In each copy of macOS that has shipped since 2018, Apple has included the unique Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto, and no-one appears to know why.
The baffling discovery (or rediscovery – see under) was lately made by developer and waxy.org author Andy Baio, who stumbled upon the PDF doc whereas attempting to repair an issue along with his printer.
Anybody with a Mac working macOS Mojave or later can see the PDF for themselves by typing the next command into Terminal:
open /System/Library/Picture Seize/Units/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Sources/simpledoc.pdf
When you’re working macOS 10.14 or later, the 184 KB Bitcoin PDF ought to instantly open in Preview.
The doc will also be situated through Finder: Navigate to Macintosh HD -> System -> Library -> Picture Seize -> Units, then open the Contents -> Sources folder. The whitepaper titled “simpledoc.pdf” must be in there.
Baio discovered that within the macOS Picture Seize utility, the Bitcoin whitepaper is used as a pattern doc for a tool known as “Digital Scanner II,” which can or could not energy Apple’s Import from iPhone function, and is both hidden or not put in for everybody by default.
Baio later found that he wasn’t the primary particular person to seek out the Bitcoin doc or “Digital Scanner II.” An Apple Group put up from 2021 queries its existence in macOS, along with a photograph taken of an indication at San Francisco Bay’s Treasure Island, after designer Joshua Dickens unearthed them in 2020.
It isn’t recognized why Apple would select as a pattern doc Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper. There was widespread hypothesis concerning the id of the presumed pseudonymous Bitcoin developer, which is simply doubtless so as to add to the intrigue. What “Digital Scanner II” refers to additionally stays unclear.
In accordance with a supply who spoke to Baio, somebody filed the Bitcoin paper with Apple as a difficulty practically a yr in the past, and assigned it to the identical engineer who put the PDF there within the first place, however that particular person hasn’t taken motion or commented on the difficulty since.
The thriller continues.
