As usual, this WWDC is generating a minor controversy (for Apple newbies, the WWDC is the World Wide Developers Conference where Apple shares some love with developers and the media).

Apple announced that it has opened its kernel source for the OS X Intel build to developers. For those not in the know, the kernel is the core of most operating systems like OS X, Windows, Linux, or Unix; the kernel "sits in the middle" and manages the back-and-forth between hardware (especially the CPU), software, and the system's resources; in short, the kernel is very, very important.

The source that Apple is opening up to developers is not the source of the entire OS X. The source is only for the kernel of Mac OS X 10.4.7, but this is still big news for developers. Why? Because looking at the kernel for the Intel version of the OS X will allow software developers to make more stable programs for the OS X Intel version. The kernel source for the OS X for the PowerPC was made available a while back, but the source for the Intel version wasn't made available (even though Apple started switching to Intel processors after the transition to Intel was announced last June, 2005).

What's the controversy? Well, it's only a minor one. We just notice that this news reopened the debate in various forums between those who like open source and those who fear that this will lead to a whole slew of crappy software that will just end up crashing the OS X. And since the "crash-proof-nessity" of the OS X is a major selling point against Windows, the anti-Windows faction fears that this will make the OS X into "another Windows." In my humble opinion, while this may be a valid concern, history has shown the opposite to be true: everyone ends up happy with the resulting software, software sales increase (or at least remain stable), and people become happier with all the alternatives and software that become available for the OS (of course, that's just my opinion of the general nature of things; please don't hunt me down if you disagree, ha ha, but feel free to flame me, ho ho).

There's more big news: Apple announced the next major OS X release: Leopard, scheduled for 2007. It looks like Apple is looking forward to how opening the open source will boost development. However, there's not much more we can say about the Leopard because Steve Jobs is keeping all the important details secret.

And a bit more open source news: Apple has launched Mac OS Forge, a website that should allow Apple developers to work more closely together. You can find the kernel sources there. In fact, Apple is so behind this idea that they even included the instructions on how to build from the kernel sources. And the really geeky Apple fans will be glad to know that Apple is releasing the sources for iCal Server, Bonjour, and Launchd.

Let's see how it all works out! Check back for us for more details!