New and Noteworthy: Mac OS X Security: Build quality not user quantity; Microsoft RIP?; more

Mac OS X Security: Build quality not user quantity an InfoWorld column attempts to counteract the perception that Mac OS X's apparent invulnerability to serious security issues is due to factors other than an inherently secure structure. "If an OS is built on shaky ground, everything layered on top will suffer. This is the position that Microsoft is in now. Apple was in this very position at the end of the last century. They decided to start over, providing a clear upgrade path and supporting legacy applications on the new platform. OS X was developed from BSD and NeXT, built on a foundation that dates back twenty years or more, with the OS base code freely available for download, yet there have been no significant security vulnerabilities in OS X. This isn't due to market share, this isn't due to lack of attention, this is due to proper coding and development." More.

Microsoft RIP? Computerworld culls reaction to a blog posting that asked "Is Microsoft dead?" Harry McCracken writes "Graham does neatly sum up some of the reasons why the Behemoth of Redmond is no longer the scary, competition-crushing monster it was for a couple of decades--and why it's struggling to remain relevant ... most of his argument boils down to one overarching point: Desktop applications are no longer the center of the computing universe, and Microsoft is barely even on the map as a developer of Web-based apps." More.

100 million iPods sold Apple has announced that the 100 millionth iPod has been sold. An Apple statement reads "The first iPod was sold five and a half years ago, in November 2001, and since then Apple has introduced more than 10 new iPod models, including five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle. Along with iTunes and the iTunes online music store, the iPod has transformed how tens of millions of music lovers acquire, manage and listen to their music." More.

Previously on MacFixIt:

• "Complete my Album" bugs (#2): iTunes recommending already purchased albums
• Apple TV (#7): All content re-synchronized when minor changes made; Photos only partially displayed; more
• Odds and Ends: Advertisements in paid iTunes content; Apple Knowledge Base updates

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