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Leopard Upgraders Getting "Blue Screen of Death"

Z80xxc! writes "Some Mac users upgrading to Apple's new Leopard operating system are encountering long delays on reboot — an experience they liken to the Windows 'Blue Screen of Death.' While some of those upgrading were able to access their computer after waiting for as long as several hours, others were forced to do a complete reinstall. Some suspect that a framework called 'Application Enhancer' by Unsanity LLC may be causing the problem, but there has been no official word from Apple at this point."

542 comments

  1. Archive and install by sagefire.org · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Archive and install!

    It's the safest way to upgrade. Yes, it's less convenient, but way better than finding out that some 3rd party tweak is not compatible the hard way...

    1. Re:Archive and install by anethema · · Score: 0

      Describe this 'archive' you speak of. Do you mean just burning whatever files you want or do macs have a way of saving applications properly etc.

      --


      It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
    2. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      There have been plenty of issues with archive and install as well. Just backup your home directory to that lovely new HD you got for time machine, and then unplug it and Erase and Install Leopard. I had no issues.

      Then restore the data from the backup drive, erase the backup drive and then you can turn on time machine.

      See, those years of doing Windows upgrades finally paid off for something :P

      Or, if you actually get the blue screen:

      1. Reboot into single-user mode (hold Cmd-S while booting machine)
      2. Follow the directions OSX gives you when you get to the prompt (I think these were them - just type the two commands it tells you to):
      fsck -fy /
      3. Remove the following files:
      rm -rf /Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane
      rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework
      rm -rf /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle
      rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist
      4. Exit, to continue booting normally
      exit

      Via: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1195031&tstart=0

    3. Re:Archive and install by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are three options on any Mac OS install

        - Plain old upgrade. Just lays down the new OS on top of the old one

        - Archive and install. Takes a backup of your current stuff, lays down a clean OS, and recovers your stuff from the backup it made

        - Erase and install. Erases the disk/partition, and installs the OS.

      (2) or (3) are the best option. I use (3) because my home directory is on a different disk to my boot disk, and I did that on purpose so I could do nice clean installs. (2) works well too though.

      --
      Physicists get Hadrons!
    4. Re:Archive and install by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Informative

      On macs apps are self contained entities (normally) thus archiving means moving all the apps out of the application folder and into another folder. You can then at your leisure drag them back one by one.
      It also moves all your preference settings and fonts to another folder, and cleans out the startup items list. (fonts and preferences are the only two things that normally leak beyond the app container (there's a few other exceptions for special apps, but as a rule installing an app does not barf all over your computer with DLLs and Registry hooks. On macs, the OS polls the App in Applications folder for its capabilities and files it likes to open, so the app does not need to modify a registry. as a result unistalls are normally as simple as dragging the app out of the application folder.

      So after an archive and install you drag back the things you want to keep. The only hassle is sometimes you need to look for the associated preference setting which is where most apps store their activation key.

      A few non apple apps behave linux like and shove things into /usr/local/bin or libs or /share/man. So restoring those takes a bit more work. But on the otherhand those are exactly the kind of Cruft you want to blow out between major system updates. So archive and install is the way to go in previous updates

      Rumor was that apple worked hard to make the non-archive and install mode (update) smart enough to remove all the bad crap and leave the okay crap. Apparently not!

      But if it is APE then well then that's kinda understandable its the singlemost invasive kernel mod of all.

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    5. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, how the hell is this offtopic? Mods, put down the crack pipe.

    6. Re:Archive and install by caluml · · Score: 0

      No point re-partitioning and/or re-formatting unless your partition table or your filesystem is b0rked.

    7. Re:Archive and install by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, yeah, you expect Aunt Tillie to be able to do that? All these command-line fixes just show how Mac OS X is not yet ready for the desktop, and how Linux is superior because "it just works." ;)

      (Laugh. It's funny.)

    8. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      I use (3) because my home directory is on a different disk to my boot disk, and I did that on purpose so I could do nice clean installs. (2) works well too though.

      But don't you have to then reinstall all of your apps? That's like Win98 logic.

    9. Re:Archive and install by bitserf · · Score: 1

      This is what I did and I still encountered the blue screen.

    10. Re:Archive and install by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      There are three options on any Mac OS install

      Just to clarify a bit, Most OSes have the same options.

      Windows has the same three options: 'Upgrade' 'Clean Install with Everything Backed up in Old Folder' 'Clean Install Wiping Drive'.

    11. Re:Archive and install by sgant · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's the way I did it. Took about 25 minutes to install everything and I was back up and running with no problems.

      The only thing I've changed is the 3D dock to a 2D dock. It looks nicer...even nicer than the old dock. I'm one of the few it seems to really like the new Stacks feature, but I understand the gripes of others that used nested folders (I never did). I love the new Finder and Spotlight...even though I'll still be using Quicksilver. Spaces is useful for me so far. All my applications are up and running with no problems.

      The new Mail and Safari are VERY fast. Opening Mail now is instant now. Again, another "feeling" description: everything feels faster. I know, there's really no way to quantify that statement, but Leopard does seem to have sped up my system.

      But hey, there are always problems in upgrading an OS. Does anyone remember when Apple came out with Tiger? Everyone was coming out of the woodwork saying "I'm sticking with Panther".

      --

      "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
    12. Re:Archive and install by Lars+T. · · Score: 4, Informative

      I use (3) because my home directory is on a different disk to my boot disk, and I did that on purpose so I could do nice clean installs. (2) works well too though.

      But don't you have to then reinstall all of your apps? That's like Win98 logic.

      Why would he - this is a Mac, not Windows.
      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    13. Re:Archive and install by shawnce · · Score: 4, Informative

      Safer to do the following given the spaces in the paths (or escape the spaces in the path using \)...

      3. Remove the following files:
      rm -rf "/Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane"
      rm -rf "/Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework"
      rm -rf "/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle"
      rm -rf "/Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist"

    14. Re:Archive and install by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Like most problems of society, drug use is not likely the cause of the above errant moderation.

      I get mod points quite often and I've fucked up applying them a few times. Each time it was related to the fact that the current UI for moderating is drop down menu (which is just fine) that applies whatever moderation is selected immediately upon being clicked (no fine). This would be halfway fine if there were some means to un-mod a post, or at least re-mod it, but there is not.If my mouse pointer is off slightly when I click an item in the list I'll have applied the wrong moderation and can do nothing about it.

      This is obviously dumb. I don't want to be bothered like I'm using Windows, but some things involving user selections on a computer need either a confirmation step that is distinct from the selection or have a Back button.

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
    15. Re:Archive and install by TheSkyIsPurple · · Score: 1

      Yeah... see how easy it is move your Photoshop install from one machine to another =-)

    16. Re:Archive and install by fbartho · · Score: 1, Insightful

      For 80-90% of Applications, "Install" = drag and drop a folder into your main applications folder (and its not even neccessarily required, just convenient to have the app icon with all the others) for the remaining applications, they are either extremely large (maybe it needs to install system daemons or services for all applications to use), or are installing many more than just one application at a time (assuming it's just not poorly coded). These applications usually come bundled in a diskimage (.dmg) which is essentially a zip file that the OS can do some interesting things with. Inside that they either let you drag the application bundles to your application folder (the drag and drop mentioned above), or they have a small installer, that has the ability to verify services are up to required minimums in addition to copying several files at once. Adobe CS3 has an installer app for this reason, it ends up installing several applications at once, as well as verifying many other things, and providing common resources.

      I just have a download partition where I keep everything I get off the web, to reinstall all my apps, assuming totally clean reinstall, it takes about 15 minutes, I run down the list clicking the dmg of each program I want, then I have one window on my applications folder, and cascade down through the windows for the contents of each dmg, drag my apps over, and close each window 1 by 1, finally unmount. 5 minutes for that, and the remaining 10 minutes for CS3 :P

      --
      Gravity Sucks
    17. Re:Archive and install by UncleTogie · · Score: 1

      Each time it was related to the fact that the current UI for moderating is drop down menu (which is just fine) that applies whatever moderation is selected immediately upon being clicked (no fine).

      How recent is this? Last I moderated, the choices were pull-down, but the "Moderate" button at the bottom of the page still needed to be clicked for the points to subtract.

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
    18. Re:Archive and install by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      I'm not aware of any option to do a clean install moving stuff out of the way first in the windows XP or vista installers. I guess you could do it manually using a livecd or similar but thats not the same thing as the option being actually there in the installer.

      Also I don't think windows has any easy way to backup/restore the users settings.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    19. Re:Archive and install by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      I'm not aware of any option to do a clean install moving stuff out of the way first in the windows XP or vista installers

      Tell it Clean Install, select the existing OS partition, and tell it to leave the FS intact. The contents are moved to folder called 'Windows.old'

    20. Re:Archive and install by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Wow, what a terrible idea. It's like WinXP logic for font installing- Explorer is consistent _except_ for the font folder which calls the font register-er when you drop files into it. Finder is consistent _except_ for the applications folder which installs system services and processes scripts every time you drop a dmg into it. Hm.

    21. Re:Archive and install by Corwn+of+Amber · · Score: 0

      WARNING : FLAMEBAIT

      Isn't this bug due to that nasty Intel architecture?

      --
      Making laws based on opinions that stem up from false informations leads to witch hunts.
    22. Re:Archive and install by TheBig1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ummm... no. Please don't flame until you know what the heck you are talking about.

      When you drag an application from a disk image to anywhere on the system, Apple's launch services register the application, based on the configuration within the application bundle. It has nothing to do with the /Applications folder - you can drag to your desktop if you want, and it will work the same way.

    23. Re:Archive and install by iluvcapra · · Score: 2, Informative

      But don't you have to then reinstall all of your apps? That's like Win98 logic.

      He probably has all of his vendor applications in ~/Applications, or /Shared/Applications, which are on the partition he's keeping alive.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    24. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I've never found an app that I couldn't easily scoop up and move to a new machine.

      1) Grab application or directory off /Applications and drag to other computer
      2) Grab plists from ~/Library/Preferences
      3) Copy any related resources from /Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Application Support
      4) Check in /Library/StartupItems and ~/Library/StartupItems for any related startup items

      About 90% of applications are fully migrated after step 1)

      This doesn't cover drivers or other wierdness like PreferencePanes, but those are usually stand alone files that can be copied over.

    25. Re:Archive and install by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      What about other fixed folders that are tied into your windows install like "documents and settings" and "program files".

      I remember in the 9x days you could install windows to a new folder on an existing partition but program files would be kept which could be a pain sometimes (broken apps from the old install mixed in with apps from the new install).

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    26. Re:Archive and install by TrickyNik2004 · · Score: 1

      I agree about the Dock. The 3D look is nice enough, but it has too much going on visually. I also changed to the new 2d look and I think it is better. Just simpler and it does look a little more professional than the last one. If anyone wants to change to the old style (Apple doesnt make it an option in the GUI), this command will fix you. Type this in the terminal. defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

    27. Re:Archive and install by porkchop_d_clown · · Score: 1

      Finder is consistent _except_ for the applications folder which installs system services and processes scripts every time you drop a dmg into it. Hm.

      There's an odd concept. Why would end-user applications need to install system services or "processes scripts"?

      I bet you think you have to reboot after installing an application, too.

    28. Re:Archive and install by TheSkyIsPurple · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's hardly a quick/easy operation, which is what was implied by GP.

      What you wrote above, I can apply to Windows just about as well.

      I can usually copy the Program's directory, fish out the major Registry entries, and for some of the more complicated programs fish out their DLLs pretty easily.

      The only time I really run into trouble is with certain pieces of software that actually fingerprint the machine during install

    29. Re:Archive and install by porkchop_d_clown · · Score: 1

      You must not be using the new comment system.

    30. Re:Archive and install by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      Do you even know what a "home directory" is?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    31. Re:Archive and install by cyberworm · · Score: 1

      Don't forget to ask for a receipt

    32. Re:Archive and install by steeviant · · Score: 4, Informative

      " Wow, what a terrible idea. It's like WinXP logic for font installing- Explorer is consistent _except_ for the font folder which calls the font register-er when you drop files into it. Finder is consistent _except_ for the applications folder which installs system services and processes scripts every time you drop a dmg into it. Hm. "

      If you're going to criticize something it helps if you have the slightest clue what you're talking about. Try actually using a Mac sometime, you might be pleasantly surprised.

      There's nothing special about the /Applications directory, no special installation magic goes on when you drag an application from one disk to another. The application itself is basically a special kind of folder which contains all of the resources and even extra libraries required for it to function, this avoids the need to use an installer at all in most cases because most of the resources reqired for the application are in the application.

      By contrast, Windows applications have a tendency to sprawl over the hard drive, copying things into shared system-wide resource directories because that is how a library is registered in the windows world. The windows start menu is used to cut through what would otherwise be a very cluttered place, the "\Program Files" directory.

      On the Mac the equivalent, "/Applications" contains the actual application in it's entirety. Again; in contrast linking applications into the Start Menu is one of the many functions of an installer in Windows. Without installers you wouldn't have any idea where the application went and would have to navigate the troubled waters of "\Program Files" alone.

      The other magic usually handled by installers in Windows happens when you first load an application, at which point it exchanges information with the OS, the OS from that point on knows where on the disk the application is so that even if you move it around the filesystem hierarchy it will still be able to find it, it also exchanges information about what mimetypes the app would like to be associated with so that it can show up in the "open with..." list for certain file types and declare itself able to handle any types of files it might create.

      If you need to register system services, then you need an application installer or a monkey willing to do it by hand (a user, for example). In that case mac applications install like Windows ones, by using an installer package.

    33. Re:Archive and install by cheater512 · · Score: 1

      You have no idea if your saying that its similar to Windows.

      Even copying programs on Linux (which is harder than a Mac) is significantly easier than Windows.

      And then its *way* easier to copy your preferences on both Mac and *nix.
      cp -r ~ /backup will do it magnificently.

    34. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but does Aunt Tilly install APE?

    35. Re:Archive and install by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Do you think Aunt Tilly installed the app in the first place?

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    36. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also had a long hang on reboot... fixed by disconnecting all usb and firewire cables and rebooting.... after that first "good" boot there have been no problems

    37. Re:Archive and install by iRegister · · Score: 1

      I know it's a joke, but he didn't need to use the terminal for those tasks, but could have used GUI instead. (Boot from the OS X disc by pressing C during startup)

      --
      A fast cowboy since 2007
    38. Re:Archive and install by Amiga+Trombone · · Score: 1, Funny

      Indeed. The new comment system is a big, fat pain in the ass. Kind of like Slashdot's version of Vista.

    39. Re:Archive and install by ivan256 · · Score: 1
      Of course, she'd rather pick one of the two Microsoft upgrade options. Otherwise known as:

      • Quick! Hit F6!
      • Dude, you got a Dell!
    40. Re:Archive and install by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

      Nope, unlike Windows us Mac users don't have to re-install apps, just copy them. Apps are self contained directories. The VERY few (read one total during my re-install) that had a system level component I had to re-download and re-install. Using .Mac to backup my mail, bookmarks etc start to finish on the wipe and upgrade was about 3 hours tops. Probably only took that long because I let it check the DVD.

      I was back and running with mail, web browser etc all back to normal.

    41. Re:Archive and install by anagama · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Oddly, when I tried to upgrade today, I got no option for that. My only option was to reformat and and install. I'd already backed everything up, but I didn't want to deal with a new install if I didn't have to -- I decided to just do a test install on an old firewire ipod.

      Anyway, I'm a bit non-plussed with Leopard. The "stacks" thing is really lame. Used to be you could put a folder in the same spot and get a menu -- nice way to navigate through applications, particularly for those who don't like a giant slab of apps but prefer to have them organized by type, e.g., networking, graphics, games, etc. The stacks are only one level deep -- if you click on a folder, it just opens in Finder. This is very non-ideal.

      The real deal killer is X11 though -- totally borked. If you launch it from the applications/utilities folder, it doesn't even launch. You have launch it from it's actual location under /usr -- and even then it makes two icons in the dock and if you have the right hardware (like my 1st gen macbook), the cursor turns yellow inside apps which essentially makes it invisible against a white background. There was a fix for this for Tiger so I tried it out. After that, X11 wouldn't even launch a terminal. Way lame.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    42. Re:Archive and install by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

      Yeah... see how easy it is move your Photoshop install from one machine to another =-) Actually you can migrate photoshop just by moving the actual Photoshop folder, and the Adobe folder inside Application Support.

      Doesn't even require reserialization. (At least, not with the version I've had, which admittedly isn't the latest and probably doesn't have the worst copy protection.)
      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
    43. Re:Archive and install by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

      I will assume you have actually attempted a windows install, but you obviously have never done a OS X one if you think they are the same.

      With a click of an install option when doing a re-install of Tiger (because I was stupid and borked a low level config I couldn't remember what it was or how to fix because I left it for three days, hardly OSs fault, if I remembered I could have simply undone it) I kept all my apps, home directory, personal settings, bookmarks, mail etc perfectly in tact. Re-load OS and bam, good to go. All apps started no need to re-do registry entries or re-install. All my settings for all my apps were there because they installed IN MY HOME DIRECTORY in a clean way etc etc.

      Never have I seen Windows recover from an OS level screw up so elegantly. It is simply not capable of it by the design of the registry and apps which sprawl all over the file system.

    44. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aunt Tillie wouldn't be putting Application Enhancer on her machine to begin with.

    45. Re:Archive and install by Kumiorava · · Score: 1

      Well, at least Aunt Tillie was able to install Application Enhancer. Don't underestimate the power of Mrs. Tillie!

    46. Re:Archive and install by udippel · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah !

      And if you need more, you'll find more at
      http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=200710261517596

      The best part: the icon on my firefox tab shows a tiny little bomb. Similar to those in the infamous mine-sweeper. Don't believe me ? go and try yourself !

    47. Re:Archive and install by Daengbo · · Score: 1

      A couple of weeks ago, I put in a feature request for Ubiquity (Ubuntu's installer) to back-up /home, take a list of installed apps, wipe and reinstall, then re-install the previous apps. I think it would be a lot less error-prone than a standard upgrade.

      It would be even easier if Ubuntu started using a /home partition (set noexec) by default, but they apparently have objections to doing that.

    48. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used the upgrade method (cloned old hard drive first).
      I have APE installed.
      Did not have any issues upgrading.

    49. Re:Archive and install by UncleTogie · · Score: 1

      You must not be using the new comment system.

      Nope. Jus' doesn't tap the ol' tapioca tube like the old system does. I'm not saying it's bad, just not as intuitive.

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
    50. Re:Archive and install by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Informative
      What you wrote above, I can apply to Windows just about as well.

      Only if you ignore the part where he wrote that 90% of the time you're done after step one. (I think it's not quite that high, but it's often the case.)

    51. Re:Archive and install by dangitman · · Score: 1

      (2) or (3) are the best option.

      What's wrong with (1), the plain old upgrade? That's what I always use, and have never had a problem. Of course, I back up before and upgrade - but why should I erase and do a clean install? Daring Fireball reference:

      Arguments that there is something mysteriously dangerous or deficient about the default upgrade procedure -- and that you should do a clean install instead, followed by tedious hours manually migrating software and data and preferences from your old installation -- are voodoo. Apple's installer engineers spend a ton of time making the default upgrade procedure as convenient as possible.
      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    52. Re:Archive and install by dangitman · · Score: 1

      Again, another "feeling" description: everything feels faster.

      I think the word you are looking for is "snappier." Haven't you read your Apple Style Guidelines for Slashdot Posts?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    53. Re:Archive and install by s4ltyd0g · · Score: 1

      If they can fail on the upgrade, they can fail on the archive. Better to backup yourself and test it. Bricked iphones and now this, I'm starting to think Apple is in over it's head with this Darwin thingy.

    54. Re:Archive and install by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 1

      Well half of my applications are services. Besides that, how would the system know that the irc:// pseudo-protocol is associated with xchat? Or that steam:// lets me buy steam games from the browser? How about ultramon, which I want to run on startup.. I don't suppose OS X checks every folder in the filesystem for an application wanting to start up. These things have to be registered with the OS.

    55. Re:Archive and install by Allador · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you're going to criticize something it helps if you have the slightest clue what you're talking about. You should follow your own advice.

      By contrast, Windows applications have a tendency to sprawl over the hard drive, copying things into shared system-wide resource directories because that is how a library is registered in the windows world. Incorrect. It uses a path search system, same as every other mainstream OS out there. So you can use libraries without registering them with the OS at all, if they're in the same directory as the executable.

      Or it needs to be dropped into somewhere on PATH, or PATH needs to be modified to include the directory. If you want it accessible by ProgID, then you need to do regsvr32 or the api equiv.

      None of these options require dropping files into system-wide resource directories.
    56. Re:Archive and install by Allador · · Score: 3, Informative

      Also I don't think windows has any easy way to backup/restore the users settings. Windows has three ways. One for IT folks, one for end-users, and one you can use if the target machine is Vista.

    57. Re:Archive and install by falconwolf · · Score: 1

      Archive and install!

      It's the safest way to upgrade. Yes, it's less convenient, but way better than finding out that some 3rd party tweak is not compatible the hard way...

      The best way to upgrade it to first have a backup, on say an external hdd. Of course backing up isn't something that many people do.

      Falcon
    58. Re:Archive and install by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      I installed leopard the other day on my MBP and needed to extract a .rar during my post OS-install setup. I downloaded UnRarX and dropped it into my "applications" folder. I didn't launch it, I simply dropped it into a folder after dragging it out of a .dmg image. When I right clicked the .rar a second later OS X knew that UnRarX could handle that file and listed it as a program that I could use to open this file.

      You don't have to use the "File And Setting Defaults Manager" or whatever it's called in XP and Vista, the OS knows what apps can open the file and lists them.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    59. Re:Archive and install by ppc_digger · · Score: 1

      A couple of weeks ago, I put in a feature request for Ubiquity (Ubuntu's installer) to back-up /home, take a list of installed apps, wipe and reinstall, then re-install the previous apps. I think it would be a lot less error-prone than a standard upgrade. What about apps you installed without APT? Users who follow a simple step-by-step in order to install an application from source usually don't know how to create a .deb and install it manually.

      Aside from that, I believe it's a good idea.

      It would be even easier if Ubuntu started using a /home partition (set noexec) by default, but they apparently have objections to doing that. Mounting it noexec would be very limiting. What if you're a programmer and have no root? Using /tmp isn't very practical. Also, what if you want to install an application into your home directory? You won't be able to.
      --
      Of all major operating systems, UNIX is the only one originally meant for gaming.
    60. Re:Archive and install by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 0
      Wow. That's amazing. It's almost like Windows has no idea what programs are registered handlers for a filetype unless you go into "File and Settings Defaults Manager" (whatever the hell that is, you mean "Set Program Access and Defaults").

      Except your example shows you doing almost exactly what a Windows user would do.

      You pulled down an application, extracted it and dropped it into a folder, and voila, said application is now registered with the OS and can be used for handling that file type.

      Windows user:

      Pulls down an application, extracts it and runs it, and voila, said application is now registered with the OS and can be used for handling that file type.

      I'm always amused by people going on and on about "Wow, how much more intuitive is the Mac to you guys stuck on sucky-ass Windows. I mean look, this is all I have to do - [insert here sequence of instructions with almost identical Windows counterpart that is somehow magically more crappy than said sequence of instructions on the Mac, because, well, uh, I guess, they're on a Mac, because there often ain't much difference beyond that]."

      Bleh. There are plenty of areas where OS X outshines Windows. It's funny to see people use examples where processes are near identical.

    61. Re:Archive and install by chris.evans · · Score: 1

      Proper preserving of user data and configurations while updating the binaries, and still keep the system from breaking [require good backup strategy]

    62. Re:Archive and install by chris.evans · · Score: 1

      what a joke. you use what works.

    63. Re:Archive and install by Daengbo · · Score: 1

      Changing noexec to exec is as easy as modifying /etc/fstab -- not a big deal for a programmer. For the average user, though, mounting /home noexec means that malware (and there will eventually be some) will have an even more difficult time taking root than usual.

      Similarly, users who compile from source are not the target audience for the Ubuntu desktop. Still, you're right that it won't work under those conditions. Neither will it work if the user has third-party repositories, but a normal upgrade is likely to break in either of these situations, anyway, so I don't see the real problem. Make the new method an option and explain the benefits and risks of all three methods (clean install, upgrade, and clean upgrade) thoroughly.

    64. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      See? There's proof of it in action. You were supposed to be modified insightful and the moderator slipped with the drop down box.

    65. Re:Archive and install by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      No, too much hassle for nothing. If you never hacked your OS binary files, just ordinarily updated via Software Update or hand downloaded disk images, there is no reason to live that hassle.

      You should watch Installer.app on a large OS upgrade (via its console), it knows what it is doing and unless you have horribly broken-in-leopard startup items (e.g. non updated IM client), there is nothing on your part to do.

      If you ever listened to those Macfixit.com advices which means overwriting kernel modules with older versions, you _will_ have to archive and install. Funny is, the site spreading FUD about APE for about a year is in fact responsible for horrible failures upgrading to Leopard. What happens if you mix 2.2 kernel modules with current Linux kernel? That is what they sometimes suggest.

