Mac OS X entices corporates

Apple is expected to launch the first significant upgrade to its OS X operating system for Macintosh systems later this summer. In contrast with last year's 10.1 update - widely regarded as a bug-fix release - the new version is believed to incorporate new features that will make the operating system more powerful and attractive for professional users.

Until now, OS X has received praise from existing Mac users, but corporates have largely ignored it, instead choosing familiar Windows-based PCs for general office needs, and traditional Linux or Unix systems for mission-critical or workstation applications. But over the last few months, Apple has reported increasing interest from Unix- and Linux-based developers. Meanwhile, the number of Mac-based solutions for the scientific and financial communities is growing steadily.

At the company's Worldwide Developer Conference in May, Apple unveiled a pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.2, codenamed Jaguar, and said the full update would be available by the end of September. New items of interest for corporate users are greater support for Server Message Block (SMB) protocols to let Mac systems connect to Windows networks; and a tool for automatic discovery of available services over IP networks. Mac OS X 10.2 is also expected to be fully compatible with the Posix interface standards designed for Unix operating systems.

However, industry observers believe Apple faces an uphill battle in attracting custom from corporate IT managers.

Adrian O'Connell of analyst firm Gartner Group suggested that the new operating system has little chance of becoming more than a niche product. "Corporates are trying everything to make their environment more simple. Adding a platform, regardless of its ease-of-use, always makes things more complicated," he said.

Macs have long been able to connect to Windows-based PC servers, but OS X 10.2 is expected to build on this by letting users browse Windows servers directly from the desktop Finder, as well as connect to Windows virtual private networks (VPNs).

Of potential interest to corporates is the Rendezvous tool, which is designed to make it easier for users to connect to networks, and find and use network resources. The technology is based on ZeroConf, an initiative from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), intended to enable automatic configuration of IP networks.

Other features are likely to include updates to FreeBSD - the Unix distribution on which Mac OS X is based - as well as support for the IPv6 next-generation Internet protocol, and the IPsec security protocol.

The Apple preview release also sports a revamped graphics engine, Quartz Extreme, which offloads much of the work involved with displaying the user interface to the system's graphics card. Under Mac OS X 10.2, the desktop will be handled using the OpenGL application programming interface (API). This API is supported by many graphics adapter cards.

Ink, a handwriting-recognition technology, will be included in the final version and will allow users to enter text by writing with a graphics tablet and stylus. A new Finder - the Mac OS's desktop user interface - incorporates search functionality based on Apple's own natural-language search algorithms. The entire system has been made much faster. IDisk, Apple's subscription-based online storage, mounts quicker and folders open faster.

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