Apple eNews

OS X Update Circulates (3/30/2001)

Less than a week after Mac OS X's release, Apple Computer is preparing an update to the operating system to fix some bugs.

It's unclear whether the Mac OS X update, which CNET News.com obtained Thursday, is a final version.

Apple would not comment on the update, but a spokesman did threaten legal action against News.com, arguing that the software is pirated. The spokesman also would not say whether it is the final or beta code or say when it will be available. It is the company's policy not to discuss products before their release.

After applying the update, the OS version changes from 10.0 to 10.0.1, or build 4L5. The upgrade package also contains another file, software update 1.31. Both files are dated just before and after Mac OS X's release Saturday.

Word of the update's existence spread like wildfire Thursday, with Mac-oriented forums passing along information about the update and links to the file itself.

Mac OS X rolled into stores last weekend, with much fanfare. The long-anticipated and much-delayed operating system is the first major overhaul of the Mac OS since its 1984 introduction. At the core, Mac OS X is based on Unix, something the company has said would spur software development. But many applications are not expected to make their Mac OS X debut for as much as a year.

The software update appears to contain numerous bug fixes, which boosted performance during a test run. But the fix does not seem to create the ability to burn CDs--something Apple left out of Mac OS X. DVD playback and DVD recording were also left out of OS X. Apple CEO Steve Jobs last week said CD-RW functions would be added in April. For now, people must reboot back to Mac OS 9.1 to burn CDs or watch DVD movies.

Operating system software updates are not unusual. Microsoft, for example, posts them frequently and makes them available through a software update feature. Apple included a similar capability in Mac OS X, which is intended to simplify major and minor updates.

Early response to the new Mac operating system has been fairly positive, although little glitches do exist.

Apple at PowerPC makers' mercy

Apple remains at the mercy of its key component supplier's -in particular its processor providers Motorola and IBM- the former head of the Mac maker's European operation has admitted.

Of course, it's easy to say that once you're out of the organization. Diego Piacentini, who now runs Amazon.com's non-US subsidiaries having bailed out of Apple a year ago, would never have said as much while still a staffer. Users know it, commentators and analysts know it, and Apple staffers know it, but it's rare that the latter - even at a year's distance from the company - will come out and say in public what's only said in private.

Piacentini's point, as detailed in an interviewed with Italian Apple watching Website Macity, is that while Apple is, simply, "under the thumbä of Motorola and IBM, primarily because the PowerPC isn't a desktop processor standard. With only one significant customer, Piacentini reckons, it's hard to devote the development resources to keep the platform at the cutting edge.

Which is exactly what Apple is dependent upon if it's to compete with the Wintel world. ãRelying on two suppliers means being always, always, always at the mercy of their deficiencies, ãhe says. "Efficiency is achieved by economies of scale."

Worse, Apple has to keep in with both players in case one of them fails to deliver what it needs. "Motorola is a company in crisis, and IBM is only a little better off, but at the moment it's unthinkable for Apple to rely on [only] one of these," says Piacentini. "I'm sure this is a terrible situation, which keeps Steve Jobs awake at night."

It probably did, back in late 1999 when it Jobs felt sufficiently irritated with PowerPC partner Motorola to blame unexpected poor financial results on the chip maker's inability to ramp up volumes and clock speeds of the then recently released PowerPC 7400, aka the G4. Apple had to persuade IBM to start making the chips so that it would - eventually - have enough to meet demand.

Jobs' pronouncement followed well publicized problems Motorola was having getting the 7400 to run at over 500 MHz at a time when the x86 world was in spitting distance of 1 GHz.

Says Piacentini to Webcity: "The 'Megahertz Myth' was a much discussed topic when worked for Apple, especially regarding relations with the German marketing team, which insistently asked us to bring the nominal megahertz value to the competitors' one."

Not that he reckons the solution is to abandon the PowerPC platform. "We all know it's bad publicity to have a 500 MHz processor when others have one of 1000 MHz, but I don't think it's so important as to change the fortunes of a firm," he says.

"As they say here, it's 'nice to have', but since IBM, and especially Motorola can't have...letâs not worry too much about it. The customer who wants to get a good buy, will find out for himself the difference between a Risc and a non-Risc processor."

Certainly, Apple seems to have survived despite opting for a non-standard desktop processor, though it's questionable whether it can build a bigger business on the back of other aspects of its systems, such as design or even Mac OS X. What it should do, reckons Piacentini, is to broaden its range of core markets.

"My opinion is that by selling only to few markets in the computer sector, i.e. mostly the consumer market - which is not what Compaq or Dell did Apple received very severe blows." ¬

Mac OS X "Gold Master" version:QuickTime 5; missing features due soon; iTools integration; more

Since the news broke that Mac OS X is being duplicated and prepared for shipment, speculation on the Web has focused on what is missing. Recently Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, confirmed several details on what is and what is not included as part of Mac OS X's imminent release. Here are the highlights:

QuickTime 5 final will be included. Although not on the release CD, Apple hopes to have Mac OS X-ready versions of iTunes and iMovie available for download very soon, perhaps as early as March 24. DVD playback will not be included on the CD either, but it will be available for download at a later date. There is also a hint that iDVD availability will be discussed at the press event that will launch Mac OS X on March 21. The official version designation is Mac OS X 10.0; the 10.1 release could appear on new machines in the summer.

He also revealed one aspect of the integration between Mac OS X and iTools. He told CNET, "Right as you set up your machine, as part of the start-up experience, it will ask if you have an iTools account or set one up for you. Now on the toolbar on the Finder you click on an icon and boom, up opens your iDisk. It's just completely integrated seamlessly."