OS X Topic

10
Jun

In a June 9, 2011 blog post at Forbes, Trefis Team describes how Apple has priced the pending OS X Lion operating system for the company's Macintosh computers.  Apple announced at WWDC 2011 that OS X Lion will be available via the Mac App Store in July.

06
Jun

The tech world has their sights focused on WWDC 2011, Apple's annual developer conference.  Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be joined by several Apple executives to deliver the Keynote address to take the wraps off of Mac OS X Lion 10.7, iOS 5, and a new could service termed iCloud.

31
May

Apple announced this morning that CEO Steve Jobs and other Apple executives will take the wraps off of Apple's next generation software during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Keynote address next Monday in San Francisco.  Specifically, Apple will introduce Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, iOS 5, and unveil their upcoming cloud service platform, iCloud.

26
Jul

In a July 24, 2010 slideshow at InformationWeek, Thomas Claburn states, "We picked ten worthy Mac applications, that are tops here and now."  Noting that much of the hype these days is centered around Internet-based applications, InformationWeek takes the position that "there's still a lot of great software to be downloaded and installed."

24
Mar

Today marks Mac OS X's 9th birthday as Apple first unveiled Mac OS X nine years ago on March 24, 2001 as a replacement to the Mac OS 9 operating system.  Mac OS X (pronounced Mac O-S-Ten) has come a long way over the past nine years including a major rewrite that transitioned the OS to run on Intel processors..

20
Jan

Apple has released an update to Boot Camp that takes the utility to version 3.1.  The new release not only adds support for the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system but also addresses issues with the Boot Camp software.

20
Jan

On Tuesday January 19, Apple released the first security update for 2010 labeled, "Security Update 2010-001" for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard. The update addresses security issues with CoreAudio, CUPS, Flash Player plug-in, ImageIO, Image RAW, and OpenSSL.  Users can apply the update with Software Update or download the installers listed below.

29
Jul

A report posted at Reuters by Jim Frinkle indicates that at the Black Hat USA 2009 conference in Las Vegas Nevada, a well known Mac researcher has uncovered a technique that could potentially allow hackers to take control of a Mac and steal encrypted data.  A few quotes from the article:

25
Jun

A June 12, 2009 CNNMoney.com article titled 'Can Windows 7 save PCs?", David Goldman writes about Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system.    The article discusses the PC slump and highlights a March survey conducted by Dimension Research that indicates that 50% of respondents are likely to dump Windows in favor of Apple's Mac OS X operating system.

07
Jun

This is the fourth part in the series that analyzes the Apple product strategy with a specific emphasis on the Macintosh.  You can view part one, part two, and part three by clicking on the associated links.  In this post I argue that Apple's differentiation approach enhances the company's competitive advantage in the market and that Apple will not license Mac OS X.

05
Jun

With WWDC kicking off on Monday June 8, I wanted to post my expectation that Apple will release Mac updates in either September or October.  In the May 13, 2009 WWDC Press Release Apple stated it would be issuing a Mac OS X Snow Leopard 'final Developer Preview'.  Prior to this press release, I expressed my expectations of what Apple would likely do with respect to Snow Leopard at WWDC in a May 5, 2009 reply at the MacRumors Forums eight days prior to the Apple Press Release.  Here's what I stated:

17
Apr

When Windows expert Preston Gralla was tasked to try using a Mac for two weeks, he asked for an Apple MacBook Air.  In his article posted at Computerworld, Gralla sums up his overall experience with the following statement, ''Mac OS X beats Windows'

17
Apr

In an article for MacNewsWorld, Jack M. Germain describes the different histories of Apple's Mac operating system and Microsoft's Windows operating system.  Germain highlights that the two operating systems had and continue to have differing goals.  The article also calls out major differences as well as similarities between the two operating systems.

30
Mar

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place from June 8th through 12th in the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco, California.  Apple will be conducting three tracks at the 5-day event: iPhone, Mac, and IT.

06
Mar

Speculation is running rampant amongst Apple watchers that the firm's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) will be held during June 6-12.  It was first speculated by the Baltimore Sun and has been picked up by numerous outlets.  It's widely anticipated that Apple will demonstrate and/or announce Snow Leopard, Mac OS X version 10.6 at WWDC.

27
Jan

With the availability of iLife '09 commencing today from Apple and several Apple authorized resellers, Apple has updated the status of the Mac Box Set from 'Ships: January' to 'Ships: Within 24hrs'.  With the Mac Box Set, buyers can get iLife '09, iWork '09, and Mac OS X Leopard, in a single box. 

