September 22, 2008 (Computerworld) Apple Inc.'s patching process proves that the company isn't serious about moving Macs into the enterprise, security researchers said today. One dissenting expert, however, said it was unfair to compare Apple's patching procedures with, say, Microsoft Corp.'s. "You have to evaluate the patching performance of the company if you're looking at Macs," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at vendor nCircle Network Security Inc. "And the last two weeks hasn't been a gold star for Apple."

Offers Apple, Macintosh and Ipod latest news headlines, articles, reviews, discussions, hacks etc.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That's what I thought watching coverage of Apple's Worldwide Developer's conference opening yesterday, where banners that read things like "Hasta la vista, Vista" and "Redmond has a cat, too. A copycat" hung.

Almost a year ago Apple gave us Leopard (OS X 10.5), and along with it came virtual desktops for the masses, in the form of Spaces. For many this was an interesting new way to expand their workspace virtually. For the rest of us [power users?] it was a letdown in execution. What was worse, the third party options looked to be dwindling as well. Last November I called for third party developers to bring the competition - let's take a look at the result of that call to arms.

Dock icons are a quick way to bring a hidden window or application to the front so that you can work with it again. Dock icons are odd ducks - they're activated with a single-click. Most icons are selected (highlighted) when you single click and opened when you double-click. So Dock icons are kind of like links on a Web page - you need only a single click to open them.

Most of you should be aware of how you can use MCX to manage preferences for your directory service. Generally these days this is done by either running Open Directory, extending the schema for Active Directory or a standard OpenLDAP installation, or running a "magic triangle" setup where your client machines are bound to both an Open Directory setup and an Active Directory/OpenLDAP setup.

Apple Product Environmental Specifications educate our customers about specific environmental issues as they relate to Apple products, including banned materials, energy consumption, packaging materials and battery chemistries.

Gears is an open source project that enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser: - Let web applications interact naturally with your desktop - Store data locally in a fully-searchable database - Run JavaScript in the background to improve performance

I have created a Google mailing list to send out announcements about updates. From now on this will be the only email list that I will use to send out update announcements. If you want to be notified about updates, make sure your name is on the list. The website to add your email to the list is: http://groups.google.com/group/marksutilties

FlickrExport is a plugin for iPhoto which provides a direct export interface to Flickr.com

The Intel Developer Forum makes it clear what Apple's new notebooks - which I predict will be announced Tuesday, September 16 - will offer. Will it be worth the wait? If longer battery life and higher performance are important to you - yes. And if you weren't waiting? The new designs and features may make you rethink your allegiance to Windows - as so many already have.

My advice for a good backup strategy? Keep it simple. Keep it safe. Don't stress the details. The "you should backup regularly" argument needs little coaxing. Everybody "knows" they should backup the problem is they don't. A backup plan is only as good as its followthrough - which is why Time Machine is so epic. It backs up every hour for you. You don't even know it's running but you hear the hard drive spinning, and watch your system slow down for a few minutes.

Overall customer satisfaction within the computer industry fell slightly for the second consecutive year, according to newly published data from the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). But while PC makers far and wide are struggling to improve, Apple seems to be moving in the opposite direction with a score of 85 on a scale from zero to 100. Not only is this a new all-time high for the industry, the roughly 8 percent year-on year leap puts 10 points between Apple and its nearest rival. The score is attributed to the success the company has had with its iPod, iPhone and Mac lines, but it is also pointed out that dissatisfaction with Windows Vista might have hurt the scores for Apple's rivals.

What's New in StarOffice 9 StarOffice 9 for your Mac now available! Read, edit, and save PDF files Import your Microsoft Office 2007 OOXML files Writer: Improved notes, zoom slider, and support for large monitors Calc: Solver feature, improved charting, and collaboration capabilities

Sure, the iPhone and the Apple TV provide access to YouTube videos, but this access is not the same as downloading a YouTube video to your hard drive. For that, you can use TubeTV 1.0, a straightforward, basic YouTube video downloader. Just enter the URL of the YouTube video into TubeTV (or use the Search field) and click on the "Download movie" button, and TubeTV saves the video to your Mac.