Mac OS X - page 9

Apple’s decided not to bundle OS X with Flash anymore, and could this chart make the reasons for that any clearer? 42% of the security updates in Mac OS X 10.6.5 were dedicated to fixing problems with Flash. Add in the fact that on the new MacBook Air, merely stripping Flash from the default OS X install adds two hours to the battery life, and the message is clear: Flash is a product of garish incompetence and staggering ineptitude, and the quicker it dies, the better.

The latest update to Snow Leopard — Mac OS X 10.6.5 — hasn’t even shot down the Software Update pipeline to users yet as a beefy download, but that’s not stopping Cupertino from seeding early builds of 10.6.6 to developers.

Yesterday I installed Adobe’s new preview of Flash 10.1 on a couple of my Macs, and even though Steve Jobs has just dinged his old partners for being slow to release good Mac software, this release rocks.

Here’s why you need to install it on your Mac right now.

Photo by MrHappy via flickr

For years, one of the more compelling arguments in the debate between PC and Mac users held that Macs are more secure. With hackers worldwide dreaming up viruses and Trojan horse programs designed to crash hard drives and compromise personal data, Microsoft and security software manufacturers struggled to keep PC users safe by constantly releasing software updates and security patches for Windows operating systems.

Mac users surfed happily along the Internet’s boundless realms, content in the knowledge that Apple’s tiny OS market share was little incentive for hackers and malicious social engineers. As the universe of Mac users continues to grow, however, that sense of security may begin to prove false.