25
Nov

Apple has issued a support article titled 'Mac OS: Antivirus utilities' in which they recommend the use of antivirus software on Mac OS.  Here's what Apple states:

23
Sep

With today's cyber-threats and focus on computer security, it's no surprise that many people are ditching their Windows PCs for Macs running OS X.  Even Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads highlight the security issues that plague Windows.  The requirement to protect Windows installations from viruses, spyware and malware, have prompted many to make the switch.

16
Sep

On Monday September 15, 2008 Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.5, the fifth maintenance update to the Mac OS X Leopard operating system.  The update is recommended for all users of Mac OS X 10.5.x.

30
Jun

On Monday June 30, 2008 Apple release the fourth update to Mac OS X Leopard.  The update can be obtained via Mac OS X Software Update or downloaded directly from Apple.

10
Jun

It's time to bury the OS X licensing speculation.  Prior to this year's WWDC people speculated that Apple may begin to license Mac OS X due to banners failing to mention 'Mac'.  The omission of 'Mac' from the banners generated a slew of buzz as many people began to speculate that Apple was thinking about licensing their operating system.

10
Jun

At WWDC 2008, Apple provided developers with a preview of 'Snow Leopard', the next major version of the Mac OS X operating system. Instead of focusing on new features, Apple states that Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation.  Snow Leopard "dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X" thus, making it more efficient.

29
May

On Wednesday May 28, 2008, Apple released the third update to the Mac OS X Leopard operating system that takes the version to 10.5.3.  Client and Server versions of the update are available.  The update is recommended for all users running Leopard and includes general operating system fixes, security fixes,  as well as fixes for the following:

02
May

Take that Michael Dell.  Following the close of the US Stock Market on Thursday May 1, 2008 the market cap of Apple is now four times that of Dell.  Apple is worth $158.66 billion vs Dell's measly $38.97 billion.

07
Apr

Things that make you go hmmm.  Mac users are quick to argue that Macs are not subject to virus infection.  Apple even touts this fact in numerous ways including on their web site and in their "Viruses" Get a Mac ad.  If that's the case, why is the Apple store selling antivirus software for the Mac? Is Apple endorsing antivirus software for the Mac?

21
Feb

In a February 20, 2008 review, Edward Mendelson states that Apple's Mac OS X Leopard version is "by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers".

20
Feb

In a February 17, 2008 article posted at InfoWorld, Galen Gruman discusses if it's time to leave Windows for Mac OS X or Linux.

20
Feb

In his review following the latest update of Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5.2), Edward Mendelson makes a compelling reason why the Mac operating system gives Windows users the strongest reason to make the switch.  His review starts out by stating that Leopard is the best operating system available:

15
Jan

It's now 2008 and the latest installment of the annual Macworld Expo is upon us.  As we look back on the prior year, it's clear that 2007 was the year of the iPhone.  Apple shook the core of the wireless handset industry when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at last year's Macworld keynote.  Macworld 2008 will give us the first insight into Apple's strategy for the upcoming year and beyond.  Rest assured that Apple will place a major emphasis on the Mac.  It's my view that 2008 will be the Year of the Mac.

04
Dec

Net Applications' operating system data for November 2007 demonstrates that Apple's Mac OS X hit a new all-time high with 6.80% market share.  A more telling story can be seen when the numbers are analyzed.  More than 81% of the lost Windows market share has been picked up by Apple's Mac OS X.

28
Nov

On Wednesday November 28, 2006, Apple sent a note thanking users for their help in testing Tiger Boot Camp beta, the free software provided by Apple that allows Intel based Macs boot both Mac OS X and Windows.  The note also contained a reminder that the trial ends on December 31, 2007.

31
Oct

Since releasing Mac OS X Leopard on Friday October 26, Apple sold (or delivered, in the case of maintenance agreements) more than 2 million copies of Mac OS X Leopard during its first weekend on sale.  Leopard's initial sales far outpaced the first weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, the prior version of Mac OS X.

22
Oct

Reports circulating around the web state that several solution providers indicate that Mac OS X Leopard pre-orders are outpacing those of Tiger, the prior update to Mac OS X. Leopard sales have been indicated to more than double that of Tiger's pre-orders in early 2005. The drivers could be more distributon outlets for Leopard but are more likely the result of new features and overall dissatisfaction with Microsoft Vista.

18
Oct

We've posted a new guide in the Switch To A Mac Guides titled Upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard.

16
Oct

On October 16, 2007 Apple Inc. announced that the company's new operating system Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will go on sale on Friday, October 26th at 6 p.m. at Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.  Apple's online store has is now accepting pre-orders.

03
Aug

Over the past few days, Apple has released several software updates.  A comprehensive security update for Mac OS X, an update for the Safari 3 beta web browser, and iTunes.  This post summarizes those updates.

