Brand: MacNews

PCs could ship pre-installed with Windows XP, Microsoft’s forthcoming and controversial operating system, as early as September, or one month prior to the scheduled October 25 retail release. PC makers are hoping that shipping XP early, coupled with the operating system’s increased hardware demands, good spur lagging PC sales in the fourth quarter.

GreasyDaemon.com, a site devoted to BSD Unix, has posted a detailed first look at Mac OS X with particular emphasis on the perspective from a BSD user. The articles discuss preparing OS X for BSD users, necessary tools, applications, issues, and final thoughts on Apple’s new OS. “Mac OS X boils down to a great tool that allows me to do work more efficient and I can do it with a smile. It is something you have to experience for yourself. I strongly recommend taking it for a test spin and deciding for yourself.

MacUser UK has published a commentary piece on the way Cocoa applications handle and associate documents created by them. The article illustrates a problem with file names and extensions: “You will see that files created by Cocoa applications, if treated like Mac files should be treated, are very, or doubleplus, unMacwise. So now we have to be very careful to treat them like Windows files and leave that alien extension on the end.”

Intelligent Devices has released an audio patch for Apple’s new iBook that resolves the problem of dropped or delayed audio playback. If an iBook does not play any audio for 30 seconds, short sounds can be chopped or dropped entirely, while longer ones can sound delayed. The patch remedies this problem by playing a low note every 15 seconds; an awkward but effective solution that should tide iBook owners over until Apple releases an official fix.

Microsoft is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn rulings that it violated antitrust laws because of the derogatory comments that US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson made about the company. Jackson’s finding that Microsoft violated antitrust laws was upheld two months ago, although his decision to split the company was thrown out due to the comments that he made during the case.