Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Apple Computer’s next-generation operating system, is just about ready to wrap.
Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger” reaches final candidate stage
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Eugenia Loli
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Sweet. Millions can’t wait for Tiger, and I am one of them.
Great job Apple. Great job.
Before buying my Mac Mini…
Hopefully, I can get some kind of deal on Tiger..
Will it run on my iMac G3 400mhz 320mb ram?
I’ve heard that it will support any Mac with factory USB. Though don’t quote me on it, I have no links to back it up.
@Von Richten:
I had the WWDC Developer’s Release running on my B&W G3 350 with 256mb of RAM…
It wasn’t lightning quick, but it worked fine…
I’d think the release with less debug code has to work as well or better than the WWDC Version.
This isn’t a point release, look at spotlight. The tech is amazing.
What are version numbers anyway?
Look at the features that Tiger will come with. Regardless of what version number the marketing department decides to call it, it’s still a big improvement over Panther, especially with things like Spotlight.
The Apple OS X versioning scheme is inherently deceptive.
OS X 10 is the product name (i.e. Windows)
OS X 10.x is the major release (i.e. Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP)
OS X 10.x.y is the point release (i.e. Windows 2000 SP4)
So, no, this is far more than a “point release”.
Is the OS 64bit though?
So, I wonder if all those big talkers that kept repeating “I’ll buy my mini/powerbook when Tiger is released” are actually going to buy this time. Or are we going to see the same old crap of “I’ll wait until the G5 powerbook/mini is released”. Then, when that comes out will they all complain that OS XXX isn’t out and the new 1024 bit, 900ghz processor hasn’t been even spoken of yet?
Just a thought, not flambait.
It is not 10.4 is is OS X revision 4. Point releases are for updates ie 10.3.8.
It would be interesting to see some benchmarks when Tiger comes out comparing it to Panther, Jaguar. It would also be interesting to see the difference on older machines (G3’s, G4’s, etc).
I’ve been saving up since January for a PowerMac G5. I’m waiting for an update to the product line (maybe a bump in RAM, and the 970MP) and Tiger. I can’t wait!
-Eric
Am I correct in assuming that with each release OSX is becoming faster than previous releases on the same hardware? This is the opinion I get from reading personal experiences.
How can it be getting faster if they keep adding features and therefore inevitably, bloat?
The trick here is to make it *seem* faster – to make it like an illusion, i.e. to make icons bounce less times on the dock, then people will think that it is faster, but in reality it is not. Same thing with the window resizing – very slow, but cosmetic tweaks to make it ‘look’ faster in newer version.
What is the minimum size for OSX? I really wonder how bloated it is? What about OS9? See the difference! Why don’t people write nice clean tight code?
Yes, there is normally a noticeable speed increase with each new release of OS X. The move to Panther from Jaguar brought about 20% better performance according to XBench. My own applications tended to run about 10 – 15% better.
But as Apple engineers iron out more and more kinks, I think the speed ups will become less pronounced.
It actually gets faster. Benchmarks like XBench show that disk, CPU and memory throughput increased in the move from Jaguar to Panther. Newer drivers for the 3D video cards also helped.
but it is still a point release. I am about sick and tired of Apple extorting $129 a year out of me. I see nothing in this release that will make me go out and drop another $129 on it. It is starting to get old real fast. Even some of Apple’s own software won’t run on an OS that is only 2 years old.
To call it anything other than a point release is to delude yourself. Am I the only person that did not become delusional when I switched?
I don’t understand it…
OS X 10.3 to 10.4 is not a point release a point release would be OS X 10.3.0 to 10.3.1 anyone who uses a OS X already knows this, maybe someone needs to point out that Windows 2000 to Windows XP was just a point release then?
What is it with people and Apple? What have they done that makes you want to pick on everything they do? Oh wait is it just that you can’t afford it? You don’t want to lay down cash for a Mac mini? Or would it all be fixed if Apple released OS X for x86?
BRING ON TIGER I CAN’T WAIT! And don’t worry guys Linux and Windows will be able to start copying the features for you soon enough!
TITLE: “call it whatever you want”
ARGUMENT: “To call it anything other than a point release is to delude yourself.”
