“Tiger, the latest version of Apple Computer’s Mac OS X operating system, debuts Friday. This is hardly news to the Mac faithful, who’ve been alerted through daily e-mail reminders and a running countdown on Apple’s Web site to the day Tiger is ‘unleashed,'” Dawn C. Chmielewski writes for The Mercury News. “The folks in Redmond are bracing as well. Tiger, Apple’s fifth major operating system upgrade in four years, keeps the competitive pressure on Microsoft, which is at least a year away from introducing the successor to Windows XP, dubbed ‘Longhorn.’
MacDailyNews Note: Microsoft themselves say “late 2006” for Longhorn. That’s really more like “at least 18 months away.” Is Chmielewski attempting to minimize the wait? We’re not accusing, just wondering. What do you think? (Please see the article “Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed” from April 22, 2005 in the list of related articles below.)
Chmielewski continues, “It’s not that Tiger is about to eat Longhorn for lunch — after all, Microsoft Windows runs 94 percent of the world’s personal computers. Rather, Apple’s history of operating system innovations sets the standard for Microsoft to imitate or exceed.”
MacDailyNews Note: Oh, please. Microsoft may have had a few ideas here or there (Command-Tab for Mac OS X Panther users, for example), but when exactly did a Microsoft OS actually exceeded an OS that was available at the same time from Apple? Never. Not even close. We can even make a pretty compelling case for Apple’s Mac OS 9 over Windows XP today. And plenty of people today still choose that classic old Apple OS over the latest and “greatest” from Microsoft.
Chmielewski continues, “What makes Tiger innovative, rather than merely iterative, is that it breaks down the barriers between the self-contained computer and the Internet. It is the first operating system to incorporate and expand upon the intensive hard-drive search popularized by Google. It also fetches the kind of up-to-the-minute stock, weather and flight information typically found on Web sites like Yahoo. Apple even improved on RSS news and blog feeds and integrates them into its Safari Web browser… Tiger supports the latest high-definition video compression technology, H.264, which yields bright, vivid images from even more compact files. The video trailer we watched for the upcoming ‘Fantastic Four’ movie was crisper than that found in any theater.”
“Benjamin Reitzes, an analyst with UBS Investment Research in New York, predicts the appeal of these new features will be popular with the 14 million Mac aficionados who already use Mac OS X. It might even persuade some of the 10 million Macintosh users who have yet to switch to open their wallets,” Chmielewski reports. “And that could be worth $1 billion in revenue to Apple this fiscal year, Reitzes estimates.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Our own SteveJack wrote the article, “If you aren’t running Mac OS X by now you really are one of the ‘crazy ones'” on September 27, 2002. If you aren’t using Mac OS X today in April, 2005, uhhh, well, let’s just say, “it’s time.” This Friday would be a perfect time to begin your move to Mac OS X with the release of Tiger! Now sit down in front of a mirror and repeat after us, “my old [insert peripheral here]’s Mac OS X driver will never come. It is time to stop clinging to my old [insert peripheral here]. It is time to join the majority of Mac users and move to Mac OS X. I can do this. I’m good enough. I’m strong enough. Etc., etc., etc.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
If you aren’t running Mac OS X by now you really are one of the ‘crazy ones’ – September 27, 2002
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Nearly every segment of the PC food chain needs Longhorn to succeed – April 22, 2005
Microsoft’s new mantra: ‘It Just Works’ ripped straight from Apple’s ‘Switch’ campaign – April 22, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft’s Longhorn: ‘They are shamelessly copying us’ – April 21, 2005
Apple shows off Mac OS Tiger in Microsoft’s backyard while Microsoft previews Windows XP ad push – April 19, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X reality vs. Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy – April 19, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – April 15, 2005
Analyst: ‘Microsoft’s Longhorn is going to have hard time upstaging Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’ – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple in ‘position to exploit Microsoft missteps, claim leadership’ with Mac OS X Tiger – April 13, 2005
Apple’s Schiller: Mac OS X Tiger ‘has created even more distance between us and Microsoft’ – April 13, 2005
Will Mac OS X Tiger add fuel to Apple’s recent momentum in the computer business? – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Analyst: Tiger proves ‘Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft in developing PC operating systems’ – 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
Apple’s Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ vs. Microsoft’s Windows ‘Longhorn’ – March 31, 2005
New Microsoft Longhorn chief was former Pepto-Bismol brand manager – March 18, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy vs. Apple’s Mac OS X reality – September 14, 2004
Is Microsoft’s stripped-down ‘Longhorn’ worth waiting for? – September 10, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Microsoft concerned that Longhorn’s look and feel will be copied if revealed too soon – August 25, 2003
Windows ‘Longhorn’ to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 – May 19, 2003