    66. Re:Archive and install by quadra99 · · Score: 1

      Thanks. That worked for me /Tony

    67. Re:Archive and install by quadra99 · · Score: 1

      Damn, will not install on my PB titanium at all. Anyone with the same result ? /Tony

    68. Re:Archive and install by quadra99 · · Score: 1

      Uhu rm -rf "/Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane" rm -rf "/Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework" rm -rf "/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle" rm -rf "/Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist" Yep, annother good Apple solution, instead of a safe boot feature :-)

    69. Re:Archive and install by aicrules · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but that's starting to sound a lot like the days of "All you do is create a new config.sys and add these lines to your autoexec.bat file!"

    70. Re:Archive and install by Fittysix · · Score: 1

      I find that at least 80% of programs short of special stuff (like nero or alcohol) you can just copy the program directory. All other files will be created as-needed.
      If you actually want to copy your user configs there's \Documents and Settings\username\application data and \Documents and Settings\username\Local settings which they've greatly improved the folder layout of in vista to \Users\username\AppData (which contains both roaming and local settings folders)
      The registry has been used less of late, but is still used sometimes for cd keys and such crap, so fishing the data out of the HKLM\Software and HKCU\Software is still needed too

      --
      *.sig
    71. Re:Archive and install by Fittysix · · Score: 1

      I assume you know very little about recovering XP.
      There's a completely automated repair install process that does exactly as you describe.

      --
      *.sig
    72. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      heh the first time i had to hit F6 i didn't realise there was no confirmation at all for the next few steps of the installer so i ended up going round a friends house to get a spare keyboard because i thought the several i tried were all broken for some reason. Good times.

    73. Re:Archive and install by Lonewolf666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      On Windows it can get somewhat more complicated, because

      1) the registry entries may be spread over various sections of the registry. Offhand, I can recall
      -HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
      -HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
      -HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (have fun searching through that)

      2) fishing out the DLLS may require an extra tool like Dependency Walker (URL:http://www.dependencywalker.com/). Easy enough if you know such a tool, but it may be somewhat beyond a newbie.

      --
      C - the footgun of programming languages
    74. Re:Archive and install by Fittysix · · Score: 1

      Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "sprawled out across everything"
      Applications are in \Program Files\
      User profile including the HKEY_LOCAL_USER registry hive is in \Documents and Settings\username (xp) or \Users\username (vista)
      The rest of the registry is in \windows\system32\config
      This was designed to be portable this way entirey for the purpose of roaming profiles in domains
      That's hardly 'sprawled out'

      --
      *.sig
    75. Re:Archive and install by PoconoPCDoctor · · Score: 1

      I had only a minor glitch. Just popping the DVD in produced a lot of whirring noises on my MacBook Pro. Hmmm.... what to do, what to do....

      Corrected permissions, ran disk verify, wiped the DVD off on my t-shirt for good luck (I noticed some little blemishes from what I think was the effect of the cardboard packaging.), and it was Leopard in 36 minutes!

      Just did the upgrade yesterday, still playing with it.

      Read all the gory details on DA BLOG!

      Rockies in 7!

      --
      "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair" - George Washington
    76. Re:Archive and install by vague+disclaimer · · Score: 1

      Or you could click the uninstall option in the APE prepane...

    77. Re:Archive and install by lazy_playboy · · Score: 1

      Well, option (1) as described is what's giving the problem discussed in the article, due to incompatibilities with particular 3rd party software. I'm sure Apple's engineers 'spend a ton of time' trying to make it work, but they can hardly test the upgrade with every single last peice of 3rd party software.

      You've 'never had a problem' ... a sample of one is hardly definitive of everybody else's experience, is it?!

    78. Re:Archive and install by hotfireball · · Score: 1

      All these command-line fixes just show how Mac OS X is not yet ready for the desktop, and how Linux is superior because "it just works." ;)
      Well, Russian proverb says: "Drunk person will be sober and OK next day, but woman with short crooked legs will be like this forever.". So just wait for OSX's next day... :-P
    79. Re:Archive and install by ickoonite · · Score: 3, Funny

      Nonono, X11 has been massively enhanced! It's beautiful. Now, when you run a program from Terminal.app that needs X11, it launches automatically! It's beautiful! Almost my favourite Leopard feature so far.

      iqu :)

    80. Re:Archive and install by jamar0303 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Except... he didn't even have to run it that first time. Windows programs have to be run that first time to make the association. I couldn't open RARs on Windows right after downloading WinRAR; I had to install the darn thing and run it once for it to set file permissions. with UnRAR I download, open the DMG, copy the app in, and it knows intuitively that UnRAR handles RAR files. Also, unlike WinRAR it doesn't spew files all over the place so I migrate to a new computer by copying the app over, unlike WinRAR. Seriously, try copying the WinRAR EXE alone and see if it works.

      Liberated from Windows since 2005 thanks to OSx86.

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    81. Re:Archive and install by jamar0303 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sure doesn't feel that way- I can't drag over my whole \Program Files folder from one computer to another and have everything work, whereas I can do so with Mac.

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    82. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, even Tillie knows she doesn't need the recursive option to delete a regular file with rm.

    83. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On macs apps are self contained entities (normally) thus archiving means moving all the apps out of the application folder and into another folder. You can then at your leisure drag them back one by one.
      In theory. In practice, most Mac apps do not actually bother to follow this fine convention - particularly major apps from the likes of Adobe.

      You're welcome to try dragging Adobe CS out of the application folder, perform a clean install of the OS, and then drag the apps back, but maybe I'll save you a bundle of time by just telling you right now that two minutes after that you'll be reaching for that CS DVD and going through the tedious installation process all over again.
    84. Re:Archive and install by cecil_turtle · · Score: 1

      None of the behaviors being discussed here have anything to do with the OS. If you need to open WinRAR before Windows knows it can handle RAR files, that's a problem with WinRAR, not Windows. I assure you if you install say MS Office, that a .doc file will open with Word before any Office program has been run. Same thing on Mac - the APPLICATION has to provide information to the OS to tell it what the app can do. If an APPLICATION on a Mac doesn't properly do this then MacOS will have no idea what the application can do. There's also the issue of multiple apps being registered for a single file type. Anyway, both OS's have the same capabilities (though they go about it differently), but also in both OS's it's up to the APPLICATION to tell the OS what it's capable of doing. If some applications choose to do this on first run instead of upon installation that is not in anyway the OS's fault. There is nothing magical about this stuff. It's your own fault for using .rar files anyway, and especially for choosing WinRAR to open them. Try 7zip.

    85. Re:Archive and install by empaler · · Score: 1

      If only I could turn off click-to-focus in non X11-apps as well... :-p

    86. Re:Archive and install by be-fan · · Score: 1

      You forgot about DLLs spread randomly throughout Windows/System32. Also, copying the registry to a new install in its entirety is a foolish thing to do. Moreover, while the registry itself may be in on file, any application entry within it is scattered hither and yon.

      --
      A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
    87. Re:Archive and install by Fittysix · · Score: 1

      I don't see how WINDOWS is responsible for the inadequacies of programmers that don't seem to know how to write their way out of a paper bag. There is no NEED for any program to place things in the windows or system32 folders, in fact it's discouraged by Microsoft. Having essentially moving an entire installed config from one install to a clean one a few times there's nothing at all wrong with moving the HKEY_CURRENT_USER (it's what happens when you use roaming profiles after all) and anything local machine related to software is HKLM\Software.

      --
      *.sig
    88. Re:Archive and install by bigtrike · · Score: 1

      You could always reply to a post in the article, which undoes all your moderations. Of course, you might lose some mod points if your post isn't clearly relevant.

    89. Re:Archive and install by internetcommie · · Score: 1

      Dunno about Aunt Tillie, but Aunt Sarah managed just fine!

    90. Re:Archive and install by mdtkdchick · · Score: 1

      Whats funny is the fact that you think Aunt Tillie would actually be able to even upgrade linux.

    91. Re:Archive and install by eMartin · · Score: 3, Informative

      But you're wrong.

      On Windows, most file type associations are done by installers. Occasionally the app itself does them when it's launched (many people object to that unless it's optional though). Either way, they are stored in the registry as a path to the EXE. If you move it, the link breaks. If you copy the app to a new system, the link doesn't exist.

      On a Mac, as soon as the system sees the app (regardless of where it is), you can open file types that belong to it with a double click. It's been like that for decades, so yes, in this regard, it is easier on a Mac.

      As for the other support files, it's a little more complicated. On Windows, you have DLLs that are sometimes in the app's folder, but are often in the /windows/system32 folder mixed in with hundreds of others with short useless names (or worse yet, in other places). Sometimes, there are things in folders in /Program Files/Common Files (or worse yet, in a "common" folder elsewhere). In many cases, the DLLs have to be registered (again, often done by the installer).

      On a Mac, they may be in a few places too, but usually they are pretty obvious. They are often found in appropriately named folders either the Application Support or Preferences folders in either /Library or ~/Library (or at worst /System/Library). If they are things that hook into the system somehow (codecs, fonts, screensavers, etc.) they will be in those folders instead, but that makes sense too, and they truly can be installed for just one user or everyone depending on which Library folder they go in (as opposed to the Windows "install for just me" which only changes who sees the start menu icon). In any case, there is no "registering" of any kind, so as long as you put these things in the right places, OS X will see them. Again, it's been like this for decades (fonts go in the Fonts folder, extensions in the Extensions folder, etc... and they don't need to be registered in any way like on Windows)

      So, again, it's a little easier.

      On a Mac, you could even rename the /Applications folder to whatever you want, and almost everything would still work*, but try that with /Program Files on Windows. You would lose the ability to double click files to open them, lose custom icons for different file types, start menu shortcuts would break, uninstallers wouldn't work, etc.

      Personally, I don't think OS X outshines Windows in most cases, but these are the kinds of things it does do very well.

      *Everything except Apple's own Software Updates, although most people would consider this a bug. Apps and file type associations would still work though.

    92. Re:Archive and install by tsnorri · · Score: 1

      Aunt Tillie won't have Application Enhancer installed.

    93. Re:Archive and install by jurv!s · · Score: 1

      The only thing left to do in such a situation is post in the thread so all your moderations are revoked.

      --
      sigs are for fools and trolls. no signature is *always* appropriate. you should turn them off in your preferences.
    94. Re:Archive and install by jelton · · Score: 1

      Are you running Mac OS X Server, by any chance? That's one thing that would cause your issue.

      --
      I am not a lawyer. This post does not constitute any form of legal advice.
    95. Re:Archive and install by jurv!s · · Score: 1

      Please do not insinuate the Adobe apps are representative of the majority of Mac apps. Adobe-type applications are a rare beast on the Mac, praise $deity.

      --
      sigs are for fools and trolls. no signature is *always* appropriate. you should turn them off in your preferences.
    96. Re:Archive and install by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 2, Informative

      Windows user:


      Pulls down an application, extracts it and runs it, and voila, said application is now registered with the OS and can be used for handling that file type.

      This is not, nor has it ever been true in Windows. The installer has been an integral part of registering the application since windows 95. The only exceptions I can think of to this rule are uTorrent and Putty (which properly use the registry to save it's settings while only needing a single executable), but uTorrent doesn't automatically associate .torrent files - you need to do it by hand in Explorer.

      Sean
      --
      I live in a giant bucket.
    97. Re:Archive and install by scrod · · Score: 1

      You expect Aunt Tillie to have installed Application Enhancer?

    98. Re:Archive and install by SlowMovingTarget · · Score: 2, Funny

      Easy enough if you know such a tool, but it may be somewhat beyond a newbie.

      Newbie: "Good! What is a registry?"

    99. Re:Archive and install by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      I see this was already answered, but the score was dropped down on the response. The first post answering your questions is correct however.

      Everything on the drive is either moved to the new installation area for you to find easily or moved to Windows.old, even if you have stray folders like C:\Quickbooks it will be moved to Windows.old.

      Good luck.

    100. Re:Archive and install by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      The DLL myths are more 'uncommon' than 'common'...

      Also you seem to discount the profile concepts from Windows, which has been a feature since the first WinNT 3.1 days and was a major selling feature of WinNT 4.0 server. As it allowed clients running any version of Windows to roam, so users could sign into computers anywhere within a corporate network and have ALL their settings and Documents follow/appear to them on the system they logged in at, without ever even having a 'dedicated' workstation for the user.

      Take a large corporate environment like Geico where 1000s of agents sign into any computer in the building and always have their settings, files, etc instantly available.

      The whole concept of non-terminal based multi-user roaming is one of the bread and butter items of Windows and something it does well.

      The registry is a 'centralized' data store, and was designed so that user settings could easily move or migrate separate from the OS installation, this is why the user's registry is stored in the User's home folder, and can be copied easily.

      Ironically, Windows was handling concepts and issues like this before Macs even offered multi-user login abilities on System OS. And now all the Mac people think they are the 'only' ones with these cool features, that *nix and even Windows users had a decade before Macs and OS X did.

      I'll also put repairing or installing Windows up against OS X any day. Just like the last little 'bug' in Leopard, users had to drop to a command line, and type in several cryptic *nix commands to kill the bugged application. This is something that is 'highly' amusing to Windows administrators, because Macs are supposed to be 'the' GUI OS, and yet Windows is the one that would allow users to use the GUI to make these same changes/adjustments in a non-cryptic interface, no command line needed.

    101. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HKLM: most application settings will go in here, it's where the global settings which apply to all users will be.
      HKCU: generally not an issue, unless you need to make changes to something which will only apply to that particular profile (because it's, you know, current user).
      HKCR: about the only time you will ever poke around here is if something is wrong with your file associations, and it requires being fixed manually. I've been doing support for Windows and Exchange servers for over ten years, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I needed to do anything in HKCR.

      The registry is far easier to understand than people who don't kunderstand anything about Windows make it out to be.

    102. Re:Archive and install by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Maybe Aunt Tillie went to Best Buy and bought a Logitech peripheral to use on her Mac?

    103. Re:Archive and install by Allador · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're right in that the end-result in the windows world is nowhere near as nice as what you describe. It sure would be nice.

      This is a combination of a couple things.

      1. Bad ISV developers. A surprising percentage of the developers for windows software dont have a clue what they're doing, or how to properly develop software for the windows platform. It's well documented, trivial (and free) to become an ISV partner with Microsoft, and this documentation is available without even doing that.

      So you get developers dropping stuff into various directories unnecessarily, or storing things in the registry, which is unnecessary.

      It is entirely possible to write windows apps that are completely portable, that you can just copy the flat between systems and it works just fine. Many of the open source software apps are done like this. Take FileZilla client, for example. Or 7-Zip. All the DLLs are in the same directory as the executable, and it doesnt (by default) use the registry to store settings.

      These apps could be made even better by storing per-user settings in the user profile home.

      2. COM. If you need to make components that are part of your app available to other components in the system, then you'll need to register them with COM. This goes into the registry, and is a per-machine setting.

      Note however, that since XP there are some neat things you can do to avoid even this in some use-cases, called registration free COM (IIRC). Again, it is done by having your files in the same directory, and having a manifest.

      3. Shell integration. If you need to have your app integrate with the shell, that will require some sort of 'setup' to be run and to do that. However, as an alternative, you could (and many apps do) just check the shell integration on startup.

      4. System Integration. Any apps that need to install drivers, or hook into the system in a deeper level, say into the network stack. If this is the case, you're instantly non-portable.

      So you're right, the vast majority of apps on windows are not designed to be machine portable. But thats a conscious choice by the developers, and is not in any way required by the platform. MS makes it quite clear how to manage that, if you want it, and if the use-case of your software makes it possible.

    104. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is not, nor has it ever been true in Windows. The installer has been an integral part of registering the application since windows 95. You're wrong, but that's maybe the way it should be. Many apps do self-register on start-up and indeed Microsoft provides code samples for doing that plus APIs in its frameworks e.g. MFC. However nowadays with Vista the registration ought to be done with elevated permissions and so isn't something you should be doing from a user app.
    105. Re:Archive and install by dangitman · · Score: 1

      Well, option (1) as described is what's giving the problem discussed in the article, due to incompatibilities with particular 3rd party software

      With this particular 3rd party software that is known to be bad news. Not just any old 3rd party software. Anyway - if you have the backup, and get the problem, then you can just restore and do it again. What's the problem? If it works, you've saved time, if it doesn't, you have a backup to fall on.

      You've 'never had a problem' ... a sample of one is hardly definitive of everybody else's experience, is it?!

      Not definitive, but highly indicative. That is actually the normal experience. Problems with botched normal installs are a very rare exception. And over the years, I haven't just been upgrading my Macs, I've been upgrading workshops full of them.

      Seriously, problems like this are very rare, and anybody running APE should have known to disable it first. You can hardly blame the MacOS for the effects of that crapware. As it says in the Daring Fireball article - if you diddle with your system in unholy ways, then do an archive and install. If you don't do stupid things with your system (like install APE), then a normal upgrade is perfectly fine.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    106. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, because Mac OS X was designed by sane people.

      There's no "registry" BS. Most applications will run from anywhere they happen to be. Moving them to a different folder or drive is simply a matter of dragging them over there and dropping them. They'll work fine. Installing a program, in most cases, means dragging the file out of the zip or dmg and dropping it anywhere that seems convenient to you (most people keep them in an Applications folder, but there's no requirement to do this).

    107. Re:Archive and install by lav-chan · · Score: 1

      Windows doesn't do file associations by MIME types, it does them by extensions.

    108. Re:Archive and install by goombah99 · · Score: 1

      You can. There's a defaults setting for this and a third part gui to make setting it easy. Saw it on mac osx hints a couple years ago. However I would warn you against it. Better to learn the mac way. Homogenous behaviour pays off in the long run if it does not hinder you too much. You can get some of the hover focus funtionality with click to focus by the way. I forget the key combos but you can cut and past text from a background or into it without raising the focus.

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    109. Re:Archive and install by suckmysav · · Score: 1

      Windows user:

      Pulls down an application, extracts it and runs it, and voila, said application is now registered with the OS and can be used for handling that file type.


      I'll let the incredibly simplistic description of Windows arcane installation procedure slide and simply point out how hard it is to remove that very same application without leaving about a thousand orphaned files and registry entries behind.

      As compared to "drag to trash and it's gone" on the mac.

      Oh, and before I get flamed as being a mac fanboy, you should note that I use Ubuntu because I don't want to pay the apple premium just to get a shiny machine with a locked down OS.

      --
      "You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
    110. Re:Archive and install by mfnickster · · Score: 1

      No, because Mac OS X was designed by sane people.

      There's no "registry" BS. Most applications will run from anywhere they happen to be. Moving them to a different folder or drive is simply a matter of dragging them over there and dropping them. They'll work fine.

      Most applications, sure - but try moving the iApps out of the Applications folder, or moving the Utilities folder out of the Applications folder, and you're in for a world of hurt the next time you run Software Update.

      Compared to the Classic Mac OS, which let you keep any app anywhere you wanted, this is not "sane," it's a step backward.

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    111. Re:Archive and install by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Of those, Mac apps are SUPPOSED to require only 1.

      At least 90% still do. Unfortunately 10% don't.

    112. Re:Archive and install by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Would not something in the PATH environment variable (or whatever Windows calls them) BE a system-wide resource directory?

      Just because you can add your own doesn't mean it isn't a system-wide resource dir.

      Regardless of the semantics, the majority of Mac apps will work, or even work perfectly if you just drag the app somewhere else (on your computer, or to another computer). ANYWHERE else. This includes big, heavyweight apps. Try dragging word.exe around and see what happens.

    113. Re:Archive and install by Allador · · Score: 2, Informative

      Would not something in the PATH environment variable (or whatever Windows calls them) BE a system-wide resource directory? Nope. You can put your home directory on PATH, it doesnt make your home directory a system directory.

      Regardless of the semantics, the majority of Mac apps will work, or even work perfectly if you just drag the app somewhere else (on your computer, or to another computer). ANYWHERE else. This includes big, heavyweight apps. Try dragging word.exe around and see what happens. Did anyone say otherwise? Did I ever claim that MS word was a portable app?

      The post you replied to here was correcting a factual error in the grandparent, and suggesting that the poster take his own advice about not mouthing off about things you dont know much about.
    114. Re:Archive and install by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      HKCR: about the only time you will ever poke around here is if something is wrong with your file associations, and it requires being fixed manually. I've been doing support for Windows and Exchange servers for over ten years, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I needed to do anything in HKCR.
      This is not correct. HKCR is where all COM components are registered. If the software you need requires one or more such, and does not use the registration-free feature of WinXP, you won't be able to migrate it easy from one machine to another without either poking around HKCR, or reinstalling it (the latter is usually much easier).
    115. Re:Archive and install by jamar0303 · · Score: 1

      Oh, that's nice to know. Now it becomes more clear- but then why do Mac OS developers have that mentality (to aim to create their programs to be machine-portable) while Windows developers do not?

      --
      OSx86 FTW
    116. Re:Archive and install by Aleksej · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's the problem with GNU/Linux: people often advise the CLI way and don't know about the GUI way, because they themselves have been advised the CLI way in the first place.

    117. Re:Archive and install by Aleksej · · Score: 1

      Well, if she wouldn't, she wouldn't be able to install Windows, either. Don't know about Mac OS X.

    118. Re:Archive and install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      aunt tillie prolly didnt install APE

    119. Re:Archive and install by sheldonc · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, not everyone is aware they are installing Unsanity's APE. Some mice and other peripheral hardware require a pref to access all the features of the device. Logitec uses APE repurposed to use some of their hardware. Wacom tablets use something similar. The ordinary user doesn't know that this stuff may disrupt their install, and there is no overt warning from Apple about it. I guarantee that most people using Macs would elect to click on the "Upgrade" option of install, since it's the easist and least scary. Simply put, the OS X installer should have been capable enough to recognize offending software bits and set them aside. It did not. For Apple to expect that the typical user would be fully cognizant of what is and isn't compatible on their machine is foolhardy. Apple's long-standing credo is "it JFW." For them not to anticipate that some such system-level software would exist to upset the "Upgrade" install is pretty amazing.

    120. Re:Archive and install by steeviant · · Score: 1

      Windows doesn't do file associations by MIME types, it does them by extensions.

      Quite right, and that's an important and noteworthy point of distinction between Windows and OSes that are internet ready.

    121. Re:Archive and install by lav-chan · · Score: 1

      MIME types are a horrible way of doing file associations; i actually think extensions might even be better. OS X seems to have the most well-thought-out (albeit proprietary) way of doing things here.

  2. Biggest problem so far is airport disks by johnjaydk · · Score: 2, Informative
    So far the biggest problem is with airport disks. The support is a bit wonky.

    In addition Apple have pulled support for time machine on airport disks in the last minute. Big stinker. It's bad enough that Aperture can't use airport disks for vaults...

    --
    TCAP-Abort
    1. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by DurendalMac · · Score: 1

      Airdisk probably isn't fast enough for it to be feasible.

    2. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by johnjaydk · · Score: 0, Troll

      Who the fuck thinks that's off topic? It's Leopards support for airport disks that sux ...

      --
      TCAP-Abort
    3. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

      time machine only backs up files that are actually changed. The initialization (when everything is copied) would be slow, but after that it wouldn't normally be a problem.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    4. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by Amiga+Trombone · · Score: 1

      So far the biggest problem is with airport disks. The support is a bit wonky.

      Yep. Had that problem. First it saw it, then it didn't. Then it refused to log into my Airport network. Then it trashed my Keychain. Also had to re-install my printer drivers. Also an attempt to preview a file on a network attached disk, it spun for about 20 minutes before coming back with anything. Then spotlight took about an hour and a half to index a 90GB drive.

      It's not a total disaster, it's just an old G4 iBook I use for email and iTunes, which thankfully both work. Still, I'll wait for a point release before I install it on any machine I actually use for work.

    5. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by empaler · · Score: 1

      Who the fuck thinks that's off topic? It's Leopards support for airport disks that sux ... My immediate guess would be those who have actually read the summary, which was, AFAIR from two minutes ago, not "Let's whine about arbitrary shortcomings of Mac OS X Leopard" - it was about installation issues.
    6. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Airdisk?

      Is that something like a frisbee?

      'Cause when a frisbee hits you in the head, you learn that it really is fast.

    7. Re:Biggest problem so far is airport disks by DurendalMac · · Score: 1

      Unless you just added 5GB of video and changed another gig's worth of files.

  3. Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Though it's funny to imply that OSX gets blue screens of death it's really just a case of some third -party software not being compatible with the new operating system.

    1. Re:Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Except that when it's windows, the comments are more along the lines of "the OS shouldn't let stuff like this happen! M$ is TOTALLY at fault here!!!1!1!!1!1"

    2. Re:Right... by trifish · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yep, and it would be tagged as "defectivebydesign" and "haha". You know, MS is a near-monopoly so their products do deserve a good deal of good old unfair bashing...

    3. Re:Right... by e4g4 · · Score: 1
      Not when the third party application in question stand a very high chance of causing this behavior. From Applications Enhancer's website:

      Once loaded, the APE module performs the needed modifications (such as redefining the minimize window action, or customizing the standard Apple menu) on the launched application memory space In other words, it changes the executable code in memory of a running application. Gee, what are the odds that changing the underlying application would cause such a module to *not* wreak havoc on a system?
      --
      The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
    4. Re:Right... by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      In other words, it changes the executable code in memory of a running application. Gee, what are the odds that changing the underlying application would cause such a module to *not* wreak havoc on a system?
      Sounds like Windows anti-virus software.

