March 25, 2003

MacOS X is 2 years old

Posted by Scott at 07:52 PM

Yesterday was the second birthday of Mac's OS X (pronounced 'ten', not 'ex') operating system. In a few months 10.3 will be available. OS X was a major, huge factor in my move back to Macintosh's after using Linux for years. I wanted a Unix environment without the hassles of getting devices to work, hardware conflicts, lack of software support from the biggie's like Microsoft, Adobe, etc. I also got tired of re-booting to Windows so that Claire and Abigail could run their software -- Reader Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, Arthur, KidPix, etc. Now while Abby plays KidPix, that same computer is running a leading unix web server in the background to host BilikFamily.com.

On the other hand even though OS X has been shipping for two years, Intuit refuses to make TurboTax for the Web available to any Mac web browser that runs on OS X. Strangely they sell TurboTax software that runs on Mac OS X. So tomorrow at lunch I'm making a run to Nashua's MacEdge store to pick up a copy. I've procrastinated on our taxes long enough!

On a similar geeky but sad note, Adam Osborne (no relation to Ozzie), the inventor of the first consumer "portable" computer died this week at the age of 64. Portable is a bit of a stretch. It was about as portable as a portable sewing machine. No resemblance to the skinny laptops we see these days.

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