YOU SAID IT: “I don’t understand it…”
So don’t upgrade. No one is forcing you to upgrade. Yeesh…
I really wish Microsoft would quit charging for point releases too:
Win2K = version 5.00.2195
WinXP = version 5.1.2600
Extortion Ex*tor”tion, n. [F. extorsion.]
The act of extorting; the act or practice of wresting
anything from a person by force, by threats, or by any
undue exercise of power; undue exaction; overcharge.
How are Apple forcing you to upgrade? You don’t have to pay for Tiger if Panther does what you want.
Oh wait it’s a troll right?
Any chance in the future they’ll let people substitute iWork for iLife on a Mac Mini?
Apple already ship the consumer Macs with Apple Works which is a pretty crappy office suite. Maybe when iWork has all the apps of Apple Works they may swap those 2? There is no way Apple are going to remove iLife from OS X though it’s a great suite of apps.
Apple would much rather you buy a new mac (mini &c) instead of buying an OS upgrade. Problem is that your older mac seems to be doing you just fine. Your options as I see them is… (1) buy a new mac, get the new OS, iLife, etc. It’ll cost you what, $500? (2) buy the new OS. It’ll cost you what, $129? (3) save some quid and make do with you have, $000.00
But there are reasons to upgrade. Nobody is forcing you to. Apple continues to exist because they find ways of enticing people to buy their products.
Of course I’m taking courses at a jc so I qualify for student discounts. Panther is only $69 via the AppleStore. *shrugs* Economics is all about choices!
<< I am about sick and tired of Apple extorting $129 a year out of me.>>
Nobody is making you buy it. I know somebody who is still running 10.1.5. I know another guy who’s still using 10.2.7
Kwitcher bellyaching, buttercup.
As so many others, I will now switch to Mac. MacOS X is almost to good to be true. And I can use almost all open source products.
So, I wonder if all those big talkers that kept repeating “I’ll buy my mini/powerbook when Tiger is released” are actually going to buy this time.
Yes, I am. I’ve had the money sitting in the bank since January and I become increasingly impatient with each passing day. I’ve never owned a Mac but I’ve coveted one since OS X was released. Now the cost is low enough that I can justify spending the money. But I am enthralled by Spotlight so I’m forced to wait for Tiger.
I would have bought a Mac years ago if it had an x86 processor; I’m afraid that if I don’t like OS X that I’ll be stuck with an expensive machine that can run Linux but not run any non-free software (which is compiled for x86) like Flash and video codecs and nVidia drivers.
Some of our work machines are still running OS 9.2
(I must admit its only for vital tasks with the Quark extension only available for Quark4)
You think that an OS with new features has to be slower because you have been “spoiled” by Windows and Linux.
OS X so far is bucking this trend. While it is true that adding more features probably causes some slowdown (I assume for example that having Spotlight running in the background introduces a performance penalty,) the slowdown is outweighted by the optimizations to the kernel and libraries that Apple engineers have been making at every OS X release. Remember that the kernel is simply open-source Mach 3 with mainly FreeBSD userland grapped on top. As Apple engineers go through the code and optimize it, the OS becomes faster. Then there are some new features that actually increase performance. New libraries that offload more of the graphics drawing to the GPU free the CPU for doing other things.
Fully 64bit, no. But it does have more libraries and other stuff to make it even closer to that, but it still mostly 32 bit at the moment.
Os X, and programs written for it, run fine on PPC. X86 on the other hand is huge, consumes enormous power and AFAIK it offers no advantages to PPC. I for one don’t care what is on the inside, as long the Os and software do what I want them to do with minimal fuss.
I just bought Panther. The box is not opened. So I may be able to swap it for Tiger!
Re: speed. Panther feels faster to me than Jaguar on my 733 MHZ QuickSilver. Some applications benefit from improvements to the OS too, it appears. Preview is much faster in Panther than in Jaguar as is DevonThink and Office.
Hobbs, I quite agree with you. OS X runs fine on PPC and I’m not one of those fools clamoring for OS X on x86. No, Apple doesn’t need to go to Intel or AMD chips.
What I was trying to say was that I’m not convinced I’ll like OS X. If I don’t, I’d like to be able to install Linux on my Mac. I know I can do that–but I also know that the third-party Flash plugin won’t work on Linux on PPC. In fact most non-free Linux programs are only compiled for x86 and won’t work on PPC.
