MacMinute notes a Register report that Apple has confirmed Mac OS X 10.3 Panther will be a 32-bit OS, but with 64-bit libraries to support the new Power Mac G5 and beyond.
Is this really a big surprise? Maybe I just hang out online with, and read, more technically-minded folks, but I thought this was a foregone conclusion.
From my daily use of Panther (no, I didn’t dump the WWDC beta for Jaguar this past weekend like I said; rather, I have begun a much more rigid backup procedure), it is already an evolutionary step forward from Jaguar. Faster on the same hardware; the Aqua GUI is a bit more subdued, though I have mixed feelings over the new Finder. Quite simply, I like it, even in beta form, the same way I liked Jaguar over 10.1, and 10.1 over the original release. The OS simply keeps getting better, and at a much faster pace than what the competition offers.
Expect a 64-bit OS somewhere around 10.4, maybe even 10.5. There’s a lot of work that has to be done for that to happen, and developers have to be brought on board as well. A 64-bit OS will be something more revolutionary, and revolutions–at least ones that will matter in the long term–do not happen overnight.
Tag: Mac
Wired has a new article on the staying power of the Power Mac G4 Cube, and the lengths some Cube owners will go to keep their beloved system up to date.
As for me, I’ve upgraded everything in my Cube except the processor. I decided after WWDC that it would be more beneficial to me to turn those funds in to a new G5 (this daddy-in-waiting plans on utilizing Final Cut Pro quite a bit for all those DV movies I’ll be capturing via our new Canon ZR70). The Cube could then be turned in to the house’s file server.
I certainly do not wish to get rid of it; it is a work of engineering art…
MacMinute reports on a CNET story that Bill Gates told analysts Microsoft is considering a music download service. Gee, wherever would he have gotten that idea from?
Bob Levitus rips in to BuyMusic.com:
bq. Simply put, while iTunes Music Store is the Rolls-Royce of online music, BuyMusic.com is a Yugo.
Jon shows how to use Safari to get around that nasty Windows-only business BuyMusic.com has decided to shovel…
MacResQ is now offering a SuperDrive upgrade for any PowerBook G4. Too bad I know my employer would not pay for this for my TiBook/500. Eh, I’m looking toward a future PowerBook G4 12″ with SuperDrive purchase, and I have two G4 desktops with SuperDrives at the office…
Having experienced my second kernel panic with the WWDC beta release of Mac OS X Panther 10.3, and the corruption of some of my emailboxes, I’ll be doing some volume cloning and Jaguar reinstalling this weekend…
By now everyone has heard about buymusic.com, the Windows answer to Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Don’t be impressed; don’t be worried. According to a few reader notes from yesterday’s MacInTouch, buymusic.com is not all it’s cracked up to be:
Buymusic.com claims tracks cost “from $.79,” though I found most popular music to be either $.89 or $.99. The DRM is also complicated, varying from track to track. Some tracks can only be burned 1,3,5, or 10 times. Others can only be downloaded to an MP3 player a limited number of times. Some can be stored on 3 computers while others can only be stored on 1. (Ryan Greenberg)
Dominic Mazzoni writes:
BuyMusic isn’t nearly as price-competitive as the AP article would have you believe. First of all, their lowest song price is $0.79, not $0.70 as the article claimed. But if you browse their site, you’ll discover that the vast majority of songs are offered at $0.99–the same rate as the Apple store. I found a few songs available for $0.89, but in a few minutes of searching through a number of genres, I only found one song available for $0.79.Not only that, but quite a few of their songs aren’t even available for purchase. That makes me wonder how their catalog size (which they claim is 300,000) actually compares to Apple’s if you only consider songs that you can actually purchase and burn to a CD.
Apple does need to get its act together with getting iTunes and the Music Store ready for Windows users. The iPod is already burning up the sales charts in Windoze-land, and Apple has a huge advantage over any music-selling competitor. Strike while the iron is hot, Steve.
UPDATE: 9:20 A.M. More from MacInTouch’s Thursday report, as Greg Orman shows that BuyMusic isn’t actually letting you buy music…
The fine print clearly states that you’re only licensing the music, not purchasing it, and furthermore that the license is tied to the computer used for the transaction. If you replace your computer, you lose access to everything you’ve licensed and downloaded (though you’ll still have any copies you burned to CD or transferred to a portable, assuming that the DRM on the songs you licensed allowed you to do that in the first place).
So there you go. The Apple iTunes Music Store remains the only place one can actually buy music for their own personal, pretty much unrestricted use, online.
Yes, Virginia, you too can build a web browser without a single line of code. Thanks to Apple’s WebKit SDK, available here (free registration), the Mac OS X Developer Tools (latest version available via previous link), and these instructions by Brian Kendig.
Presenting version 0.1 of WebPhisch(tm).
It’s no Safari, but it’s a start. No, I’m not going to become a browser developer. Why would I, when there’s Safari? This is just to show the awesome power of Mac OS X and the tools available to developers. Think you can build a web browser in five minutes with .NET? Think again…
(Yes, Michael, I used the metal appearance just like Safari. No, I don’t know why. Just because I could, I suppose. Yes, I used DropDMG for the disk image. [New version’s out!] Yes, this is just one of about a million Safari-wannabes now popping up on the Mac web…)
Just had my first kernel panic under the WWDC Panther beta on my PowerBook G4/500. This is the first kernel panic I’ve had with OS X on any Mac since before 10.1 was released. To be honest, I cannot recall any kernel panics prior to the OS X beta program. So we’re talking about two-and-half, three years?
Contrast this with my XP-equipped Compaq Evo, which goes down about once every two weeks…
This month has seen a couple of milestones reached by yours truly, regarding my work with About This Particular Macintosh. First, the current issue, 9.07, marks the end of my 5th year involved with the publication. This is a longer period of time than I have been with any paying employer.
I have worn many hats for ATPM. I started as a Copy Editor; at the time, the Copy Editor. I’ve been the Publicity Manager (we could use one! Let us know if you’re interested!). I’ve been the Help guy. I’ve been a Contributing Editor (we need some of those, too!), though I’m not sure if I really contributed more than headaches for Michael.
Now I’m the Managing Editor, Numero Two-o, Almost-The-Big-Cheese, the Publisher’s Right-Hand Man. I strike fear in the hearts of our writers with cries of “Deadline! Deadline! Deadline!” and “What is this *&#@!% drivel?!?!?” and…oh, sorry, got a little carried away there. 🙂
The second milestone, well, technically, I reached it before today, but due to the way I’ve got email organized….well, you’ll see.
I have now archived over 10,000 messages to my ATPM account. This doesn’t include whatever is sitting in Claris Emailer on my Cube that didn’t get exported to Mailsmith eons ago. Nor does it include items sent to the ATPM help, editor, submissions, and other internal addresses that all end up in my box, since I keep those items sorted to separate mailboxes.
If I were to include all of those, I’m probably looking at well over 13,000 messages, by far the most I’ve accumulated with any one email address since I’ve gone online.
Outside of a friend who’s local, but I met online, and a certain font guy, I would have to say my closest online friendships have come out of ATPM. It’s been a blast working on something that interests me personally, even if it doesn’t pay a dime. We don’t produce ATPM to make a buck; we do it because we care about the Mac platform and we have something to share with the Mac-using community.
Here’s to the next five years, and 20,000 messages!