GlobalTechnology features a review of Mac OS X Panther 10.3.
Panther: A whole new Macintosh
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
GlobalTechnology features a review of Mac OS X Panther 10.3.
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
“Although OS X could run dozens of processes at once without breaking a sweat, the “snappiness” of the classic Mac user interface was missing.”
This comment puzzles me. I can’t remember the classic Mac ever being snappy – it always seemed very sluggish to me.
If all that Panther can achieve is to be as responsive as the classic Macs, then there is more work to be done, IMO.
(I have not used OS X but in the past I used Macs extensively.)
OS 9 was very snappy. With 7 it slowed down, 8 got faster, and 9 was very fast. That cycle started over again with OS X. 10.3 being back were OS 9 was.
” … It’s a good thing to be able to code while downloading e-mail and watching a DVD.”
I’m not saying anything in favor or against Linux, Panther or
Windows, but … i can do that with ANY moden OS…
PantherPPC, i was going to say the same thing.
10.3 is very “snappy” (I hate that term.. if only because people misunderstood the lack of “snappi=ness” to mean that OS X was “slow”.) I prefer to say that OS X is fast in every which way.
The article is not in “Globaltechnology” it is in the technology subsection (globetechnology.com) of “The Globe and Mail” (a national newspaper in Canada).
Globaltechnology is something else entirely!
“I’m not saying anything in favor or against Linux, Panther or
Windows, but … i can do that with ANY moden OS… “
Shoot, you could do this with even the non modern OSes… you could certinly do this with Mac OSes that predated OS X… I don’t know what they’re talking about.
” … It’s a good thing to be able to code while downloading e-mail and watching a DVD.”
I’m not saying anything in favor or against Linux, Panther or
Windows, but … i can do that with ANY moden OS…
Unless I am mistaken you can’t do that (watch a DVD) with Linux (legally anyway
Or am I just way behind the times?
I’d very much distrust code written by someone who was watching tv at the same time.
It reminds one of wxp’s ads: ‘do this and that and that and that’, all those being things one either could do with w98 or one would have no interest in doing.
hmm i dunno. all i know is 10.3 is better than 10.2 and 10.1(10.1 was horribly sluggish on my g3 imac) Its like the better speed is noticable. I think its a nice alternative to Windows as a full fledged Desktop distro, because they do have support from major companies like adobe and macromedia, and if i remember correctly openoffice is now supported on it. :-D. I dont really have to worry about hardware problems since apple actually owns the hardware part of it as well. Some linux advocates would be against that for sure. However, APPle may be proprietary but at the same time least they aren’t stop linux from being developed on their hardware. Im using Mandrake 9.1 and am quite happy.
“I dont really have to worry about hardware problems since apple actually owns the hardware part of it as well.”
Apple owns the platform… but they don’t “own the hardware” that is put into their machines… meaning… they don’t manufacturer the parts that go into their comps. They’re the same commodity components that go in PCs. Apple simply makes sure that those components are best suited for that configuration. Its really no different than most PC manufacturers actually… they do the same. The advantage Apple provides is that they can make that hardware integrate better with the OS simply because they have greater control of both than do PC manufacturers. Apple just doesn;t license the platform… thats all.
“Some linux advocates would be against that for sure.”
Why would linux advocates in particular be against that? The only people that could theoretically be “against” it are those that want to build their own box. Thats the only disadvantage Apple has…. you can’t build your own box from the start. You CAN however swap out any components for others after the fact though.
On that note… I know SEVERAL x86 linux users that made the switch… such a large amount in fact that it would seem that Linux users tended to appreciate Apple’s approach more than the way the comodity PC market does it.
I agree that 10.3 is good. I have a B&W G3-300; and it’s downright usable. I use it instead of a 1.7GHZ AMD with W2K installed; I’m actually giving the PC to my brother.
Apple is actually helping the OSS people write code for their hardware. Darwin is OSS and has a liberal licence so you could look at Darwin’s drivers and then re-implement them in xBSD or even Linux without too many problems.
I use XPpro at work, OS X Panther at home. All’s I can say is I have a terrible time with multitasking with XP… mind you, it’s a lot better than any other WinSystem I used, but the lil’ burps and farts don’t cut it. Geez, last week I had to reboot several times so I could burn some data cds… Exporer crashes constantly. With Panther I’ve been caught burning cds, listening to streaming QT audio, checkin’ out a Quicktime movie, using Aquisition, email all at the same time, without any hiccups… As for OS 9>. They were pretty snappy when you run them on the same hardware, and yes, mutitasking was a balancing act.
The Mactintoshes from the first half of the 1990s were quite responsive (the 68000 CPU Macs). MacOS for the PPC was very slow because of the CPU changeover.
An LCII was actually fairly fast from the user’s perspective.
Good article for first time review users, it has all the details.
I Just kicked MS out of my life, god it feels good…
LINUX is for poor eastern street kids and the biggest virus Windows should be forbidden for International security reasons.
About LINUX was a joke
Did ok till: As a Windows user, I was trained to save my work frequently “just in case.”
Mr. McMurray Your article has been flagged as bias and as such just about everything positive you said has been discredited as a pollitical position.
