Hey, how 'bout that whole "Open Source" thingy, huh? Pretty cool, right? No doubt you're nodding vigorously in agreement right now, because what with Mac OS X's core, QuickTime's Streaming Server, Safari's rendering engine, etc., Apple is clearly digging on the benefits of Open Source these days. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer can equate Linux with communism until Adam Smith rises from the grave and smacks him upside the head, but we think it might be a while before the rest of the world comes around to seeing Open Source as the new Red Menace. And guess what? Now there's another connection between the Open Source philosophy and the Mac experience: IBM has joined the party.

Faithful viewer John Corso alerted us to a WIRED article about IBM's big "Power Everywhere" presentation today, at which it outlined the new POWER5 architecture (the G5 is based on the POWER4, donchaknow), and also announced that the Power Architecture™-- which includes PowerPC, by the way-- is going Open Source. Well, sort of, anyway; you still have to license the architecture, as far as we can tell, but once you do, you're allowed to "use the technology to create a wide variety of chips" ideally suited to your particular needs. Like, you could probably make one that's mesquite-flavored. Or Cool Ranch™. Why, the variations are practically endless!

This is actually cool in a couple of ways; for one thing, it might get a lot more people using Power-based chips; IBM just announced that Sony is a new licensee. That could mean bigger business for IBM and eventually maybe cheaper chips for Apple, as well as more PowerPC mind share so that fewer clueless shoppers ignore Macs because they don't have "Intel Inside." And on the whole customizability front, don't forget that Apple has worked closely with both Motorola and IBM on PowerPC designs; remember the struggles when Apple wanted PowerPCs to be Mac chips and Motorola just wanted to turn them into something to throw into Cisco routers and coffeemakers? Now Apple has the option of designing its own Mac-specific PowerPCs that are optimized strictly for Mac use, should it choose to do so. And it can make them taste like Sour Cream 'n' Onion, which is just a huge bonus.

Indeed, the Open Sourcish nature of the Power Architecture lets licensees change a lot more than a chip's flavor: according to WIRED, "chips could automatically make additional memory available or download accelerators to boost performance as needed." In the words of IBM chief technologist Dr. Bernard Myerson, "soon the chip you have may not be the chip you originally purchased." Which, now that we think about it, could prove to be a bit of a problem. If we go out and buy a dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5, we're going to be a little ticked off if, three days later, those dual 2.0 GHz PowerPC 970s turn into a hockey puck and a baked potato-- even if the potato does come with fixin's.

Actually, that potato sounds pretty good. But the hockey puck, that'd be disappointing.

There's a lot of speculation about the as-yet-unannounced Mac OS X 10.4, which, if history is any indication, will probably first meet the public at WWDC in June. In addition to the few official tidbits Apple has already told us about the next release (such as the planned inclusion of Spoken Interface), there are all sorts of wild and not-so-wild rumors about what's going to wind up in the mix. Insane levels of G5-specific optimization? Built-in transparent compatibility with off-the-shelf Windows apps? The ability to cook hot dogs and toast their buns at the same time? Hey, whatever-- all we know is, that stuff pales in comparison to the one really important issue-- the one central to the entire Mac experience: which big cat will 10.4 be named after?

Now, we've gotten tips on the subject from folks who claim to be in the know, but we always like to wait until we can point at someone else's report as a source, just so we have someone to blame if everything falls to pieces. So now that MacRumors reports that Apple has chosen a feline moniker (and cites MacMagazine as its source-- here's a BabelFish auto-translation for the Portuguese-impaired), we can relax comfortably in a cloud of unaccountability when we say that a couple of anonymous sources told us the same name last week. Of course, we're not sure that adds any believability, since three anonymous sources told us that 10.4 would be named "Garfield." (Big cat, get it? Big... cat... oh, never mind.)

Regardless, without further ado, alduce us to introlow Apple's next major operating system release: Mac OS X 10.4, aka... TIGER.

Yes, Tiger. Which isn't actually much of a surprise, since we all knew that Apple registered Tiger as a trademark along with Cougar, Leopard, and Lynx last year, so it was pretty much a toss-up between those four. Personally, we were rooting for Cougar, because then we'd have a good excuse to broadcast iTMS links to "Pink Houses"-- but actually, we've just discovered that the iTMS's entire selection of early-'80s J.C. [Mellencamp] is sorely lacking (no "Jack and Diane"? No "Hurts So Good"? Philistines!), so Tiger's fine with us now. Although we do wish that Apple's original plan to call the release "Tigger" could have come to fruition, but with the whole Eisner-Disney flap, well, you know.

So start getting used to it now, folks, because you know that otherwise it's going to be just like writing the wrong year on all your checks from January through March (or, if you're as absent-minded as we are, September... of two years later). We recommend that you repeat the question "So have you upgraded to 'Tiger' yet?" out loud six or eight thousand times until it stops sounding weird. And if Steve struts out on stage in June and introduces Mac OS X Leopard instead, well, you'll be sorta boned... but hey, isn't it worth the risk?

A-ha! We knew something was amiss! Remember a couple of weeks ago when we told you that Apple was being sued by Princeton's insurance company because of a fire that lightly toasted (and, more the point, gently destroyed) $2 million worth of genetic lab equipment? The Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Company had to cough up that much cash to Princeton to cover the damages, and then sued Apple to recoup its payout. Why Apple? Because according to Royal and Sun Alliance, the fire department had determined the cause of the fire to be "an Apple Power Mac G4 plugged into an electrical receptacle box."

Turns out, though, it was all a pack of lies. Filthy lies. Faithful viewer Steve Tomaszewski tipped us off to a detailed debunking of Royal and Sun's claim, which includes scans of the actual reports filed by the Borough of Princeton Fire Department and the fire inspector who investigated the scene. In the blank marked "Equipment Involved in Ignition" the fire department has listed "Outlet, receptacle" and further designates the equipment as "Stationary," whereas a Power Mac G4 "normally can be moved by one person, is designed to be used in multiple locations, and requires no tools to install" and would therefore be classified as "Portable." Maybe not in a PowerBook sense of the word, sure, but given that people are using PowerBooks to fry bacon, it's probably good that a PowerBook wasn't present at the blaze, because it'd have been far more incriminating.

Meanwhile, the fire inspector's conclusion clearly blames the fire on the "electrical receptacle box" itself and makes no mention of a Power Mac, but apparently because a Power Mac happened to be plugged into the outlet when the box went foom, the insurance company figures that the fire was Apple's fault. Perhaps this is standard procedure in the insurance world: if a fire is caused by a faulty outlet, always sue the maker of whatever's plugged into said outlet at the time. The fire happened in December, so Santa must be heaving a sigh of relief that the lab folks had plugged their Christmas tree in on the other side of the room, or else he'd be mobilizing the Legal Elves.

If you ask us, Apple should countersue Royal and Sun for libel, because far from burning down bio labs all across the world, its G4s were notoriously fire-resistant little beasts. In fact, just last week faithful viewer eric-jan jong forwarded us this picture of an obvious fire survivor apparently functioning just fine. (Warning: even though the Mac seems to be working okay, it's still a pretty grisly sight and may not be appropriate for younger and more sensitive viewers.) Why, we've even got one report of a G4 that smelled smoke in the middle of the night, alerted a family of five to the blaze, and even personally rescued the three-year-old daughter and the family cat who were trapped by flames upstairs.

Well, okay, no, we don't. But we still hope that Royal and Sun gets what's coming to it; if Apple won't countersue, given the frivolous nature of the lawsuit, at the very least we hope that the judge sticks it with Apple's court costs. Jerks.