31
Jul

Great news for the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard operating system.  In a July 30, 2007 post to the Enterprise Mac blog at InfoWorld, Tom Yager details that Mac OS X has attained UNIX 03 certification.

27
Jun

In a June 12, 2007 article Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News asks if the differences between Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X, and Windows Vista will be enough to get people to make the switch.

11
Jun

It's finally here, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference.  Apple CEO Steve Jobs will kick off the event with a 10:00 a.m. keynote presentation at San Francisco’s Moscone West conference center.

08
May

In a May 8, 2007 article titled "Mac share of surfers doubles in 8 months" with a subtitle "Apple is eroding Microsoft's online market share, says analyst", Computerworld demonstrates that the number of people surfing the Web with Macs has grown substantially in the past eight months.  Furthermore, the article states that the Mac audience should not be ignored by Web application developers.

03
May

In a May 3, 2007 blog post, Philipp Lohmann of Sun Microsystems states that Sun engineering will add it's support to the ongoing Mac/Aqua porting effort currently underway for OpenOffice.

01
May

In a May 1, 2007 press release titled "Steve Jobs to Kick Off Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2007", Apple confirmed that its CEO Steve Jobs will initiate the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address starting at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 11, 2007 at San Francisco's Moscone West conference center.

13
Apr

On Thursday April 12, 2007 Apple Inc. released a statement announcing the delay of the company's next generation operating system Mac OS X Leopard until October 2007.  From the statement:

19
Mar

In a March 15, 2007 article posted at Network World James E. Gaskin provides three reasons why "people are moving to Macs"

19
Mar

Edward C. Baig states that you don't have to hold back on making the switch.  His column starts off with the following statement:

15
Mar

As a followup to yesterday's post about the Mac OS X 10.4.9 update, we indicated that we would put forth our prediction of when Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard would likely be released by Apple.  This post provides a prediction

14
Mar

When Apple released the highly anticipated Mac OS X 10.4.9 update on March 13, 2007, it marked the longest time between any Mac OS X version.  It took Apple 165 days to release the update, or in other words, five months and thirteen days.  Version 10.4.8 was released on September 29, 2006.  See the following chart detailing all Mac OS X version release dates and number of days between versions.

14
Mar

On Tuesday March 13, 2007, Apple Computer released the ninth update to the Mac OS X Tiger operating system that takes Tiger to version 10.4.9.  Client and Server updates are available.  The update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes as well as fixes for the following:

07
Mar

In an speech at at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Computerworld details comments made by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, "We believe we have the superior OS".  Computerworld begins the March 7, 2007 article with the following paragraph:

03
Mar

Paul McDougall, writing for InformationWeek highlights internal memos sent  by the CIO (Daniel Mintz) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that forbids upgrades to latest versions of Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office.  There's also a mention that Apple Macs are to be given consideration.

02
Mar

In a March 1, 2007 post titled "Opinion: Mac OS X 'an ideal platform' for SMBs", Computerworld states that Apple's upcoming Mac OS X Leopard Server operating system "could be a boon for smaller firms"

27
Feb

Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer reports that Microsoft is imposing restrictions on the ability of running the Home Basic and Home Premium versions of Vista with virtualization software.

25
Feb

Richard Hoffmann, in his Computerworld article titled, "Virtual realities: All the world on a Mac", provides an excellent overview of virtualization options on today's Macs.

12
Dec

In a December 8, 2006 article at ZDNet Australia, Munir Kotadia writes about a recent Gartner research report titled "Enterprise Mac Clients Remain Limited, but Apple's Appeal is Growing".

24
Oct

In their October 24, 2006 Press Release announcing the revised MacBook Pro line of professional notebook computers, Apple Computer mentions that the company's operating system, Mac OS X Tiger has been enhanced for the Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

30
Sep

On Friday September 29, Apple Computer released the eighth upgrade to Mac OS X Tiger.  The update takes Tiger to version 10.4.8.  The update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes as well as fixes for the following:

07
Aug

At the 2006 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at San Francisco's Moscone West, Apple Computer's CEO Steve Jobs kicked off the event with his usual keynote.  Jobs touched on numerous topics such as tid bits on the conference, Apple Retail Store data, and new Hardware announcements.   Most of the attention, however, was on the OS X 10.5 Leopard preview that Apple demonstrated to the public for the first time.  Jobs stated that the public release of Leoaprd is targeted for Spring 2007.  Developers attednding the conference will be provided with a developer preview copy of Leopard that includes all technologies and features shown during the demo.  Of note, there was no "One More Thing" announcement from Jobs.

