Mac OS 8.5 ("the system software formerly known as Allegro") is nearing the Golden Master phase of its development, and should hit store shelves in a about a month. All the feedback we've gotten from (cough) beta-testers indicates that it'll be a must-have upgrade, with several people saying the jump from 7.6.1 to 8.0 was actually less significant than the upcoming bump from 8.1 to 8.5. While the main reasons are speed and stability, there are a few new features included that sweeten the deal considerably. Unfortunately, one of them may be in jeopardy. Sherlock ("the search utility formerly known as Find File") is under fire from the major Internet search engine companies. A TechWeb article has the details.

Infoseek, Alta Vista, and the like are in a snit because Sherlock doesn't just find files-- it finds web pages, too. And the way it finds them is by querying the big search engines and displaying the search results right in the Sherlock window. That means that, in Mac OS 8.5, you can search Alta Vista without ever actually going to their site, and that's bad news for Alta Vista.

It all comes down to money. The web sites earn their cash by selling ad space on their sites; if people start using their services without ever actually visiting their sites and seeing their ads, it's bye-bye revenue-- even though Sherlock does show a banner ad from the engine's site if you actually click a link to a found page, we're told. So Apple, hearing the grumbling, has been backpedaling, calling the Sherlock demo performed at Seybold a "technology demonstration" (errr, yeah) and saying that negotiations with the various search engines are ongoing. That means it's possible that the shipping version of Sherlock will search, say, Lycos but not Infoseek. But we bet that a few minutes with ResEdit could add "unauthorized" search engines without a whole lot of trouble. Heck, we at AtAT already use OneClick to search Alta Vista without first going to their search page (though we do see the results page). Still, we're confident that happy agreements can be reached.

And in "Redmond Justice," it's another setback for Microsoft, who was just ordered to turn over a slew of new evidence to the Department of Justice. According to the Seattle Times, the software giant has to fork over "key documents" that detail its relationships with mondo-huge chipmaker Intel and our own beloved Apple Computer. The government suspects that the documents may shed some light on still yet more alleged anticompetitive behavior.

The requested documents relate to any meetings between Bill Gates or veep Paul Maritz and Intel representatives between 1995 and 1997, and any meetings between a couple of undisclosed Microsoft execs and Apple reps since 1996. Microsoft is suspected of having pressured Intel and Apple not to develop certain software that would compete with Microsoft's own wares. In Apple's case, that software is QuickTime, which, thankfully, Apple went ahead and kept developing anyway.

Microsoft, unsurprisingly, is whining that the DoJ is attempting to "ambush" them by shifting the focus of the allegations just before the trial date. Accordingly, Microsoft's lawyers say they'll push for a six-month delay of the trial in order to "prepare" the requested documents. Six months to prepare some documents? They must be using Microsoft Publisher. That, or a paper shredder...

At last, new light is being shed on a long-standing mystery: Why did Apple kill the Newton just as it was starting to live up to its promise? After all, with the advent of Newton OS 2.0, handwriting recognition really worked, and once the MessagePad 2000 rolled around, speed was no longer an issue, either. So what prompted the sudden dropping of the entire project like a hot potato?

A seemingly innocuous bug reported by MacSkandia (a Scandinavian Mac OS web site) may hold the key. According to MacNN's translation, the MessagePad 2100 incorrectly indentifies the week of any date after January 1st, 1999. According to European convention, week 1 of 1999 starts on Monday the 4th, but the MP2100 calls that week 2. It's a minor bug, we think, but we could see how it could really annoy some users.

According to MacNN, this bug is still unconfirmed, but if it's real, could it account for Apple's move to sink the Newton? After all, date bugs are currently a real PR black eye, what with Year 2000 looming just around the corner. Mightn't Apple have discovered the bug, and rather than have to deal with it, just shut down the whole project? Then there's the coverup conspiracy... Oh, the humanity...