rschroeder writes: "Apple has opened their Common Data Security Architecture framework, which "contains an expandable set of cryptographic algorithms to perform code signing and encryption operations while maintaining the security of the cryptographic keys." Lots of good info in addition to the code."

infiniti99 writes: "Looks like Trolltech made a port of their popular cross-platform GUI toolkit, Qt, (not to be confused with the QuickTime movie player) for the Mac. Here is a link to the announcement. There are a couple of screenshots and a demo application is available. Good stuff! Will this further solidify Qt's position as the de facto way to develop cross-platform applications?"

Roberto Brega writes: "Steve Jobs, key-note-ing the World-Wide Apple Developer Conference (WWDC), announced that Apple is going to drop CRT monitors alltogether, in favour of all-digital TFT displays in 15-inches, 17-inches (new) and 22-inches (cinema) configurations." And with that 22" costing $2500, you can just imagine how many people will buy their monitors elsewhere. Perhaps that's the whole idea -- maybe Apple wasn't able to turn a profit on CRTs. The real downside to all of this is games. Ever try playing a 640x480 game on a 1024x768 laptop LCD? Yucko. Also, apparently OS X is default for all new Macs.

gabeman-o writes: "The Grupo de Lasers e Plasmas has created the fastest Apple G4 cluster. The cluster runs on 16 Dual PowerPC G4/450, 32 processors, 12GB of RAM, .5TB of space, and Mac OS 9. Apparently, they have utilized the AppleSeed technology developed by UCLA. According to the website, the cluster will be used for simulating plasmas. Not too shabby!"

PowerMacDaddy writes: "Apple's Darwin project is gaining momentum. Aside from finally having a mascot and an approved OSI license, Darwin now has some serious programming resources behind it. According to this article over on ZDnet, Monkey Byte CEO Lane Roathe is now heading the development of networking communications tools for Darwin-compatible games. Apparently, Roathe is currently working on versions of NetSprockets and OpenPlay for Darwin. Is it time for Slashdot to add another topic just for Darwin news?"

gralem asks: "There is some frustration in the OS X community about Apple's release of updates. Apple has basically been releasing updates to OS X every 2-3 weeks. The updates aren't ground-breaking. They don't add all the features the users expect (CD burning ended up being only from within iTunes, instead of system-wide). They also don't fix all of the known bugs of the system. But I think Apple is doing the right thing by keeping lots of updates flowing. I haven't seen anything 'broken' by the updates, and each time the system runs faster and smoother. Does it matter that OS X is such 'new technology' as far as Apple is concerned, as opposed to W2K and Microsoft's update schedule?" Keeping the updates flowing is one thing, but forcing users to update every 2-3 weeks? That might be a bit too much. I don't know much about OS X, but if the upgrades system can be configured to the users taste, and said configuration done in a user-friendly way, then maybe monthly updates might not be a bad thing ...

Thought the GPL was a nice license for your software project, one that fit with your thoughts about software freedom? Perhaps the BSD license was more to your taste? Well, even if you confine yourself to the ones approved by the Open Source Initiative, you can now choose from a grand total of 23 different licenses. Two new licenses have been blessed by the OSI: IBM's Common Public License Version 0.5, and the Apple Public Source License 1.2. Both may fit the OSI's definition of Open Source, but Free? Neither one uses that word. Richard Stallman isn't kidding when he says Open Source is not synonymous with Free Software. Clearly, there is nothing to stop every software company in the world from writing its own Open Source license. So here we are with at least 23, and rising.

Adam Attarian writes "And do we really need to answer the question? Apparently so, because OSOpinion asked, and they got an answer. It's not a surprising answer, is Mac OS X's 'UNIX' core is Darwin, which is based on NeXT Step, which is based on some wacky derivitive of BSD, which in itself isn't a registered UNIX system (nor is Linux). Even with this, I'm not sure I know too many people who would directly compare Linux/BSD with standard UNIX Systems like Irix, Solaris, etc. The article is short and sweet, and provides some good links."

Meltr writes: "Yahoo has a story about how Apple is using non-GPL'd open source software, making proprietary extensions, and giving nothing back to the community. 'Apple simply found a source of cheap high-quality systems software that it could make its own without needing to give back so much as a bug fix, let alone useful software projects.' Good stuff." Inflammatory, but some of it is hard to deny. On the other hand, there is Darwin on x86 already, and Apple would probably be as happy selling boxes destined to run Yellow Dog Linux as OS X.