04
Aug

The site claims to have obtained an unconfirmed copy of the features and screenshots from Mac OS 10.5 Leopard.  The claim states that the major updates will include:

19
Jul

Computer users who are looking for a secure operating system need not look further than Mac OS X.  In a prior post, I described the Key Isolation Features in Mac OS X.  In this post I'll describe how Apple ships every Mac with default out-of-the-box security.  I will then outline some hardening tasks one can undertake to a make a Mac more secure.  The goal of this post is to describe to those not familiar with OS X how secure a Mac is and can be.  For those tired of viruses, spyware, malware, and security vulnerabilities, the inherent security features in Mac OS X could be reason enough to provoke the decision to make the switch.

14
Jul

In a blog post on July 13, 2006 at Symantec's website, Symantec states the following:

"Let’s start with the hot-button issue of Mac OS X viruses. Simply put, at the time of writing this article, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X"

07
Jul

Wouldn't it be grand if Apple included a Windows Migration Assistant in Leopard that could intelligently facilitate the switch and make it so easy that Windows users wouldn't have difficulty moving their files over to a Mac?

27
Jun

Although Apple released the desktop version of Mac OS X (10.0) in March 2001, the under pinning of the OS X operating system are over 30 years old.  In simplistic terms, Mac OS X is based on the BSD implementation of the UNIX operating system.  BSD in turn is a derivative of the original UNIX created by AT&T which was originally created in the 1960's and 1970's.  This article will describe the user account types as they are implemented in Mac OS X.

23
Jun

Interested in taking it one step beyond dual booting?  How does Triple Booting sound? If for some reason you need to run Linux in addition to OS X and Windows, you'll want to check out the following tutorial.

16
May

Most Windows users are familiar with Symantec in some shape or form.  Symantec sells the popular Norton line of products that includes Norton AntiVirus, Norton Personal Firewall, and Norton Internet Security.  Windows users typically install these or similar programs to protect their computers from the over 114,000 viruses, trojans, spyware, and malware.

10
May

Aside from an awesome user interface and a great underlying architecture, Apple built OS X with security in mind.  As part of that central security theme, OS X has been designed using three key isolation features:

  • System Isolation
  • User Isolation
  • Memory and Application Isolation 

18
Apr

Apple has posted information about this year's Worldwide Developer's Conference 2006, scheduled to take place August 7 - 11 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco California. The following quote is taken from the ADC site:

"Join the thousands of Mac developers who will be attending WWDC 2006, and be one of the first to preview Mac OS X Leopard. You’ll get the chance to explore the latest Mac tools and technologies, and to learn the advances that are keeping Mac OS X far, far ahead of the competition."

07
Apr

Earlier this week, the buzz was centered around Apple's new beta Boot Camp software for OS X Tiger 10.4.6 that allows owners of new Intel Macs to extend the funcionality of the systems to boot into Mac OS X or Windows XP.  Apple also released firmware updates for the entire line of the Intel Macs that provide EFI and BIOS support that should allow the new Intel Macs to boot into adiitional operating systems such as Windows XP, the upcoming Windows Vista, and Linux.  The Intel Macs use a modern booting technology called EFI, Extensible Firmware Interface.  In order to boot Windows XP and Windows Vista, the computer needs to support BIOS, a technology over 20 years old.  Boot Camp bridges the EFI and BIOS gap.

01
Apr

Visit the Switch To A Mac Guides
This guide provides a brief overview of how to use a Mac.  For a more comprehensive learning experience, visit the Switch To A Mac Guides for a wide range of topics, guides, and tips.

For Windows switchers, Mac OS X will take time to learn however; it’s intuitive and relatively familiar so Windows users will become productive in a short amount of time.  My view is that when compared to Windows, Mac OS X is easier to learn, requires fewer keystrokes to accomplish tasks, and results in greater end user productivity.  When I switched to a Mac, I felt uncomfortable but over time I've found the OS X environment to be more user friendly and easier to use than Windows. This article/post highlights the major components of the OS X environment and is geared towards helping those who are new to Mac OS X.

30
Mar

Historically, there has never been a true test to compare Macs with Intel based PCs.  New data and benchmarks demonstrating that the Intel powered MacBook Pros and iMacs run Windows faster than today's PCs dismiss the myths that Macs are slower, behind the technology curve, and are more costly.  The point I'd like to make is that the Intel based Macs were designed and engineered to be Macs that run OS X, not Windows.  The fact that they run Windows XP faster than WinTel machines proves that Apple's hardware engineering, innovation, and quality surpasses its competitors.

20
Mar

I've been thinking about how one has to devote time to a Windows based system versus a Mac running OS X. We all know that Windows systems are prone to virus infection, spyware, malware, and unpatched systems are begging to be exploited. In fact, Windows is the most attacked, least secure operating system around. A Windows system is unsecure out-of-the-box.  Keeping a Windows system safe demands a high degree of vigilance.