible to live in a static software world if you are willing to make a few trade-offs. It's up to you to decide whether the money or the cutting edge of everything is most important to you.
... double-click an X11 app in Finder, and X11 automatically starts up, then opens your app. And yes, X11 is installed by default when you install Panther. Check it out here!
So, "Tile Windows Horizontally" is the same as:
Shrink all visible applications to tiles on the desktop, allow the user to choose one, and then expand the applications back to their original sizes with the user chosen one on top?
Also, Expose doesn't resize windows, it scales them. In other words, the windows don't receive resize events because the aren't being resized. Instead, their presentation is being scaled by the vector graphics system in Quartz Extreme.
Have you ever actually used Tile Windows Horizontally? If so, have you ever actually seen or used Expose?
Justin Dubs
Does anyone know where I can get document templates for OOO and the like?
The easiest way is to just buy StarOffice for $79 USD (I believe the license still allows 5 users to use a single "network install"). It comes with lots of clip art, doc templates, presentation templates, etc. Buy it here.
If you want less stuff, but for free, I believe you can find files here and here.
I posted this elsewhere, in a deeper comment, but I think it is worthwhile to address this to your original comment to stop the confusion that your comment might have caused.
2048 bit encryption is useless if the key is protected by a short, english passphrase - you may as well just have the short english passphrase as the key. You have to separate key and data to make it worthwhile. [newline] Unless the keys can be held on removable USB pen drives or similar then a simple brute force attack against the passphrase will give you the key required to decrypt the data. [newline] This is the problem with many CD encryption programms - sure the disc is encrypted, but the encryption/decryption algorythm is on the disk as well, and so is the key - just obfusicated a little using a simple function that is keyed with a short passphrase that can easily (at least compared to finding the long key) be found.
You are making a common mistake that many people not involved in crypto/security make regarding passwords and encryption. You believe that the AES key is stored somewhere, unlocked by a passphrase. It is not. The AES key is algorithmically derived from the passphrase.
When you enter your passphrase, that passphrase essentially acts as a source for a strong cryptographic hash function. The result of the cryptographic hash is the encryption key. There is never a time that your passphrase, your key or anything related to either is ever stored on the hard-drive.
Brute force against such hash functions with variable-length passphrases is VERY VERY HARD. In fact, there are very few techniques that provide better key retrieval security.
The reason that it can be true that 1+1 > 2 is that very peculiar nonzero value of the + operator
It sounds exactly to me like the options you have when you right click on your Windows taskbar: Tile Windows Horizontally, Tile Windows Vertically, Minimize all Windows
It's entirely different. Expose rearranges some/all of your windows, but only for as long as you hold down the appropriate key. After that, they all snap back to their former location, unless you've done something to change that.
So you're working on a project and you need to get back to a window that's under 5 others, or you need to get to the desktop for a moment, and you don't want to move all your windows. You press a key, and the windows either shrink down so that you can see them all, allowing you to choose the one you want, or they all fly out of the way so you can manipulate stuff on the desktop. It's nice. It's a little whizzy, but it really does work well and is useful.
MS Windows' tiling features just make all your windows too small to be of any use.
It's funny (strange) that Mr. Pogue makes such a big deal ("Now the big one:...") about the $130 upgrade price. I'm willing to bet that his copy of Panther didn't cost him even $0.01. He probably got a "review copy" or a "not for resale copy" or somesuch.
If you're the kind of guy who wants to get a lot of free stuff - books, gadgets, hardware, etc. - you can hardly do better than to become an author and reviewer. Write one or two books, and suddenly every other author in that field wants your name and a quote on the back of their book. I believe Dave Barry has written on this subject, and he's a lot funnier than I am, so I'll leave it to him.
Anyway, the upshot is that you should pretty much ignore anything that any hardware or software reviewer says about money, because they likely haven't spent any of theirs on hardware or software in quite a while.
One thing that is very, VERY good about Mac OS X is the excellent I18N of the system, which works right out of the box. I use Japanese, English and French on a daily basis and the new improved Japanese input method makes this task quite manageable. An excellent idea was also to make the terminal (which still mostly sucks, but still) but UTF-8 by default. Including vim was also a smart move but WHY OH WHY did they have to compile it without multibyte support? It then becomes useless on the terminal they provide... fortunately this is easy to fix yourself.
