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Time To Evolve (4/5/00)
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Tired of waiting for Mac OS X to arrive? Well, you've got a couple of options if you want to leap in feet-first before Apple releases it this summer. You could shell out half a grand to become a Select member of the Apple Developer Connection and get access to the developer releases. Or, if you haven't got $500 lying around collecting dust, maybe you should take a look at Darwin, Apple's open source core of Mac OS X. Longtime faithful viewer Avi Rappoport wrote in to tell us that Darwin 1.0 was finally released on Wednesday, and awaits your eager download from Apple's web site-- for free. This landmark release gives you a full-fledged binary installer; fire it up, point it at a blank disk, and let it do its thing. You'll be cranking along with Mac OS X in no time.
Whoops, did we say Mac OS X? We meant Darwin, of course. Because while you'll get all kinds of nifty core OS features slated for Mac OS X like protected memory and pre-emptive multitasking, you might notice a few key Mac OS X features are missing. Like, say, the interface; you won't get Aqua with the Darwin release, but instead you'll be tooling along with a command line. See, Darwin is a "complete" operating system all by itself, but it's derived from BSD UNIX-- and it shows. You'll also be missing all three of Mac OS X's APIs; no Carbon, no Classic, and no Cocoa. And as far as we can tell, Mac OS X's graphics architectures (Quartz for 2D, OpenGL for 3D, and QuickTime) are all absent as well. No, there are no free rides, folks... Darwin 1.0 is a big deal, to be sure, but only for open source developers. Don't bother downloading and installing it unless you're eager to go digging around in the UNIXy guts of Apple's next-generation operating system.
It's interesting to note that, as rumored, support for running Darwin on Intel-based hardware is indeed included in this release. Is Apple preparing an emergency PowerPC exit strategy, in case the AIM alliance collapses? And the fact that Apple just shipped a new version of Darwin Streaming Server may turn a few heads, too; Apple's free, open source software to stream QuickTime content now runs on Windows NT, according to a press release. Let the wild speculation commence...
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/5/00 episode: April 5, 2000: Darwin 1.0 is out, but don't expect it to offer a free sneak peek at Mac OS X in all its glory. Meanwhile, the Netscape 6 "preview release" comes to the Mac on the same day that it surfaces for Windows; too bad it's nothing like a Mac application should be. And "Redmond Justice" may draw to an abrupt close following a Washington lobbying visit by none other than Bill "Who Wants Cash?" Gates...
Other scenes from that episode: 2207: N6PR1: The Best Ad For IE5 (4/5/00) Well, smack our butts and call us Spanky-- the Mac version of Netscape 6 Preview Release was actually released at the same time as the versions for other platforms! We were first alerted to this happy development by faithful viewer Robert Brockman, who wrote in to tell us that AtAT looks peachy-keen in Netscape 6, excepting the default 16-point text that's infecting all new browsers... 2208: Win, Buy, Whatever (4/5/00) Well, it looks like "Redmond Justice" may indeed go off the air sooner rather than later, one way or another. According to the New York Times, the "fast track" schedule for the conclusion of the case has been set, and it's aggressive...
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