“Tiger includes updates that are at least twice as significant as any single past update. Mac OS X is now getting to the point where significant improvements require a larger time investment. As far as the core OS is concerned, most of the low-hanging fruit has been harvested. Now it’s time for Apple to get down to the real work of improving Mac OS X,” John Siracusa writes for Ars Technica.
“Tiger also represents a milestone in Mac OS X’s development process. Apple has promised developers that there will be ‘no API disruption for the foreseeable future.’ Starting with Tiger, Apple will add new APIs to Mac OS X, but will not change any existing APIs in an incompatible way. This has not been the case during the first four years of Mac OS X’s development, and Mac developers have often had to scramble to keep their applications running after each new major release,” Siracusa writes.
“Despite its NeXTSTEP roots, Mac OS X is still a very a young operating system. Most of the technologies that make it interesting and unique are actually brand new: Quartz, Core Audio, IOKit, Core Foundation. The hold-overs from NeXT and classic Mac OS have also evolved substantially: QuickTime, Carbon, Cocoa,” Siracusa writes.
“It’s tempting to say that Tiger marks childhood’s end for Mac OS X, but I think that goes too far. A more accurate analogy is that Mac OS X versions 10.0 through 10.3 represent ‘the fourth trimester’ for Apple’s new baby—a phrase used to describe the first three months of human life, during which the baby becomes accustomed to life outside the womb. As any new parent knows (yes, I am one of them), this is not an easy time of life, for the baby or for the parents,” Siracusa writes. “It’s been a rough journey, but we’ve made it through intact: Apple, Mac OS X, and Mac users everywhere. Tiger has arrived. Let’s see what this baby can do.”
Full article, a very highly recommended read, here.
Advertisement: Pre-order Mac OS X Tiger today for delivery on April 29th and get access to an exclusive online seminar. Free shipping. Just $129.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
CNET: ‘If you’re tired of Microsoft’s promises, Mac OS X Tiger may be your best incentive to switch’ – April 28, 2005
BusinessWeek: ‘Tiger bolsters Mac OS X’s edge as the best personal-computer operating system around’ – April 28, 2005
Associated Press: Mac OS X Tiger ‘provides another excellent incentive to switch from Windows’ – April 28, 2005
Mossberg: Apple’s Tiger ‘the best, most advanced personal computer operating system on the market’ – April 28, 2005
InformationWeek columnist: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘a compelling upgrade’ – April 28, 2005
NY Times: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger is the most secure, stable and satisfying OS on earth – April 28, 2005
Wired News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘full of welcome surprises’ – April 27, 2005
Windows czar Allchin says Apple copying Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn – April 27, 2005
Windows is weak, Longhorn will be cosmetic upgrade; Apple can deliver killer blow to Microsoft – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: ‘Longhorn is in complete disarray and in danger of collapsing under its own weight’ – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn ‘has the makings of a train wreck’ – April 26, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn demos ‘unimpressive, fall short of graphical excellence found today in Mac OS X’ – April 26, 2005
Microsoft employees leaving due to (and blogging about) malaise smothering company – April 25, 2005
“Let’s see what this ‘baby’ can do.” -That’s great writing.
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Frist. Great article.
Ars is ‘da Bomb. No fanboy hype, just good stuff/
smokin….. – T 19 hours and counting:
http://homepage.mac.com/master_cylinder1/iMovieTheater32.html
I thought Ars did an awesome job of analyzing Tiger in much detail. They’ve tracked OS X’s history way back to the beta. Ars really pointed out the substance of Tiger, and even mentioned a Finder alternative. Well-informed PC users who’ve read the article have got respect what Tiger brings to the table. M$ lovers may poo-poo Tiger outwardly, but I suspect they’re really worried–with good reason. Overall, the article’s a great read.
T – 17.5 … and counting. Configure LOS, you’re looking good for an over the hill, we’ll see you in Madrid.
Turkey, Texas, master cylinder.
As usual, John has written a very well balanced, detailed and unbiased review. It’s a long read but worth a look.
Well, most babies I know have trouble with solid foods, vomit occasionally, and have no bowel control. Let’s hope Tiger is better than that.
hehe.. he really reams apple for their smart folder integration.. it’s great, but he gets really picky about the default settings..
basically, apple wanted people to know that
a)you can search more than just file name, you can search conditions
b)you can search multiple conditions, like in iTunes Smart PLaylists
So what did they do? Everytime you open a new window, two conditions are on by default, so you have to get rid of them if you (duh, likely) don’t want them..
He says this is incredibly annoying..
Also, there’s a weird thing where, Apple is keeping the ‘old-school’ non-brushed metal windows around (the top right switch button) but when you click it, it changes the conditions of a new search.. it has its own default settings.. it’s all, just a little annoying..
He also reams Apple for some of the things they’ve done with Mail..
first, the look. Like it? Hate it? He hated it.. I thought it looked cool, but.. totally inconsistent.. why the facelift?? Secondly, functionality-wise, it’s awesome, but some of the options are just weird.. he talks about customizing the toolbars.. and how apple got into a whole mess by blobbing some buttons together as an option.. you can imagine what happened.. suddenly your toolbar selection is multiplied by 4!! you have all these combinations of grouped and ungrouped buttons.. waaaay too many.. something the original Mac team would have puked at…
Overall… awesome.. a few quirks Apple hopefully isn’t happy with.. if you think they don’t notice a few quirks.. damnit… email Apple, okay?! They need your feedback..
T + 3 hours
greetings from my newly installed copy of tiger!
ahhh.. sometimes it’s good to live on this end of the international date line
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Its been 2 hours since returning from my Apple store here in Sydney. From what what I’ve seen so far, Tiger is awesome.
Stunning piece of journalism , I was deeply impressed.
The man is a master.
WOW! Okay that review was massive, and I hear the PDF version is over 100 pages long. I was really getting into the metadata detail, before I realized it was seven sections long. Not that that’s bad, I just wasn’t planning to spend more than an hour reading the review. I skipped ahead after 3 sections, and opted back in on Core Data. But even still, 2 thumbs up. I like reviews that actually provide detailed information, and this one was on par to a KernelThread, http://www.kernelthread.com/ in fact, the detail on metadata and spotlight could be its on separate article.