PPC is great for OS X but not so good for desktop Linux. Not because of anything inherent in the processor but because of the lack of availability of third-party Linux software compiled for PPC.
However, the Mac mini is inexpensive enough that I’m willing to buy it. If I don’t like OS X then I’ll either give it away or set it up as a fileserver on my home network. If I do like OS X I expect I’ll be spending bucketloads of cash on Apple peripherals like the iSight. *covets iSight*
…likely desire only to pirate a copy…
> So, I wonder if all those big talkers that kept repeating “I’ll buy my mini/powerbook when Tiger is released” are actually going to buy this time.
Well… I am purchasing a new Powerbook as soon as Tiger is released. I would have bought it already if the Tiger release was no so close.
I don’t even really care about Tiger, a couple weeks wait is no big deal.
Mac OS X 10.3.8 runs suprisingly well on my G3 350mhz blue & white tower with 256mb of RAM. No I can’t have a lot of programs open (lots of small ones but not real programs) but I don’t need that.
And yes, each point release (10.3.1 – 10.3.2 – 10.3.3 – etc) run faster than the previous release. Or at least they require less ram which makes my G3 Mac shuffle stuff to the hard drive and back a lot less often. Either way it runs much faster than previous versions.
This isn’t mentioning how much faster it is running on my G4 800mhz iMac.
As for people needing faster machines to run it on. I’m buying a used 800mhz titanium powerbook (800mhz G4) and that will be plenty for what I use computers for. I don’t do any heavy graphics.
Its not exactly hard to pirate Mac software either
People who want an x86 want to be able to build their own computers for cheap, its that simple.
I used to be the same, but after getting my PowerBook I just like that everything simply “just works” and I don’t have to fiddle with anything. The price was worth it.
To me, Mac’s are worth the premium, but to others they simply aren’t. And I can see why, specially if you are a hardcore gamer (which… I probably qualify or at least used to qualify as one) which is why I haven’t bucked my PC just yet, though it is turned on maybe once a week now…
so besides spotlight, Automator, Dashboard, (Xcode 2?)
some under the hood tinkering
what can we expect, any other upgraded programs?
“me” Check out http://www.apple.com/macosx/ for the full details. They have a tour that will take you through some of the changes. Steve Jobs says there over 150 big changes. I don’t think you want me to list them all.
oooow go on, go on, I know you want to
Mac OS X Tiger looks nice. Too bad I wont get it because there is more to surfing the net, programming and doing media stuff….GAMES!! ARGH! Why does not Mac force the grphx card people to write better drivrs…? Or even put better gpus and sweet SLI setups in ther machines?! I am sorry but for that kind of money to spend on the hardware all for the OS is ridiculous to me when I can buy a machine that is still faster than the top of the line. I want to buy a Mac…not switch completely but I guess I should wait for the 970MP and see what perf increases we can get.
iSight is great but I would like to use a cheaper webcam with Yahoo! Messenger and AOL. Are there any “OS X” approved webcams out there from other vendors?
And lo, there was MOL (Mac on Linux). If you really have to see something in flash or real, you can fire up an MOL session.
OTOH, the more people that get into PPC Linux the more likely it will be that we see more apps for PPC.
—
Yeah, I’m looking forward to Tiger. I still think Apple’s making a HUGE mistake for not offering a 64 bit version of it.
OTOH, the more apple delays on that, the more insane my next PowerMac will be.
One – with every release Mac OS X is faster on the same hardware than the previous version. See above posts including mine about running faster on my G3, which means even better for G4 and G5.
No it doesn’t mean they are perfect for games yet. Yes the vid card companies need to make better drivers. Note that they don’t have nearly the incentive that they do for Windows since it is just a huge market (so far) compared to Macs.
From what I read though, there a HUGE speed improvements in 10.4 OpenGL to improve game performance. I hope this is true. Maybe there will be enough improvement to run DOOM 3 at a decent speed with decent eye candy on my 800mhz G4 iMac.
If you look at XBOX2 (PPC Cpu), mabe porting game to Mac will be «easyer» ??
That would be cool!
64-bit Tiger will never happen as long as the G4 is still around, meaning we will need a G5 Powerbook, an iBook G5 and a Mac Mini G5 before that will ever happen.