      Which, mind you, is often the cause of a failed upgrade under Windows.
      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    5. Re:Right... by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      I've gotten blue screen with no login prompt before under Tiger on my machines several times. Usually it means that one of the drives failed to spin up. Pressing the reset button or equivalent procedure usually clears it up.

      I don't have Leopard yet, and can only run it on one of my machines. Others will be staying with Tiger.

      Now if only I can get Software Associates' ReadDVD! UDF 2.5 drivers to work on those Tiger installs. (Can anyone confirm UDF 2.5 and 2.6 support on release version of Leopard, needed for reading HD-DVD and BluRay disks? Apple's Tech Specs were silent on this.)

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    6. Re:Right... by Klaidas · · Score: 1, Funny

      The haha tag is now visible. And that feels good. Really. Just because all the fanboys are mad.

    7. Re:Right... by Dilaudid · · Score: 1
      let's look at this from someone else's perspective and see what we get:

      Though it's funny to imply that Windows ME gets blue screens of death it's really just a case of some third -party software not being compatible with the new operating system.

      Does that still sound convincing to you? Why does it crash the ^"$%ing OS?

  4. jesus h christ by deathtopaulw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    people are so fucking stupid
    "oh no this 3rd party application which adds dubious and useless enhancements to my system is causing my computer to not work upon upgrading to a completely new version!"
    bust out the slashdot article I guess

    1. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Using APE is an insanity of the first order anyway. Dealing with Unsanity's refusal to help is what made me dump all their products.

      Me: "Hi APE is causing crashes on my mac"
      Unsanity: "No it's not, it can't. This is why.... "
      Me: "OK, that makes sense thanks"

      two weeks later

      Me: "Hi, APE definitely is causing crashes on my mac"
      Unsanity: "No, it can't be, because... "
      Me: "I just did a fresh install. it survived multiple reboots in its completely standard configuration. I installed APE, now X, Y and Z all crash"
      Unsanity: "Well it's not APE, because APE does ... "
      Me: "I removed APE, and instantly it's working again"
      Unsanity: "Well it can't be APE, because ... "
      Me: "Fuck you"

    2. Re:jesus h christ by hackstraw · · Score: 1

      "oh no this 3rd party application which adds dubious and useless enhancements to my system is causing my computer to not work upon upgrading to a completely new version!"

      I've had these dubious and useless enhancements added to my Macs for years. 0 problems to date. These enhancements are tied very closely to the OS rev, and I would not expect them to work past an OS change.

    3. Re:jesus h christ by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      I can't understand why anybody who considered their Mac to be more than just a toy would even think about installing something like APE.

    4. Re:jesus h christ by Nigel_Powers · · Score: 1

      So tell me...

      Does this APE shit have to be intentionally installed by users?

      For example, I've never even heard of it before this. What are the chances that it's on my iMac?

    5. Re:jesus h christ by goldspider · · Score: 2

      Why not? It's not as if Windows gets a pass around here when poorly-written 3rd-party apps cause a kernel dump.

      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    6. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      APE is a third party product that is not a part of OS X.

      However, recently Logitech has started using APE as a part of their driver package for their mice and keyboards, in effect installing something known to cause headaches behind people's backs.

      Therefore the many people that use Logitech products may have APE without explicitly having installed it.

      Either way, I can hardly see how Apple is at fault.

    7. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does this APE shit have to be intentionally installed by users? It's usually flung at you. It will stick to your system if you don't clean it soon enough.

    8. Re:jesus h christ by bitserf · · Score: 1

      This reminds of the Automatix debacle on Ubuntu - Have people forgotten that? Or does Ubuntu get a free pass because it is Linux? :) Third party applications that muck with the system in unsupported ways are bound to cause these kinds of problems. All I know is, I'm not installing that APE crap again.

    9. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows with borked Antirus software IS serious.

      This is equivilant to something like "WindowBlinds" breaking a Vista upgrade install. Who fucking cares?

    10. Re:jesus h christ by Ash-Fox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This reminds of the Automatix debacle on Ubuntu - Have people forgotten that? Or does Ubuntu get a free pass because it is Linux?
      Honestly, I see more people defending OS X here than what Ubuntu had.

      Not only did Ubuntu have people going insane over that, but they also had the "is not ready for the desktop" memes all over the place and stupid crap about issues that haven't existed for a decade in Linux.
      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    11. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      Logitech has started using APE as a part of their driver package for their mice and keyboards, in effect installing something known to cause headaches behind people's backs.

      Are you sure of this? I just bought a Logitech mouse, and I loaded up their pref pane. I'm not seeing any obvious signs of APE on my Leopard system. If I do find APE though, this mouse will be promptly mailed to logitech with a demand for a refund.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    12. Re:jesus h christ by empaler · · Score: 1

      Wow. I'm glad I read this before installing - I was skimming through here, thinking "this looks as if it doesn't affect me..."
      Well, my 160$ mouse just made that difference. Fucking crackheads.

    13. Re:jesus h christ by recoiledsnake · · Score: 1

      What is the excuse for Apple not to test the upgrade with APE installed? They know it's a common application and likely to cause problems so they could atleast have warned users if not provide workarounds.

      --
      This space for rent.
    14. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 3, Informative

      God FUCKING DAMN IT.

      I just found a tool called "ape_install" in the resources of the logitech prefpane

      Rosyna, FUCK YOU and logitech both.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    15. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      I haven't been so pissed off in a long time. Logitech will never get another penny of mine.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    16. Re:jesus h christ by empaler · · Score: 1

      I can always look at the bright side: My boss paid for my Logitech Mouse. If this mouse busts, I'll just crack out my old trusty Logitech Mouseman - the old white and gray one.
      Shit, I knew that their Windows drivers had been made in a fischer-price point and click IDE, but why the hell fuck up the Mac drivers as well?
      Ah well, I'm at least glad I waited with the upgrade.
      Seriously. My OS upgrade could have been messed up because of mouse drivers. That is actually pretty funny...

    17. Re:jesus h christ by Purple+Screws · · Score: 1

      Wait a minute. Installing special drivers for mice and keyboards? Did it suddenly get to be 1995 again while I wasn't looking?

    18. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      What is the excuse for Apple not to test the upgrade with APE installed?

      Ok, let me try to explain this without blowing my stack:

      APE is an unsupported hack. This has been made more than clear to Unsanity, and any other third party developer who's raised the question with Apple DTS. Logitech, like any other developer who took the short cut, has fucked their users over.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    19. Re:jesus h christ by networkassault · · Score: 1

      It's easy enough to tell if you have APE on your system because it shows up in your System Preferences. I installed it because I just recently upgraded to OS X, (I went out and bought an Intel MacBook to replace my Power Macintosh running OS 8.5) and I wanted to add some of the old OS Classic functionalities to my new machine. I've grown tired of it, though, and have decided to get rid of it. My question is, "How do you uninstall APE? Is there an uninstall package in my receipts folder, or do I have to download it again and uninstall it with the uninstaller that came with APE in the first place?"

      --
      "I'm glad I'm going to die because, when I do, the world's gonna go to the dogs." -Me on aging and the next generation.
    20. Re:jesus h christ by dangitman · · Score: 1

      My OS upgrade could have been messed up because of mouse drivers. That is actually pretty funny...

      Just the image of somebody driving a mouse is funny. What do they have instead of fender benders? Does the presence of a cat cause uncontrollable speeding?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    21. Re:jesus h christ by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      Yes and no. You really don't need them. In my experience, the Logitech mice work just fine without the extra crap. But it gives you a bunch of whiz-bang features I'm sure you'll never miss...

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    22. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just the image of somebody driving a mouse is funny. What do they have instead of fender benders?


      Whisker warpings.
    23. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's easy enough to tell if you have APE on your system because it shows up in your System Preferences

      Nope. Logitech hid it, like the pack of incompetent, lazy weasels they are.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    24. Re:jesus h christ by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      Logitech will never get another penny of mine.

      I'm a big advocate of Microsoft's Trackball Optical which even includes decent Mac drivers. You can configure per-application custom actions for the extra buttons with a passable GUI. Logitech makes some nice stuff but IMHO they don't have anything on Redmond.

      "Microsoft: your source for video games and peripherals."

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    25. Re:jesus h christ by Immerial · · Score: 1

      Funny, I read "bust out the shot glass" instead of "bust out the slashdot article I guess". Sounds like a new drinking game. Everytime somebody mentions "3rd party software" causing a problem in Leopard, take a shot. Drunk in 3... 2... 1..

    26. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You mean Bonzi Buddy is available for my Mac now?

    27. Re:jesus h christ by Psych0_Jack · · Score: 1

      I didn't know about the Logitech (MX 510) installing APE shit either. Just checked, and I've got it too, and of course it was hidden. damn those bastards.

    28. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubuntu has long held an anti-automatix position precicely because it does stupid, unsafe things (see http://mjg59.livejournal.com/77440.html). We obviously can't stop everyone from using it obviously, as it's their machines to break any way they like. I'm not sure of Apples stance on APE, but that could be one aspect that's different. (Yes, I'm using this post as a soapbox to discourage automatix use)

    29. Re:jesus h christ by the_olo · · Score: 1

      The conversation sounds unsane...

    30. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      THis is the first malware of any kind that's been on any machine of mine since I switched to NeXTSTEP in 1989. Fuck Logitech.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    31. Re:jesus h christ by TheThiefMaster · · Score: 1

      That sounds pretty normal for tech support.

    32. Re:jesus h christ by obeythefist · · Score: 1

      Certainly despicable behavior from any software or hardware vendor. Third party app bundling is a sin. And yes even google does it! I hate installing an app where google toolbar tries to slip itself in as well. This is why we don't always click nextnextnext.

      Either way, I can hardly see how Apple is at fault.

      Well, this is slashdot... if Microsoft Windows suffered the same fate because Logitech installed, say, bonzi buddy when you install your MX1000 drivers, it would be Microsoft's fault... why is there a different set of rules for Apple?

      --
      I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
    33. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      I've been pretty happy with Belkin's game controllers. I'll look into what they offer in the way of pointing devices.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    34. Re:jesus h christ by necro2607 · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see Apple sue Logitech for this, actually. Of course it won't happen, but wow. Look at the bad press being caused by this shit. I'm fucking pissed and I'm not even using Leopard.

    35. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see Apple sue Logitech for this, actually.

      Well, they certainly can show some damages from the defects, but whether they could recover anything in court from Logitech would of course depend on the details of whatever contracts they have in place with Logitech. Also, a company like Apple wouldn't want to scare away developers with the fear of losing a court case because of negligence or incompetence if they take shortcuts developing their software. They're not in the same situation as any random customer who happens to buy a defective product.

      What they should do though, is yank any Logitech products that include the APE hack from their retail shelves until such time as Logitech repairs the defect.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    36. Re:jesus h christ by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      You people are aware that Mac OS X already comes with keyboard and mouse drivers, right? So anything Logitech bundles with its products as "drivers" are actually - wait for it - operating system level hacks designed to bypass the legitimate drivers and do things in a non-standard way.

      And you're surprised such hacks (which is what they are, and you knew they were when you installed them, because you've been working - developing indeed - with NEXTSTEP since 1989, so there's no way you couldn't have known this) don't survive, and actually muck up, an operating system upgrade?

      There's a lesson here - either don't buy a keyboard or mouse that requires non-standard drivers to operate correctly, or if you do, monitor what you install and be prepared to remove it upon an upgrade. I use a hack, DoubleCommand, because the keyboard I want to use has no Cmd key (DC can remap Alt to be my Cmd, and the numeric keypad "Enter" to be my Alt for the one occasion I need it), but I wouldn't dream of either blaming IBM, makers of my keyboard, Apple, or the authors of DoubleCommand, if I left it installed during an upgrade to Leopard and Leopard failed to boot as a result. I know it's a hack. They know it's a hack. And you know the non-standard drivers Logitech bundled with your mouse are a hack too.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    37. Re:jesus h christ by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Sure, because it matters that the drivers are called "APE" rather than something else. And that CD full of unnecessary non-standard operating system level hacks (Mac OS X has keyboard and mouse drivers, you knew these were hacks) just leaped into your CD drive when you weren't looking and installed themselves.

      Nothing was hidden from you. You knew what you were installing. You did it anyway. Installing third party drivers is always a gamble, if you don't need to do it, don't do it, and if you do, at least recognize that you're taking a gamble, and recognize especially that the very nature of drivers means that using them with an unsupported operating system is a very, very, big risk.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    38. Re:jesus h christ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's nothing inherently 'non-standard' about a USB device driver. If third parties weren't supposed to provide such software, Apple wouldn't provide the API. Microsoft's driver for their trackball doesn't require the installation of a hack like APE. While the trackball and main buttons work with the Apple driver, the additional buttons do not - you need the Microsoft driver to assign functions to them.

      I suspect that Logitech is using APE to provide additional functionality in running applications, which goes a bit beyond typical device driver functionality.

    39. Re:jesus h christ by jcr · · Score: 1

      Sure, because it matters that the drivers are called "APE" rather than something else.

      What they're called isn't the issue, dipshit. Go and read up on what APE does and how it works.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  5. the offical word from unsanity is it's broken by bombastinator · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unsanity is officially listed by the company not to worik with 10.5

    http://www.wire-heads.com/istrip/index.php?strip_id=26

    1. Re:the offical word from unsanity is it's broken by lubricated · · Score: 1

      I got the blue screen of death, I had no weird third party add-ons. Apple recently released an update for people upgrading with passwords 8 characters or longer.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    2. Re:the offical word from unsanity is it's broken by empaler · · Score: 1

      Apparently, a number of "legit" third party applications, such as Logitech drivers, installed APE. (According to a post further up in this discussion). Yay.

    3. Re:the offical word from unsanity is it's broken by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.

      Well maybe so, but my face would look like my leg does now if I hadn't been wearing one.

  6. Leopard install with Application Enhancer by conspirasseur · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have done this on two Macs so far, my PowerBook G4 @1.5 GHz and a G5 iMac @2.1 GHz Both have Application Enhancer as well as Fruit Menu, WindowShade X and other Unsanity products installed. They still show up in System Preferences, but are not functioning. I'm hoping for updates soon. However, their presence in my systems had no ill effect on my Leopard upgrades.

    1. Re:Leopard install with Application Enhancer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both of those machines are PowerPC architectures. It would be interesting if this is a factor.

  7. Application Enhancer is trouble by Stormwatch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I had used Application Enhancer for a while, but Photoshop became very crash-prone; a friend reported Safari crashes after installing it. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone.

    Also, rule of thumb: 100% clean installs are always the safe way to go. Back up your stuff, wipe the HD, then restore as needed.

    1. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by UnxMully · · Score: 1

      Also, rule of thumb: 100% clean installs are always the safe way to go. Back up your stuff, wipe the HD, then restore as needed.

      I couldn't agree more, though in my case I use a upgrade as an opportunity to clean my system of any of the junk I've installed and not used since the last upgrade. This time it was Office 2004 (replaced with iWork 08) and Thunderbird (rec.sport.rugby.union was getting bad for my blood pressure) plus a whole host of other utilities and bits and pieces I've tried and used once. Not that having them there causes problems, I just like to tidy up now and again.

    2. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by m2943 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also, rule of thumb: 100% clean installs are always the safe way to go. Back up your stuff, wipe the HD, then restore as needed.

      Unfortunately, it then takes many hours to reinstall all the little utilities and applications and settings one has come to depend on.

    3. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by peragrin · · Score: 1

      go get a Mac and learn the easy way of life.

      Since the majority of OS X applications are really nothing more than special folders, you can drag and drop them to the new system as fast as you can copy them. when you run the app it will look for new preference settings and failing to find them will result in the default state back but prefence files are stored in one directory in your home directory. you can copy them to.

      you don't spend hours reinstalling apps off of CD's and looking for obtuse serial numbers. that's only for the backwards that is windows. Hell Linux you can do something similar most of the time.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    4. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by the_wesman · · Score: 1

      while that is, for the most part true, I think it points out a larger problem that apple has, for the most part, addressed - why can't the OS come bundled with "all the little utilities and applications" you've come to depend on? aside from professional audio recording software and a GUI FTP client, I don't have much software that I use regularly at all that didn't come with the mac - as for your settings, they can be exported on a mac (maybe on windows too - I don't really know it that well) - would be neat to get to a world where the CD that comes with your computer has all the programs you need on it ....
      -w

      --
      calling all destroyers
    5. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by AusIV · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hell Linux you can do something similar most of the time.

      I'm not aware of anything quite as straightforward as copying files to an external hard drive and copying them back, but with Ubuntu it goes something like this:

      $ dpkg --get-selections > /backup/installed-software.log
      Then on the new system:

      # dpkg --set-selections < /backup/installed-software.lo
      # dselect
      Then Ubuntu goes back to the repositories and grabs everything again.
    6. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when you run the app it will look for new preference settings and failing to find them will result in the default state back but prefence files are stored in one directory in your home directory. you can copy them to.
      That is not true for all applications on OS X.

      you don't spend hours reinstalling apps off of CD's and looking for obtuse serial numbers. that's only for the backwards that is windows.
      I have a few Mac games that require serial numbers. Stop bullshitting.

      kthnxbye
    7. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have a few Mac games .... Stop bullshitting. sounds like you're the one bullshitting ;)
    8. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by m0nkyman · · Score: 1

      I have a few Mac games that require serial numbers. Stop bullshitting./em
      Are they windows ports that don't store the serials in the /Users/[yournamehere]/Library/Preferences/ folder?

      --
      ~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
    9. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by m2943 · · Score: 1

      go get a Mac and learn the easy way of life.

      I have a Mac; I speak from experience. Sounds like the problem is that you aren't really using your Mac very much (if you have one at all).

      Since the majority of OS X applications are really nothing more than special folders

      I wasn't talking just about applications, I was talking about preference panes, drivers, codecs, bundles, and all that other stuff.

      you can drag and drop them to the new system as fast as you can copy them

      Yes, after you find the latest version on some web site, maybe figure out how to log into the web site, download it, figure out how to unpack it (zip, dmg, other), find the thing you actually need to install, figure out how to install it, and then sit through some wizard, either during install or next time you start the application or both.

      you don't spend hours reinstalling apps off of CD's and looking for obtuse serial numbers.

      Funny, I distinctly remember using "obtuse serial numbers" for several of the i-apps and Microsoft Office.

      Are you sure you have ever even used a Mac?

      Hell Linux you can do something similar most of the time.

      There is no comparison: installing software on Linux is much easier.

    10. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by dangitman · · Score: 1

      why can't the OS come bundled with "all the little utilities and applications" you've come to depend on?

      Because everybody has different preferences and needs in the utilities and apps they use. For some people, everything bundled with MacOS and iLife is all they will ever need. others want totally different things.

      as for your settings, they can be exported on a mac (maybe on windows too - I don't really know it that well)

      You don't need to export them - there is the "Mac Migration Assistant" which can copy them from your previous OS/Mac.

      would be neat to get to a world where the CD that comes with your computer has all the programs you need on it ....

      I don't think so. It's wasteful and outdated. I can get current versions from the software vendor's website. Stuff on a physical disc is almost guaranteed to be outdated by a newer release. plus there's the fact that all the software I need would never fit on a single disc, be it CD, DVD or BluRay.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    11. Re:Application Enhancer is trouble by seebs · · Score: 1

      Yes, it does.

      On the other hand, then they're installed and working. WIN!

      --
      My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
  8. Blue screen of pre life - DEFECTIVE BY DESIGN! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any OS that needs address space randomization, app signing, and a sandbox to protect people from the executables they download must be DEFECTIVE BY DESIGN!

  9. Safe Mode by Monkeys+with+Guns · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone experiencing this should try holding shift while booting. Any additional frameworks, kexts, and whatever will be left out and the system will boot cleanly. If that works, then the offending software should show up in a log and can be identified and removed.

    There is no need to reinstall when something can be removed easily with a safe boot. Too bad Apple doesn't talk up safe booting more so people will know it is there.

    1. Re:Safe Mode by quadra99 · · Score: 1

      Apple doesn't do the "safe mode" when the previous boot failed. Both Linux and Windows do. It should also dissable the failing extention. /Tony

  10. When posting replies to this article by JamesRose · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting about bill gates and phalluses, but also you would be baying for the blood of anyone who dare use windows. Hippocracy is not pretty people (unless you are wearing purple, in which case it totally complements the outfit)

    1. Re:When posting replies to this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hippocracy is not pretty people

      I don't see what hippos have to do with this, but if you're making some comparison about the weight and gracefulness of a hippo with MS then I'm with you...

    2. Re:When posting replies to this article by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      "Hippocracy is not pretty"

      Hippos may eat apples but they sure aren't pretty animals.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    3. Re:When posting replies to this article by ORBAT · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hippocracy? Is that the system of government where horses are the ruling class?

    4. Re:When posting replies to this article by astrosmash · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting about bill gates and phalluses, but also you would be baying for the blood of anyone who dare use windows.

      No I wouldn't, James. Who are you talking about? Care to provide an example?

      Neither Slashdot readers, Apple users, nor Microsoft users operate as a collective unit. Just because User B says something that contradicts User A, it does not make either a "hippo"-crite.

      --
      ENDUT! HOCH HECH!
    5. Re:When posting replies to this article by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting...

      Not under circumstances like this, we wouldn't. Some of Unsanity's programs are pretty invasive little things that fuck around with the OS in ways that Apple doesn't support. From their site:

      What exactly is Application Enhancer? It is a combination of a Framework and a system daemon. Application Enhancer performs its task by loading plugins (Application Enhancer modules) containing executable code into the running applications. Once loaded, the APE module performs the needed modifications (such as redefining the minimize window action, or customizing the standard Apple menu) on the launched application memory space, never touching any files on disk, utilizing set of functions defined in the Application Enhancer framework.

      So yeah, if you have even a vague understanding of what this product does, it shouldn't be any surprise that it could cause problems if you threw it on a new/unknown version of the operating system. This isn't just a "3rd party application". It's not like if Windows crashed when you installed Firefox (which Microsoft would get criticized for), but more like if Windows crashed when you tried to use an obscure and invasive 3rd party WindowsXP hack on Windows Vista (which Microsoft would not get criticized for).

      And it's not even clear that OSX itself crashed (as in a kernel panic). For as few details are available, it could just be that Finder or the installer crashed, which wouldn't be surprising if APE is screwing around with those applications' memory space.

    6. Re:When posting replies to this article by JamesRose · · Score: 1

      So yeah, if you have even a vague understanding of what this product does, In my experience, general slashdot trollery about Windows wouldn't stop to find out what the program does.
    7. Re:When posting replies to this article by mattgreen · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Oh please, you don't need to look hard to see what comments get moderated up on this site. Groupthink is strong here, whether you notice it or not. Say the right thing and you'll be rewarded with meaningless moderation points, and a bunch of "me too" responses. Throw in some classic Slashdot cliches to really fit in, and you'll do great. People would rather devolve every discussion into this needlessly epic "us vs. them" debate so they can justify their dogma. I'm not terribly surprised though, given that people pride themselves on not reading articles here. Knowing that, who wants their kudos anyway?

      Overall the "there's more than one person here" argument is something you can say to feel better, but that doesn't make it true.

    8. Re:When posting replies to this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not like if Windows crashed when you installed Firefox (which Microsoft would get criticized for), but more like if Windows crashed when you tried to use an obscure and invasive 3rd party WindowsXP hack on Windows Vista (which Microsoft would not get criticized for).
      Uhm, Microsoft gets criticized for everything. Apple also gets criticized for everything. It's hard to avoid if you're so big and high profile as either MS or Apple. Main difference is that Apple seems to have more fans jumping to their defense (and being upmodded).
    9. Re:When posting replies to this article by RJBuild1088 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This also brings up a good point: Who is ultimately responsible? As far as I can see, Apple and Microsoft are responsible for creating a stable platform that can support and run third party applications. Third party developers are responsible for creating applications that work with what they are given, and don't do anything to screw with it. Say you're doing some home improvement on your roof. You rent a ladder from a company, but it doesn't quite reach your roof. You sit it upon a chair to make it reach, resulting in your fall and injury. Who's responsible here? Apple shouldn't be blamed here, just as Microsoft shouldn't be blamed for third party app failures. If on the other hand, the ladder broke as you were climbing it, they would be to blame. It's all a matter of knowing what you can do to an OS, and who ultimately causes the failure.

    10. Re:When posting replies to this article by NMerriam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      you don't need to look hard to see what comments get moderated up on this site. Groupthink is strong here, whether you notice it or not.


      I've noticed that is the latest groupthink to make the rounds. it's a statement about as useful as "i know I'll get modded down for this..." which inevitably gets modded up.

      There are a lot of people on slashdot (and I guess in the world in general) who seem to enjoy being the victim of some massive conspiracy, rather than perhaps recognizing that when lots of people disagree with them it really is just a lot of people thinking they're wrong.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    11. Re:When posting replies to this article by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Well there are going to be some trolls about anything... The nature of a real troll is not to even care if you're right, but just to get a response.

