Appletell

Net Applications, an online company that is geared towards finding the market shares of various companies, has found that Mac OS X is in second place for operating systems with a 7.94% share. Let’s just round and bring that up to 8%, alright? The only operating system beating Mac OS X is obviously Windows with a solid 90.89% share. In third comes your favorite open source operating system, Linux, with a .8% market share. However, the fourth place entry is sort of interesting; it’s the iPhone, not far behind Linux with a .16% share, and I’m sure the iPhone 3G will bring that number up.

When you think about it, 8% is a huge number. With billions of computers worldwide, Mac OS X has made a significant dent in the operating system market, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. If Apple keeps innovating and keeps making their operating system more appealing to Windows users, they will surely surpass 10% in the near future.  With Snow Leopard around the corner, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Via [Net Applications]

Parallel’s Server for Mac, “the world’s first server virtualization solution for the Mac platform,” is now available for $1,255.74. This is a huge step for Parallels as it will allow companies to optimize their IT infrastructures by giving them the opportunity to virtually run both Windows and Linux on their Mac machines. “Parallels Server for Mac will be a catalyst in driving Mac server adoption in the enterprise, as it is the first product ever to enable IT professionals and developers to capitalize on the power of OS X Server while keeping the flexibility to run Windows and Linux workloads,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. Fore more information, download their data sheet (664K PDF).

Key features after the break.

MORE »

Recently, the newest version of Parallels for Mac OS X was released. The latest build of the virtualization software is build 5608, and is available for Mac only, while Parallels Transporter is available for Windows and GNU/Linux. The biggest features of the new program are added support for guest Parallel Tools for the latest iterations of Linux. It also adds more support for 3D graphics rendering when using Vista through Mac OS 10.5.3.

A new build of Parallels Server for Mac was also announced. “We’re pretty excited about this newest build since it includes faster performance and some extra goodies to play with, like data compression and Common Address Redundancy Protocol,” Parallels officials said as part of the announcement. “Also, the restriction to virtualize OS X Server only on OS X Server has been lifted. You can now virtualize Leopard Server on either Leopard Server or Leopard client!”

Via [MacNN]

On the eve of this year’s keynote, TUAW has already received information and screen shots about a new “Mac Nano” that is being called the Mac Fusion. This mini computer is supposedly built for developers and comes with the tag lines, “Leave Windows behind. Build your Apps for OS X,” and “Bridge the Gap.” This rumor comes along with older rumors that a new Mac may be released at WWDC, but we will just have to wait and see.

The screen shots are clear enough to get the description, and it reads:

Building your applications for the Mac has never been easier. Mac Fusion was designed exclusively for new developers wishing to port their existing programs to the Mac without breaking the bank. Mac Fusion allows you to explore the power and stability of Mac OS X while keeping the ability to run alternate operating systems, such as Windows, or Linux, via Boot Camp.

Sounds like Apple is really going after getting more users to the Mac OS X platform this year, if this rumor is true. Only good can come from that, as it means there will be more developers for Macs, and, therefore, more applications from which to choose from. Let’s hope this one is true! Be sure to be here for our live blog at 10:00 a.m. PST to find out.

With so much mayhem surrounding Psystar, the company that announced last week the availability of what are essentially Mac clones, I thought it a good idea to give an easy-reader breakdown of all the fuss.

It all started April 14th, when Psystar came out of nowhere claiming to be selling OpenMac computers, essentially really cheap Macs. The internet erupted with questions over the legality of it all. Someone named Robert then came forward and said that Psystar would challenge Apple’s license agreement in court. Then an official spokesperson from Psystar denied that Robert spoke for the company. The company’s website went down due to heavy traffic, adding to the pandemonium. Many assumed Psystar was a hoax or scam and had been taken down.

MORE »

Everyone loves the comedy in the Get a Mac ads, but what do consumers really like the most? Windows, Mac and even Linux are all of different in their own way, but why do you choose each one.

Ubuntu got a 4.5 on a scale of 0 - 5, which makes sense as its free (Why didn’t it get a 5?) While Windows Vista got a 2 and XP got 3. Price doesn’t determine everything, in fact most would choose a higher price for higher quality, but what about the process of actually getting the OS on the machine. Leopard topped this list, with Vista in second with a rating of 4 and Ubuntu with a 2.5 Leopard also tops the of the Interface and the Bundled Software with a 5 and a 4.5 The price and installation, interface and bundled software all help you choose which OS to buy, but what about 3rd party software to extend the functionally. Leopard only scored a 3.5 and Ubuntu even beat it with a 4, in terms of quantity of software. In quality, what really matters, Apple scored second and XP first.

Overall Scores

• 4.75 Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
• 3.40 Ubuntu
• 3.56 Windows XP
• 3.56 Windows Vista

Winner: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Via [MacDailyNews]

Microsoft employee Jeff Jones has released his findings from a comparison of Vista, XP, OS X Tiger, and RedHat Linux.

“Windows Vista One Year Vulnerability Report” by “Jeffrey R Jones, Security Guy (and Microsoft Director)” already has an inconclusive feel about it as soon as that title page is splashed up. But let’s give it a chance.

Before the report starts, we are met with an Executive Summary, telling me first that “This paper analyzes the vulnerability disclosures and security updates for the first year of Windows Vista and looks at it in the context of its predecessor, Windows XP, along with other modern workstation operating systems Red Hat, Ubuntu and Apple products.”

MORE »

Did you know your MacBook not only runs Mac OS X and Windows, but a lot of lesser-known operating systems? If you’ve ever thought about getting your geek on, Friendly Linux has a tutorial on how to get Ubuntu Linux running on your MacBook. Installation was fairly straightforward, apart from adding a parameter to the installer.

After booting up for the first time, there were a couple of settings that had to be changed to get some minor features fully working, but they were not earth-shattering and are fairly well documented.  The great thing was that 3D effects, backlight brightness and even the Apple Remote worked straight out of the box.

Check out the instructions and download your copy of Ubuntu.

Read [Friendly Linux]