My take is there are simply too many rewrites of the code needed for the OS to go 100% 64-bit to make two different versions feasible. OTOH a fullt 64-bit Mac OS X 10.5 would be very likely….
Until then I will opt for faster processors, be that more G5’s [IBM PPC970MP] and/or Freescale dual core G4’s…
I am about sick and tired of Apple extorting $129 a year out of me.
Chump change for a full version high quality OS get a life.
Of all the “new features” in Tiger what are the top 5 that will compell you to pay for the upgrade?
Tiger will ship with a 64-bit libsystem and supports fat binaries (compiled code with both 64 and 32 bit executables). This will get you most of the performance boost from non-gui related tasks. Compiling and optimizing for 64-bit throughout the system would give a bigger increase but it would be reaching the point of diminishing returns.
Congratulations, Apple, I know you guys have something special with the release of 10.4 (Spotlight, Automator and Dashboard), maybe this release will be my linchpin to invest in a Mac Mini or eMac.
Wow, and you guys really did beat the bull (Longhorn).
I finally broke down and purchased a Mac mini so I don’t have to use Windows at work (web development, so we can use whatever we want).
I hope that they give the update to those of us who just made the jump . . .
Anyone heard if they will be doing it?
Windows 2k = Windows 5.0
Windows XP = Windows 5.5
Don’t believe me, try it out youself. That said if it’s not worth updrading for you don’t, simple as that. But it isn’t a just a point release. Hell Solaris is still at version 2.X for like 10 years at least. First digit only changes when you break binary compatibility in a majour way.
..because it had no choice. Remember OS-X started as an unbelievable slow and laggy OS, that had no choice: optimize that bloat or get lost.
i am a mac-user.
but those games will be based on the DirextX platform which M$ would never release or license to Apple.
Spotlight
Dashboard – I use Konfab now and want to see if Dashboard is better.
Automator – will this take the place of Apple Script Studio(ASS)
.Mac Sync – even better backups I hope
Mail – I hope it sucks less. Kidding. Apple Mail is OK as it is now
The speedup is worth it for me and the idea of getting some of Longhorn’s features a year in advance is nice.
I hope they fix the following or make improvements:
Active Direcotory binding – seems to break in 10.3.X when doing system updates
iCal – why does this app suck so much? Wake up iCal team. This is an app that has lots of potential.
I’m considering going into computer sciences in College next year, and so was planning on buying a $3,000 laptop (definintely will be Windows compatable, probably 64 bit). However, since the MacMini came out, I was wondering what the perspective is on whether it would be a good idea for me to also spend $600 on one (I need more than the paltry 256 RAM) just to learn the OS or should I not bother? I doubt that Mac will become my prefered OS, I like the compatability of Windows and being able to build and tweak with my own system (which I why I don’t buy Dell either), so I’d probably just use the Mac to fiddle with, learn the new OS, maybe use for iDVD and Photoshop, but that is the question, will such powerhungry applications work on a MacMini, or will it be good for nothing but running Firefox and iTunes? Also, is there any chance of getting a student discount?
It really depends on the institution. If you’re only concerned with ‘learning the OS’ you can probably do it in the computer lab at school. But as a developer, your school’s requirements are going to drive what you use. I have been at two colleges, one used a completely donated microsoft toolkit, and thus a mac in that setting isn’t ideal.
My current school uses all open source tools, (gcc, g++, gentoo, etc). I have found my Powerbook/Mac mini to be soo much better open development platforms than my old PC notebook. Linux on laptops is still weak, and Linux doesn’t have the breadth of applications that OS X does (imho, not trying to start a war, I run Linux too).
As for performance, I’m continually amazed at how well my mini performs. I upgraded the RAM to 512 (and someday will go to 1GB) but it’s suprisingly quick. It’s not as fast as my Athlon 64 3400, but I manage to spend more time on it anyway.
I just graduated like 2 days ago from Univ of California, Davis as a Computer Science Bachelors…all I can say is choice of OS dont matter. I have had XP all throughout and so did all my friends. All you will need to code is a text editor and a command prompt. Thats it. Oh and ssh to log into the school system. My school machines used Redhat Linux and I wrote all my code on the Windows laptop (Dell Inspiron XPS loaded up the wazoo) and no problems transferring it to the school comp and running it there. An occasional problem you might have to face is some of the libraries required for Opengl…meaning the libraries are there and can be set up on a windows box but it is a matter of whether you want to mess with that or just work on the school comps. You preference but anyone who says that having an XP box or a Mac box instead of a Linux box will put you at a disadvantage is honestly a retard.
