Mac OS X Server Embraces Open Source With Launch of Darwin
Apple Becomes First Mainstream OS Company to Make its System Software
Available to Open Source Community
CUPERTINO, California-March 16, 1999-Apple Computer, Inc. today
announced the launch of Darwin-the Open Source release of the Mac OS
X Server operating system foundation. Mac OS X Server is the
Company’s new server operating system which combines the proven
strength of UNIX with the simplicity of Macintosh. Darwin will be
available free to developers in the next few weeks at
(www.apple.com/darwin). With this announcement, Apple becomes the
first mainstream operating system provider to release its source code
to the public and base its system software strategy on Open Source
technologies.
“The Open Source movement is revolutionizing the way operating
systems evolve and Apple is leading the industry by becoming the
first major OS provider to make it’s core operating system available
to Open Source developers,” said Avie Tevanian, Apple’s senior vice
president of Software Engineering. “We look forward to working with
the Open Source community to enhance the feature set, performance and
quality of our Mac OS X products.”
The first release of Darwin consists of the foundation layer of Mac
OS X Server, including enhancements to the Mach 2.5 microkernel and
BSD 4.4 operating system, as well as core Apple technologies like
AppleTalk, HFS+ file system and the NetInfo distributed database.
At www.apple.com/darwin, developers will be able to download the
latest Darwin updates from Apple on a regular basis. Apple will also
promote the web site as a forum for guiding and encouraging Darwin
development efforts from the Open Source community.
“Apple has a proud tradition of innovating in ways that shake up the
computer industry. They’ve done it again with this announcement,”
said Eric Raymond, president, The Open Source Initiative. “The Open
Source Initiative hopes that Apple’s decision to ‘open source’ its
core OS code will point the way for other computer and systems
manufacturers to ‘open source’ their operating systems.”
“This source code license allows Apple and their customers to benefit
from the inventive energy and enthusiasm of a huge community of
programmers, many of whom are found in universities,” said Jos-Marie
Griffiths, University of Michigan’s chief information officer.
“Apple’s intention to make sure any improvements are legitimized and
redistributed has the potential to change the way the whole industry
views support for Open Source.”
Today, Apple also announced the availability and new low pricing for
the customer version of Mac OS X Server. Customers can order Mac OS X
Server from Apple Authorized Resellers and The Apple Store
(www.apple.com) for U.S. $499-with an unlimited client license. Mac
OS X Server is also available pre-configured on a Macintosh Server G3
for U.S. $4,999. The new Macintosh Server G3 with Mac OS X Server
software is the fastest platform for running Apache for under
$5000-outperforming Linux, Solaris and Windows NT Server.*
Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the
1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the
1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original
mission to bring the best personal computing products and support to
students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers,
businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
*Based on WebBench benchmark testing performed by ZD Labs on a Dell
PowerEdge 2300 Pentium II 450 MHz running Red Hat Linux, and a Sun
Microsystems Enterprise Ultra 10S Server 333 MHz running Solaris; and
NetBench benchmark testing performed by Apple on a Dell PowerEdge
2300 Pentium II 450 MHz running Windows NT Server, and a 400 MHz
Macintosh Server G3 running Mac OS X Server.