It's likely that developer interest will wane when Apple is fully engaged on the X86 platform. While Apple ran on the PowerPC chip the amount of developer effort in the Open Source camps was nil. But now that Apple is using the same processor as everyone else, targeting the Macs will now be an easy decision to make. This will be at the expense of Linux.

...it’s possible to work with and manage Linux systems by tapping and raking your digits on its fingerprint-prone surface. This article describes how to do just that using SSH and VNC.

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The iSSH app is not only a capable SSH client but it’s also a VNC client, telnet client and X Server. Additionally, you can open more than one SSH connection and switch between them with a finger swipe. There is a limitation of a single X connection, though so you can’t run an X session in one window and a VNC session in another.

Microsoft's overhauled desk-top OS, Windows XP, has now been unleashed on the world. It's big and requires plenty of system resources - it does run in 128MB, but only really becomes enjoyable with 256MB, a fast PIII/P4/Athlon CPU and a snappy graphics accelerator. On the other hand, there's no denying Windows XP is a very good general-purpose operating system. It's stable, fast, supports just about every kind of new hardware there is, and is backed up by mountains of Win32 software. But how does it compare to a couple of the rivals?

First, the above tables demonstrate clearly that the creation of UNIX processes is much slower on MAC OS X, and the G5, the CPU, is not to blame. In the first test, the G5 2.5 GHz running Linux is only slightly slower than a Pentium 4 at 3.6 GHz. The third test shows that the G5 is even capable of outperforming the other CPUs, which points towards Mac OS X being the problem here. Even with a faster CPU, the OS X scores are all slower than the Linux scores on the G5.

What's interesting is the fact that the dual processor G5/2.5GHz blows away dual processor Xeon 2.4GHz. In other words, here's two dual processor machines running at about the same clock speed. Yet, the G5 wins. That gives Mac fanatics something to cheer about.

AppleScript mimics the syntax of English. As such, its grammar by intent should be easy for English speakers to grasp, which results in an intuitive and simple to use scripting language. However, this doesn't undermine its role as a very powerful tool for automation.

Its so easy to get lost in getting things working or configured properly in Linux or Windows that you loose so much time that you could be using creatively. The Mac puts this back into the computer experience by taking out the hassle.

Most of all about the Mac Mini is that is looks cool, Apple didn't just bring out a desktop PC like everyone else they innovated to produce something that looks unique. Its the perfect size to pop into your bag and go to a friends house or to work and plug in an existing monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Taken as whole, this is a great book for the AppleScript programmer, both beginner and expert. It has a good writing style, has been well edited and well constructed. Neuburg may be putting in too many forward references, though. Other reviewers, particularly those newer to AppleScript, have called the book frustrating and confusing. I think this may be due to both the high information density in this book and Neuburg's fast introduction to topics that are better explained later in the book. If you are a newcomer to programming and AppleScript then this may be daunting.

[It] places a completely new emphasis on cutting edge network collaboration that includes blog, wiki, instant messaging, calendar and scheduling, and address book (which Apple refers to as Directory). Sure, that's a trick that Linux or Windows can pull off, but Apple's spin is unique. These services are turnkey simple, but even in a turnkey setting, Leopard Server's services are loaded with features and integrated to an extent that one finds, well, on a Mac desktop.

After several of my favorite operating systems and distributions failed to properly connect to wireless hotspots without a lot of command-line tweaking, I found Netapplet, a great little GNOME applet in Novell's SUSE 9.3 Professional that scans for 802.11a/b/g wireless networks and shows you their signal strength and ESSID. You can then select the hotspot of your choice (if several are available) and continue on to the Internet from there.

One way that Apple was able to decrease the size of the mini was by using an external power supply, an 85W one to be more specific. The power supply features no fan and is about as wide as the mini itself, but not nearly as tall. The fact that the entire mini runs off of a single 85W power supply is impressive. Remember, that's less power consumption than most high end Intel and AMD processors alone.