My current MacOSX system is SOLID. I’m not upgrading just for spotlight. Sure there’s more improvements but you really shouldn’t fix what is not broken. Also I don’t use iTunes, iMail, iBrowser etc… I stick with Thunderbird Mail, Firefox web browser and mostly open source apps. If only PPC support for the newer Powerbooks were better and Wi-Fi (Airport Extreme) worked I would switch over to Linux. I bought a Mac Powerbook because I wanted to learn OSX and I am also a Windows and Linux user. I wanted to see the other side, and to tell you the truth the OS really lacks. It’s great seeing your Instant Messenger windows slide down to the dock using OpenGL but to tell you the truth, unless you are an iTunes and iPod whore it’s only worth the money for the Wonderful Chips and Hardware that you get when you buy a Macintosh. The Operating System feels limited, and it will never give you the control you have with Linux.
I’m not a dirty hippie Linux user either, I just demand power, all the iPod and iTunes and Spotlight Propaganda is just that, propaganda. If you buy a Mac you can be sure you are getting the best consumer hardware that money can buy, but that’s it. Software support for “freakish” file types is almost null. Show me a MacOSX FLAC player. Show me something that I can use for my exotic needs. It’s not happening.
Here’s to Linux PPC on my then “ancient” PowerBook in another year
I’m a long time Mac fan(atic), and I was even at WWDC last year, but I might not be upgrading to Tiger.
Why?
Honestly, the interface changes are for the worse. The only new feature that I’m interested in is Automator, and I’m learning applescript anyways.
I think Dashboard is a UI nightmare, and redundant for all the purposes its been demo’d for. Spotlight looks nifty, but I’d rather have the extra speed (I run lots of cpu-heavy simulations).
Seriously, the majority of the iApps appear and feel like their usability has been scuttled.
Buy a 12″ Powerbook or iBook. I’ve owned two x86 notebooks and would never consider going back to an x86. If you’re worried about gaming, look at the reduced game library as a bonus as it’ll help keep you focused on your studies. If you really want to game, buy yourself a console system and with the left over money stash it away for beer, groceries, and concerts.
“Software support for “freakish” file types is almost null. Show me a MacOSX FLAC player. Show me something that I can use for my exotic needs. It’s not happening.”
Pure FUD.
There’s a Quicktime FLAC plugin (based on the Ogg plugin), PureMusic Audio Player, and MacAmp Lite X (discontinued, but still available).
You’re right, OS X will probably never have the same exact flexibility as Linux. However, most people who have experience with Linux should be able to find ways to do these types of things (FLAC, Ogg) even if Apple doesn’t hold your hand though the process.
>I finally broke down and purchased a Mac mini so I don’t have to use Windows at work (web development, so we can use whatever we want).
>I hope that they give the update to those of us who just made the jump . . .
>Anyone heard if they will be doing it?
Yes but you wont be one of the people getting it.
You have to purchase a Mac AFTER Tiger is officially announced, rumour has it this may be done on April 1.
BRING ON TIGER!!!!
“Sorry, Linux kidz. Macs have taken over the “cool OS” spot your precious OS had in 1999. Six years later, and you’re still spending an hour setting up your wireless network. ”
Ironically, I can’t upgrade my 700Mhz iBook’s Airport to 802.11g so I am stuck in 1999.
I’ve been using Linux since 1994 and your comments about OS X are retarded! I made the switch from the Linux desktop to OS X in late 2003, and I haven’t found 1 single thing I can’t do in OS X that I did in Linux. Now I know I’m a lamer because I don’t want to have to recompile the kernel anymore to support a new hardware item, but so be it!
If you find OS X limiting it’s more a case of PEBKAC than anything.
What is the support cycle for OS X? Once 10.3.9 is provided for Panther, will I recieve addition security updates and patches?
Well I cant wait for tiger. A recent mac convert less than a year. I am in love with 10.3.8 so far. I am dying for the spotlight, dashboard, automator mainly. But I would love to get the spotlight in my mac mail since I do alot of emailing at work. The new core image should be nice also.