      But a lot of the Windows criticism around these parts is pretty valid, and in at least this particular instance, the criticism of Apple isn't valid.

    12. Re:When posting replies to this article by socsoc · · Score: 1

      I like OS X and all, but most organizations are very careful with upgrading to a new release of Windows (or any OS for that matter). There are always going to be 3rd party apps that interfere with any new OS version, regardless of flavor. The best process for business/gov is to have some test machines and if you are a casual home user, the best process it to wait to make sure your favorite apps are compatible, installing it on launch day is for the early adopters who weren't in the beta program, not for mission critical tasks.

    13. Re:When posting replies to this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hippocracy? Government by horses?

    14. Re:When posting replies to this article by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know I'll get modded down for this, but I agree with everything you said.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    15. Re:When posting replies to this article by mattgreen · · Score: 1

      Not quite. I don't believe in a grand conspiracy or anything silly like that. But I do see absolutely asinine comments that contribute nothing to the discussion and are based purely on anecdotal or otherwise unreliable (e.g. unscientific) knowledge be moderated up simply because they are praising the Corporate Flavor of the Month. And I see other comments that are making actual, valid points be lost in the shuffle sometimes.

      There is too much favoritism based upon whether the moderator/follow-up posters like the subject being discussed. The actual point is not as important. I suppose this is the price we pay for not actually reading the article and being informed: knowledge is nice to have, but not essential when discussing things. I notice you did not address this point in my post and am curious to know what you think about it. I'm not sure why this sort of intellectual laziness is tolerated so much around here. It only reinforces my point that much of the 'discussion' that goes on here is founded on emotional, anecdotal grounds.

    16. Re:When posting replies to this article by recoiledsnake · · Score: 1

      The problem is not about the trolls, but about the moderators modding up the trolls. Why is the criticism of Apple not valid? They have failed to test the upgrade with a commonly used software.

      --
      This space for rent.
    17. Re:When posting replies to this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Of course if you have more than a "vague understanding" of how APE works, you'd realize that it:
      1. Disables itself when it detects an OS it hasn't been qualified for yet.
      2. Doesn't even get loaded until after you log in.
      But of course the fact that APE pretty much can't be causing the problems described doesn't keep all you fools with a "vague understanding" from talking about how evil it is.
    18. Re:When posting replies to this article by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      There is too much favoritism based upon whether the moderator/follow-up posters like the subject being discussed.


      Yeah, and I continue to think that this statement of "groupthink" as a given is overblown and always has been. I see lots of ridiculous things get modded up and down, and it usually has more to do with when it was posted or how authoritative it *seems* than the specific content of the post.

      I think a lot of critics are ascribing to bias and groupthink are much more easily explained by convenience and persuasive ability. There are also a lot of critics who like to bitch because for 15 minutes a specific obviously trollish post was modded up, and ignore the fact that it was modded right back down 15 minutes later and their bitching had nothing to do with it. I rarely see truly insightful posts get ignored. I see lots of people bitching about truly insightful posts being ignored, usually attached to said post which is at +5, not because of their bitching but because it takes more than 30 seconds after a post is made for moderation to take meaningful effect.

      Pretty much every bias/groupthink that has been "unquestionably" proven to exist on slashdot, the opposite has been proven at some other time. It's a big group of people doing their own thing, it rarely flies in a tight formation.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    19. Re:When posting replies to this article by Adam+Hazzlebank · · Score: 1

      errr, no!

      Hippos

    20. Re:When posting replies to this article by AnalogousCoward · · Score: 1

      That's what happens when you let horses rule. Or hippos.

      --
      "I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them." ~ Isaac Asimov
    21. Re:When posting replies to this article by tm2b · · Score: 1

      Because in this case, the commonly used software is doing something that developers have been told time and time again should not be done and will not be portable over even minor updates.

      --
      "It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
    22. Re:When posting replies to this article by dangitman · · Score: 1

      Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting about bill gates and phalluses,

      Huh? Windows gets taken down by third party apps all the time, and there is no screaming. It's just considered normal.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    23. Re:When posting replies to this article by Smurf · · Score: 1

      Hippocracy? Is that the system of government where horses are the ruling class?

      Yes, you're absolutely right. It's described in the fourth part of Gulliver's Travels. ;-)
    24. Re:When posting replies to this article by pudge · · Score: 1

      Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting about bill gates and phalluses, but also you would be baying for the blood of anyone who dare use windows. Even if that were true -- it's not -- it doesn't apply here because there's no serious evidence presented that a third-party app is causing the problems. The citation of APE is rumor and speculation, nothing more.

    25. Re:When posting replies to this article by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and I continue to think that this statement of "groupthink" as a given is overblown and always has been.

      Yup. In any story remotely critical of Apple, you can count on someone to say "now if this were Microsoft, you'd all be up in arms over this..." You could find these comments even in stories like when iCon was banned from Apple stores, where a lot of highly modded posts were calling Jobs a consummate asshole.

    26. Re:When posting replies to this article by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Which trolls? Is your complaint about anti-Windows posts being modded up, or about anti-Apple posts being modded down? Because, in my experience, a valid criticism of Apple will get modded up, same as a valid criticism of Microsoft. The only difference is that there are many more valid criticisms of Microsoft.

      It's not a very valid criticism of Apple because (assuming this is a problem with APE):

      • APE is not a commonly used or important piece of software. It's no Adium or Firefox, let alone Photoshop or MS Office. Unsanity's product line is basically a bunch of obscure UI hacks that lets you do skinning and add minor features.
      • APE is an unsupported hack of some pretty basic OS functions. Although Unsanity give lots of assurances that their program is safe, I've heard many people voice concerns. I wouldn't claim to be enough of an expert to tell you for sure how valid those concerns are, but it seems dicey enough that I definitely wouldn't have chanced the upgrade to Leopard on a system running APE.
      • Even in the worst case scenario, after the failed install, the user can still do an "Archive and Install" with losing very much. The user might have to set some preferences and reinstall some apps, but their data will still be intact.
    27. Re:When posting replies to this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's the system of government where doctors are the ruling class. They've got an oath and everything.

  11. iBSOD by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Funny

    It really IS catching up with Vista!

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:iBSOD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haven't you heard? Vista uses Black screens of death now!

    2. Re:iBSOD by Vexorian · · Score: 1

      That's because Microsoft has also worried about upgrading the looks in vista!

      --

      Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
    3. Re:iBSOD by empaler · · Score: 1

      Darnit.

      Cupertine, start you photo copiers...

    4. Re:iBSOD by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      It really IS catching up with Vista!

      Yeah, but Vista doesn't represent SMB shares with an icon showing a monitor with a BSOD. ;-)

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    5. Re:iBSOD by largesnike · · Score: 1

      It really IS catching up with Vista! yeah but in Mac OS X's case, it's the spinning gay-pride wheel of death
      --
      "Laugh while you can a-monkey boy!" - Dr Emilio Lizardo
    6. Re:iBSOD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> It really IS catching up with Vista!

      > yeah but in Mac OS X's case, it's the spinning gay-pride wheel of death

      Yeah, well Apple had the rainbow symbol before gay pride did, so nyeah!

      Why do you think they made the Apple monochrome in 1999?

  12. Clean Install by cyberbian · · Score: 3, Informative

    Any time there is a major OS version, it's foolhardy to 'Upgrade' in that there is no way for the vendor (in this case Apple) to possibly test for each potential configuration. While it's true that this may make the move to a new platform base take longer (with needed software reinstallation) it's the best way to ensure a smooth transition, and also assist the end-user AND the software vendors in question to bug squash.

    It's easy to point fingers, and the upgrade process should in truth be discontinued altogether (imco) and rather provide utilities that will help a user migrate personal settings and preferences to a new build via a back-up utility of some type. To be fair, Apple does a GREAT job by providing the archive and install method which goes half-way but does not provide the opportunity to 'archive and clean install' which would be the ideal case.

    For myself, I can't wait to step into the time machine, and also get the new features available in the OS X Server product.

    --
    if I claimed I was emperor just because some watery tart lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away!
    1. Re:Clean Install by belgar · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Seriously, if you're doing a major update to OSX, and you don't do an "archive and install," you're a tool. This has always been the best way to clean out detritus in my systems when a new system rolls up. I'd rather have problems when some app doesn't work because of what's *not* there, rather than have a system choke because of what *is* there.

      --
      What does it mean to wake out of a dream
      and be wearing someone else's shorts?
      BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
  13. Mod parent up by phillymjs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is hardly the first time Unsanity's stuff has caused problems with a new version of OS X. If people are too damned dumb to uninstall their unsupported-hack add-ons before upgrading, that's their problem, not Apple's.

    And no matter how much better OS X is than Windows w/r/t the "it just works" aspect, things can and do still go wrong sometimes. A little pre-upgrade basic system maintenance never hurts (at least repair permissions and verify/repair the target disk from Disk Utility on the Leopard CD), and neither does making a bootable clone of the system in case you have to revert.

    ~Philly

    1. Re:Mod parent up by maxume · · Score: 1

      If things go wrong sometimes, then I would say that "it just works" isn't all that true. I don't use Apple stuff, but I still have a pretty good impression of their integration/user experience work. That said, it still seems like the strongest statement you should be prepared to make is more along the lines of 'as much better as XP as OS X is in my experience, problem still come up and should be planned for'.

      I mean, if you can only say 'see, it just works' 99% of the time, you don't understand what 'it just works' means.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    2. Re:Mod parent up by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

      I installed this item ages ago because some other application required it to function, and forgot about it. Thanks to this article I have uninstalled it (and I'm not even sure I am going to upgrade this computer to leopard, but I don't need the "enhancer" whether I do or not, especially after reading about other people's problems with it here. Maybe this is "not news" to some, but I'm glad this was published and I bet I'm not the only one who didn't know that AE was such a lousy thing to have on your system.

    3. Re:Mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "it just works" unless you do stupid stuff. they only way that it could "just work" unconditionally would be to remove your ability to do stupid stuff and that would cause an uproar because it would be taking away the ability to do whatever you wanted, no matter how dumb, with your pc.

      up next "Leopard susceptible to 'sudo rm -rf /' flaw"... and the idiots would ask why apple doesnt protect them from themselves, even after being asked their password to confirm they know what they're doing

    4. Re:Mod parent up by Crimsonjade · · Score: 1

      Give me a break. Most people realize 'it just works' doesn't mean there are absolutely no problems.

    5. Re:Mod parent up by maxume · · Score: 1

      I guess that's the problem.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    6. Re:Mod parent up by recoiledsnake · · Score: 1

      This is hardly the first time Unsanity's stuff has caused problems with a new version of OS X Then Apple should've tested the install with APE installed on Tiger. Right?
      --
      This space for rent.
    7. Re:Mod parent up by GarfBond · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Not everyone knows about APE. I, for one, found APE on my system after wondering why my logins were so damned slow. Hint: update_prebinding was being run on every user logon because that was the only workaround that Unsanity decided to use for some retarded bug of theirs. Nevermind that this slows user logon down by about 5 minutes each time! However, I had never installed APE ever in my life, so how did it get there?

      Logitech mouse/keyboard drivers install them for you, without asking or telling you! It's not entirely the user that's to blame - even a reasonably careful user won't notice surreptitious installs like this. Logitech's method of bundling it is vaguely like spyware, I'd say.

    8. Re:Mod parent up by pebs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If things go wrong sometimes, then I would say that "it just works" isn't all that true. I don't use Apple stuff, but I still have a pretty good impression of their integration/user experience work.

      I just started getting into Apple stuff with the release of the G4 Mac Mini. I then subsequently got a Mac Pro to replace my main machine which was running Linux. I decided to give OS X a fair chance to see if really was better than Linux.

      In my experience "it just works" is far from accurate. It's definitely a slick environment and worth using, but comes with enough issues that it doesn't live up to the hype. But I guess its a mistake to listen to the hype (Apple's products fell far short of my expectations due to hype).

      The problem, as with any commercial vendor, is that you are often stuck waiting for the company to fix things. For example, iLife apps crash. They crash a *LOT*. What can you possibly do other than wait for them to fix the bugs? OS X itself is usually pretty solid. Occasional something just won't work right. Sometimes I actually have to REBOOT to fix things. This is just not what I expect from an OS based on UNIX. I suspect (partially from experience) that they just haven't gotten it together after the Intel switch.

      Apple's products have just as many problems as any other OS vendor. They may be different problems, but don't believe anyone who says they don't exist. And Apple is a company that is constantly changing things (OS9 -> OSX, PowerPC -> Intel, frequent OS updates), so you can't possibly expect stability from them. Having control over the hardware apparently still isn't enough to achieve this.

      --
      #!/
    9. Re:Mod parent up by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      Then Apple should've tested the install with APE installed on Tiger. Right?

      No. Nobody supports APE. Complain to any software vendor about any problem with any Mac application you're using, and the first thing they'll tell you to do is remove all the APE crap, then get back to them if there's still a problem without APE installed.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    10. Re:Mod parent up by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      I think the general concensus is that if you don't f*ck with it, it DOES just work. Add some weir 3rd party hack that messes with the OS, it probably has a 1% chance (or greater) of failure. Add a fully developed third party app, and you are back to "it just works".

    11. Re:Mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was never been 100% satisfied with Logitech drivers on Windows (I found them completely inadequate before discovering http://www.mstarmetro.net/~rlowens/uberOptions/). But the Logitech drivers for Macs are completely slipshod, and I found myself forced to pay for a 3rd party driver just to get my mouse to work the way I wanted it to.

  14. Leaopard is great!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    It's great to see Apple finally showing off to their users exactly the kind of programitic skills they have been showing us Windows users for years. Quicktime, iTunes, etc... no matter what it is, it has a huge chance of completely bricking a Windows machine.

    The OSX side has achieved total parity with their Windows side!

    BTW, I upgraded a few machines to Vista this week. It went smooth as butter. Maybe this is an opportunity for Apple users to "make the switch"...

    1. Re:Leaopard is great!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, about those Vista installs...

      I said you could check your email and play a few games while I went out for beer, not trash the place.

  15. Boot verbosely by kithrup · · Score: 5, Informative

    Command-v during the boot chime (or "sudo nvram boot-args=-v" to set it permanently). This shows a lot of "scary" unixy output, but it's great for diagnosing a boot problem.

    Of course, I'm a cli guy :).

    1. Re:Boot verbosely by v1 · · Score: 1

      doesn't verbose boot also cause safe boot at the same time? A number of things are disabled in safe boot. (wireless for one?)

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    2. Re:Boot verbosely by kithrup · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, verbose boot just causes the graphics to be delayed until loginwindow is run. It does not affect "safe boot" in any way.

      One of the first things I do on setting up a new Mac is to change the boot-args nvram variable to be verbose. Not only is it informative if there's a problem, but I find the scrolling text messages to be comforting in their obscurity.

  16. Actually, it may work by hargettp · · Score: 1

    I upgraded to Leopard with my LaCie drive attached via Firewire, so that Time Machine would recognize it. I also let it set over night to do the full backup (which I think it did--saw 150GB disappear from that disk). Now today, that same LaCie drive is back where it belongs attached to Airport Extreme, and anytime that that volume shows up on the network, Time Machine seems to recognize it. That is, I am able to enter the Time Machine restore interface, and I can start or stop a backup.

    I want to plug that drive back into my laptop directly over night, then see how it goes tomorrow. I am optimistic that as long as the initial set of backups are completed, the incrementals may be manageable via AEBS. Given that Macs always recognize volumes as the same regardless of whether they are attached directly or over the network, I'm hoping Time Machine won't mind.

    1. Re:Actually, it may work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Have you actually checked those incremental backups? Word is that you can trick Time Machine into recognizing AirDisks, and it will pretend to back up to them, but it fails to actually do any backing up during the process.

  17. Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by javacowboy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Lots of people are pissed off about this:

    http://javablasphemy.blogspot.com/

    --
    This space left intentionally blank.
    1. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by bitserf · · Score: 1

      Well, why doesn't Sun provide downloads for Java 6? Can't expect Apple to do all the work for *Sun*'s product.

    2. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by ValentineMSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It would be wonderful if it worked that way. However, Apple has decided that they (not Sun) will be the source of Java for Mac boxes. This moderately irritates me in that I'm a Java developer, and would like to be able to test with Java 6. So, to do so, I have to keep a copy of Parallels and Ubuntu around.

      --
      Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
    3. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by JoeCommodore · · Score: 1

      What Apple will do I release Java 6 as an update for Leopard only and as people release Java 6 only apps you will be forced into running Leopard.

      I figure it will be like they did with Java 5 released only for Tiger, no Panther Support - if you go to the Java site and they say go to the Apple site.

      --
      "Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
    4. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by ClosedSource · · Score: 1

      Sun seems to think that Java is owed a living. Remember how they tried to get the government to force MS to install it on Windows? If they were really serious about Java they would have sent out CDs like AOL used to do.

      Offtopic prediction: If there's a Java 7, Java fans will be saying that it fixes Java performance - just like they say for every new version.

    5. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by kalidasa · · Score: 1

      Doesn't ADC have a developer preview version of Java 6? I still write in Java 5, so my memory may be playing me false..

    6. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by ValentineMSmith · · Score: 1
      To be honest, I don't know. My Java development on Apple is hobby level, and I haven't been able to convince the spouse that spring for a subscription for ADC was going to get her shareware database app written more quickly. I get paid to do it on Windows.

      I feel so unclean.

      --
      Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
    7. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by kalidasa · · Score: 1

      You can download the SDKs with the freebie ADC membership (which is what I have - get paid to write on Windows, too, and I too feel unclean). You need the full ADC only to get the hardware deals and the OS updates (e.g., you get Leopard free if you have a paid ADC).

    8. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by pswnet · · Score: 1

      You can try the beta preview. Apple released it couple months ago, but decided to take it again from its official site. I use it on my Mac, and it works pretty well.

    9. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by daBass · · Score: 1

      The upshot of this is that on Mac, you get by far the best looking Swing implementation of any Java platform.

      It could also well be that SUN decided they didn't want to put the effort in and Apple should be commended for sticking with Java and doing a very good job releasing their VM. (Which I suspect is mostly SUN sources, with Apple AWT/Swing)

      Despite 6 not being available, I don't mind. I also get paid to write Java, which means I can't use 6 anyway as most clients aren't ready for it...

    10. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by ValentineMSmith · · Score: 1

      The upshot of this is that on Mac, you get by far the best looking Swing implementation of any Java platform.

      It could also well be that SUN decided they didn't want to put the effort in and Apple should be commended for sticking with Java and doing a very good job releasing their VM. (Which I suspect is mostly SUN sources, with Apple AWT/Swing)

      Despite 6 not being available, I don't mind. I also get paid to write Java, which means I can't use 6 anyway as most clients aren't ready for it...

      Yep, and they've got that com.apple.* hierarchy that controls display of menus in the menu bar instead of in the application window, and so forth. You're right: those are up-sides to having Apple control releases on Mac OS. I just wish they would apply a little more effort in keeping their Java client current.

      And you're also right in that not much out there requires Java 6 at this point anyway. I'm not doing anything that requires it, and the jump from 5 to 6 wasn't nearly the jump from 4 to 5. Sub-pixel rendering in Swing doesn't make near the difference for me that Generics support in Java 5 did.

      --
      Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
    11. Re:Java 6 NOT included in Leopard by ValentineMSmith · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info: I hadn't realized that the preview was available in the freebie ADC membership. I'll have to go check that out!

      --
      Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
  18. Re:happened to me :*( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you got the name of the dog wrong.
    his name was OBVIOUSLY "el qaeda". look for a upgrade soon.

  19. How is this anything like a BSOD? by devjj · · Score: 3, Informative

    It isn't. A kernel panic is the Mac OS X equivalent of a BSOD. If the machine takes hours to launch after an upgrade, or doesn't launch at all, it's a different kind of failure. I speak from first-hand experience, as this happened to me. Thankfully I keep good daily backups.

    1. Re:How is this anything like a BSOD? by Rogerborg · · Score: 0

      It's a screen. It's blue. It kills the machine. In fact, it seems to kill it dead for some people, rather than just requiring a reboot. So, you're right, it's worse than a BSOD.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    2. Re:How is this anything like a BSOD? by El_Oscuro · · Score: 1

      I had a kernel panic with both SUSE and Ubuntu Live on the same machine, which had worked fine previously. Googling it, kernel panics are normally associated with hardware failures. So, I ran the Ubuntu memory test and sure enough, it failed parity. Since the machine was an old cheap POS, I just yanked it and replaced it with a sweet Dell Ubuntu. Since most Windows BSODs aren't the result of a hardware failure, I'm not sure there is *nix equivalent of it.

      --
      "Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
    3. Re:How is this anything like a BSOD? by paranode · · Score: 1

      Most BSODs in Windows are caused by some conflict of third-party software with normal system operation. They both cause the system to lock up and no longer respond so essentially they are the same in this case.

    4. Re:How is this anything like a BSOD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More accurately, most BSODs are generally caused by faulty hardware or faulty drivers and cause immediate system crashes. Reboots are possible and the crashes are avoidable in some situations - system "lockups" are not necessarily inevitable so in that sense, this issue is not the same as a BSOD.

  20. Here's the fix by nilbog · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You can either give up on an upgrade and do a fresh install or an archive/install. If you want to be able to upgrade, try this to manually get rid of APE: Please note that this does involve manipulation of files from the root prompt. This is not for the faint-of-heart, or those who are unfamiliar with the UNIX file system/command structure. 1. Reboot into single-user mode (hold Cmd-S while booting machine) 2. Follow the directions OSX gives you when you get to the prompt (I think these were them - just type the two commands it tells you to): fsck -fy / /sbin/mount -uw / 3. Remove the following files: rm -rf /Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework rm -rf /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist 4. Exit, to continue booting normally exit

    --
    or else!
    1. Re:Here's the fix by atsysusa · · Score: 1

      Yes - and Apple has repeated warned that it does not support APE. In fact, if developers submit a crash log that evidences the presence of APE they ignore it.

      --
      Learn from the mistakes of others. You cannot live long enough to make them all yourself.
  21. Don't be surprised when the dept of oats and grain by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Has a budget of billions of dollars.

    Lets not even think about how much they will spend on the dept of Apples, Carrots and Molasses.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  22. Oh, irony... by xyankee · · Score: 4, Funny

    What makes this all the more ironic is that in the new CoverFlow Finder, PCs on the network are displayed with a Blue Screen of Death... teeeheee!

    1. Re:Oh, irony... by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      I think the funniest part of this easter egg, is that it is a screen shot of the BSoD from Windows 95/98. So for Apple to mock MS they have to go after a 10 year old OS, when Apple was still using horrible System 9. Ouch...

      They should have a least used an NT based BSoD, that would have been more funny.

    2. Re:Oh, irony... by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      The old BSOD was more aesthetically pleasing and recognizable (small, centered text area) than the current ones, which just dump a screen full of text down the left. A current BSOD reduced to icon size would just look like a text document being edited in vi.

      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    3. Re:Oh, irony... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2, Informative

      True. The old 9x BSOD is iconic; the NT one is not.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    4. Re:Oh, irony... by I'm+Don+Giovanni · · Score: 1

      So what?
      It still shows that Apple's maturity level is that of a 12-year old. Sad, that.

      --
      -- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
    5. Re:Oh, irony... by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      It still shows that Apple's maturity level is that of a 12-year old. Sad, that.


      Oh, please, it's a joke. If MS had some similarly subtle way of poking at Apple for the single-button mouse it would be equally funny -- the sort of thing that only a computer nerd would even notice.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    6. Re:Oh, irony... by drsmithy · · Score: 1

      True. The old 9x BSOD is iconic; the NT one is not.

      Which is rather ironic, given a) the term 'BSOD' actually originated with NT before Windows 95 was even released and b) the NT one really is a BSO *death* (equivalent of a kernel panic), whereas the Windows 9x one is frequently non-fatal.

    7. Re:Oh, irony... by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      Yes, and since you have no sense of humor, please continue to plod along with your beige box. So what? It's funny, that's what.

    8. Re:Oh, irony... by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      So what?
      It still shows that Apple's maturity level is that of a 12-year old. Sad, that. It's a good thing Microsoft would never stoop that low!
      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  23. I hate monopolies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hate monopolies, and I am posting from my Apple computer, which uses Apple's OSX, and has an Apple mouse, keyboard, and monitor. I connect wirelessly through my Apple router, email with my Apple webmail account. I'm also listening to music on my Apple iPod, which I purchased from my Apple iTunes account.

    Damn that evil Microsoft monopoly!!! Always forcing everyone to use their products!!

    1. Re:I hate monopolies! by watchingeyes · · Score: 1

      I'm using a Macbook, using a logitech keyboard and targus laptop mouse, I occasionally hook it up to an LG monitor, I use a D-link router and have a Gmail account.

      --
      http://watching-eyes.blogspot.com/
    2. Re:I hate monopolies! by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

      Well lets see... logitec keyboard and mouse... dell monitor.. Bose speakers... Linksys wireless router... in fact the laptop and OS are only pieces from Apple. Well except my phone, but even that I would change if someone made a better one, it just happens to do exactly what I want, the way I want it to. Same as the logitec keyboard (didn't like apple's) etc etc. Guess my "use the products that do it my way" theory kinda blows yours out of the water.

