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Sweet Three

Xfile was released 2 March 2003, three years ago today. The only Unix file manager for OS X back then, it's still the only Unix file manager for OS X today three years later.


Xfile is the only Unix file manager for OS X. Which might seem strange, as OS X is purportedly 'Unix'. But it's still true. The other available file managers - most notably Apple's Finder - are anything but Unix and tell the user precious little about what's going on under the bonnet deep inside the system.

The graphical interface of Xfile is written in 100% pure Cocoa and kept compatible with all commonly used versions of OS X (10.2 onwards). The 'innards' of the program are however written in pure 'Unix'. This gives the application an incredible and unmatched speed.

Because it's a Unix file manager, Xfile gets at all the otherwise hidden settings in your file system. Xfile has been instrumental in helping people figure out how to rustle songs back from their iPods to their hard drives, in helping people deal with creator code and file type anomalies, and in helping people 'see' what's actually there on disk - something denied to the many.

While both GNOME and KDE have adequate general purpose file managers which can take care of system administration, Apple - the supposed leader of the pack - lag horribly behind. System administrators simply cannot accomplish their assigned tasks with the file management tool Apple give them.

They choose Xfile.

Still with an incredibly lean 39.7 KB executable and with support from its helper utilities the 'Xfile System', Xfile remains today the only way a serious user or professional can adequately take care of and protect OS X.

Happy birthday!

See Also
The Xfile System
Xfile for OS X: A Finder Killer Arrives
Really Super Get File Info
About the ACP
Yours Mine & Ours
Fork-U-2
Yours Mine & Ours II
iPod Therefore iPay
A Weird Bug
OS X Server
They're Already On Your Disk
The Immutables

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