IW: Leopard is a Better Linux Than Linux

November 11th, 2007 at 2:00 PM - News by John Martellaro

Appleis Mac OS X has an open source core, Darwin, consisting of Mach 3 and FreeBSD 5. As a result, the open source projects in Darwin and Appleis backing gives Linux a real run for its money, according to Information Week on Sunday.

Alexander Wolfe has discovered that there is an enormous number of open source projects embedded in Mac OS X 10.5. The list is on the Darwin Website.

As a result of these projects, an engineer or researcher has a wealth of possibilities for code development and tools that just donit exist on the Windows side. Developers and researchers who want to take advantage of these open source projects will find guidance at the Apple Developer Connection site.

This open source foundation provides, "evidence that Apple has obviously figured out how to successfully build on the work of others, how to market that stuff, how to avoid internecine warfare and fanboy pointlessness. It also has demonstrated how to build a business where you can make real money," Mr. Wolfe wrote.

As a result, the author believes that Appleis Mac OS X is a more successful UNIX OS than Linux ever will be.

TMO notes that the above list of open source projects in Mac OS X is not well known, even amongst those well versed in Mac OS X.