      Guess what DIDN'T let me do things my way? Oh... right... Windows.
      You should reflect on the words of PCs bodyguard:
      "you are coming to a sad realization... allow or deny?"

    3. Re:I hate monopolies! by ChrisMP1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Apple's not a monopoly. If you have all Apple products, that's your choice. You can use an Apple computer with Linux or Windows (though I don't see why), a Logitech mouse and keyboard, a Dell monitor, a Linksys router, GMail, an RCA mp3 player, and purchase music elsewhere. You use Apple by choice, and they don't have a very large market share in much other than the iPod/iTunes area. Though I can't see why anyone would use an Apple monitor; you can get the same monitor for 1/3 of the price from a different company...

      OTOH, you'd be hard pressed to find a computer in a business (other than Apple's stores) or the home of an Aunt Tillie that doesn't have Microsoft Windows.

      --
      <sig>&nbsp;</sig>
    4. Re:I hate monopolies! by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1
      You know, you sound like an idiot.

      My Asus Windows PC. Logitech keyboard and mouse. Westinghouse 24" LCD monitor. Harmon/Kardon speakers. Linksys wireless router.

      I'm failing to see your so-called "point"?

      That Windows wouldn't work with your Logitech keyboard and mouse? That Windows wouldn't work with your Dell monitor? That Windows wouldn't work with your Bose speakers? That Windows wouldn't work with your Linksys wireless router?

      Cause unless all of the above is true, I think most people would struggle to see whatever the hell it is your post was trying to prove.

    5. Re:I hate monopolies! by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Though I can't see why anyone would use an Apple monitor; you can get the same monitor for 1/3 of the price from a different company...

      Shhh! That glowing Apple logolight was hand etched by a 96 year old Tibetan monk, that's the real reason the Apple monitor with the same LCD inside is several hundred dollars more than the same LCD that's inside a Dell shell.

    6. Re:I hate monopolies! by howlingmadhowie · · Score: 1

      apple is not a monopoly. apple does not have the power to force people to use apple products in order to be compatible with governments or public services, for example. don't get me wrong, if they had the market share, they would do, but they don't.

    7. Re:I hate monopolies! by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      Ahh, but see you miss the entire point that you chose to use these products. Apple made your choice easier by investing billions of dollars into an Apple retail store, where you can conveniently pick up an airport extreme at $100 more than the competitors routers. I bought one. I justify the $100 difference knowing that my $50 netgear router from my ISP failed when it got hot after about 15 minutes of use. I can justify the cost in knowing that all 3 of my Macs will "just work" with the Airport Extreme and built in Airport settings. I might have to tweak a bit with a D-link or other model of wireless routers. And, for what it's worth (a lot to some people, nothing to others) the Airport extreme's form factor is more pleasing than the copmetition, and matches my existing hardware. Apple INCENTIVIZES you to buy Apple stuff instead of forcing illegal monopolies down your throat. Hell, it works so well that even their crappy products (mighty mouse, for example) sell well. But, you don't have to buy it as if it were the only mouse that worked with your computer, or that using another mouse would be a difficult song and dance (the Microsoft way).

    8. Re:I hate monopolies! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The other reason being, of course, that you know that the LCD you see in the store is going to be the same one in the LCD you order. As opposed to the Dell one, which could be completely different.

    9. Re:I hate monopolies! by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1
      Methinks that someone that intent on knowing that the internal workings of their LCD monitor in the first place, is not going to buy a 6-bit LCD in that first place.

      Although I did hear, I think, that they were moving to 8 bit panels...

    10. Re:I hate monopolies! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Uh, all the cinema displays are 8 bit. The only 6 bit display is the 20" aluminum iMac. If you're comparing the iMac to a Dell monitor you probably should spot Apple some extra cash for the computer that's built into it.

    11. Re:I hate monopolies! by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

      The post I was responding to (which you obviosly didn't take the time to read) was implying Apple users are fanaticly loyal to Apple and only use Apple products. My point, which you obviosly failed to grasp due to your lack of ability to read one post up, was to counter that steriotype with my own setup wich is not uncommon and counter to the implication.

      Next time note the meaning of RE: or you will continue to sound like the idiot you claim me to be.
      Hint to get you started, it means it is referancing something else, not a stand alone statement.

  24. Re:is microsoft to blame? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    So "you" are Apple, right? And "Nancy" is the customer, getting a right royal reaming in your hands? Which maybe makes Vista the sick wife who just isn't up to the job anymore?

    Or maybe "Nancy" is Apple, and "you" are MS, violating Apple with your throbbing mighty marketshare and making them realise that they'll never be more than a casual flirtation? And I suppose Vista is still the sick cripple?

    Ah, forget it...

  25. Not so funny now eh, Apple? :P by bitserf · · Score: 1

    Yep, I got it - I didn't have the patience to wait that long, so since I had backups, just whacked everything and did a clean reinstall.

    For a while I was worried though, since I had dropped my MacBook about 3 feet the day before, and thought it was a hardware problem.

  26. best practices by squarefish · · Score: 2, Informative

    1) backup your home directories first
    2) do not let the install do a straight upgrade, use the archive and install option or erase/install if you have reliable backups and can afford a little risk and a little more work
    3) remove any programs that integrate themselves with the OS (hint: these will often add new preference options to the system preferences pane). These programs almost always have issues during an upgrade and are often not supported right away by new operating systems due to their nature.

    These are just some basic guidelines, but if you have any specific questions or concerns, ask Apple and search for answers prior to installation. Not rocket science, but most users have never upgraded their own OS before and Apple makes it appear that anyone can do it without the slightest worry. That's close to the truth, but not close enough.

    --
    Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
  27. Um, they DO that. by argent · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's easy to point fingers, and the upgrade process should in truth be discontinued altogether (imco) and rather provide utilities that will help a user migrate personal settings and preferences to a new build via a back-up utility of some type.

    Archive and install.

  28. Almost... by argent · · Score: 1

    It's "this 3rd party application which adds absolutely essential enhancements to my system isn't compatible with he new OS".

  29. This seems like pilot error. by argent · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are similar Windows applications that modify the OS. They have been known to not work on new versions of the OS. Even the most extreme Microsoft skeptic wouldn't say it was Microsoft's fault if Windowblinds had to be upgraded to work with Vista.

    If you're doing an upgrade to the OS, and you're using any third party system extensions, you remove them before you upgrade. That's pretty basic.

    1. Re:This seems like pilot error. by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      Actually, there was a lot of whines going on about Windows XP SP2 failing miserably as people tried to upgrade malware infected systems, or third party patched ones.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    2. Re:This seems like pilot error. by argent · · Score: 1

      Windows XP SP2 failing miserably as people tried to upgrade [...] third party patched ones.

      I'd call that pilot error too.

      [...] as people tried to upgrade malware infected systems [...]

      I'd almost call that pilot error as well, except that Microsoft ships the biggest malware target (the Windows HTML control) and trains people to get infected by malware by popping up warning dialogs all the time so that when they finally get that "Blaster wants to infect your system. (Infect me) (Cancel)" dialog they click on "Infect me" by reflex.

      Of course, I must admit Apple trains people to patch their system by refusing to let people turn off bling. But at least people know what extensions they've installed and can remove them before a major upgrade or do what I do and not upgrade for the "dotzero" release.

    3. Re:This seems like pilot error. by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      I think a lot of people who weren't following things carefully were caught unawares by XPSP2. OS version upgrades are normally considered risky while service pack installs are normally considered fairly safe. XPSP2 was a big exception to this.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    4. Re:This seems like pilot error. by weicco · · Score: 1

      Vista upgrade was nice enough to inform me that there's some incompatibility issues with some software in my system and asked me to remove those before I proceed upgrade. This makes update safer but it is a risky call since if there would have been some stuff that would prevent Vista from booting and upgrade software didn't warn me about it, I would have blamed both MS and software vendor for this.

      --
      You don't know what you don't know.
  30. Deceptive summary by edwardpickman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was worried when I first saw it until I found that it was a 3rd party app causing the issue. The summary would lead me to believe it was a defect in Leopard. It would be nice to mention it's a 3rd party issue and not Apple's fault in the summary.

    1. Re:Deceptive summary by lubricated · · Score: 1

      It also happens without that app. Like if your password is 8 or more characters.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    2. Re:Deceptive summary by DigitAl56K · · Score: 1

      Sure, let's play fair.

      Why don't we correct the headline right after we stop blaming Microsoft for the effects of third party drivers on Windows?

    3. Re:Deceptive summary by Chang · · Score: 1

      My password is longer than 8 characters and I did a straight upgrade with no issues so this certainly isn't universally true for pw > 8 chars.

    4. Re:Deceptive summary by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      My password is longer than 8 characters and I did a straight upgrade with no issues so this certainly isn't universally true for pw > 8 chars.

      My password is longer than 8 characters and I did a straight upgrade with no issues so this certainly isn't universally true for pw > 8 chars. It is 8+ char password set in 10.2.x times and NEVER got changed in 10.3.x or 10.4.x

      APE fud may be coming from people who knows how to use their system (e.g. setting 8 char pwd) also happens to get sick of same desktop look for 2 years and decide to do something about it. Safest method is Shapeshifter with APE since it runs in user mode without any OS files touched or kernel extensions added.

      Tragi-comic thing is, because of some nerds hating the fact that people change how their OS looks, APE had major FUD problem. They figured it is not enough and one of them coded a trojan horse abusing Input Manager function resulting in removal of the Input Manager functionality. As you probably know, if something is not supported on major OS upgrade, it simply gets ignored. Leopard ships and Apple forgets a very basic fact that majority of Apple users upgraded to OS X in 10.2.x times and set their password back that time, it breaks because of lack of wisdom and ignorant attitude of Apple, who gets blamed? APE which is not even loaded on system init.

      I only use Mac even for my hosting needs, I sometimes feel I would be happier if some parts of this community and especially FUD mongering sites who have very close connections with Apple didn't exist. Remember ActiveWin.com the disgusting MS Fanboy site which even MS hates? We have dozens of ActiveMac.coms and they are wondering around as respected publications/blogs.

    5. Re:Deceptive summary by Sheen · · Score: 1

      Noone ever does when its windows, do you feel you need to be specially treated because its "OMG SO COOL" appleosx?

    6. Re:Deceptive summary by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      Ahh, but how can it NOT be Microsoft's fault when the same third party drivers work flawlessly when written for Mac OS X? Can I get a touché?

  31. Then don't be a pioneer. by argent · · Score: 1

    If you're using a lot of OS extensions, then don't be a pioneer. Let other people install early.

  32. Re:Leopard... by El+Lobo · · Score: 1
    Actually, I think any new OS will have child diseases... It is impossible to test the OS for every combination of hardware/software. OK, Apple have it relatively easy, because the number of hardware combinations is not so hight (almost everybody use Apple keaboards + Apple mouses, plus Apple programs on a MAc). AND THIS happens anyway, and not only once.... Imagine in what position Microsoft is when delivering a new OS to millions of combinations of machines which could be using some "Rockefeller modems" and "CheWonChue video cards" with some "Elemental Drain Ropes" software which installed a custom driver for a "Kim Ill Sun Audio card"... Anyway, when this happens to MS it is "defective by design" ot "hahaha". And I think on 2000, Vista and XP this happens amazingly rarely... Apple have less combinations to worry about, but few will laugh at them here anyway... They are not MS.

    --
    It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
  33. APE is *not* a kernel mod. by argent · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But if it is APE then well then that's kinda understandable its the singlemost invasive kernel mod of all.

    APE is not a kernel mod. It runs entirely in user mode.

    1. Re:APE is *not* a kernel mod. by goombah99 · · Score: 2, Informative

      my bad. APE acts like a kernel mod which is why I think of it as one. It lets you do things you "shouldn't" be able to do without a kernel mod by playing some funky games.

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    2. Re:APE is *not* a kernel mod. by argent · · Score: 1

      Making changes in the GUI, which is what APE does, rarely if ever involves mods to the kernel in any OS.

    3. Re:APE is *not* a kernel mod. by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Except Windows where the OS, GUI and Web Browser are all the same thing :)

    4. Re:APE is *not* a kernel mod. by Ilgaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      my bad. APE acts like a kernel mod which is why I think of it as one. It lets you do things you "shouldn't" be able to do without a kernel mod by playing some funky games. That is where its safety comes from. It is user mode, uses Input Manager functionality to do things which normally would require kernel mods or plain old binary hacking.

      Apple removed the functionality which makes APE work by the reason of one anonymous idiot coding a horribly coded Trojan horse abusing Input Managers.

      I don't know if US law supports it but Unsanity should sue Macfixit or a similar FUD spreading company for $1. Let them prove APE does anything bad to OS scientifically or pay the $1.

      As I am preparing for Leopard on this system, I uninstalled APE (Unsanity recommends not doing it) and see how "evil" "performance killing", "system crashing" thing APE was. No, the idiotically coded Applications still crash with trivial reasons, System still boots in exact time which it booted before and I am staring at Mr. Jobs favorite widget graphics knowing the fact that I will stare at them for a long time until Unsanity codes shapeshifter for leopard.

      My FreeBSD/Debian/Slackware using nerd friends and system admins happily changes how their desktop looks but on a $190 (family license) OS, I am not allowed. I can't even change mouse pointer which I did back on Windows 95 and even X11 on AIX allows!

      Apple invited thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who aren't happy with their desktop look to binary hack their OS resource files. That is what they did instead of removing InputManagers from home directory or secure them.
    5. Re:APE is *not* a kernel mod. by argent · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, really, the Windows kernel and userland are just as distinct as any other OS.

  34. Works fine for me by sogoodsofarsowhat · · Score: 0

    But then again i read about Unsanity and what Application Switcher was doing. Simply put if you read what the makers say about their own software you wouldnt run it during an upgrade. That is all.

    --
    . I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....
  35. come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by m2943 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Too bad Apple doesn't talk up safe booting more so people will know it is there.

    Too bad Apple doesn't do the user-friendly thing, which is to offer users "safe mode" when the previous boot failed. That's what both Linux and Windows do, and it's the right thing to do (well, even better would be detecting and disabling broken extensions, but I guess that's too hard for any of them).

    1. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You are smoking some fine crack friend. When the _fuck_ is booting Windows automatically into safe mode user friendly?

      Never. It's an unholy fucking nightmare, and non-IT-admin types should NEVER, EVER be dumped to into safe mode in Windows. Spend some time doing tech support for Windows users and you'll know what I'm talking about.

      NOTHING in Windows' boot menu should be automatic, it ALL leads to certain doom.

    2. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by dave1g · · Score: 2, Informative

      uh, he said offer the safe mode option, not force it on you.

    3. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by empaler · · Score: 1

      AFAIR, it assumes that you want safe mode. If you don't respond within time limit, it boots safe mode. Or was that changed?

    4. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by dave1g · · Score: 1

      you are correct, you have 30 seconds (default , you can change it to automatic or wait longer) to make a choice, but it will choose safemode if you dont make a choice. The alternative is to just let the machine constantly restart...which is much worse than safe mode with a horible resolution. i think that is what freaks people out the most is the 640x480 res forced on safemode. I think thats being a bit too safe, what card/monitor cant support 800x600 that can run XP?

    5. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by empaler · · Score: 1

      The implication of the default choice being safe mode is that it is useful. It is useful - if you know what you're doing.
      The 640x480 is a legacy safety issue. VGA is more widely supported and less likely to fail than SVGA - I think it's all about reducing likelihood of error during safe mode boot, however remote the jump would make it.

    6. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the _fuck_ is booting Windows automatically into safe mode user friendly?

      Can't you read? The GP said it should offer safe mode.

      But what Windows does isn't the point. The point is that Apple's choice of just hanging forever during an upgrade is the absolutely worst possible choice. What the _fuck_ are those user interface design morons at Apple thinking?

    7. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by kestasjk · · Score: 1

      You are smoking some fine crack friend. When the _fuck_ is booting Windows automatically into safe mode user friendly?

      Never. It's an unholy fucking nightmare, and non-IT-admin types should NEVER, EVER be dumped to into safe mode in Windows. Spend some time doing tech support for Windows users and you'll know what I'm talking about.

      NOTHING in Windows' boot menu should be automatic, it ALL leads to certain doom. You're right, just showing a BSoD is much better. Jobs cares so much about his users he would rather they are shown a BSoD than get booted into safe mode, this is how wise Jobs is.
      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    8. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

      Did you read TFA? Any of the comments at ALL before spouting your stupidity? There is no BSoD.

    9. Re:come on, Apple, move into the 21st century by toddestan · · Score: 1

      I once had a bad video card that worked (mostly) fine in VGA mode, but took a dump if you tried SVGA mode. So I guess in a few cases, booting into VGA mode might be better than SVGA.

  36. Awful summary by belg4mit · · Score: 1

    It conflates two issues, BSOD and lag. I was about to lmbaste Mac users for stupidly confusing the two,
    but after checking the article it was only the submitter and editor.

    --
    Were that I say, pancakes?
    1. Re:Awful summary by MrConspiracy · · Score: 1

      And here I was hoping Apple had ported the BSOD. Incidentally, with XP updated, I haven't seen one of those in a while. Makes me nostalgic for 95/Me.

  37. Re:Funny by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you had Linux apps that worked the way APE does, it would bring down the entire system, too. The only reason you don't is that Linux doesn't have a community of people who long for the olden days of Mac OS 9. I'll explain.

    Back in Mac OS 9, apps didn't have protected memory, and thus you could write extensions to the OS that quite literally rewrote parts of applications and the OS itself. Mac OS X uses a more proper model like Linux. However, some people still want to do those sorts of mods to the OS. The result was that the Unsanity folks created APE. APE basically sits down at the linker level and starts an additional thread with its own code running inside the address space of the target application. This thread then loads plug-ins that modify the behavior of the app.

    You should immediately see the problem with this. You have a bunch of people who don't have anything to do with the author of an application writing code that mass-modifies dozens of applications, libraries, etc., essentially doing binary patching on the running OS. There's no other phrase to describe this other than mind-bogglingly dangerous. In a biological comparison, it's like rewriting the genetic code of the entire planet using only a single person as a template---as soon as you hit a person with slightly different biology, the patch goes completely wrong. Similarly, when APE tries to operate on new versions of the OS, new versions of applications, new versions of frameworks and libraries, etc., it tends to result in cutting a path of destruction rather than enhancing anything.

    What blows my mind is that APE isn't smart enough to check the OS version and NOT LOAD. It is truly unbelievable. How hard is it to say if [ "$(sw_vers -productVersion | sed -E 's/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\..*/\1/')" != "10.4" ] ; then syslog -s "unknown OS version." ; exit 0; fi? Every OS release, APE causes some sort of major problem for a lot of users. Every OS release, people just keep coming back and reinstalling it even after seeing the fallout. I just don't get it. It's like Stockholm Syndrome or something....

    IMHO, the Unsanity team should be taken out and beaten with wet noodles until the mere sight of a Chinese restaurant causes them to have nightmares for a year.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  38. Deserve the "unfair"? by denzacar · · Score: 1

    You know, MS is a near-monopoly so their products do deserve a good deal of good old unfair bashing... How is it possible to "deserve" something "unfair"?
    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:Deserve the "unfair"? by scottrocket · · Score: 1

      Turnabout.

    2. Re:Deserve the "unfair"? by trifish · · Score: 1

      How is it possible to "deserve" something "unfair"?

      Ever heard of things like irony or sarcasm?

    3. Re:Deserve the "unfair"? by denzacar · · Score: 1

      No.

      Whats dat?

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  39. Pretty good, actually... by argent · · Score: 1

    Gee, what are the odds that changing the underlying application would cause such a module to *not* wreak havoc on a system?

    Pretty good, actually, given that only a fraction of users have problems. It's when you're binary-patching the kernel at runtime that you really have to start worrying... I've done that, on occasion, once I was still up to my elbows in debuggers five minutes before a demo for the CEO because two drivers decided to give completely different entry points the same name. It's a shame that Apple makes it necessary to do this kind of shenanigans... and I wasn't planning on upgrading until after Unsanity had gotten their stuff working reliably under Leopard anyway.

  40. indeed by m2943 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately for Apple, it's OS competitor has a much better track record in the quality of new releases.

    You're right: Ubuntu kicks Apple's ass not just in terms of included functionality, graphics, and price, but also in terms of smooth upgrades.

    1. Re:indeed by thannine · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You just got to love the apple fanboy's logic and intelligence here. There just isn't any adequate any to answer a claim like that.

    2. Re:indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I detect a note of jealousy.

      But, hey, it's understandable: Leopard is rather underwhelming, in particular compared to Gutsy Gibbon.

    3. Re:indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just got to love the apple fanboy's logic and intelligence here. There just isn't any adequate any to answer a claim like that. YHBT. YHL. HAND.
    4. Re:indeed by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

      Well, the upgrade script hung my machine while it was running and left my machine in a sort of half-upgraded state. Everything behaved quite wonky, but once I did a fresh install (yay for /home being a totaly separate hardrive), everything is VERY nice. Everything is so much faster than Feisty (especially launching amarok outside of a KDE environment).

    5. Re:indeed by paranode · · Score: 1

      Price is the only one you are correct about, but do continue to fantasize. :)

  41. 3 Upgrades, no significant issues by topham · · Score: 1

    I've upgraded 3 Machines, all Intel based and haven't had any significant issues. I did however have a significant delay while doing the install on my iMac. It took about 30-45 minutes once the install application said "About a minute". Other than that delay everything went perfectly smooth.

    Although I still have to upgrade my G5; and that could turn out differently.

    1. Re:3 Upgrades, no significant issues by Raineer · · Score: 1

      I did however have a significant delay while doing the install on my iMac. It took about 30-45 minutes once the install application said "About a minute". Other than that delay everything went perfectly smooth.
      The 30 minute wait at "one minute remaining" is the archive portion of the install, if you chose it. You can watch your install logs with Command-L (or just look up at the installer menu.) This is nice to watch the actual logs of what is happening. I think it is crazy Apple decided to ignore the archive portion in the time calculation, but this works as a confirmation of what is happening. The install took much longer than I expected on my Macbook, but it was nice to watch the logs to see just what it is doing.
    2. Re:3 Upgrades, no significant issues by topham · · Score: 1

      I figured that out after I was thinking about it later today.

      2 of the installs were Upgrades, only the iMac was an Archive & Install and is the only one which exhibited it.
      On he other hand, the MacBook took a long time to recognize the harddrive to do the install to. no apparent reason. Ah well; Apple should fix the issues with the installer, but I'd generally have to agree it's pointless now with Leopard...

  42. Unsanity's APE is a nasty hack by iliketrash · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unsanity's Application Enhancer uses the debugger framework to access and modify an application's memory space. Since Leopard randomizes memory, one might expect that trouble would ensue.

    The Unsanity hacks have been a source of trouble for many users for several years. Unsanity has vehemently denied that their products are the trouble, and by a twisted piece of logic, it is the application itself which is misbehaving when things go wrong. It's not hard to find heated discussions of these things on message boards and sites like versiontracker.com and macupgrade.com. The source of the disagreements might be related to how long a person leaves an application open, with the probability of mayhem increasing with time since launch. These remarks relate to pre-Leopard versions of the OS; it seems that Unsanity is finally caught with their pants down and no place to crap.

  43. More stupidity that Apple fanboys love --- by barbam · · Score: 0

    OOOOOOH!!! MICROSOFT BSOD IN WINDOWS 95!!! OOOOOHHH PING OF DEATH!!!! OOHHHHH, MICROSOFT BAD AND UNSTABLE!!!! Give me a break. Server 2k3 / XP / Vista are as good or better than any competing OS when it comes to stability.

  44. How has Apple addressed this? by argent · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I think it points out a larger problem that apple has, for the most part, addressed - why can't the OS come bundled with "all the little utilities and applications" you've come to depend on?

    How has Apple addressed this when two of the Haxies I use, as well as two kernel modules I've installed, are there to work around problems Apple themselves are responsible for?

  45. People don't do in-place upgrades on Windows. by argent · · Score: 1

    Windows doesn't have this problem because people don't do straight in-place upgrades on Windows.

  46. Shocked! by NMerriam · · Score: 1

    OMG, hacks that aren't even supported on the old version of the OS can cause problems on the new versions of the OS? This is a rather disturbing turn of events. Next thing you know you won't be able to randomly yank out pieces of hardware while the system is booting!

    Unsanity is a company that basically does nothing but make products guaranteed to cause crashes and instability by doing crazy things to system-level components, all for the sake of bling. If you're running their "haxies" (gag, whoever came up with that word needs to be kicked in the groin repeatedly) you're asking for trouble on any version of Mac OS. This is not news, this is the status quo.

    --
    Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
  47. still Apple's fault by m2943 · · Score: 1

    In other words, it changes the executable code in memory of a running application. Gee, what are the odds that changing the underlying application would cause such a module to *not* wreak havoc on a system?

    Redefining the "minimize window action" or "customizing the standard Apple menu" should not require "moifying the executable code of a running application".

    The fact that on OS X, utilities like APE have to do this is indicative of bad underlying software design.

