“I spent some time over at Apple yesterday taking a closer look of their new OS known as Tiger or Mac OS 10.4 I had seen it at MacWorld in January and was pretty impressed with the demo then, but seeing it up close and personal yesterday made it clear to me that Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft when it comes to developing PC operating systems,” Tim Bajarin writes for Technology Pundits. “There are a lot of new features in Tiger, including a much more powerful Safari Browser, a much better email client and something called the Automator, which is a simplified scripting system that quickly and easily can automate repetitive tasks. But, its real value is in three key components that really sets it apart from any OS on the market today.”
Bajarin writes, “The first new feature is their new desktop search engine called Spotlight… The second new feature worth pointing out is something called Dashboard. This is a new UI navigation tool that lets a user activate what Apple calls Widgets. Widgets are little programs that are mostly utilitarian in purpose, such as clocks, calculators, metric and currency converters, flight trackers, dictionary, etc. These little tools are extremely helpful and since they can be created in HTML, anyone who knows how to create a Web page could create additional Widgets of their own. This is the area where third party developers could be very creative and deliver all types of Widgets to sell to Mac users over time… The third feature I really like is their newest version of iChat. It now supports up to 10 people in audio conferences and up to four people in video conference mode. More importantly, the way they allow a user to see the other video conference participants are really innovative. It literally allows you to view the others in a 3D like environment where each person in the conference is framed as if they were sitting right in front of you at three different angles. And, you can even see their shadows on the virtual conference table in front of them, creating the illusion of all four people in the conference sitting together at a table having a chat. This alone is worth the price of the new OS.”
“Apple has created a really powerful new OS that will clearly make the Mac faithful happy and will also help them attract more new users to the Mac platform,” Bajarin concludes.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Apple to ship Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ on Friday, April 29; pre-orders start today – April 12, 2005
Apple Announces Mac OS X Server ‘Tiger’ to ship Friday, April 29 with 64-bit application support – April 12, 2005
Analysts: Apple’s new Tiger operating system could really impact Mac sales – April 12, 2005
Piper Jaffray raises Apple estimates on Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ release news – April 12, 2005
I’ve been sending links of Tigers to my PC using friends about Tiger and links to the Mac mini, and all of them are intrigues. Most are especially impressed with Tiger’s features.
I pre-ordered today. The wait is killing me!
I used the educational discount and “paid” for mine. :-p
Educational discounts are helpful for teachers on a tough salary.
For those of you “non- teachers or students” who use it to cheat a few a bucks out of Apple, shame on you. It’s going to be criminals like you that spoil it for the rest of the honest educational system workers.
I hope Apple legal goes after you with a vengeance.
Macs Suck, PC’s Rule!
“Macs Suck, PC’s Rule!”
You have that backwards.
“Macs suck, PCs rule”
No no no…thats your mama ….tryin to earn the rent.
Apple fscking rocks.
Fred, you are a horse’s ass. And skip the “I’m poor so I steal defense.”
MDN: that must be the most “stating the obvious” headline ever. But would someone (especially one of these “Macs Suck, PC’s Rule!” trolls) explain to me how Microsoft, with all their money and resources and huge market share, are totally unable to produce a half-way decent piece of OS progamming in a timely manner, while a small company in Palo Alto seems to be able to do so consistently.
Is it a case of “if you want to go there, you shouldn’t start from here” reliance on DOS/Windows, or is it because they don’t have the balls to say (as Apple have twice, with the PowerPC and with OSX) “the past is past, start anew”? Or is it just because they’re incompetent?
Perfusionista-
Their market share is too big to just tell everyone all the thousands you’ve spent on software and hardware is now worthless. We’ve suddenly decided to change platforms and you’re going to pay to come along.
That’s why the mini isn’t as good an offer as most people think for switchers. Sure if you’re Mac already, adding a mini to the house or office is just $499. But if you now have to buy The Adobe suite ($1200) and Quark ($899) Macromedia MX ($799) that mini just cost me $4,000. It’s great that all the files are cross platform, but you still have to pay for the Mac version of the programs.
