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It's Gold, It's Free (4/22/99)
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The improvements just never stop... If you've still got the wind blowing through your hair from the rush of running Mac OS 8.5.1, you might have to resort to pharmaceutical help in order to calm down in time for Mac OS 8.6. Several sources, including Mac OS Rumors, are now reporting that the delectable upgrade code-named "Veronica" has reached Golden Master status and has entered the production stage. Expect the ability to download it as a free upgrade to Mac OS 8.5 sometime within the next week or so.
In terms of visible features and changes, we're not expecting much from 8.6; after all, it is free. There will be minor changes and improvements made to Sherlock and AppleScript, for example, and PlainTalk will finally allow voice recognition on iMacs and icebox G3's without the need for a third-party patch. Beyond that, though, 8.6 would seem to be mostly a collection of bug fixes-- if it weren't for the new nanokernel. You know how the guts of the Mac OS have been around since time immemorial? Well, some important parts of those guts have been revamped and turbocharged in 8.6. The new kernel reportedly integrates some very nifty features that have been lacking on the Mac for a long time now, such as symmetric multiprocessing capability (in preparation for the G4's no doubt) and a better method of multitasking. These under-the-hood changes make Mac OS 8.6 look like a pretty definite step towards Mac OS X; the transition will take place via the next Mac OS release, code-named "Sonata" and already well under way.
The best news of all? Reportedly Mac OS 8.6 makes a huge difference in stability on icebox G3's, which is particularly welcome given how crash-prone those systems appear to be right now. But everyone running Mac OS 8.5, whether they're lucky enough to own new G3's or not, should consider 8.6 a must-have upgrade. It fixes things, it takes another step towards the holy grail of Mac OS X, and have we mentioned that it's free? Can't beat that.
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SceneLink (1484)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/22/99 episode: April 22, 1999: There's a veritable plethora of great games heading for the Mac, so prepare to throw your productivity out the window. Meanwhile, even as Sears is rumored to be preparing an iMac roll-out this summer, JCPenney may be planning on iMac sales through its 1999 holiday catalog, and Mac OS 8.6 is hot, free, and ready to roll...
Other scenes from that episode: 1482: How To Waste Time (4/22/99) If you're anything like us, you realize what a conundrum it is (or, maybe, was) to be both a big games fan and a Mac user. In general, the age-old claim that there's "no software for the Mac" is pretty weak; we've certainly never had any trouble finding software that does what we need it to do... 1483: iLove Your Style (4/22/99) So we've got a couple of national retailers selling iMacs, now; there's CompUSA, still going great guns, and there's Best Buy, who apparently exists primarily to lend a sense of comic relief. In addition, rumors have been floating around that Sears will climb back on the Apple wagon to sell iMacs and iBooks this summer...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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