Is anyone else gonna wait for the 10.4.1 release to see if there are any major bugs found right away? or just jump at 10.4.0?
What is the support cycle for OS X? Once 10.3.9 is provided for Panther, will I recieve addition security updates and patches?>>
Yup.
I just bought a Mac Mini last friday and love it. Safari has to be one of the best browsers I’ve used and the iApps like GarageBand is just so cool.
Come here kitty, kitty………
personally, I like the OSS development tools… why in the world if you are going to learn a language would you want to waste a ton of time learning a RAD tool first? GCC/g++ and perl and apache and PHP plus in your programming language concepts course you will be exposed to a lot of different languages that are not “main stream” any more and to get them running on windows is a pain…..
I use OS X (Linux before) and I have no problems with the school system.
oh, and the LaTeX environment is better on OS X (have not tried Linux, though I am sure they have a nice integrated environment for it) TeXShop and teTeX is all you need (I use the i-installer distribution of teTeX).
I installed MiKTeX on a schoolmate’s laptop because she saw how wonderful my Math papers looked and I showed her how easy it is to do math with out changing your tasks (like in word you have to open a special tool just to build a formula rather than just type it out like in LaTeX… MiKTeX is great, less work to get on than i-Installer (no meta packages yet) but god help you if you are looking for a super easy environment to use… ugh.. the tools for LaTeX document development are awful on Windows… TeXShop (free and OSS) on the mac is so nice… just click typeset and it creates a PDF for you.
anyway… off my rant.. my point is that you can get all your development work done on a Mac or a Linux machine for FREE and with out having to learn the tools well (I mean, a small project doe snot need all the possible optimizations you can do in GCC)… so, what ever you do, stay away from windows until you HAVE to use it for work or something….. it is not a good learning environment.
To me, the X (ten) in Mac OS X is somewhat symbolic of its uniX underpinnings. From a branding standpoint, I don’t think Apple will drop the X for awhile, so expect their major OS releases to follow the current scheme — 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, etc.
I will be jumping on 10.4.0, bugs and all. I will even pre-order it once the Apple online store is not swamped and I can place my order, but I will not be attending any release parties at an Apple store. The features I am excited about are Spotlight, XCode, QuickTime, and Dashboard. I hope my graphics card is capable of all the eye candy, but if not, I will still get the functionality.
2005 is turning out to be a great year for my Mac and me because:
1) iLife ’05
a) iPhoto – Imports RAW and QuickTime video, better organization and editing.
b) iMovie – Handles HD content (sucks my 933MHz is not 1GHz).
c) iDVD – Projects can be saved as disk images so a SuperDrive is not needed to get your iDVD creations onto a DVD. (great because I do not have a SuperDrive).
2) iWork ’05
a) Pages – From simple letters to complex layouts, and takes advantage of iLife ’05.
3) Tiger
a) Spotlight
b) XCode
c) QuickTime
d) Dashboard
e) and everything else.
4) Support for both DVD formats (+/-) so I am not so limited when I purchase and external DVD drive.
The wait for Tiger is over, but the wait for the books has just begun
1) Mac OS X Tiger Edition “The Missing Manual”
2) iLife ’05 “The Missing Manual”
3) iWork/Pages “The Missing Manual”
4) Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X third edition (Aaron Hillegass)
5) “The Mac Xcode 2 Book” (available for pre-order from Amazon.com)
I thought iWork was crap, so I have low expectations for the next release of the OS. I probably won’t be able to actually buy it for may a year after the release anyway, i.e., because distribution is weak in Asia (outside of Hong Kong…)
> Windows 2k = Windows 5.0
> Windows XP = Windows 5.5
Actually, Windows 2000 is NT 5.0 and Windows XP is NT 5.1
I’ll be getting 10.4 when it comes out. Personally the features that most interest me are:
CoreData – SQLite databases or XML, so it should be quite easy for your data to be available from any application. This will also be a boon to web development as SQLite is in PHP 5, so moving databases from development machines to deployment servers will just be a case of copying a file, one of the good things about MS Access.
CoreImage/CoreVideo – extremely fast rendering and a system wide image manipulation plugin format, expect to see several dozen attempts to clone Photoshop soon after the release of Tiger.