MW- serious. As in that mini costs a switcher serious dollars.
Jerry T —
You should try actually calling those comapnies — Adobe, Quark, Macromedia, etc. — and inquiring about cross-platform upgrade pricing. Almost every company will do this — to the best of my knowledge. I know that Intuit certainly did it with Quickbooks for me. I believe Adobe also has such a policy.
Those “switching” costs that you mentioned then become a whole lot more reasonable.
Jerry T —
If you are using Adobe Suite, Quark, and Macromedia MX, then the Mac mini is not what you should even be considering. You should really be looking at a PowerMac. Those are professional apps and should be used with a professional system. The Mac mini is fine for most users but I don’t think it should be considered if you want to run those apps.
Its obvious that you are interested in a Mac otherwise why would you even be on this site? Mac-envy? Come on, take the plunge. You won’t regret it.
My question Jerry, is why are you buying both the Adobe suite AND the Macromedia suite right out of the gate? And for that matter Quark on top of it? Im not saying they are all not useful, God knows I have used them all, but man pick a set and stay with it especially if your getting a new system too. InDesign CS can open most Quark 5 and previous files, as well as Pagemaker doc. and GoLive can definately fill Dreamweavers shoes, the only thing you may need is Flash. but if you already have these programs, get a cross-platform upgrade and save yourself $3000, and spend it on a PowerMac or PowerBook.
I cannot wait till I can get my firm to upgrade me to a G5 (now with TIGER!
All-
Thanks for the response. I know the mini isn’t right for me. I need the Power Mac. I used to be Mac, my last one was an 8500. But a few years (1999) back several of my clients required me to be PC. So I’ve been stuck ever since. Now I’ve got so much software to replace that it almost isn’t cost effective to switch back. Even with the cross-grades plus the type libraries etc. on top of the $3000 Power Mac it makes it very hard and expensive to just switch on a whim. And despite what many of you say, Windows isn’t that bad. It’s ugly as hell though. Who came up with that Fisher Price look?
Jeff-
Of course I have Mac envy. Who wouldn’t?
Buffy-
Unfortunately I have clients that require me to use the different programs. Though I am seeing more of a consolidation onto the Adobe suite as of late. Plus I’m a long time Freehand user. I prefer it to Illustrator. Mostly out of habit though.
Jerry T – hehe, charge your clients accordingly. Cross grading is definitely the way to go – but why won’t the type libraries migrate over?
The Fisher Price look of Windows XP looks great. C’mon – it had Apple working hard to compete. Just look at the metal interface. Of course, you can turn XP’s kiddy look off and go back to a more “classic” windows look (eg. circa 2000); which also takes less screen real-estate and is faster too (ask anyone running XP in VPC – turning off certain interface “nicities” speeds things up quite a bit.)
<Hagrid>Shouldn’ta said that.</Hagrid>
Tim Bajarin mentions some of the great new pieces of Mac OS X that come with Tiger. But he forgot to mention the one that blows Microshit’s offerings away – security!
Whoa! Tim, baby. I remember you from the old days. We’re talkin’ Computer Chronicles, here. You remember, don’t you? Doom. As in Apple is doomed. Gloom. As in Apple will go away soon.
Thanks for the insightful analysis, though.
perfusionista:
Two genuinely small points. The company in question is in Cupertino, and it is not small. Forbes reckons it is the 442 biggest company in the world. MS is 52 iirc. However, you basic point is well taken. There is not question that Microsoft is beleaguered.
Mike
notatotalsucker-
Thankfully I use an OSX visual style. It’s hard to tell I’m not working on a Mac. I mean visually of course. A power user on either platform would know in a second.
Oddly I had an IT guy come by to iron out an email issue. He said “what”? I can’t help you; I don’t know anything about this Apple stuff. I said calm down, it’s Windows. Gee, your best friend puts on a new sweater and you no longer recognize him! So Black Adderish.