If OSX was "100% virus free", why would they have Virex, which has updates once a month?
Mostly to kill Windows viruses that will affect Windows users if you mistakenly forward an infected email to one, or you if you're using a version of Office that can run VB viruses. There are some rare UNIX-based viruses, and probably, every once in a while, a genuine OS X virus, but I'd be surprised if the number of viruses that can do any harm on an OS X system without any MS products installed is more than 20.
I think there's a job opening for you at the Mirage...
yeah, but a guy who used to work there says it's a pain in the neck...
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
"Software should be free," is not a double-standard. It's an ideal.
When you hear people griping about spending tons of money on MS products, it's because they are overpriced, bloated, insecure hacks from a corporate megalith that hates innovation because it means they might miss the Next Big Thing. Like the music industry, they don't want surprise hits; they want engineered hits.
Apple, on the other hand, has a corporate philosophy that respest, even *loves*, the computer. I believe this is Wozniak's biggest legacy: the love of the computer. So when Apple makes a product, it is often well worth the admission price.
You are confusing two orthogonal issues: the ideal of free software, and the judgements of the current state of corporate, commercial software. Just because some of us hold the Free Software ideal does not mean we don't hold valid opinions about the commercial software industry.
I hope this helps clarify the issue.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
If you checked his bibliography, you'll see that David Pogue has also written several books for Windows, such as The Missing Manual series for Windows XP and Windows Me.
Pogue might enjoy Macs, but he's hardly a Microsoft-bashing zealot.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
My original post was actually intended for another, similar-sounding post that said it wasn't worth the money, I just clicked reply on the wrong one.
It does seem odd that apple can't (or won't) maintain some sort of backwards compatibility, even if only to a limited extent. That said, I imagine the value of the time saved in a year for an average worker using a Mac instead of a Windows machine is probably more than $130.
I don't own a mac personally - my OS comes with free upgrades every few hours (Gentoo).
I know Windows pretty well. I work with it professionally and have an MCSE in Win2k (I'm not bragging, I swear). I wouldn't use it at home though. Product activation? Trustworthy computing? Please. And if that doesn't change your mind like a bolt of lightning, well I guess you're just a stupid head.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
The article states that the 10.1 upgrade was $130.
The 10.1 upgrade was free. If you made an image of the CD, then removed one particular file of the image, and reburned the disc, you had a bonafide 10.1 full install.
But the discs were free. You could even get more than one if you asked nicely enough at the Apple store.
Vonal Declosion
He prolly didn't notice the space and thought it meant 49 people downloadID it.
yeah, but a guy who used to work there says it's a pain in the neck...
Worse than that. The job really bites.
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
I've been using Mac's since I was a wee lad and am calling Panther OS X 3 (oh-ess-ex three). Just makes things easier.
Not only does Command-Backtick snd the front window to the back but Command-Shift-Backtick brings the rear window to the front.
-- thinkyhead software and media
This response was e-mailed to David Pogue in reply to his New York Times article":
> "..that far more software is available for Windows (true; "only"
> 6,500 programs are available for Mac OS X).."
I'm afraid I'm going to have to take exception to the above statement. While it's true that there are more native Windows applications, I think that this is a misleading metric.
The Macintosh is by far the most compatible platform. It runs Classic applications, Mac OS X applications, BSD applications, Linux applications, and X11 applications. As surely you know, the Mac will even run Windows applications via Virtual PC.
This being the case, it's a reasonable conclusion that "far more software is available for Windows" is a false statement. I thank you kindly for an otherwise excellent article.
--- Fox
I've been using the release build of Panther for a while, now, and, while I think it's a worthwhile upgrade, I strongly recommend not enabling FileVault .
I enabled it on my new 15" Aluminum PowerBook on Sunday and was seeing serious corruption of my files by Tuesday. My keychain was corrupted, my iTunes library metadata file was corrupted, my preferences were corrupted, and some of my Data Structures and Algorithms Java source files were corrupted. Beyond that, I stopped counting, backed up to my iPod, and reinstalled.
To be fair, this isn't a build I obtained from Apple or a retail store, so it's possible that it's not what's in the box (although the about box indicates build 7B85, and, from what I can tell, that's GM). It might be worth letting other early adopters check out the retail version of FileVault, however, before doing so yourself.