    1. Re:still Apple's fault by NMerriam · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The fact that on OS X, utilities like APE have to do this is indicative of bad underlying software design.


      no, it's reflective of the fact that Apple doesn't provide any APIs for accomplishing those tasks. It's no different than patching explorer.exe while it's running so that the File menu suddenly does something completely different -- basically guaranteed to cause problems with something, because you're not supposed to do it and no programmer expects it to happen. But I'm sure the code that MS programmers work on is reasonably modular and accepting of changes to the File menu without breaking anything else.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    2. Re:still Apple's fault by m2943 · · Score: 1

      no, it's reflective of the fact that Apple doesn't provide any APIs for accomplishing those tasks.

      That is the same thing in this case.

      But I'm sure the code that MS programmers work on is reasonably modular

      No, it's not; both Apple and Microsoft suffer from the same problem.

    3. Re:still Apple's fault by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      That is the same thing in this case.

      No OS on Earth provides APIs for doing anything you want anywhere you want with any piece of software and guaranteeing nothing will ever break. That's like saying Toyota has lousy engineering practices because you can't easily replace the engine in your Camry with a ramjet you bought off eBay.

      No, it's not; both Apple and Microsoft suffer from the same problem.

      And your auditing of Apple and MS code is based on the years of experience you have working on the Finder and Explorer teams, right?

      I'm sure every time MS or Apple want to add a menu option anywhere, every piece of software that runs on the OS has to be rewritten from scratch in assembly, because it never occurred to anyone to do any abstraction whatsoever.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    4. Re:still Apple's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No OS on Earth provides APIs for doing anything you want anywhere you want with any piece of software and guaranteeing nothing will ever break.

      Sorry, you're wrong. There are, in fact, OSes that guarantee just that, difficult as that may be for your Mac-addled mind to comprehend.

    5. Re:still Apple's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Such as?

  48. Don't forget Balmer...and Zune...and Bin Laden... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    There would have to be at least couple of posts depicting Steve Balmer (or the Anti-Steve as he is known to Apple fanboys), throwing chairs, jumping around and listening to the music on the Zune (brown) while chewing on a bucket of penguin drumsticks he bought from Bin Laden.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  49. Almost. It's Apple that's put the bling in. by argent · · Score: 1

    I use haxies to remove Apple's bling.

    And I sure wasn't planning on upgrading to Leopard until I knew APE was supported on it.

    Oh, and they don't go anywhere near the OS. That's why they're Application enhancers, not kernel enhancers. I've got a few of those, too... they're called "drivers" and "kernel extensions".

    1. Re:Almost. It's Apple that's put the bling in. by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      they don't go anywhere near the OS. That's why they're Application enhancers, not kernel enhancers. I've got a few of those, too... they're called "drivers" and "kernel extensions".


      Yeah, and they use documented, official, supported methods of extending the OS, specifically so that crazy unpredictable behavior is avoided even when the OS is updated. APE works by replacing Apple code with "something else" in a completely unsupported way, and pretty much guarantees that any significant OS updates can cause massive problems.

      I don't know how you define "OS", but to most people it isn't a synonym to kernel.
      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    2. Re:Almost. It's Apple that's put the bling in. by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      You have to be carefull with terms like OS and application, they mean different things to different people. Some older textbooks use operating system synonomously with kernel. Others use it to mean the stuff that is critical to reasonable operation of the computer. Still others use it to mean everything installed by the OS isntaller. To some people application means a program installed for a specific job that is not critical to the rest of the system, to other people it may mean any program that runs in userspace.

      It looks to me like the people talking about it breaking the OS are using the term OS in the sense of "stuff that is critical to reasonable operation of the computer" while APE are using application in the sense of "any program that runs in userspace".

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    3. Re:Almost. It's Apple that's put the bling in. by argent · · Score: 1

      You have to be carefull with terms like OS and application, they mean different things to different people.

      Indeed, and I have already seen messages claiming that Unsanity is patching the kernel, which why as a side issue I am making sure that I'm correcting that misapprehension when it looks like it may be made.

      The real issue here is that Apple has been forcing bling down our throats, and slowing down the GUI, and the only way to get rid of it is through programs like Unsanity's.

  50. Does it come in other "flavors" too? by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Or will that come with the next update?

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  51. Account Deleted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sorry but your suggestion that Apple would produce and release a product that doesn't work flawlessly out of the box is heretical and simply not true. This idea is contrary to SlashThought, and your account should be deleted.

    1. Re:Account Deleted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please pay attention, the author stated that Apple did everything right, and that 3rd party hacks were responsible for the issue.
      If any idea is actually contrary to SlashThought, it's that Apple is incapable of doing ANYTHING right and than every man, woman and hamster should "upgrade" (har har har) to Linux.

  52. care to provide a cite? by argent · · Score: 1

    I don't recall any case "around here" where Windows got slammed because some third party application caused OS upgrade problems.

    1. Re:care to provide a cite? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here. Or maybe you posses a selective memory.

      Every time MS releases a significant upgrade there are articles on Slashdot talking about problems with the latest games, lists of third-party applications a service pack "has broken", drivers that don't work with the new OS, etc. Go back and look at the XP SP2 issues when MS flipped on DEP by default, for example.

    2. Re:care to provide a cite? by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

      Since when has some third party application caused a Windows upgrade problem?

      Care to provide a cite?

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    3. Re:care to provide a cite? by argent · · Score: 1

      Every time MS releases a significant upgrade there are articles on Slashdot talking about problems with the latest games, lists of third-party applications a service pack "has broken", drivers that don't work with the new OS, etc.

      And there will be more apps that are broken on Leopard, and there will be stories about them. And when Apple is responsible, then I'll be there throwing bricks too. But this one isn't Apple's fault, you know that by now if you're actually following it, so don't try and claim that Apple should be slammed for it out of some misplaced desire for "balance".

    4. Re:care to provide a cite? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good question, how about two weeks ago?

    5. Re:care to provide a cite? by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

      That's fascinating, but going back to the actual question, when was the last time some third party application caused a Windows upgrade problem?

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    6. Re:care to provide a cite? by Fittysix · · Score: 1

      Various 3rd party spyware and virii broke sp2.

      --
      *.sig
  53. Re:Apple does seem to be having a lot of... by InfraredAD · · Score: 1

    Other than your knee-jerk reactionary statement to the article, do you even have a clue as to what "Application Enhancer" is? While it's a great gateway to enable other haxies and features, it doesn't surprise me that this is the case. More than likely this is the result of people who have this installed while running Tiger, then do an upgrade (i.e. dirty) install of Leopard. It's not just a point release, there are some significant changes to the code... For instance, NetInfo.. try and find it... I dare ya.

  54. hmmm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Application enhancer? Unsanity llc? I'm not a mac user myself but doesn't that sound like something spybot would catch on a heavily infested pc?

    1. Re:hmmm.... by dangitman · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm not a mac user myself but doesn't that sound like something spybot would catch on a heavily infested pc?

      Yeah, Unsanity is like the syphillis of the Mac world. However, being Mac-based, it's good-looking syphillis that's easy to use.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
  55. meh by zonker · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't doubt that Leopard has some bugs. Probably even many of them. I did an "Upgrade Install" and have a fair amount of 3rd party apps installed including some utilities. Knowing I might have problems I disabled several of them before installing and others I looked up to see if they support Leopard. Of course a good many didn't have any info on Leopard yet.

    However I would bet there are a good many people who have existing problems with their system and don't know it or have applications installed that they don't really understand could be dangerous. I'm willing to bet though that this is more likely to be a third party issue than a Leopard issue just from my own experience... but who knows. Like most of these types of problems with any new OS (Windows, OS X, Linux, what-have-you) I doubt that it is widespread. IMHO headlines like this one should be considered flame-bait unless someone can conclusively prove Apple's at fault.

  56. Re:Funny by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny

    How hard is it to say if [ "$(sw_vers -productVersion | sed -E 's/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\..*/\1/')" != "10.4" ] ; then syslog -s "unknown OS version." ; exit 0; fi? Speak for yourself... I'm still stuck on how to pronounce "sw-vers"...
  57. Re:Funny by FrozedSolid · · Score: 2, Informative

    It might be worth mentioning that on Windows, the api call, CreateRemoteThread() allows you to do what is described here (create a thread in a remote process), without loading any 3rd party hack extensions.

    --
    When all freedom is outlawed only the outlaws have freedom
  58. Why Linux doesn't have this problem. by argent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You have a bunch of people who don't have anything to do with the author of an application writing code that mass-modifies dozens of applications, libraries, etc., essentially doing binary patching on the running OS.

    I've done that as well. I mean, binary patching the actual OS, not just applications running in userland. Sometimes you gotta do it.

    If you knew what GNU libc does to try and avoid having to make people rebuild applications when upgrading libraries, you'd run screaming. They have code in there to look for libraries at runtime and dynamically load different variants of other libraries depending on what you're using and what you have installed. The glibc team has people who do nothing but look for cases where they have to adapt for different libraries and different kernel versions.

    The reason that you don't have more of a problem on Linux is that there's no central Steve Jobs for Linux who dictates the way the GUI works, so if you don't like the way Enlightenment or fvwm or Windowmaker behaves, you can change it. The downside of this is that there's no single framework you can modify or replace to make global changes. There used to be, back when everyone used Athena Widgets, and you could replace libXaw with libXaw95 to get a Windows 95 look, or with libXawSTeP to get a NeXTSTeP look. Now, instead, you get Battluin GUIs between the Gnome and KDE yobbos.

    And there's all kinds of Windows hacks that do similar stuff to APE, from development tools to simple user interface enhancements. And, yes, they can cause problems and break in new versions of the OS.

    What Unsanity has done is to create a framework that makes this kind of thing relatively safe compared to having everyone build their own. Unfortunately since they're not at Apple or someone that Apple is willing to support (because they are undoing the things that The Steve has decreed) there's an unhealthy passive-aggressive relationship between Apple and Unsanity that doesn't exist between (say) Debian and the glibc team.

    And, yes, they should be disabling themselves on upgrade. And Apple should look at the things that people are using Haxies for and make the things they are trying to get rid of optional.

    The other thing is, on Windows people simply don't put their trust in having an upgrade work. They do clean installs. And they wait on upgrading Windows until this kind of thing gets shaken out.

    1. Re:Why Linux doesn't have this problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Linux does have problems like this. I used to work on a project that required the use of kernel modules to get access to performance related data structures in the kernel to make them visible in user space. Like APE, this was an "unsupported" practice, since I was poking bits of the kernel not guaranteed to be safe for third-party software. So, frequently new kernel releases would change symbol names or twiddle the layout of structures, breaking my modules. Last I checked, this is still a problem tracking with new kernel releases.

      There is nothing about Linux that makes it any different than any other OS -- if you touch things not meant to be touched, your code will break. It's as simple as that.

  59. Bull crap. by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

    Windows getting taken down by Antivirus software is one thing. If a Vista upgrade failed because an unsupported version of WindowBlinds was installed, no tears would be shed.

    Don't be blind to the fact that the escalating number of new Mac users are mostly former Windows admins and users. Fewer Mac users are ignorant to the pros and cons of Windows than vice-versa.

  60. Way to jump on a side issue, friend. by argent · · Score: 1

    Yeah, and they use documented, official, supported methods of extending the OS, specifically so that crazy unpredictable behavior is avoided even when the OS is updated.

    Well, I don't know about you, but I wasn't planning to upgrade to Leopard without removing my enhanced drivers and kernel extensions either.

    But my core point is that if Apple didn't insist on forcing bling on us, people wouldn't go to this kind of extreme just to remove the bling.

  61. Interesting comments by ISwearNotmyPorn · · Score: 0

    This is a great thread to place side by side with a Windows counterpart. Why is it when a story is released about Windows choking on a upgrade it's always: "Bills an idiot" "Windows sucks" "BSOD Ahah ahaa h" "Some long drawn out story about Windows has been doing this for ages"

  62. Just like for UAC... by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

    Remember, it is Microsoft's fault that application developers don't liveup to the security model that was in XP and Vista, and thus tons of permissions boxes popup. I suppose the default account should be admin like in XP... no wait, that sucks too.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
    1. Re:Just like for UAC... by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      Yeah, MS was stuck between a rock and a hard place, they really want to shake the reputation they have for crappy security but in doing so they have seriously pissed off a lot of users.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
  63. Blame the WindowsServer by markpapadakis · · Score: 1

    I had to deal with the same problem. It seems opting for archive and install will help you go through whatever problem (mostly) without any problem once the installation process is over. Going to single user mode (Apple+S on startup) and examining the logs ( /var/log/system.log ) will probably tell you what it told me. The WindowsServer segfaults/crashes which is why nothing actually happens after the blue screen. Chances are some of the /System/.. and/or /Library/.. files that affect the operation of the WindowsServer are to blame.

    Your best source for information on the subject ( other than this ./ thread ) is Apple Discussions 'BSOD' thread.

    --
    Technology ramblings : Simple is Beautiful
  64. dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

    dpkg doesn't upgrade anything that you've installed that didn't come from the dpkg repositories. If you installed anything yourself, you're out of luck.

    The only reason this isn't an issue on Linux is that there isn't any ecosystem of commercial software... there's a handful of commercial applications you can buy for Linux, and pretty much all of them are server apps. And it's that commercial ecosystem that really makes OSX worthwhile... if it was just a nice-looking free-UNIX distribution with alll the software downloaded via Fink or DarwinPorts nobody would use it.

    1. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by m2943 · · Score: 1

      The only reason this isn't an issue on Linux is that there isn't any ecosystem of commercial software...

      If you want to install commercial software, you subscribe to it through the package manager, just like anything else.

      And it's that commercial ecosystem that really makes OSX worthwhile...

      Maybe that's true for a small number of people who need specialty apps. Almost all the commercial apps I have ever bought for OS X turned out to be either useless or were there to fill in some functionality that is included for free in recent Linux distributions.

      In different words, commercial software becomes less and less of a reason to choose OS X.

    2. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

      If you want to install commercial software, you subscribe to it through the package manager, just like anything else.

      I can see Blizzard or Adobe going for that. Not.

      That attitude towards commercial software is why Linux is not going to develop a commercial ecosystem.

      Maybe that's true for a small number of people who need specialty apps.

      That would be just about everyone. People buy computers to do the "specialty" stuff they need to do win their life.

      Almost all the commercial apps I have ever bought for OS X turned out to be either useless or were there to fill in some functionality that is included for free in recent Linux distributions.

      I've used Gimp, and I've used Photoshop, and I know which one is "useless". And it's not the one included for free in recent Linux distributions.

      In fact just last week I was looking for an excuse not to pay the bucks to upgrade to CS3, and looked at the available open source, shareware, and commercial painting applications.

      There were three open source apps that ran under X11. Gimp and two derivatives of Gimp. None of them were worth pouring out of a boot. Even the cheapest shareware OS X application was better than them.

      The areas where the free UNIX environment wins are really important, yes, but they're really "specialty apps" for most people. THe free UNIX ecosystem produces the best "Tools for Nerds" (to borrow Slashdot's slogan), but when it comes to other specialties for the majority of the population who aren't 100% hardcore computer geeks it really doesn't work as well.

      There's some really good open source apps of OSX, though. But they don't run on Linux and they're built by people who don't think that "Tools for Nerds" are all you need.

    3. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by BlueParrot · · Score: 1

      I can see Blizzard or Adobe going for that. Not.


      You do realise that Adobe has software packaged in the Ubuntu repository?
    4. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

      You do realise that Adobe has software packaged in the Ubuntu repository?

      Adobe has freeware there. Acrobat Reader is a teaser product that they're happy to bundle with anything you let them... to give you a reason to buy their full-on Acrobat software... which they don't include. They don't have Photoshop or their other real commercial software there either.

      Adobe is not going to ship Photoshop through a distro repository until someone like Amazon is doing their own distro with support for credit card payments in AZpkg, copy protection, maybe even DRM and all the other crap that (justifiably) makes most Linux users wince.

    5. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 1

      Adobe is not going to ship Photoshop through a distro repository until someone like Amazon is doing their own distro with support for credit card payments in AZpkg, copy protection, maybe even DRM and all the other crap that (justifiably) makes most Linux users wince. Why not? Seems a quite reasonable distribution model to me. A quick hack would require a valid CD key before you download PS (the CD key would come from a website purchase). The installer would prompt you for the CD key and check it against the server. Then the CD key would be used to encrypt the download and the deb would be sent to you. Copy-protection at runtime has never been the operating systems job, and never will be. Of course this would be done against a "commercial software" repo server, as this extra processing can't be done on the standard mirrors (Adobe would kick in a few cents per download to offset the cost of running the server). DRM isn't required, and it's nonsense that you think they would expect anything more than a one-time encrypted file to help increase the barrier (note this is much harder to copy than a DVD to an average user).

      There is no technical or business problem with making this work when it becomes common to distribute commercial software to Ubuntu.

      PS: This would either cut down on piracy of PS (which I think might actually be the most pirated software on the planet), or at least make it a trivial bit easier for people to buy it who would have otherwise pirated it.

      Sean
      --
      I live in a giant bucket.
    6. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by m2943 · · Score: 1

      Adobe is not going to ship Photoshop through a distro repository until someone like Amazon is doing their own distro with support for credit card payments in AZpkg,

      Adobe could easily replace their current distribution with a repository with no change in their copy protection, payment, or other models. And, as a bonus, they'd get much easier software upgrades and maintenance. The reason they don't is simply that they haven't ported any of their for-pay software to Linux.

      Keep playing with your toys, and leave discussions about professional imaging and IT to people who actually know something about it, OK?

    7. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

      Adobe could easily replace their current distribution with a repository with no change in their copy protection, payment, or other models. And, as a bonus, they'd get much easier software upgrades and maintenance.

      Only if they could get the 90% of the market running Windows and the 7% running OSX to go along with the 3% running Linux.

      The reason they don't is simply that they haven't ported any of their for-pay software to Linux.

      And I'm sure the idea that they should change their business model for 3% of the market has nothing to do with that.

      Centralized package management for open source products was a great idea when the FreeBSD project started the Ports system, back when Linux was still catch-as-catch-can. But it depends on a common trust model... even interfering with that model slightly, like RHEL does, orlike Sun used to with Java, makes it a pain. Depending on dozens of companies maintaining their own repositories with their own access controls just isn't going to fly... the operation will end up as manual as it is now.

    8. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

      A quick hack would require a valid CD key before you download PS (the CD key would come from a website purchase). The installer would prompt you for the CD key and check it against the server. Then the CD key would be used to encrypt the download and the deb would be sent to you.

      That's basically how it currently works for a lot of commercial software, except that the package you get installs directly and doesn't need you to have a separate installer already sitting on the system, and they take care of the CD key stuff when you install the software the first time, so their upgrader works invisibly in the background. The thing is that you'll need to do that for Adobe's server to update Photoshop, and for Autodesk's server to download Maya, and so on... unless you go with my idea of having someone like Amazon doing it...

      Of course this would be done against a "commercial software" repo server

      Right.

      So basically you just described the same thing that I suggested... you just described "copy protection, DRM, and all that crap" in more detail than I did, as if that somehow made it go away.

      There is no technical or business problem with making this work when it becomes common to distribute commercial software to Ubuntu.

      The question is, will it become common to distribute commercial software to Ubuntu without "all this" being in place?

    9. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 1

      I in fact did not describe DRM. I don't know how you see that, I described copy protection. I have installed commercial software on Ubuntu through repositories, and it works fine (note, they didn't even expect this level of copy-protection, they just had runtime key checks)

      Sean

      --
      I live in a giant bucket.
    10. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by Nurgled · · Score: 1

      To show a concrete example, it's probably worth noting that under Ubuntu Feisty Canonical had a "commercial" repository with all sorts of commercial freeware in it. One example was VMWare Server, which requires (for some inexplicable reason) a registration key to operate. Whoever packaged it for Ubuntu (I'm not sure if it was VMWare themselves or someone at Canonical on their behalf) put the key entry step into the normal debconf bits so that installing the vmware-server package using any of the available package managers would prompt for a key and set it up for you, thus replicating the user experience of commercial software installers on Windows.

      The other option would be the "try before you buy" approach used by software such as Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Fireworks: you get the full product, but it won't unlock all of its functionality until you supply a registration key obtained out of band on Adobe's website. This doesn't require any extra infrastructure on the package archive, because you just ship the "trial" version from the repository and let the user register once installed. This would, however, require that the app save the registration info per-user rather than system-wide.

      It's also worth noting, though, that this "commercial" repository does not yet exist for "Gutsy". It has been replaced with a new repository called "partner" which currently contains only Opera. I do remember that it took a few weeks for the commercial repository to be populated after the Feisty release though, so it's possible that it'll fill out a bit in the coming weeks.

    11. Re:dpkg is a distro upgrade tool by argent · · Score: 1

      I in fact did not describe DRM. I don't know how you see that, I described copy protection.

      Copy protection is a form of DRM. In fact, copy protection is the form of DRM (whether labeled as such, or not) that is responsible for making DRM a "bad word".

      What commercial software have you installed, by the way?

  65. I wonder how Twitter is going to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the Leopard being defective on Microsoft and Windows.

  66. Re:Funny by Rosyna · · Score: 4, Informative

    What blows my mind is that APE isn't smart enough to check the OS version and NOT LOAD


    You meant why doesn't APE do this?

    // Check so we don't load on 10.5
            SInt32 vers = 0;
            err = Gestalt(gestaltSystemVersion, &vers);
            if (err or (vers >= 0x1050))
            {
                    return paramErr;
            }


    (which I just took from the APE source code).
  67. I am going to remove Unsanity's AE and Cleardock by noewun · · Score: 1

    Before I upgrade. I've had Unsanity's Application Enhancer do some weird things to my machine, like making it so it won't sleep, and the only reason I'm using it now is because Transparent Dock doesn't work with the Dock installed with the Safari Beta. All that said, I've never trusted haxies that much.

    --
    I am a believer of momentum and curves.
  68. Who would? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Just remember, if windows got taken down by a third party app, not only would you be screaming and shouting about bill gates?

    Why? I'd happily say it's not Microsoft's fault if someone replaced part of the WIndows kernel causing Vista upgrades to fail.

    At least OSX has the option for "Archive & Install", which might get past this - or failing that a clean install with user migration from your backed-up user directory. Because you ALWAYS makea backup of your user directory before a major system upgrade, regardless of OS...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Who would? by Thundersnatch · · Score: 1

      At least OSX has the option for "Archive & Install", which might get past this

      Windows has had the "files and settings transfer wizard" since XP's release in 2001, which is designed to facilitate switching machines or doing clean re-installs or upgrades. It doesn't transfer every setting for programs that store things in odd places, but it mostly works as designed.


      As you say, though, a full backup should be done before any upgrade, regardless of OS. Yes, even - or perhaps especially? - Linux.

  69. Leopard ate my HD by mortonda · · Score: 1

    I had another problem of some sort. The install proceeded to verify the DVD media, which checked out ok, and then it said it was intalling. It also said it was calculating the time remaining, and never got past that point... after a long while it said an unexpected error ocurred.

    Upon rebooting it would show the startup apple for a few seconds and then power off, with and without the software dvd in the drive.

    I forced it to boot off the dvd, and discovered that the hard drive was corrupt - the disk check utility couldn't fix it. I had to format and install a fresh system.

    All in all, that's probably not a bad idea anyway, and I have a good backup system in place, so I didn't lose anything.

    Nevertheless, corrupting my HD is not a good thing. :(

  70. Re:Funny by explodingpickle.org · · Score: 1

    Maybe "swivers?" ...

  71. Re:Funny by mattgreen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And it is still a terrible idea. You can make very few safe assumptions about the target process. You don't know the state of the heap, so you have to use your own heap for that thread. You don't know the base address for DLLs, so you have to use only kernel32.dll functions (and that is luck that it always loads at the same base address for every process).

    But the absolute worst part about CreateRemoteThread() isn't the fact that it does what it says. It is the simple fact that you need to actually inject your thread function into the target process. That is, you need to copy the assembly necessary to run your thread into the target process. WriteProcessMemory() is an API call that will get you flagged as malware by a lot of AV utilities, but is necessary to use CreateRemoteThread().

  72. Strange! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is so strange! Because everyone knows APE is made by those fine people at Unsanity - and those fine people at Unsanity know better than anyone else how to respect the workings of an operating system. It's not like administrators or security researchers or system engineers have ever had anything bad to say about Rosnya and the rest. No: truth be told Unsanity's code is so well written and so carefully designed this can only mean one thing: Apple are deliberately trying to break this fine product!

  73. lol macs by jpvetter · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    it's all bush's fault

  74. Re:THIS IS WHEN I SAY by empaler · · Score: 1

    Yeah, because no upgrade problems happen to Ubuntu.

    Yeah.

  75. No official comment from Apple on APE - Not by atsysusa · · Score: 1

    Actually Apple has commented on APE some time ago. The official word is that they do not support it and crash reports that are submitted which evidence the presence of APE are ignored. This goes back to 10.4

    --
    Learn from the mistakes of others. You cannot live long enough to make them all yourself.
  76. Re:Leopard... by MacColossus · · Score: 1

    I would argue Apple has it harder. Leopard supports 32 and 64 bit versions of PPC and Intel hardware from a single install DVD. The OS is 64 bit when on 64 bit hardware and yet allows 32 bit drivers and apps to run on that 64 bit hardware and OS. I have yet to see a Windows OS accomplish that.

