Beware of Geeks bearing software updates! If you're using Mac OS X 10.2.6, by now you may have already noticed Security Update 2003-06-09 popping up in Software Update. And it may have looked pretty innocuous, patching a "potential security issue when the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) is used to reshare a Network File System (NFS) mount" and addressing "a situation where LDAP bind authentication requests may be improperly sent when using Kerberos authentication." And as you read that, if you're anything like the average Mac user, you probably heard this: "blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah Cinnabon blah." So maybe you went ahead and installed it, figuring that, hey, when has Apple ever steered you wrong?

There's just one problem: according to MacFixIt, after installing the update, a slew of people suddenly found that their login passwords no longer worked-- for any account. If you think about it, this makes perfect sense; what better way to make a system more secure than to prevent everyone from logging in? As far as we can tell, though, this is apparently a pretty minor glitch; anecdotal evidence in Apple's support forums suggests that if you have your Mac set to auto-login to any account on boot, you won't notice the issue unless you actually log out. And if you do use the Login Window, it works just fine provided you have it set to "Name and password." You only get hit with the bug if you've got Login Window set to "List of users."

"But AtAT," you cry, "if I switch my Login Window to 'Name and password' instead of 'List of users,' I won't get to see my super-cool user icon!" "Why, what's your icon?" we ask. "It's a tasteful nude rendition of Lois of 'Hi and Lois' fame," you reply. "Sweet," we add.

Well, as it turns out, even if your Login Window is displaying the "List of users," valid passwords are only rejected if you click the "Login" button. After typing your password, press Return or Enter instead and you're in business. Given the circumstances in which the bug appears, we're actually kind of surprised that anyone noticed it at all; we figured that nobody's actually clicked a "Login" button instead of just pressing Return since maybe 1936.

Still, this must be something of an embarrassment for Apple, who's had some fairly ugly press following poorly-tested software updates in the past. (Specifically, we're thinking of that other Security Update that effectively nuked Classic on certain PowerBooks, and the iTunes installer that on occasion would blithely chew through gigabytes of user data without so much as a "pardon me boy.") Mostly we're just relieved that this login bug is so minor and easily worked around-- although, you know, had this Security Update instead caused some users' heads to burst into green flame, that probably would have been a little more dramatic. Hey, you can't win 'em all.

Hey, you know what we haven't had for a while? A scene about an entire school district committing to buy hundreds of iBooks for its students. Also, Snapple. Yeah, we could go for a nice, refreshing Snapple right about now. Unfortunately, that would mean we'd have to leave the compound, and what with the Minions of Ballmer lurking around every corner just waiting for us to get complacent so they can abduct us and bend us to their will, we suppose we'll just go with the school district thingy instead.

Mmmm, Mango Madness.

Anyway, following in the footsteps of Henrico County, Virginia and the Great State of Maine comes Greene Country, North Carolina-- which, according to the Kinston Free Press, becomes the latest educational authority to succumb to the Wiles of Steve and agree to outfit all of its students and teachers in grades 6 through 12 with school-friendly iBooks. According to Finance Director Harvey Gay, this deal puts Greene County "at the forefront of rural education." Yeah, that's right, rural. Admit it, now your heads are filled with the image of a little red schoolhouse occupied by a dowdy schoolmarm and little boys dipping the girls' pigtails in the inkwells-- except with gleaming white wirelessly-networked laptop computers. You know, like Little House on the Prairie with iBooks. Nothing wrong with that; heck, the show probably would've enjoyed a ratings boost from the Battlestar Galactica viewers.

Of course, since we're talking about a single rural county, the Greene County deal, at 1,783 iBooks, isn't quite on the same scale as Maine (36,000) or even Henrico (23,000), but it's a nice win for Apple nonetheless. And it's a nice win for the people of Greene County, too-- although we wonder if they understand just how thorny an undertaking like this can be. Says Gay: "School systems are lining up to do this. I would rather be first than down the line somewhere. Whoever does it first will be on the cutting edge." Hmmm, he says that like it's a good thing. Perhaps Apple conveniently forgot to point out Henrico's massive problems getting its own cutting-edge iBook program underway-- technical glitches, as well as students misusing the equipment big-time.

Meanwhile, Greene County Board of Education member Joe Smith comments, "Just think how smart a child could be if they had a computer every day and night from the sixth grade until they were a senior. Think of what they could do." Uh, well, Joe, not to disillusion you or anything, but we're thinking Warcraft III and porn. Ha ha, just kidding, Greene County! (Mostly.) Still, you folks made the right decision-- and if you're starting to feel a little anxious about the possible ramifications of your cutting-edge laptop initiative, just kick back with a Kiwi Strawberry and breathe deep.

Say, uh... have you taken a slow sidelong glance at Apple's homepage lately? Because it seems that someone at the company has gone a little screwy and decided to use one of the web's primest pieces of virtual real estate to help push some other company's product. Faithful viewer Jef Van der Voort was first to note that the most heavily-hyped product at apple.com isn't a PowerBook or an iMac or even HyperCard, but rather QuarkXPress 6.

So, like, what is that? Some kinda particle physics simulation or something?

Ohhhhh, QuarkXPress. Right, okay, that industry-standard desktop publishing app we've been waiting to come to Mac OS X ever since baby wooly mammoths were used as little vacuum cleaners-- also known as the Last Great Inequity of Apple's next-generation operating system. Frankly, we've been waiting so long, we forgot all about it. Apple spends a lot of time describing all of Quark 6's new features (such as synchronized text, improved Undo, and smoother blends), when in fact all the company needed to do was repeat "MAC OS X NATIVE" over and over again. After all, it's been well over two years since Mac OS X shipped; at this point, Mac-using print mavens would probably welcome a native port even if it lacked support for green. Or the letter "T."

Now, let's think about this for a second. QuarkXPress 6 ships next week. PowerPC 970-based Power Macs are rumored to surface in two weeks. Suppose Apple's pro customers might actually buy a Power Mac or two this year? Yeah, we think so, too. "Year of the Notebook" our Aunt Chloris; if everything shakes out the way things are shaping up, we're about to enter the "Half-Year of the Desktop." Creative pros: you have Photoshop. You have Dreamweaver. You have Pro Tools. Next week you'll have QuarkXPress. Which means you'll have no excuses left not to buy a new Power Mac running Mac OS X. And if you don't, rest assured: a certain mercurial CEO with a penchant for turtlenecks will be visiting you in the middle of the night to introduce you to Mr. Baseball-Bat-With-A-Nail-In-It. Start allocating funds.