When Mac OS X was first released eight years ago, a number of smart programmers found simple ways to customize the interface and behavior of Apple’s Unix-based OS. What made these methods all the more intriguing is that all they were doing was putting pretty faces on features that already existed. Only, for reason’s known only to Apple, they were simply not enabled within the graphical interface.

Consider, for example, the position of the Dock. Did you know it can be placed at the top of the screen? What sort of legerdemain do you have to use to accomplish that miracle? Well, the capability is already present, available in Mac OS X’s command line, the underbelly of the system. Such applications as TinkerTool allow you to easily access that and dozens of other features with simple checkboxes.

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After reading a story from a certain Mac commentator who has encountered an endless odyssey migrating to Mac OS X, I stopped and wondered. If Charles Moore reports a far more pleasant experience, I should think most everyone out there will or should have good things to say about Leopard.

However, that’s not the case. A few complainers are apparently hanging out over at MacFixIt, reporting absolutely bizarre troubles with everything Apple builds. Alas, this venerable Mac troubleshooting site, originally founded by the estimable Ted Landau years ago, is rapidly ditching responsibility, and spending more time regurgitating content rather than investigating these reports.

You see, with thousands and thousands of possible Mac configurations out there, someone, somewhere, is going to have a problem with just about anything. Some of that may indeed be blamed on Apple. There will always be Knowledge Base documents addressing known issues and workarounds — and often the promise of a future update that will fix a particular problem.

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As EMI prepares to release Paul McCartney’s voluminous repertoire of solo albums online (his newest album is already available for pre-order), you have a strong feeling that a certain band with which he was once associated will come shortly thereafter.

Now I’m not going to get into the silly argument about whether you are going to avoid buying the expected DRM-free versions because they sell for 30 cents extra, and that you don’t care about the higher quality tracks. One online commentator has already come up with that dose of silliness, and it’s not worth a further response.

What I wonder, however, is how many times the music industry expects you to buy the same product before you decide that enough is enough. Yes, I’m talking about the digital versions of the Fab Four’s music library.

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Let’s make it simple: I have already made public predictions on the subject, here, on my radio show and on Craig Crossman’s syndicated broadcast, Computer America. In each case I said something that I regard as obvious, that Apple will be announcing a professional desktop computer, known as the Mac Pro, during the WWDC in August.

This doesn’t require any of the abilities, real or imagined, that I talk about on the paranormal radio show I host with my friend, David Biedny. Instead, it involves a simple reading of Intel’s processor roadmap. According to current plans, Intel will be releasing its newest desktop processor family, code-named Conroe, or Core 2 Duo, in late July. Right now, it’s reasonable to assume that Apple is already testing prototype versions, and may, in fact, be in the final stages of deciding the ultimate design of the new desktop.

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