  77. Re:Funny by recoiledsnake · · Score: 1

    What blows my mind is that APE isn't smart enough to check the OS version and NOT LOAD. It is truly unbelievable. How hard is it to say if [ "$(sw_vers -productVersion | sed -E 's/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\..*/\1/')" != "10.4" ] ; then syslog -s "unknown OS version." ; exit 0; fi? Every OS release, APE causes some sort of major problem for a lot of users. Every OS release, people just keep coming back and reinstalling it even after seeing the fallout. I just don't get it. It's like Stockholm Syndrome or something.... So why doesn't Apple perform testing the upgrade install with APE installed and fix the issues or atleast warn people before releasing the OS if this breaking happens every time?
    --
    This space for rent.
  78. Leopard's only real BSOD by CptnQuixar · · Score: 0

    Leopard does feature the Blue Screen of Death, but not during install:

    http://www.drury.net.nz/2007/10/26/leopard-easter-egg/

    A bit snarky if true

  79. Odd place for an headache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...known to cause headaches behind people's backs.

    That's pretty neat software. My headaches are usually in my, well, head.

  80. Defensiveness by tji · · Score: 1

    Wow.. I'm as big an Apple fan as the next guy. My primary desktop is my MacBook Pro, my Mini is my HTPC, I even have an iPhone.

    But, unlike may of my brethren, I don't see Apple as infallible. Come on guys.. Installing third party apps is not unreasonable behavior. To expect that they will work through Apple's upgrade process is not either. Don't paint this as "you morons shouldn't expect this to work".

    I upgraded my Tiger OS, without ripping out all the things I suspected as possible problems (Parallels being #1 on that list). Of course, I did a complete system backup to a firewire drive first. To my pleasant surprise, Leopard came up without problems. I haven't run Parallels yet, but everything else seems okay.

    1. Re:Defensiveness by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      I'm not painting it as "you moron's shouldn't expect this to work". Rather, I'm painting it as "the more Mac OS X grows, the more shoddy third party stuff will be out there to mess it up". Apple hasn't made any mistake here, and just like Windows, can't be held liable for the crud that is out there beyond their control. I rest better knowing that, in general, the crud out there for OS X is far and few between compared to the glut of horrible software available on the PC.

    2. Re:Defensiveness by gblfxt · · Score: 1

      Parallels was a bit shakey, but it may have been because i had windows 2003 suspended. I tried to bring it up, no dice, just beach ball, I changed the amount of memory from 1gb to 768mb, and that dumped the suspend, it then started up. my non-suspended ubuntu linux came up fine with 512mb. I shutdown the windows 2003 machine and moved it back to 1024mb, and it came up fine again. So be sure to shutdown your vm's is the story i guess.

    3. Re:Defensiveness by tji · · Score: 1

      I also ran into this.. My suspended VMs needed to be reset to run. Now, I cannot suspend the VMs at all.. they always fail. I have seen reports of kernel panics from other users.

      Note that this is the previous version of Parallels (v2.5, I think). The newer one, with 3D acceleration support, is apparently being updated to work with Leopard.

      If I need to upgrade to v3.0, that re-opens the decision of whether to switch to VMware Fusion. The cost will be about the same, and I will probably go with VMware.

  81. The BSOD Icon in Leopard. by frdmfghtr · · Score: 1

    I thought the article was going to talk about this or this.

    If you connect to a Windows machine, the icon for that machine in Leopard is a beige monitor with a BSOD!

    --
    Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
    1. Re:The BSOD Icon in Leopard. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, the childishness of Apple stoops even lower. Nice. ALmost as low as /. itself. And that's really below the belt.

  82. Unsanity's software aren't just apps. by argent · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unsanity warns you that they are making deep modifications to the user interface and patching applications dynamically when they are loaded. They are not "just apps", they are not even like Parallels which does come with a kernel extension... because it runs as a regular application otherwise. Not to mention that Apple considers Parallels a key player, but has a definite problem with Unsanity.

    I'm not saying that people who are having this problem are morons, but I don't think they should be so quick to blame Apple for this... unless you're suggesting that Apple actively broke APE or something?

    1. Re:Unsanity's software aren't just apps. by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      Unsanity warns you that they are making deep modifications to the user interface and patching applications dynamically when they are loaded. They are not "just apps", they are not even like Parallels which does come with a kernel extension... because it runs as a regular application otherwise. Not to mention that Apple considers Parallels a key player, but has a definite problem with Unsanity.

      I'm not saying that people who are having this problem are morons, but I don't think they should be so quick to blame Apple for this... unless you're suggesting that Apple actively broke APE or something? Apple does not break APE nor APE is responsible for this. The functionality makes APE work has been REMOVED on Leopard which means it will simply IGNORE APE, won't load it.

      The issue happens because of 8+ char password having user accounts created back in 10.2.x , Apple changed the hash function securing the password rendering main account unusable.

      You forget to mention why people hack their OS. To get THEMES, to get MOUSE POINTERS, to make OS X act more like NeXT (WindowShade). If there is someone to blame for having to memory hack an OS to get these functionality I would look nowhere else than Apple which is a complete fascist on this matter. Gnome and KDE , especially KDE went past the "Themes" thing and you can even change the OS interaction with User without hacking anything. These Desktop environments are widely claimed to be "Nerd" things.

      Unsanity could code a kernel extension just like Parallels and live the pseudo comfort on Leopard, they have chosen harder but safer way. In fact I feel obliged to say, even if Apple didn't remove the functionality which makes APE work, APE would STOP itself from loading as there is a major OS upgrade.

      Apple, instead of calling FBI and Interpol about the Input Manager trojan coding moron, sick bastard or simply extent the "repair permissions" functionality to user $HOME directory, they removed their own invention from OS. Now that is another story.
    2. Re:Unsanity's software aren't just apps. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple does not break APE nor APE is responsible for this. The functionality makes APE work has been REMOVED on Leopard which means it will simply IGNORE APE, won't load it.


      The problem comes with an older version of APE, which is a stealth install with some apps. Uninstalling it solves the problem for some people, which I would take as definite proof that APE is to blame in those cases.

      APE isn't supported for a reason - it is a hack, and I wouldn't want it anywhere near my systems. Nevertheless I found it installed on my machine a while ago, with no warning, because it had been bundled with something I installed. The only reason I found it was it was causing a persistent error in an unrelated application, which was being logged to the console. When hacks like that are installed with no permission from the user, and can cause instability with later upgrades, I feel Apple is quite right to close the security hole this represents. They already refuse to deal with any bugs reported when this is installed, which should give you a clue as to their opinion of the software.

      While I agree it'd be nice if OS X supported themes, that doesn't make this kind of hack a good idea.
    3. Re:Unsanity's software aren't just apps. by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      Well they will ship a Leopard version of theme etc. software in a while. If I was Apple, I would even help them on the process since other alternative is overwriting system files. How many hours it would take for an advanced developer house like Unsanity to get such "backup and overwrite" method working? I'd bet for 40 hours.

      They were doing a favour to Apple by living all that hassle to do things in memory.

      I openly told them to stop doing favour and start binary hacking OS binaries.

      The security "hole" InputManagers present can be fixed by a single chmod command and nothing else. Anyway, Apple decided to be dictated by trojan authors instead, it is their wish. Lets hope nobody codes a launch services "trojan" to make Apple ship OS X 10.6 more like backwards Linux or Windows. They already showed they can be dictated via trojan horses.

      I am in process of moving to Opera 9.5 for Leopard BTW since another legit software, which is really an input manager based on every kind of term is losing functionality. Cocoa Gestures. Kudos to Apple for removing a part of $500 M NeXT instead of calling freaking FBI or extending permissions scheme to home directory.

  83. There IS actually a Blue Screen of Death in 10.5 by psiogen · · Score: 0

    If there's a Windows machine on your network, the icon for it in the Finder "Shared" bar is a monitor with the Blue Screen of Death visible on it.

  84. Car analogy by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My car 'just works'

    Even with regular maintenance, I still get unexpected interruptions of service now and then.

    Nothing technically 'just works' all the time if you want to bitch and moan about all the corner cases where it can break, but there are things designed to work with very little fuss, for a reasonably long time.

    Point is, 'just works' doesn't have anything to do with occasional bugs, but describes how something was designed/is intended to happen, and the reliability to work as intended. That's where Mac OS X, and my car wins the title. For the most part, they work very simply, as intended.

  85. JAVA by brwyatt · · Score: 1

    I had the "Developer Preview" for JAVA 1.6 installed... when I upgraded my MacBook Pro to Leopard, it no longer works: BR-MBP:~ brwyatt$ java Invalid memory access of location 00000000 eip=8fe18aa2 # # An unexpected Java error has been detected by HotSpot Virtual Machine. # # If this error is reproducible, please report it with the following information: # 1. Provide the steps to reproduce, a test case, and any relevant information # 2. The corresponding JavaNativeCrash_pid.crash.log (Java state) # 3. The corresponding .crash.log (native state; generated by CrashReporter) # 4. This data: # # Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (1.6.0-b88-17-release mixed mode, sharing) # An unexpected error has been detected by Java Runtime Environment: # # Bus Error (0xa) at pc=0x8fe18aa2, pid=282, tid=8431616 # An error report file with more information is saved as /Users/brwyatt/Library/Logs/Java/JavaNativeCrash_pid282.crash.log # # # File report at: http://bugreport.apple.com/ # Segmentation fault Other than that, everything else works fine for me... can't wait for 10.5.1 when they fix all the bugs....

  86. Ahem... by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

    You're right: Ubuntu kicks Apple's ass not just in terms of included functionality, graphics, and price, but also in terms of smooth upgrades. I use Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X all on a fairly regular basis. Mac at home, Linux on work laptop, Solaris on servers at work, and Windows on my workstation and coworkers' that I help troubleshoot. I love Linux and hope it continues to grow and gain industry support, but statements like the above quote are just sickening. The quoted individual needs a reality check. Thankfully, the Ubuntu team isn't as batshit f'ing looney as some of their fans, and comprehends the huge amount of work needed to compete with its commercial rivals.

    1. Re:Ahem... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was a joke, you fucking douchebag.

    2. Re:Ahem... by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

      It was a joke, you fucking douchebag...

  87. The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some suspect that a framework called 'Application Enhancer' by Unsanity LLC may be causing the problem, but there has been no official word from Apple at this point."


    There's no suspicion about it; that's exactly what's causing the problem. Application Enhancer is an input manager, and input managers are no longer supported in Leopard. People installing it knew the risks they were taking when they installed it on Tiger. Instructions have already been posted online on how to remove Application Enhancer from the command-line.

    Sorry, there's no big "BSOD" error in Leopard's install. It's a hacky piece of software people shouldn't have been installing in the first place.
    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
    1. Re:The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by anagama · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe the only reason people would install a "hacky" piece of software is because Apple makes it so dang hard to customize your personal workspace. People are different, not homogenous.

      Note to the apple modders -- I have a bunch of apple hardware, and not a bit windows stuff -- I'm speaking from experience, not as a troll.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    2. Re:The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Speaking as someone with experience in this area, most people don't know what's good for them when it comes to user interface design. Why should Apple take the time to support something that will mainly cause problems. A bit of vendor lock-in is part of what makes Macs great -- they are more consistent, and more reliable because of it.

    3. Re:The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 1

      Regardless of the reason, the risk was still there.

      --
      "Sufferin' succotash."
    4. Re:The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by anagama · · Score: 1

      Who cares if "they don't know what's good for them" -- people are different and like different things. It isn't always about pure efficiency -- for example, desktop backgrounds do nothing to enhance efficiency, and probably drain quite a bit in the selection, generation, and "staring at" phases. Every desktop OS offers them though because people like them.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    5. Re:The problem IS caused by Application Enhancer by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      You're right, but that still doesn't change the point. Desktop backgrounds are also a bit different in terms of what I'm talking about: interface design.

  88. Re:Leopard... by ClosedSource · · Score: 1

    While Windows hasn't had to deal with the specific issues you mention, the diversity of hardware suppported by Windows has almost been much greater than those supported by the Mac. So I'd say that Windows still has it harder.

  89. Re:Funny by QuoteMstr · · Score: 1

    You can also do it with a global hook. That'd force every process to load your DLL into memory.

  90. how to conveniently backup an OS X system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hi all,

    while on the subject could anyone come in and explain how to conveniently backup an OS X harddrive and/or partition?

    I'm "imaging" a lot of Windows and Linux systems: for Windows I'm using a good old pre-Norton Ghost DOS command line that can compress FAT and NTFS partitions. For Linux I usually mount the partition I want to backup from another system (say a Knoppix CD) and I do a good old "tar czf". It works perfectly fine for my Xen virtual (Linux) machines as well as for my main Linux workstation.

    In both these case I can "image" a full system and have this image be compressed: this is very convenient as usually a "clean" system fits nicely on a DVD for archiving/re-imaging purposes (for example Windows XP + SP2 + all patches + Office 2000 + lots of small utils [FoxIt PDF Reader, etc.]) takes barely 1 Gb compressed. (too much for a CD but fine for a DVD).

    Of course there are a few "tricks" I use: on a clean XP install I disable "system restore" and I manually delete the swapfile before running the Ghost image...

    What options are there if I want to image a full OS X harddisk/partition?

    Can it be done by hooking the harddrive to a Linux system and then using Linux commands?

    Are there tricks so the size of the image can be kept reasonable?

    What if I want to clone an OS X-formatted HD to another, identical, HD? Can it be done from Linux?

    Note that I ask if it can be done from Linux because it's very convenient to be able to hook an HD to another computer, launch a bootable CD (say a Linux Knoppix CD) and work from there.

    Any detailed steps (and numbers) would be very welcome as I've searched the net and couldn't find any reasonable explanations (besides "Go buy XYZ Super-OS X archiver").

    1. Re:how to conveniently backup an OS X system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      1. Connect an external hard drive.
      2. Download Carbon Copy Cloner (donationware) or SuperDuper (even unpaid/unregistered, it can perform basic cloning).
      3. Clone the boot volume to a sufficiently large partition on the external. You can clone the boot volume while you're booted from it (which was a refreshing change from having to make boot floppies when I used Ghost with Windows), though it's a good idea to quit all other applications while the clone runs.

      The only option I'm aware of to compress a cloned OS X volume would be to clone it to a compressed disk image using Disk Utility or the Apple Software Restore command line tool. It takes a fairly long time and is a two-pass process (i.e., it images, and then compresses the image), so I don't usually bother with compression. I make uncompressed read/write images, and if I need to boot from one I clone it to a real external hard drive partition.

      If you want to clone frequently, cough up the $28 for SuperDuper. It has a 'smart update' feature that only copies changed files after the initial clone, so subsequent clone jobs finish much more quickly. You can also schedule jobs with the paid version.

      FYI, Carbon Copy Cloner can be used to make a shell script to clone the volume. If you really want to you can make a launchd item that will run that script automatically when you connect the external drive.

    2. Re:how to conveniently backup an OS X system? by dangitman · · Score: 1

      If you want to clone frequently, cough up the $28 for SuperDuper. It has a 'smart update' feature that only copies changed files after the initial clone, so subsequent clone jobs finish much more quickly. You can also schedule jobs with the paid version.

      The curent version of Carbon Copy Cloner has this feature, too.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    3. Re:how to conveniently backup an OS X system? by BitchKapoor · · Score: 1

      If you want to clone frequently, cough up the $28 for SuperDuper. It has a 'smart update' feature that only copies changed files after the initial clone, so subsequent clone jobs finish much more quickly. You can also schedule jobs with the paid version.
      The curent version of Carbon Copy Cloner has this feature, too.
      rsync does that, too. Plus it's open source and has a nice, easy-to-automate command line interface. You can even use it to securely backup to another machine over the network (via ssh).
    4. Re:how to conveniently backup an OS X system? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah yeah yeah, rsync this, open source that. "Easy to automate command line interface?" Sure, if you don't mind reading man pages so you can type shit like "rsync -pekrjtyoRJGUYTJD" to make it do what you want.

      Don't get me wrong, I have no fear of the command line and rsync has its place, but will it make a complete, flawless, bootable backup of a running OS X system, like CCC and SD can? If it can do that to another machine over the network, I'm interested. Otherwise, who cares? I'll stick with the GUI tools that let me accomplish what I want in 3 or 4 mouse clicks.

  91. Re:Leopard... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Excuse me?
    Are you saying that a 64bit version of Vista does not allow 32bit Applications to be installed and run?

    If so, you have absolutely no fucking clue at all.

    All 64bit versions of Vista (and I believe XP as well although I have never used 64bit XP), have both a "program files" and a "Program Files (x86)" and the OS will install to either folder as necessary based upon the application itself.

  92. 20 and counting..... by CaptScarlet22 · · Score: 5, Informative

    14 upgrades, 4 reformats and 2 archive and install. 0 problems.

    Thats 10 G5's and 4 Mac Pro's with upgrades.

    Thats 4 MacBook Pros reformats.

    Thats 2 Powerbooks with archive and install.

    You can mod me any way you like, but it wont change the success I've had with Leopard....Awesome.

    --
    It's left blank because I have nothing to say to you punks!
    1. Re:20 and counting..... by spammeister · · Score: 1

      I guess expecting what should be "the norm" as susccess means you actually expect to be dissapointed every time?

      --
      I tried to think of a good sig, and this wasn't it.
  93. Slow boot == BSOD? by trawg · · Score: 1

    Seems like a weird thing to say in the summary. I know I'd be much more likely to prefer a painfully slow boot process as opposed to random, painful, possibly data-loss-causing BSODs.

  94. Two installs - both golden! by axafg00b · · Score: 2, Informative

    I installed Leopard on my PPC Mac Mini and my daughter's relatively new Intel MacBook. No issues with either one, but the time it took was approaching Win2k/XP levels. Still, it was far more painless than any Windows install, any Linux install (and I've gone from Slackware to SuSE and RedHat), and pre OS X Macintosh (System 7 anyone?).

    It should be no surprise to many Mac users that each build does break/improve things that may not have been explicitly allowed in earlier builds. Unlike the non-Mac OS worlds, Apple is still the final arbiter on what does and does not make it on their OS.

    --
    I think, therefore I am - Rene Descartes; I yam what I yam, an' that's what I yam - Popeye
  95. Re:Funny by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

    Perhaps this is because APE and unsanity allow you to do things you WANT to do to the OS (ie theming) that Apple will not let you. I love my Mac but my eyes are highly sensitive to white light (I can't drive without sunglasses) I would not even have been able to use Tiger if shapeshifter had not let me turn it dark. They toned the white down quite a bit with Leopard so I am OK... but soon as shapeshifter will make it dark again, you bet I will re-install it so my eyes are comfortable looking at the screen.

    Apple doesn't want me to use it, they need to give me some way to do that from the OS.

  96. Re:Leopard... by cyber-dragon.net · · Score: 1

    you are right... it is just drivers it won't let you install unless they have been blessed from the high priest of Vista. Oh and even if it does install due to some miracle, it will stop working after 30 minutes if not "approved" such as VMWare ethernet drivers. Just gets better though, when it says "I found a problem would you like it fix it" it tells you the ethernet card, which was working 30 seconds ago, is not supported and the driver won't work.

  97. Goes to show: Beware of the Leopard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Douglas Adams is proved a visionary yet again

  98. Taken care of by Jon.Laslow · · Score: 1

    In fact, when you do a Custom Install Without Format, setup 'automagically' moves "C:\Documents and Settings" (or "C:\Users" if the old install is Vista), "C:\Program Files", and "C:\Windows" (change drive letters as needed) to C:\Windows.Old. Given, it doesn't copy everything back to the new install, but if that's what you want, do an Upgrade.

  99. Re:Funny by littlekosh · · Score: 1

    I'm a fan of swuh-verz, but to each their own.

    --
    655321
  100. the leopard bit me by pavera · · Score: 1

    Luckily I have pretty complete backups and 99.9% of my work is done on servers and saved there, gotta love version control (yes for everything, even my music directory).

    I just reformatted and am performing a clean install.

    The thing that is strange is I have 0 third party things installed on this laptop, I have a couple text editors (could text mate cause this?), but nothing like APE or any of the other things that have been mentioned in the thread at apple.

    I'm not 100% convinced this isn't just an upgrade problem with leopard itself. I'm actually happy the upgrade failed, cause it was about time to clean this thing up... It's been a year since I got it, and that's a long time for me for an OS install to last...

  101. Re:Funny by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So why doesn't Apple perform testing the upgrade install with APE installed and fix the issues or atleast warn people before releasing the OS if this breaking happens every time?

    Screw that. The same logic led Microsoft into the backward compatibility hell it's currently mired in. I think Apple's policy of "if you deliberately break your system then don't blame us" is inconvenient for some users in the short term but much better for all users in the long haul.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  102. Re:Funny by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

    You meant why doesn't APE do this?

    [snip OS version check]

    (which I just took from the APE source code).

    That's commendable, but why is it still running anyway?

    Besides, you're testing that backward. It should be

    if (err or (vers > HIGHEST_KNOWN_WORKING_VERSION))
    rather than hoping that it will work for all the values between "CURRENT_VERSION_NUMBER" and 1050.
    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  103. unplug external USB drives.... by vaporland · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unplug any external USB hard drives, especially if they USED to have a system and now only contain data, but you never reformatted them, and only erased files via the Trash.

    Try rebooting afterwards, and you'll start up just fine. People really waited HOURS?!? Wow, what a bunch of Geniurds....

    It's the same boot issue that occurs when a windows machine has USB set to boot ahead of the CD ROM or HD, and you put an empty keychain in the USB slot - it hangs.

    I had this problem, as soon as I rebooted with no USB HD, things went fine. This is, of course, on an Intel Mac...

    On a Core (non-2) Duo, the wireless networking driver for Boot Camp will recognize your Airport Extreme 802.11g as an 802.11n, but since it isn't, you will not have wireless connectivity.

    This will show up if you have a Core (non-2) Duo and an Airport Extreme with 802.11n support, since the Airport device always broadcasts the 802.11n signal.

    --
    Ask Me About... The 80's!
  104. I had the spinning ball of death by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 1

    I did an Upgrade to a PowerBook G4 that has had Tiger on since it came out. I upgraded to Tiger from Panther (got the laptop a month or two before Tiger). I found that Finder was wedged and had the spinning ball. I could kill it in Activity Monitor, but that didn't help. Repairing the drive didn't help. Booting in to safe mode to attempt a permissions repair similarly resulted in the spinning ball. I had performed a SuperDuper backup, so decided to go the clean install route. I only copied my user over as well as network settings. Everything is now working well and I'm doing my first Time Machine backup. The longest time was spent figuring out how to get launchd to get my Apache2 instance going for my subversion repository.

    1. Re:I had the spinning ball of death by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 1

      I did a successful upgrade on a Mac Mini that is a few weeks old. Not a whole lot installed on it yet. I would theorize the age of the install, amount of stuff installed, and whether you have a lot of 3rd party kernel level hooks will determine how succesful you'll be on an upgrade. All in all I'm pleased. I have one more machine to get upgraded, a MacBook purchased at Christmas for my wife. I'm in no hurry to get it upgraded, but I know a Parallels uninstall will be warranted prior to attempting an upgrade. No matter what, a clone style backup is a must in my opinion.

    2. Re:I had the spinning ball of death by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think I may have had Application Enhancer installed. Clean install fixed that. :-)

  105. Re:Funny by sammy+baby · · Score: 1

    Maybe "swivers?" ...


    Works for me...
  106. A day late and a dollar short by networkassault · · Score: 1

    Get this, Unsanity FINALLY sent out a message to those on their email list. This is their "sage" advice:

    "First and formost. *Before* you install Mac OS X 10.5, make sure you have Application Enhancer (APE) 2.0.3 or later installed. You can download it from http://www.unsanity.net/ape-203.dmg (the webpage is at http://unsanity.com/haxies/ape ).

    Make *sure* you have APE 2.0.3 or later installed *before* you install Mac OS X 10.5. If you have an earlier version of APE installed before you install 10.5, you may exhibit one of the following symptoms upon booting into Mac OS X 10.5:

    - Your goldfish may die.
    - A strange dog might bite you on the street.
    - A friend may punch you.
    - Your computer may catch fire.
    - Your loved one may leave you.

    All of these things are really bad. So we urge everyone to make sure they have APE 2.0.3 or later installed. If you aren't sure, install APE 2.0.3 or later from the link above. APE 2.0.3 was released on March 14th, 2007. And please, always keep your software up to date.

    A note about 10.5 and haxies:

    As long as you have APE 2.0.3, nothing bad will happen in 10.5. Well, nothing we can control. However, none of your APE Modules will work either.

    Developers in Apple's Mac OS X developer program (ADC) got the final 10.5 GM yesterday. We are still downloading the huge 6.66GB image and as soon as the downloads finish for our developers, we will be hard at work on making our software work on 10.5.

    You can keep up to date with the status of haxies and 10.5 by viewing http://unsanity.com/products/compatibility/ and we will post more information as we have it on our blog at http://unsanity.org/ . Mac OS X 10.5 compatibility is currently our number one priority.

    "If APE doesn't work in 10.5, shouldn't I just uninstall it?"

