Apple has NOT closed the Intel-based Darwin Kernel
Published May 22nd, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, PC, Software, Technology
It has been reported that Apple is closing down the Intel version of the Darwin Kernel so that hackers won’t have such an easy job to make OS X work on normal Windows boxes. Ernest Prabhakar, Apple’s Open Source and Open Standards product manager, has stated in the Fed-Talk mailing that they have not closed down the Darwin kernel, they just haven’t released it yet. People were speculating that because the PowerPC version of Darwin was released, and the Intel version hasn’t, that Apple won’t be distributing it anymore. But people got wind of this story and the didn’t mention the fact that it was, and still is, a rumour!
This is a sigh of relief for the hardcore geeks that love to tweak the kernel and re-compile it for their benefits. It is also good for OS X in general, because it raises its status above Linux as the kernel is open-source and people can fiddle with it, but the OS is a lot better in its design and functionality (though this is debated). If the kernel was closed down, then it would only be above Windows, which is not open source in any way.
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