Spotlight – It was great in BeOS, and I expect Dominic Giampaolo will have only got better in the interviening time.
the inevitable speed increase for my aging hardware
How can it be getting faster if they keep adding features and therefore inevitably, bloat?
Easy, GCC and MacOS X still require alot of optimisation, and with each release, Apple does a tweak here and there to fix up any bottle necks.
GCC 4.0 along with the effort to fine grain the kernel and its components should result in a noticably improved performance, not only on single but dual (and dual-dual-core) PowerMacs as well.
I thought iWork was crap, so I have low expectations for the next release of the OS. I probably won’t be able to actually buy it for may a year after the release anyway, i.e., because distribution is weak in Asia (outside of Hong Kong…)
Where abouts are you located? Apple Asia/Pacific HQ is located in Singapore; as for MacOS distribution, when I was in Australia, I was able to get a copy of Panther the day it came out.
How can it be getting faster if they keep adding features and therefore inevitably, bloat?
You clearly don’t understand what bloat is.
(I take it you are not a programmer or if a programmer, not adequately informed).
Some terminology:
*Feature* is the coding of some new ability in a program.
*Bloat* is used with two meanings:
1) larger program sizes
2) more features, (assumedly useless ones)
(1) does not make a program slower. You can study how instructions are loaded. The size of the program binaries does not mean that it is a burden on the memory/caching system. Not all of the binary is loaded into memory, only what is needed. This is so in every modern OS and every moder loader.
(2) does not make a program slower, either. A feature only slows down a program when it is used (i.e when it uses resources to perfom its action). 100
new features does not mean that all of the run at the same time, or even that more of them than before run at the same time. Also, a new feature could accomplice in less resource-hungry manner something that in previous version of the program needed a combination of older features to be performed.
Furthermore, while adding features (which, by itself alone, does not necessarily slow down an OS), programmers also REFACTOR old code.
Some code can be made simpler by using one new feature, for example. Other code is simply refactored away. By using clever refactoring you can even add more features in a fraction of the code, or have the same features for less code. Same features/Less code = less cpu instructions, faster program.
Etc…
However, the Mac mini is inexpensive enough that I’m willing to buy it. If I don’t like OS X then I’ll either give it away or set it up as a fileserver on my home network. If I do like OS X I expect I’ll be spending bucketloads of cash on Apple peripherals like the iSight. *covets iSight*
iSight rocks
.
Too bad you can’t use it as an input device for Garageband. That would have been really helpful.
Direct your browser here: http://www.delicious-monster.com for people who use the iSight to scan barcodes so that you can build your library VERY easily!
The biggest feature I see is Tiger compatibility!
Not Tiger the OS, Tiger the development platform http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/
If the company I work at would relax its policy on staff supplied hardware, I’d happily purchase at 20″ iMac G5 for my desk for that Tiger on Tiger experience. Stuck in corporate Windows.
Now that OSX will have a current JVM, an obstacle is removed … James Gosling (Java inventor) apparently uses his powerbook to run JDK 1.5 via X11.
At home my development box (Java dev on ubuntu), despite being 18 months old, reasonably holds it’s ground against a macmini. So I’m not going to purchase a new machine just for a new operating system experience. But the price point makes it a more attractive option for my next purchase.
BTW,when do those dual-core ibook G4s ship???
• Core Image
• Core Video
• Core Audio
• G5 (64bit) optimisations
• Dashboard
• Spotlight
• Quicktime 7
• Automator
• Apple Mail
• iLife 05
• And another, and vital reason to purchase Tiger: The Operating System details.
OSX is superbly crafted, and inevitably there are many subtle details that really make the Operating System shine.
🙂
Your preference but anyone who says that having an XP box or a Mac box instead of a Linux box will put you at a disadvantage is honestly a retard.
You couldn’t have said it better.Any OS in skilled hands is better than an modern OS operated by a retard that’s for sure.
//I just bought Panther. The box is not opened. So I may be able to swap it for Tiger!
Re: speed. Panther feels faster to me than Jaguar on my 733 MHZ QuickSilver. …//
Uhh … if you didn’t open the Jaguar box, then how come it’s installed on your Quicksilver?