    No, you should not. Just make sure you have APE 2.0.3 or later. A lot of third party (and Unsanity made) utilities depend on the APE framework itself being there. As it has some extremely useful functions. Removing it may cause these Applications and/or preference panes to stop launching."

    They tell you specifically NOT to do the one thing that you probably should do. Worst of all, they try to be funny while doing so.

    --
    "I'm glad I'm going to die because, when I do, the world's gonna go to the dogs." -Me on aging and the next generation.
  107. Re:Funny by catmistake · · Score: 1

    agreed. APE is a terrible idea. But its hard to believe so many were using it... and harder to believe this story made it to /.
    Headline should read "users with crazy unstable systems catch snag on upgrade."

  108. Re:There IS actually a Blue Screen of Death in 10. by I'm+Don+Giovanni · · Score: 1

    LOL
    Yeah, but it's Windows 95's BSOD. Back in Windows 95's day, Apple was running the horrible System 7-9. Maybe Microsoft should show Apple computers with black bombs with lit fuses to mock System 7-9, or spinning beachballs to mock OS X. Nahh, Microsoft isn't anywhere near as immature as Jobs is.

    --
    -- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
  109. Obligitory Simpson's Nelson: Ha! Ha! by rts008 · · Score: 1

    I've seen here (on /.) that a lot of mac users wanted more compatibility with MS Windows app's.....now you have it!

    Be careful what you wish/ask for!

    I've also noticed that a lot of blame is directed to Ape regarding Logitech's keyboards and mice....does Logitech even make a one-balled^H^H^H^H^H^Hbutton mouse?

    Again, just for you mac fanboys: Ha! Ha!

    (Damn, I seem to be on a troll/flamebait rampage lately...maybe I shouldn't post drunk?...nah, that can't be it!)

    --
    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
  110. If APS is so bad, surely .... by Marbleless · · Score: 1

    .. Apple should have known about it and put a block in the Leopard installer?

    The possible conclusions I see are:

    a) Apple didn't think APS would be a problem (which points to poor testing of the installer), or
    b) Apple knew APS would cause problems, but shipped anyway and washed its hands of the problems, or
    c) APS isn't the problem (and there are a number of cases of people saying they have install problems without APS installed) and the upgrade is screwing up for other reasons.

    We only have a couple of OS X systems in our office, and I'll be delaying their upgrade for a week or two until these problems have been worked through.

    --
    --I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
  111. Escape your spaces! by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...except those commands will silently fail. The spaces need to be escaped with backslashes, or the entire file path needs to be in quotes. Getting rid of the .plist may be enough to disable Application Enhancer, but it's not getting rid of the entire haxie.

    fsck -fy /
    mount -uw /
    rm -rf /Library/Preference\ Panes/Application\ Enhancer.prefpane
    rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Application\ Enhancer.framework
    rm -rf /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application\ Enhancer.bundle
    rm /Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist
    exit


    Like that.

    Bonus tip for shell newbies:
    The default shell in Mac OS X supports tab-completion. For one of those "rm" commands, start typing "rm -rf /L<tab>" and see what you get. If there's only one valid file/directory, the tab key will fill it in for you. It can really cut down on number of keypresses and chance for error. Type a letter or two, hit tab, type the next letter or two, hit tab, until you have your full command. Magic!

    --
    ± 29 dB
  112. lost admin privileges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I upgraded my friends computer this evening (kind of a trial run) and found that his account had been striped of it's admin privileges when we rebooted. I had to change the password on the root account so I could change is user settings as root. Other than that the upgrade worked fine.

  113. Services, dude by _merlin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is one exception to that rule: the /Applications, /Library/Services, ~/Applications and ~/Library/Services folders are scanned for NeXTstep service provider applications at login. These won't be recognised anywhere else on the disk. Now this isn't the Finder's fault, and LaunchServices (which is responsible for associating files and URLs with applications) is unaffected by it, but it is something to be aware of. You won't get Services menu items from an application if it's in the wrong place.

  114. Come on Kdawson by Ilgaz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    MAcfixit.com broke the FAKE story, a FUD of "APE responsible for this". I have even risked my VT Pro, $50 year account and called the editor openly to resign.

    This thing turned out to be a password hash issue related to accounts created back in 10.2 and never changed. Documented here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840

    APE has nothing to do with it. In fact, Unsanity recommends latest APE to be on OS while upgrading to Leopard since believe or not, APE is not just couple of themes or pointers, there are many companies using that functionality and their software may break when linked library is not there.

    It doesn't change the fact that APE will be ignored by Leopard btw.

    Macfixit has even surpassed itself and was openly called "Depictable" http://www.macjournals.com/news/despicable.html because of their horrible FUD mongering, calling people to ERASE and INSTALL and after CNET buyout, some people think they do it on purpose to make people afraid to use OS X or Mac.

    If there is apple.slashdot.org, it should have better hand picked stories, no fanboy idiotic stuff, no "maccies are idiots" stuff, just "news for Mac nerds".

    This story was sitting on Digg.com for hours and even couldn't make to being popular (like slashdot accepted) because people simply didn't buy it, especially APE reason.

    We rarely get new non-ipod etc. stuff on Apple.slashdot.org and I wished the second one after Leopard shipment wasn't FUD with false information.

    1. Re:Come on Kdawson by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      This thing turned out to be a password hash issue related to accounts created back in 10.2 and never changed. Documented here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840

      Wrong. That problem would create the situation where you couldn't log into a given account because the password would be rejected. It would absolutely positively not cause a problem that manifests as not being able to log in for a few hours. Really, they're unrelated.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    2. Re:Come on Kdawson by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      This thing turned out to be a password hash issue related to accounts created back in 10.2 and never changed. Documented here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840

      Wrong. That problem would create the situation where you couldn't log into a given account because the password would be rejected. It would absolutely positively not cause a problem that manifests as not being able to log in for a few hours. Really, they're unrelated.

      I am one of the persons who lived the BSOD problem back in 10.4.something days and thanks to my bug report and the responsible companies responsibility it was instantly fixed.

      The BSOD they speak about is, system can't boot to windowmanager and says stuff on a Terminal like fullscreen window. When user account credentials rejected and auto login is on, a similar situation happens. System does not fallback to login screen. The FreeBSD like text only "login" (if appears) doesn't help anything, even if you give right credentials.

      I am not flaming Apple on this, for example nobody on OS X developer scene knew a issue with a quicktime component may create huge problem on system which can be only recovered via rm -rf the component in single user mode. That is almost a phonemenon. I am just against the horrible FUD campaign against a freeware Framework which in some situations does great things as securing the system from zero day attacks (MOAB) or sometimes helps disabled people use OS X more conviniently.
    3. Re:Come on Kdawson by Pfhor · · Score: 1

      To reply to this, as you are pretty vehement about attacking MacFixit (not that I don't blame you, but they aren't entirely at fault for this), however Apple has announced an official response suggesting to remove APE for the bluescreen issue (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857), separate to your above login issue, so APE issue is not FUD, and considering how it works (using the 10.4 debug interface to execute arbitrary code within an application, which Leopards random library assignment is meant to prevent) no surprise it is borked in 10.5

      The bigger issue is vendors like Logitech now install it on machines without notifying the user, or providing a way to update it. So you have folks who don't even know they have an old version of APE, which does not disable itself properly. APE is a very very delicate application, and should not be installed without the user knowing it. You can send some of your hate towards Logitech also.

      It doesn't help that the APE developers are vehement that their program doesn't cause issues either.

  115. Re:Funny by mattgreen · · Score: 1

    Yeah, good point. However, the whole thing is still highly repulsive, and I wish MS didn't give software developers so many ways to screw over your system.

  116. Unsanity by LKM · · Score: 1
    Unsanity seems to think it's not their fault. From an e-mail I got from them today:

    Make *sure* you have APE 2.0.3 or later installed *before* you install Mac OS X 10.5. If you have an earlier version of APE installed before you install 10.5, you may exhibit one of the following symptoms upon booting into Mac OS X 10.5:

    - Your goldfish may die.
    - A strange dog might bite you on the street.
    - A friend may punch you.
    - Your computer may catch fire.
    - Your loved one may leave you. Seems APE just disables itself on newer versions of OS X.
    1. Re:Unsanity by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      On their semi official blog I have called them to sue at least the most popular anti-APE site for $1 to end this junk, the never seen FUD about a commercial/freeware product in IT history.

      The people hating APE for some reason have even coded the first ever trojan for OS X using Input Manager functionality. For that reason, at least on connected Workstations, we have to run commercial and fairly expensive Intego Virusbarrier or other alternatives since the actual file exists and it may popup from a random place on web.

      If there are people calling desktop themes etc. lame, I invite them to tell their points to Gnome, KDE and even WindowMaker which is based on same thing OS X based on. Developing a trojan to prove their point or still spreading FUD even after Leopard ships is not the way to go.

      Apple have also put their users to a fair dangerous situation since they showed they can be dictated by trojan software authors what to put to their new OS upgrade. Like anything removed from OS X next upgrade? Code a trojan and spread FUD to couple of sites, Apple removes it instantly.

      As a customer of them, I have warned Apple months ago that this thing they showed is a complete weakness. They should use their billions dollar law resources to trace down and sue that idiot who coded Input Manager trojan.

      Apple OS X Leopard has lost a very significant feature which makes it ages ahead from competing operating systems. That is what happened.

      I am glad the person coded the lame mp3 trojan couldn't force them to remove the excellently unique launch services arch. After this sign of weakness? Who knows? Maybe mp3 trojan II is coming.

  117. for 'different people' there is Linux by someone1234 · · Score: 1

    Well, if you want variety, go for Linux. I guess, Apple cannot support every 3rd party hackers.

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  118. New OS, News System, New Everything by djfake · · Score: 1
    I'm surprised no one has this angle. Why Upgrade? Will your posts to slashdot get modded higher? Will your browser experience improve? Will you write better emails? Will you really be that more secure?

    You have to hand it to Windows users - they saw Vista and they said "No". One of the biggest complaints of casual Linux users is that most popular distros (Fedora, Ubuntu) get upgraded every six months or so. Mac fanboys of course devour everything from Cupertino. And is it just me or do Mac users take the cake with buying the most worthless "enhancement" software.

    Why bother? Got new hardware? Sure, go ahead, do a clean install. But don't bother worrying about that six year old scanner or your Acrobat Read v5.0 to work. Just get a new ones.

    --
    www.itjerk.com
    1. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      I think your post qualifies as a troll? But I'll take the bait. This is a major upgrade, not some piddly way for Apple to get $129 out of me. I will be getting this upgrade regardless of a tiny fragment having an install problem because of some software I don't use or never heard of. I'll bet you 2 weeks pay that my install goes smoothly and painlessly. And I'll throw another 2 weeks pay in and bet my 6 year old scanner works and an extra week for Read(sic)5.0

    2. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by djfake · · Score: 1

      "Adobe said it expects to publish free Leopard compatibility updates for the video applications in December 2007 and for Acrobat 8 Professional and Adobe Reader 8 in January 2008." pay up c

      --
      www.itjerk.com
    3. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it's major. They included backup software, and made all the fancy UI stuff even prettier and more wasteful of your processing time. Definitely worth 130 buck.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    4. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      The bet was for Acrobat Reader 5, not Acrobat 8. I'll keep my money for now, thanks.

    5. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by stewbacca · · Score: 1

      Man, somebody hasn't read a thing about Leopard, obviously. I guess you missed the part that, even with more UI stuff, the OS is MORE responsive than the previous (which is a trend with OS X). Some "backup software" and 299 other features. Keep your uniformed biases to yourself, or at least come to the discussion with some meat to your arguments.

    6. Re:New OS, News System, New Everything by RazzleFrog · · Score: 1

      You have to hand it to Windows users - they saw Vista and they said "No".


      Didn't they just announce that 88 Million people went to Vista? Where they are not seeing upgrades is in the corporate environment which is not surprising. We just went to XP only a year ago. Most of the Vista benefits are aesthetic anyway. I hardly think people said no, though. I was reluctant at first but my new laptop came with Vista and I loved it so I upgraded my desktop. It seems like just little things that are better but those little things add up fast.

      On this topic - ho hum. Apple did the right thing and started working on non-proprietary hardware and allowing more third-party applications access to layers they didn't have before. These things happen. Mac users just have to face the facts that the lines between Mac and Windows has become completely blurred. You're buying an image now.
  119. Re:Funny by O_4 · · Score: 1

    How long has that check been in the code, though? If it's a recent addition then there will still be plenty of people out there with an APE that doesn't check what OS it's running on.

  120. Re:Funny by O_4 · · Score: 1

    Apple shouldn't be responsible for ensuring that third-party software continues to work with each upgrade. If it's important for the third-party dev, they can get a copy of the beta OS and do their testing/patching before it's released. What Apple *could* do, however, is check whether APE is installed and if so completely remove it during the upgrade. The users can then hunt down a new, updated version later on.

  121. Logitech driver versions... by itsdapead · · Score: 1

    OK - I have two macs with different versions of Logitech drivers installed: Logitech Control Center 2.1.4: Sure enough - APE present in /Library/Frameworks and incriminating ape_install files inside the Logitech pref pane. Logitech Control Center 2.0: No sign of APE. Any idea what APE is actually doing in these - since the 2.0 version appears to work perfectly well?

    --
    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  122. Archive, format and install by quadra99 · · Score: 1

    Archive, format and install! The safest way to "upgrade".

  123. That's what you get for using cheap knockoffs! by Britz · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    If you want BSD, get a real BSD.

    They even come in flavours:

    www.freebsd.org (for the bleeding edge riding speed monkey)
    www.netbsd.org (for the toaster owner)
    www.openbsd.org (for the paranoid)

    1. Re:That's what you get for using cheap knockoffs! by mfnickster · · Score: 1

      "Wait a minute... that scruffy beard... those suspenders... that smug expression... you're one of those condescending UNIX computer users, aren't you!" :)

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    2. Re:That's what you get for using cheap knockoffs! by brian.reading · · Score: 1

      Don't get me wrong, I was using open-source variants of BSD before OS X was even out and I loved them, but honestly Mac OS X has become my platform of choice. Although it's just as powerful as any other UNIX based operating system, I don't have to constantly be tweaking things. Sometimes the need for too much customization can be counterproductive especially on a pure desktop OS. Mac OS X allows for a damn good amount of customization (yep, I said it), but it doesn't force a user to read up on man page, and tweak trivial things just to get something simple to work. Most other UNIX-like operating systems just can't cut it when it comes to needing stuff to "just work".
      I can still compile the latest and greatest open source applications and run them with ease on OS X, while at the same time I can actually run things like Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver or Microsoft Office (Yeah, I like REAL compatibility) easily and in a proper environment.
      So, political ideologies about software licenses aside, the bottom line is that there are plenty of legitimate reasons to like OS X as a UNIX lover. Hell, even Bill Joy uses it as a primary desktop OS.

  124. Re:who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you by chance a citizen of Iran? If so, then I'm sure your hopes are realized every day.

  125. Re:Funny by Rosyna · · Score: 1

    How long has that check been in the code, though?


    At least a year come November 1st.
  126. APE is not an Input Manager by argent · · Score: 1

    The functionality makes APE work has been REMOVED on Leopard which means it will simply IGNORE APE, won't load it.

    Input Managers have not been removed in Leopard. It simply asks the user if they want to run them, once. And rosyna has already said that APE is not dependent on the Input Manager mechanism. Input Managers are a red herring.

    I won't argue with you about whether Apple was right to try and dissuade people from using Input Managers, because I happen to agree with you, but it's beside the point.

    I won't argue with you about whether Apple is responsible for people needing to use APE, because I agree with you: I use APE to remove some of Apple's annoying bling myself. But, again, it's beside the point.

  127. Oh man, and people complain about APE... by argent · · Score: 1

    1. That one is a *Microsoft* problem, acknowledged as such by them.
    2. Was Microsoft being unreasonably slammed "around here" (in /.) about it?
    3. The people worried about what APE might be doing to applications obviously haven't looked at what antivirus software does.

    Seriously... antivirus software modifies every application and installs drivers and does everything APE does, and much much more. It's the most dangerous software you can run on your computer, and I personally won't run it even on Windows. I understand there are some people who actually run it on OS X, and I sincerely hope they're keeping good backups.

  128. The common sense solution is a clean install by jrothwell97 · · Score: 1

    Whenever I upgrade an OS, be it Windows, Mac OS, Linux or anything else, I will always clone the boot partition, reinstall from scratch and then import the data afterwards. True, my G3 iMac isn't compatible with Leopard, so I don't know how difficult it is to upgrade, but it's a general rule that I follow - back up the boot partition and use the Migration Assistant to bring across the data. Simple as.

    And before anyone starts complaining about DRM stopping them copying anything across - deauthorise the old partition in iTunes, and get rid of the M$ junk on the disk - it's unjustified, especially with the fabulousness of iWork 08 and OxygenOffice.

    --
    Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
  129. Re:Funny by plate_o_shrimp · · Score: 4, Informative

    Per Unsanity's web page, the current version checks. Previous versions don't. They say "Please accept our sincere apologies for all the trouble that was caused. We have underestimated the number of people running "outdated" versions of our software."
    http://www.unsanity.org/archives/haxies/leopard.php

    Personally, I think APE and the Unsanity haxies are %$^%$ and I stay as far away from them as I can!

    --
    This sig has exceed its monthly bandwidth allotment.
  130. Re:There IS actually a Blue Screen of Death in 10. by stewbacca · · Score: 1

    Immature? I think you meant "funny". Come on, lighten up a bit. It's funny. A sad-mac or bomb icon wouldn't be funny because there would be little truth in the joke. Things are more funny when they are based in truth. I got more BSOD's in my 1 year of Win95'ing than I've had sad-macs/bombs/beachballs in 20+ years of Mac using. Since everyone is dismissing this as a 1995 blue screen (even though that is iconic of all things wrong with Windows) I guess the Mac equivalent would be to post a picture of the hockey puck mouse. At least that really did suck, unlike the unfair beating Mac OS 6-9 is getting on here (hell, it may have sucked, but it sucked less than Windows).

  131. Re:Funny by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

    We have underestimated the number of people running "outdated" versions of our software.

    Again reiterating the need for them to check that the OS version is known to be supported, not explicitly known to be unsupported. The former is a finite set; the latter is potentially infinite.

    Or even better, don't write binary patches and expect them not to make the system implode.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  132. Intel Chipset by nurb432 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Never has these problems with the PowerPC.

    ( ya, mark me down, I'm still pissed about the swtich )

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Intel Chipset by PipsqueakOnAP133 · · Score: 1

      I'd so mod you up if i had mod points.
      The only good thing that has come out of the intel switch is the employee stock purchase plan.

  133. Re:Funny by empaler · · Score: 1

    If what you were saying should have any traction, there'd have to be prior examples - like them bricking customized iPhones, or something as assinine.

    Apart from that, one of my acquaintances is also overly photosensitive, and he just used the colour calibrator in Sys Prefs to get a more usable experience. HTH.

  134. Can't Apple be creative? by microbee · · Score: 1

    Pick another color!

  135. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't know the base address for DLLs, so you have to use only kernel32.dll functions (and that is luck that it always loads at the same base address for every process). That's not entirely true. You can use the PEB_LDR_DATA structure to walk the list of loaded DLLs to find their base addresses. The documentation on PEB_LDR_DATA is fairly terse, though.

  136. Applications by simpl3x · · Score: 1

    If I am correct, the current OS X application packaging spec was supposed to a allow a simple drag and drop. The application packages can be opened to reveal the structure.

    It is unfortunate that the detail you describe is even necessary, as most of this stuff should reside with the application. But, software companies are likely not pleased about such simplicity.

    1. Re:Applications by rizzo320 · · Score: 1

      The problem is that some major applications (Microsoft Office 2004, Adobe Creative Suite) do not use the Apple packaging specifications. They usually use a third party tool, such as VISE-X.

  137. Unless.... by DrYak · · Score: 1

    On Windows it can get somewhat more complicated [...]


    Unless the said software is a port from some GPL Linux code.
    In which case, all you have to do is move the data (software rowk from that point onward), and move 2 ".CFG" files, one in the software's directory, and on from user's directory (now you also have your data saved).
    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
    1. Re:Unless.... by Lonewolf666 · · Score: 1

      The same can be achieved under Windows using old-fashioned .ini files, placed into a directory of your choice (I don't recommend dumping the files into the Windows directory as many older applications do).

      Depending on programming environment, this can be quite easy. Delphi for instance has pretty good support for using .ini files in user-specified places. Of course it goes somewhat against Microsofts recommendations that we all use the registry ;-)

      --
      C - the footgun of programming languages
  138. BZZT -False- I have ape and had no problems! by plasmacutter · · Score: 1

    I've upgraded one of my machines which has ape installed and had zero problems.

    First off, because the api no longer exists, input managers simply do not work. They don't cause problems because there's nothing they can touch to damage.

    I had several input manager dependent addons and they simply sit idle, not interfere with the operation of the os.

    Additionally, ape loads on logon, not on boot, meaning it would hang at login rather than before the "starting macos X" screen.

    Finally, ape is hard coded to disable itself when it detects major version changes. It did so with 10.3 and 10.4.

    Ape is innocent.

    I will say tiger is, for a version of macos X, exceedingly picky about system configuration, and has numerous undocumented requirements, such as partition subtypes, which are giving me hell on my second machine.

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  139. talk like a pirate... by airdrummer · · Score: 0

    as in swivverz me timberz;-)

  140. Something every Mac user should know. . . . by n2art2 · · Score: 1

    Repair disk permissions before any install. And I mean any. Use disk utilities (HD->Applications->Utilities->) if you are installing an os update, or any update for that matter. Make sure that for any install of any software that you do this as well. As a saftey precaution. If you are running software update, and there are any updates to be installed. Repair disk permissions first. The last 2 os updates 10.4.8 and 10.4.9 that I did I had this problem. the first one required a full wipe and reinstall to fix. Luckly the second time I was able to repair the permissions with the OS CD and bring things back up.

    Also FYI: Adobe Version Cue CS2 was part of the problem the first time. I had to shut it off. Now all is well. A learning experience.

    --
    Self proclaimed wannabe geek. You know how it is. Most of us who read this stuff probably fit in that category.
  141. Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You execrable Apple-using fucktards don't even know what a BSOD is! So all your talk comparing Apple to Windows PCs is pure BULLSHIT because you obviously haven't used Windows! Yet another confirmation that Apple is for clueless fools. One-button mouse - hahah....

  142. Re:Funny by tgd · · Score: 1

    You'd be shocked how many applications do process code injection in Windows, too...

    So many that Microsoft had no option but to continue to allow it.

  143. It's Windows 98 reincarnated by kuriharu · · Score: 1

    Mulder: Windows 98 was retired last year, now Leopard is blue screening. Notice a coincidence, Scully?

  144. One Great Thing by wzinc · · Score: 1

    In all the fighting, has anyone noticed the beauty of Leopard not putting .DS_Store files in every samba share directory it comes across? I still see one in the root, but that's so much better than every directory!

  145. Apple hasn't "closed a security hole". by argent · · Score: 1

    I feel Apple is quite right to close the security hole this represents.

    The functionality that Apple restricted in Leopard is not anything that APE uses, nor is it anything that is required for APE to run... if it was, there wouldn't be a "blue screen" problem: APE simply wouldn't have loaded.

    Input Managers are a completely separate issue from APE.

    Input Managers are not a "security hole". The security hole is Apple's desire to allow people to install software directly from Safari, from Safari treating installers and plugins as "safe files" to the whole "Internet Enabled" disk image scheme. Adding more warning dialogs and trying to scare people away from using Input Managers isn't going to solve the problem. Keeping a strong distinction between private resources and public ones is the only way to keep the system secure.

  146. Unsanity email by MadMagician · · Score: 1

    Unsanity sent this on Saturday:

    Before you install Mac OS X 10.5, make sure you have Application Enhancer (APE) 2.0.3 or later installed. ... As long as you have APE 2.0.3, nothing bad will happen in 10.5. Well, nothing we can control. However, none of your APE Modules will work either.

    Developers in Apple's Mac OS X developer program (ADC) got the final 10.5 GM yesterday. We are still downloading the huge 6.66GB image and as soon as the downloads finish for our developers, we will be hard at work on making our software work on 10.5. ...

  147. Yep by aliensporebomb · · Score: 1

    For me it was indeed the Unsanity APE module.

    At first I didn't recall installing it but it came bundled with an application
    I bought called Audio Hijack Pro that uses APE as part of its functional matrix.

    After booting in single user Unix mode and removing the bits it was fine.

  148. Note from Unsanity by drwhitt · · Score: 1

    I have no stake in this whatsoever but just wanted to share what I've stumbled across from Unsanity (Posted by slava at October 27, 2007 11:45 PM): Leopard!.
    As always, YMMV.

  149. Re:Blame the attempt to p0wn the WindowsServer by mpaque · · Score: 1

    The window server, or more accurately, the dynamic linker running as part of the window server process launch, doesn't care to have it's threads suspended and resumed to find new code injected into the server.

    That's naughty.

    Look near the error in /var/log/system.log for mention of something called 'aped'. That's the culprit.

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857

  150. hmmm... by rice_burners_suck · · Score: 1

    What exactly do you expect from a company called Unsanity and a product named after a close relative of the monkey?