> Apple itself also uses a lot of OSS in the depth of Mac OS X. Just the > GUI, “Aqua”, and the applications are closed source by Apple. > Even the browser uses OSS: WebKit.
Indeed so, including much of the OS X kernel, which predates the founding of Apple Inc (formerly Apple Computer Inc) by several years. Just invoke, say, on a Hackintosh, OS X using the -v (verbose) boot option, and you will immediately see the BSD (Berkeley Standard Distribution) copyright, "Copyright by The Regents of The University of California", and an exhaustive list of copyright years, many of which pre-date the founding of Apple itself. Apple Inc chose to encrypt its copy of the BSD kernel, but knowledgeable hackers soon discovered the decryption key, often termed "The Poem", which allows a Hackintosh to decrypt Apple Inc's OS X kernel. ANY OF THEM! Indeed, the stability of Apple Inc's OS X kernel has allowed the VERY easy generation of derivative kernels, for, say, Intel Atom processors (all OS X versions, certainly up to and including 10.8) or for, say, Pentium 4 processors (OS X versions up to and including 10.6), and, sometimes, for non-Intel processors, say, AMD processors. It should perhaps come as no surprise that many of these efforts come from off-shore nations, where Apple Inc's products are deemed "too expensive", or even "exorbitantly expensive", yet the somewhat simple (i.e. Intel chip sets and processors), and often somewhat difficult (i.e., AMD chip sets and processors), so-called "hacks" have, indeed, been accomplished. Just Google it! -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
