Apple's dead again

Something about Apple Computer gets under journalists' skin. Every time the company goes two months without putting Steve Jobs on stage, magazine and online writers rush to proclaim Apple's demise. If Apple isn't dead, Linux and Windows make it irrelevant. As someone who takes the time to get to know every business-relevant product Apple puts out, I can attest that simply keeping up with Apple's mainstream innovation could be my full-time job. It isn't, and I wouldn't want it to be. Without the context gleaned from the use of competing and contrasting technology (and from forcing Apple products to do real work in a demanding heterogeneous environment), I would probably miss most of what makes Apple important, too.

On the software side, Apple recently released version 10.2.5 of its OS X client and server operating systems, the Java 1.4.1 run-time and development platforms, and a major update to its Safari Web browser. Each of the OS X updates is substantial, exceeding the scope of Microsoft's Service Packs because the OS X updates include fixes and enhancements for Apple's large collection of standard applications and services. The same OS X automatic update mechanism (which never installs anything without your explicit consent) pulls in upgrades for optional Apple software you have installed.

Java 1.4.1 took a long time to deliver, fostering the opinion that Apple no longer views client-side Java as a priority. Some readers wrote me to complain that bugs make the new Java release unstable. If these things are true, it's a real loss. There is no environment that showcases desktop Java as well as the Mac; Linux and Windows don't come close. IBM's Eclipse Java development environment has a new native OS X edition (Version 2.1) that works beautifully. Borland's JBuilder 8 will install on OS X with Java 1.4.1, using tweaks detailed on the Borland community forum.

Dismissed by some as an experimental thumb-of-the-nose to Microsoft, the Safari Web browser is picking up features and improving site compatibility at an unusually rapid pace. There are plenty of user-targeted changes such as tabbed browsing. The excitement for me is watching the underlying technologies, dubbed WebCore, take shape. WebCore will expose Safari's lightning-quick, standards-savvy dynamic HTML renderer and a fast, compact JavaScript interpreter to OS X developers. The complete prerelease WebCore source code is always downloadable from Apple's Darwin site.

All of the announced additions to Apple's client and server product line are now shipping. I've been abusing the 12-inch PowerBook long enough to share my opinions. The 17-inch PowerBook and second-generation XServe are more recent arrivals that I'll discuss in future columns as I integrate them and dig out the relevant innovations.