// … if you didn’t open the Jaguar box, then how come it’s installed on your Quicksilver?//
I meant the *Panther* box …
BRING ON TIGER I CAN’T WAIT! And don’t worry guys Linux and Windows will be able to start copying the features for you soon enough!
Some are already there…
RSS-Feeds => quite a while in Firefox
Dashboard => Samurize (Windows), Super Karamba (Linux/KDE)
Spotlight => Google Desktop Search and some Linux projects
Who cares about MS programs that are bundled with windows in the future. They can’t compete with 3rd party software anyway. Look at IE, OE und WMP – no intelligent guy uses this crap. There are far better alternatives.
So why wait for Longhorn copying stuff from Tiger if there is better software long before the release of Tiger anyway.
if you think that google desktop search i anything remotely like Spotlight or WinFS then you are totally unqualified to even comment about the first two items in your list.
I started with the original OsX, went to Jaguar, to Panther, and am definitely going to Tiger.
Religious? No. Each release shows real craftmanship and development.
I do music in Logic Audio and have had really minor problems that have never disrupted my work.
Through X11, I’ve been able to check out Gnome, KDE, XFCE, and a whole slew of cool Software Libre. All of which stood up to my learning curves.
Games? Can’t really comment.
Good Folks, good ideas, mailing lists, #IRC,
To me that is the game.
if you think that google desktop search i anything remotely like Spotlight or WinFS then you are totally unqualified
Well, I don’t need a desktop search and never tried one. But Spotlight and WinFS (that’s not really a search engine, it’s more the backend of one) are not available yet, so you can’t really compare them, too.
to even comment about the first two items in your list.
At least these two are nothing near innovative. Dashboard seems to be a simplified clone of Konfabulator/Karamba/Samurize, RSS-Feed-Reader exist a looooooong time.
But maybe I’m just a bit petulant since I bought a Mac Mini last week and was quite disappointed with MacOS X after all the doxologies I read about before. Sorry.
To me, the X (ten) in Mac OS X is somewhat symbolic of its uniX underpinnings. From a branding standpoint, I don’t think Apple will drop the X for awhile, so expect their major OS releases to follow the current scheme — 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, etc.
Steve Jobs said at WWDC 2000 that OS X (Ten) would be around for at least 10 years, so I wouldn’t worry about a name change for a while.
Dashboard seems to be a simplified clone of Konfabulator/Karamba/Samurize, RSS-Feed-Reader exist a looooooong time
Actually, it’s a modernization of an old Apple idea, Desk Accessories. Granted, it is probably coming back because of the success of Konfab/Karamba/etc., but it is definitely not a ripoff.
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Desk_O…
if you even bother to read up on either technology you will see that they are indeed very different than Google desktop search.
and WinFS is not a back-end to anything… it is a meta data database with query ability, just like spotlight. The only difference is that WinFS has the ability to hide the ntfs file location from the user by managing the file location for the user, spotlight does not…. but basically, all that means is that WinFS will have a hidden file on each volume where it puts files when you save it under WinFS.
I think Tiger is going to be the release that just keeps giving.
First, we’ll get an amazing new operating system.
Second, we’ll see tons of fun Dashboard widgets. I think a huge community will spring up around this, especially given how low the development efforts/costs are going to be.
Third, we’ll see plug-ins to .mac, spotlight, and automator which will take Tiger to the next level.
And then, next year, the apps will be optimized which truly take advantage of core audio and core video. iLife 06, optimized CS suite, Macromedia products, etc, etc.
I think Tiger is going to be bigger than anyone is imaging.
if you think dashboard is a simplified version of konfabulator, and safari’s RSS is the same as firefox’s, then you *just don’t get it*.
And besides, the big technologies in tiger are spotlight and the cores (audio, video,data, image). To dismiss the release as insignificant because some of its features are not absolutely revolutionary is just baiting.
[quote]So, I wonder if all those big talkers that kept repeating “I’ll buy my mini/powerbook when Tiger is released” are actually going to buy this time. Or are we going to see the same old crap of “I’ll wait until the G5 powerbook/mini is released[/quote]
I will buy an Imac when tiger comes out, unless apple offers the upgrade for. I would Buy a Imac tommorrow if they will give me tiger when its available. I have the cash in the bank and everthing, just waiting on apple :p