For a long time popular belief held that the Apple Mac OS never had any problems and had no malware. Today we know there malware that targets the Mac OS and the operating system has its share of issues from time to time. According to reports coming in now, the newest version of Mac OS called Snow Leopard is randomly deleting user data.
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After spending most of Friday curled in a ball twitching and drooling after losing power and Internet access for almost 12 hours, I am glad to be back online and in the 21st century again. Just in time to hunker down and dose myself with a nice helping of week in review for your perusal. Chris reviewed the GSM Palm Pre and found the camera wasn't as good as some of its peers but found plenty to like in the end. The webOS operating system stands apart from rival OS'. Buffalo announced the HD-HU3 USB 3.0 drive and controller that will be shipping in Japan this month. The drive isn’t even that expensive; I hope it comes to America too.
We’re just a few weeks away from the formal launch of Windows 7 and I’ve been using the final build for some time now. It’s very nice and I’m sure most of you have seen it, used it or read about it to death. What I want to talk about over the next few weeks is various parts of Windows 7. One of the most intriguing parts of the new OS that Microsoft has talked about for some time has been the integration of touch features. While vendors such as HP have done their own touch implementations in the past (HP has gone as far as to offer their own touch-based SDK for developers) this is the first time since Microsoft unveiled their touch platform offering, Surface, that we’ve seen the OS vendor incorporate true finger-touch features directly into the OS.
If you’re a player in the cellphone space then the J.D. Power Wireless Satisfaction Survey is your equivalent of the Miss World contest, and it looks like once again it’s Apple wearing the smartphone crown. The iPhone took first place in the smartphone study, both in the consumer and business segments, and neatly keeping RIM’s BlackBerry range in second place.
If you’re looking for inflammatory speech, search no more: everybody’s favorite bearded-uncle of tech, Walt Mossberg, has well and truly rammed his metaphorical review-poker into the flames of the Windows/Mac argument. In his review of Windows 7 for All Things D, Mossberg confesses that while “In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That’s no longer true.”
Nonetheless, Mossberg is still leaning toward Apple overall, going to to confirm that “I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows.” Still, he confirms that “Now, however, it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals.”
You may recall that somewhat shady company known as Psystar that offered up those Mac clones that led to a lawsuit by Apple. Apple claims that putting the Mac OS X operating system onto computers running hardware it doesn’t build is a violation of the license agreement for the software. Psystar may be in bankruptcy but the company has announced that it plans to license its “secret sauce” that allows machines to run Mac OS X.
Another day, another Apple Tablet rumor, and yet another tipped screen size. Contrasting from the previous leaky speculation that the upcoming media-centric device would have a 10.7-inch panel, comes DigiTimes’ usual shadowy market sources suggesting a 10.6-inch display and putting Foxconn at the manufacturing helm. They’re claiming that Foxconn will begin delivering the Apple Tablet to the Cupertino company in Q1 2010, with initial shipments expected to be in the region of 300,000 to 400,000 units.
One of our key criticisms of the Zune HD was that Microsoft don’t offer a version of their desktop management software for Mac, thus giving Apple users another good reason to stick with the iPod. That might change, though, says Mary-Jo Foley, who has been talking to Microsoft’s director of communications for the TV, Video and Music Business, Jose Pinero. According to Pinero, Microsoft are considering porting the Zune software and services to various non-Windows platforms, one of which would be OS X.
It’s been a few days since the last good Apple Tablet rumor, so what better way to celebrate the start of a new week than a blast through the annuls. The NYT, in the absence of any hard evidence, instead rehashes the story so far, though does at least drop in a few choice quotes from an ex-Apple engineer claiming the company has been working on the Tablet project since 2003.
The iMac/MacBook/Mac mini update rumors continue, with the latest fact to stoke the flames being several AdWords adverts showing up in the Netherlands. According to Apple Insider, the adverts – which link to a 404 page at present – tip a new MacBook as (translated) “thinner, lighter and faster!”, new iMacs as “the Brand new iMac. Ultra Thin 20 & 24 inch models. From only €1099″, and a new Mac mini that’s “Faster and more affordable than ever. From only €499.”
JP