A reader writes: "BusinessWeek is running an article about the new potential target for cracking - all those shiny new Mac OSXs, with their nice new Unix underbodies. Will crackers start to go after these machines too?" Well, to a certain extent, of course, yes. Anything that's easy - but will new tools be developed for these box? My only caveat is the use of the hack rather then crack - but that's a semantics thing.

acaben writes "Jason Haas, co-founder of LinuxPPC (and a semi-frequent topic of discussion on Slashdot) has announced he is resigning from the company to pursue a college degree and a life a little less hectic. Haas explained he was burned out, and that "Three or four years of trying to do as much as humanly possible will do that to you." There's more information available on his depature at MacSlash."

cloudscout writes "Macworld UK is reporting that Apple is threatening the Mac Themes Project for creating a theme editor. Apple accuses them of contributing to trademark infringement by enabling people to copy Apple's graphics. They've issued a cease-and-desist order insisting that MTP remove their theme editor from all webservers under their control, "including any hyperlink to other locations where the material may be available". They're even trying to invoke a shaky clause in their OS licenses which prohibit reverse-engineering the operating system since the theme editor utilizes unpublished specs. Apple is famous for its unfriendly attitude toward developers and tech media, but this is just ridiculous. How could they possibly suffer any damage by MTP's efforts? " I'm seriously disappointed to see this. Apple's lawyers are their own worst enemy: they've tried so hard to make Darwin open and gain acceptance, and then to pull crap like this. Its just so dumb I don't know how to respond.

marmoset writes: "Apple has released a new Darwin (the open source foundation of Mac OS X) snapshot. The new version is 1.3.1, which brings the Darwin packages up to the level released on the Mac OS X CD. The big news this time? There are both PPC and x86 disk images available."

athagon writes: "Being a rabid MacOS fan, I recently tripped over an amazing site on the 'net: Apple History. Intrigued, I continued onward and found a host of information, "codenames", photos, and tech info in general (all who knew that the G4 AGP was codenamed "Sawtooth" raise your hand!). Interested? Check out the site." Random thought: how long before Trivial Pursuit comes out with an edition specializing in technology/computer/internet subjects?

Otto-matic asks: "I work for the State of Montana. My Art Department more than likely comprises the entire Mac userbase in the Montana State Government (3 users). The state network is run on Novell Netware using Microsoft Exchange Servers over Ethernet. I started here 1 year ago, and the first dreadful thing I noticed was that the Macs were the only machines not connected to the state network. Instead, this department has one Wintel machine we SHARE for network and internet access. I talked to our IT folks about this situation and was assured that the state was vehemently opposed to the Macs being allowed onto the state network. I asked why, and was told a number of varying stories. Some of which include Appleshare being too 'chatty' over the network; MacOS being unstable, easily hacked, etc.; problems with Macs communicating over non-Mac networks. I'm getting the feeling that the truth is that these guys have something personal against the MacOS, and are unwilling to even allow consideration of its inclusion into the network." Is there anything to the fears of the submittor's IT department? Or is this just a bunch of hot air?

So, now that OS X has been out a few days and people have had a chance to put it though its paces, let's take a look at it. Upside.com wonders if the new OS was released half-baked. Ars Technica puts it through its paces with a very thorough review. O'Reilly plans to release tech books covering OS X, so if your bookshelf isn't full yet, you can add a few more. Certain major software projects are already being tried on OS X - look out Adobe. And finally, we know it's not April 1, but we thought the picture of OS X on a Visor was cute. Any other good links to reviews? Post them below.

Macler asks: "I'm new to this whole multiple OS on one machine thing.. I have been told that you can choose between 2 OS at boot up but is it possible to setup my system so that I can run Mac OS9.1, OSX and Linux on 1 harddisk and select which to run at bootup..I don't mind having to wipe the drive so any help will be gratefully recieved."

jse75 writes: "This story from the O'Reilly site comments on the state of HyperCard - Apple's much-loved, long-lived, multimedia software tool. Lots of HyperCard stacks are in use today, in all sorts of places - businesses, doctor's offices, museums, and more. Currently there seem to be no plans on Apple's part to update HyperCard to run natively under Mac OS X. The story from O'Reilly contains more info about the International HyperCard Users Group and their quest to get Apple to Carbonize HyperCard. They even had a booth at MacWorld Expo! Join in, maybe together we can convince Apple that continued support for HyperCard is a Good Thing!"

mduell writes: "Apple has been close to their golden master copy of OS X for a week or so, but they've still been making nightly builds to squash the rest of the bugs. These last minute copies have all sported a "Build 4K78" in their info window, and many of them have been leaked to outside sources. Reviewers who got their hands on the system wrote extensively about how 4K78 was horrible, yet today resellers across the world received boxed copies marked as 4K78. This article explains what happened, as well as explains how many bugs to expect, and why Apple dropped the ball on a few features (like DVD)."

Anonymous Mac OS X Coward writes "This is a pretty strong article talking about Apple's delivery of *nix to the common man, something Linux has been touting for a while. It has good points, like apple actually tries to make the OS user friendly while linux sees this as a side project." Valid points. I need to get a copy of OSX. I'm really curious if it truly can be the common persons *nix. Sure looks like it could be, but I still don't know.