There is a subtle, yet upsetting murmur echoing through the IT industry. Believe it or not, its XServe-centric. Apple's sleek new rack unit has many hardened systems administrators reevaluating the Mac as a serious contender in the technology delivery arena.

As flakes from the first snow of the year drift past my window, I can't help but think of the upcoming holiday season. For all of you who have a Mac fan (or fanatic) on your shopping list, here is the lowdown on the top sixteen items of the season - that won't break the bank!

Looking back over the past year, much has happened in the Mac World. We've seen the G4 Cube come and go, Apple totally revamp their portable line, new G4s with unimaginable power, and a cute little shiny MP3 player called the iPod.

With many diehard Mac fanatics now switching to OS X as their full-time primary operating system, many are also switching their hardware. If you have been thinking about upgrading, or buying new, and plan to use OS X, you must read this article!

This is an exciting first for many Mac users… The chance to actually install and work face-to-face with a real UNIX operating system and command line. You may think this is complicated, but you’re actually adding industrial strength to your Mac with only a few simple clicks!

With the passing of the Summer MacWorld keynote, Steve Jobs tantalized us by demonstrating the new mouth-watering features added to the much-anticipated Mac OS X.1 update. If you missed the keynote address, get the lowdown here.

Welcome to Moof'in! This is the first true article of the series. Last week I wrote a teaser/informative article as an intro to get everyone excited about this new column. This week we are getting right to work.

This article will explain a little of the history behind Darwin and how Apple got into licensing Open Source software. For those of you who can't wait any longer to start pounding commands into Darwin, I also included some goodies to start playing with at the end of this article.

Welcome to Moof'in! In this new column, Sam Burrish will guide Macs users through Darwin, Mac OS X's powerful core, and help make sense of the exciting possibilities that come along with the new heavy weight OS.