Apple's much-touted new operating system, OS X Leopard, is in some ways worse than Windows Vista, says the founder of the Linux open source project, Linus Torvalds.

Torvalds was in Melbourne last week for the linux.conf.au conference and was invited to pass judgement on OS X versus Windows Vista in a wide-ranging interview.

"I don't think they're equally flawed - I think Leopard is a much better system," he said. "(But) OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for. Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary."

"Apple's much-touted new operating system, OS X Leopard, is in some ways worse than Windows Vista, says the founder of the Linux open source project, Linus Torvalds," Nick Miller reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. "Torvalds was in Melbourne last week for the linux.conf.au conference and was invited to pass judgement on OS X versus Windows Vista in a wide-ranging interview."....

MacDailyNews Take: Apple is methodically making their move to ZFS. Filesystem changes must be carefully considered for platforms with large user bases - which is something that Torvalds has absolutely no experience with on the desktop. The fact is, the performance of Linux on the desktop is, to turn a phrase, "complete and utter crap."....

Windows may be king, but Apple is trying to out-tortoise the hare

Apple's OS X comes nowhere near Windows in market share, but the reality is, throughout the last couple years OS X has slowly been gaining traction. It still has many more years to go at this rate before ever evening the OS race, but this does not detract from the fact that it is making progress, largely at Microsoft's expense.

The best Mac software for backups is back. The highly acclaimed and popular SuperDuper! just went to version 2.5 and is Leopard compatible.

How does SuperDuper! fit in with Apple's handy TimeMachine as a personal backup system? Which is easier to use? Which is better?

If you've read Mac360 for any length of time then you'll know that we preach backups and were one of the first Mac web sites to review and tout the advantages of SuperDuper!....

Why the need for a backup? And what does SuperDuper! bring to the table that Time Machine does not?....

My wife got a Windows Vista laptop a few months ago. I could not believe the amount of complicated nonsense she had to go through to get the thing to just work. Her machine sometimes can't find our home wireless network, frequently needs encouragement to connect to it, and drops it more often than it should. My Mac just connects.

Bootup time isn't even comparable. The Windows machine isn't even in the same league.

Let me give it to you straight: You cannot be too cautious with your digital information.

That's because losing your business data could be the single most catastrophic event to hit your business.

But if what I see in my shop and the others I cover and work with are any indication, backing up our business stuff is just - how can I be polite? - a concept.

It's something we need to do, not something we actually do.

And then along comes Mr. Steve Jobs with his marketing magic wand. What is basically a simple hard drive is now branded as the "Time Machine." Suddenly backing up is, shock of shocks ... hip. People no longer glaze over when I talk about keeping data safe.

You rarely hear about a new OS causing people to panic. But IT consultant Scott Pam says that's exactly what his small-business clients are doing when they install Windows Vista on new PCs and run smack into compatibility or usability roadblocks.

Pam's clients are not alone: Since InfoWorld launched its petition drive on Jan. 14 to ask Microsoft to continue selling new XP licenses indefinitely alongside its Vista licenses, more than 75,000 people have signed on. And hundreds of people have commented — many with ferocious, sometimes unprintable passion. "Right now I have a laptop with crap Vista and I'm going to downgrade to XP because Vista sucks," reads one such comment.

Where does all the vitriol come from?

Q: I read your review of the MacBook Air, and it's pretty clear you just don't get it. You've always been a Windows and Microsoft fanboy, and some things just never change. The Air wasn't made for you, and you are just not the target market. So why can't you say something positive about an Apple?

A: Well, as I write this on my Apple Powerbook, I can pause to reflect that I was positive about many parts of the MacBook Air in the review. And I do believe I am the target market for the MacBook....

I have logged, at last count, more than 400,000 frequent-flier miles, a lot of that on business, so I think I am exactly the market for the Air. I do think they got a lot of it right. But they got a lot of it wrong....

After years of muddling along with a two percent share of the personal computer market and a small cult of rabid fans, the Macintosh seems to be on a hot streak lately.

There are all kinds of theories to explain the sudden resurgence - the lack of viruses, the iPod halo effect, the critical mass of Apple stores, the disappointing debut of Windows Vista, all those Apple TV ads, the switch to Intel chip, or maybe all of it together....

One year after launching a controversial Macintosh hacking contest, the promoters of the CanSecWest security research conference are thinking about giving hackers another shot at cracking the Mac. Only this time, they're looking to broaden the field.

Last year, show organizers invited attendees to hack into a Macintosh laptop with the successful hacker winning the computer and a cash prize. But this year, they're talking about giving attendees three targets to choose from. "We're thinking of having a contest where we have Vista and OS X and Linux ... and see which one goes first," said Dragos Ruiu, the principal organizer of CanSecWest.

Today was a great day for me personally as my MacBook Air arrived from Apple.....

Naturally, being the curious sort I am, before I even plugged the Superdrive into the MBA, I decided to see if it would, in fact, work while attached to any of my other Macs. So, I attached it and gave it a try. I won't keep you in suspense, it didn't work....

If you've just switched to the Mac, you're probably wondering, "Ok, how do I do _______ on this thing?" From playing certain video files, to using FTP, to running Windows and more, there are lots of great software options out there that are essential downloads for first-time switchers.

As people spend more time communing with their televisions and computers, the impact is not just on their health, researchers say. Less time spent outdoors means less contact with nature and, eventually, less interest in conservation and parks.

Visits to national parks peaked in 1987 and dropped 23 percent by 2006.

Camping, fishing and per capita visits to parks are all declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation, researchers report in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Radical Christian hackers have been waging an online war against atheism.

The hackers repeatedly attacked MySpace's Atheist and Agnostics Group page, deleting groups and members and renaming the site 'Jesus is Love'.

MySpace shut down the group last month despite having promised to keep it up after earlier hack attacks.....

MySpace was acquired last year by News International, which is owned by born again Christian Rupert Murdoch.

Think the generation gap went out with bell-bottoms and love beads?

Think again.

Take a good look around your IT department. Who's that cohabiting in the cubes outside your door? Boomers and X-ers and Y-ers. Looks peaceful out there, doesn't it? Don't bet on it. What many CIOs fail to see are the generational tensions simmering among their employees that threaten to lower morale, increase turnover and hobble the IT department's ability to produce wins for the business.....

Relations among the generations seem to be at a low point. Gen Y (defined as people born after 1982) thinks Gen X (spawned between 1961 and 1981) is a bunch of whiners. Gen X sees Gen Y as arrogant and entitled. And everyone thinks the Baby Boomers (1943 to 1960) are self-absorbed workaholics.....

In multiple media reports over the past two weeks, the US Army has professed its love for the penguin. The Army eventually intends to move from a Windows-based infrastructure over to Linux for its new, roughly $200bn weapons program.

But the Army has largely been prepping new Linux-friendly weapons, vehicles, and devices before the completion of a software network to connect them to its existing Windows-based infrastructure - or blithely, putting the chariot before the warhorse.

On Monday, just days after returning that review iPhone to Apple, I got my own. On Tuesday, Apple upgrades the iPhone and iPod touch with a 16GB version of the former and a 32GB version of the latter. Prices for the expanded editions are $100 higher.

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