On the font issue, I have collected tons of typefaces over the years and I know the old ones aren’t cross platform. The newer OpenType fonts are supposed to be, I just haven’t put any on a Mac. Anyone know if this is seamless?
Jerry T:
WHAT IS THE POINT OF USING AN ‘OS X’ STYLE INTERFACE ON A WINDOWS PC?
The gui for OS X is optimised for OS X – using this on windows is plain crazy as the main difference is how thw gui interacts with the system.
If you wanna use OS X buy a mac – there is no point using an ‘OS X style interface on windows.
Besides – OS X is so advanced from XP there is no comparison!
Jerry T – there used to be a little shareware program that converted fonts from Mac to PC and vica versa. Can’t recall its name now, but I remember using it for a project where a supplier needed a PC copy of a Mac-only font… and it worked beautifully. Take a Google, I’m sure it must be still around.
Jerry T —
If you are using Adobe Suite, Quark, and Macromedia MX, then the Mac mini is not what you should even be considering. You should really be looking at a PowerMac. Those are professional apps and should be used with a professional system. The Mac mini is fine for most users but I don’t think it should be considered if you want to run those apps.
On the contrary, we use G4 450MH Macs at work with 1Gig RAM for working in production InDesign Files, Photoshop colour retouching for commercial fashion catalogues/prepress. Admittedly they are not the fastest machines available but they are certainly capable of completeing the work. That would make the Mac mini at 1.42GH and say 1GB RAM a pretty capable option.
For those of you wanting to convert fonts from PC to Mac and or Visa versa you could try Fontographer it is not free but it is a commercially suited app.
I promise OSX is much more than a theme than you ever dreamed of.
Ha, that is so funny, an OSX look. Is that what PC users thing Mac users are so loyal to?
The Macmini isn’t for running apps like Quark? It’s a G4 processor for Christ’s sake. Our cheap company won’t upgrade us and we’re doing an entire newsaper on a G3 Blue and White and a PowerMac 7200. The G4 processor is fine for running Quark…
Jerry – i know what you mean about Freehand vs Illustrator. Im 100% Illustrator and I feel totally uncomfortable with Freehand,and usually the opposite is true.
Switching out of the gate can be damn near impossible. What you may want to do if you really want to switch eventually is get a KVM and a used PowerMac (G4 or G5 will do) and slowly build from there. Wait a extra year from your normal software upgrade cycle, then upgrade the most critical apps (Macromedia suite and just Photoshop) and keep on the lookout for alternatives for PC only stuff.
I recently built a website in GoLive on my mac for a client who wanted to be able to use it in Dreamweaver on a PC. So I opened it in Dreamweaver on my Mac and resaved it thinking it would be fine (as it looked fine in Dreamweaver on my Mac) Turns out the Mac to PC difference was huge, his whole site was screwy, even though it was fine in his browsers. Pain in the Ass, teach me not to have stuff checked on an actually PC first
Dude I use the “OSX” look on my main rig too… not because I want to impersonate OSX but just because I like the theme… so wtf do you have a problem with that or something?
Damn you people really need a life. Bitchin at somebody just cause they like to change the look of their platform.
Jerks
All-
Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful. Except SolarFlare.
SolarFlare-
And everyone else that complains about me using a theme, of course I know OSX is more than just pretty colors. What do you think I’m in here seeking advice for? As I stated, I’m a long time Mac user, up to OS 9. I’ve been forced to work in the PC world due to clients. I’m too busy and it’s too expensive to support two platforms. I’ve been in that world for a while so I have thousands of dollars invested in software. That makes it difficult to just switch. But, if you want to put your money where your mouth is and pick me up a Power Mac, I’ll be happy to meet you at any Apple store. Nation wide.
If not, think of it like this. I use the theme kind of like therapy, it doesn’t solve my problems but it gets me through the day. After all, if I had to look at that stupid Fisher Price GUI all day life wouldn’t be nearly as good. I’ll switch as soon as I can, but thanks for trying to run off potential switchers solarflare, Apple needs more people like you.