MAC OS-X: The Greatest Operating System Ever?

I dont know...whether it is the superb interface, or the next-gen technology behind it; The constant innovation, or the rapid imitation of its features among other competitors, the user experience, or the very discovery of what defines user experience...

Here another justification to just that..enjoy.

A recent paper on "Secretly Monopolizing the CPU Without Superuser Privileges." demonstrated how normal non-administrative programs could steal more clock cycles from the CPU than the scheduler normally allocates.

The researchers presented a proof-of-concept program that allows a specified task to "cheat" and consume more CPU cycles than the operating system would normally permit. The program was designed for Unix-based systems, though it could theoretically be altered to affect any multitasking operating system(Probably also includes our old buggar M$ Windoze). The program in the paper, called "cheat," can run as a regular non-administrative user.

How is it done? Simple. A task could hide itself by arranging for its process to run immediately after the CPU interrupt "tick," and stop running right before the next tick.
By avoiding the ticks, the standard operating system would never notice the task is running. Without any modification to an operating system, all methods of monitoring tasks would not display the cheating task.

Seven different Operating Systems were tested and guess what? only Mac OS X was immune to the cheat attack!

The explanation was that it uses a slightly different scheduling algorithm for its timers. Isnt it analogous to saying that it uses a superior scheduling algorithms? (Atleast in respect of this particular anomaly under consideration :)).

The researchers say they doubt cheat-like attacks will become common because while they could be used to avoid detection, using most of a computers CPU would noticeably slow the computer and raise suspicion. However, programs could be written to cheat a little bit, and would be extremely difficult to detect and remove. The researchers say it is possible to protect the operating system against cheat attacks, but performance suffers as a result.

So say it. Mac rules. End of story.

Fedora 7 - comments of a spectator

Fedora 7 helps to convince me that the time when the major GNU/Linux distributions were distinctive is rapidly passing. These days, innovation seems centered on the desktop or the individual program. Major distributions have become so mature that their role is mostly integration, and they are starting to look increasingly the same.

Not long ago, Fedora was known for such firsts as implementing a philosophically free Java that allowed users to take full advantage of OpenOffice.org's features, and adding SELinux for enhanced security. Now, Fedora 7 is simply a well-rounded distribution designed for beginners, and its technical innovations are mostly minor.

Not that innovation isn't happening behind the scenes. At the release management level, Fedora 7 is the first release to merge the Fedora Core and Fedora Extras package repositories under one set of packaging policies (which explains the change of name from "Fedora Core" to plain "Fedora"). Moreover, according to Fedora chair Max Spevack, Fedora 7 is the first release in which all the software used is released under a free license, and all decision-making is made in public. In addition, Fedora 7 is the first release to benefit from the fully organized testing sub-project that was established last year under Will Woods.

However, little of these changes are observable to the average user at the desktop. If Test 4, the release candidate used in this review is any indication, what Fedora offers from a user's perspective is a mature product at every stage, from installation to the desktop through to software installation and security. Rather than being radically new, much of Fedora 7 is a legacy of features -- many polished, a few flawed -- that has been slowly built up during successive releases.