Come on now! How is it biased to speak the truth? All MS Windows users know any app can bring down the entire box at any time without warning. Saving your files frequently is the only way to protect them. He’s not stating any political position, he’s simply stating the truth. If you don’t save frequently, you’re stupid and just playing Russian roulette with your data.
Michael
Supposedly, MacOSes 1-6 were written in 68000 assembly, and 7 was the first written using large parts of C code. There still was an enormous amount of 68k legacy code, however, and for this Apple wrote a 68k emulator. (So it could run on PPC.) 8.5 dropped 68k support, and from 7.1.2 (I believe) through 9.2.2, PPC native, and accelerated code made its way into the OS. However, for legacy reasons, the emulator, and large amounts of sixty-eight k code still exist in 9.2.2, (the last version of MacOS Classic, ever!) OSX is written mostly in portable code (probably primarily C, someone correct me if I am wrong,) with the possible exception of small sprinklings of assembly where it is absolutely necessary, or much cleaner. I am a (student) programmer, and this is my understanding, someone correct me if I am wrong. I have not looked at the Darwin source, so take my word with a grain of salt.
I go to a Mac centric university (an art one) and they tell the students to save files frequently. That’s not just a “MS Windows” thing.
I think it’s a good idea no matter what because even if the system doesn’t fail there can always be human error.
BTW, it’s not as bad as you say on windows at least when you are using XP/2k or above.
“The Mactintoshes from the first half of the 1990s were quite responsive (the 68000 CPU Macs). MacOS for the PPC was very slow because of the CPU changeover.
An LCII was actually fairly fast from the user’s perspective.”
LCII? That was 1992, and the cheapest machine available at the time. Quadras and Centrises were fine. The first PPC 601 came out in 93 or 94. Maybe you should be clearer… Have you used a Mac in the last 10 years. 8 and 9 were fine. On a clone, a G3, a G4, whatever…
But you’ve gone in the way back machine to a time when Windows was a joke. Win 95 wouldn’t even be out for another 3 years.
What I don’t like about MS is them trying to force us to use THEIR programs.
For instance IE. Yes you can use other browsers for some things. But not for updating Windows. And they purposely keep changing the file format in Word to try to keep other word processing software so it can’t read and display it perfectly.
My whole thing is people have choices. I’m against any company that tries to reduce our ability to choose what products we use. That includes companies like WallMart. It isn’t just about MS. It’s about their business processes.
No company is perfect. But I gravitate to companies that give you choices and good products. I lose nothing but narrow mindedness when I pick Linux, Mac OS X, BeOS, or OS/2. Sure my options might not be great. But the company or people responsible aren’t anal like MS.
You don’t like me opinion? No problem. It’s you _choice_ to believe anything you want. Ooooh. There is that word again. Choice.
Use what you want. Just don’t assume your choice is the best choice for anyone or everyone else. Variety is good. Life is better for it. Enjoy your choices. Enjoy life.
Sabon, you have a great point. File formats should be the thing that the different software choiced have in common. I beleive in open sourcing software when the developer feels it will help, but I always think file formats should be open source. If you develop a better format, open it up too. MS is one of the few software companies to use closed source file formats.
ya, 7 was a rewrite of some/all the code, but i had heard that system 1-6 were in pascal, not assembly. either way, 6 is noticably fast than 7.
Try running Windows 3.1 on any modern system! It screams baby! Yah!
Using Panther is not getting a whole new Mac… unless you are into the emperor’s new clothes sort of thing.
Panther fixes many of the broken things in 10.0 – 10.2 and finally makes the OS usuable for many people who had been having troubles with it.
Calling the OS “a whole new Mac” is just another example of how stupid Apple’s marketing department is.
Reminds me of the advertisements that got cancelled in Britain for being untrue — “fastest personal computer” and such.
If Apple stopped the hyperbole, they’d probably sell more computers. Only things that are a scam market themselves the way Apple sells their stuff.
Yo man..
FEELS LIKE, FEELS LIKE, FEELS LIKE.
If winXP inreased the speed with which it did things would it be ok to say it feels like a whole new machine?
Heck, if you could install XP on a 3 year old PC and have it feel faster I would be amazed. I tried it. It didn’t feel faster. It was a pig!
The fact is that older machines run at a faster percieved speed. If this allows you to use your machine for another year or two then you are getting more value from that machine and OS.
Apple didn’t say Panther was a whole new Mac.
The author isn’t even making the claim that Panther is a whole new Mac over Jaguar.
He starts the article with the assumption that people do not know what Apple has been doing for the last several years, and talks about the launch of OS X in September 2000 as a whole new Mac versus OS 8 and 9.
Only people who are deeply afraid of, know nothing about, or are jealous of Apple react the way you have to an article they haven’t read. Spouting off idiotic comments (like Apple’s marketing dept. is the source of this article?)with no basis in fact, with no attempt to research, without the slightest qualm about knowing whether you are lying or not is not only hyperbole but an outright scam.
Considering you can’t take the time to read an article, do you really expect us to beleive that you have used OS X through 10.0 to 10.3?
What I don’t like about MS is them trying to force us to use THEIR programs.
They don’t do it any more than anyone else.
For instance IE. Yes you can use other browsers for some things. But not for updating Windows.
How is this different from Apple “forcing” you to use their updater ? Or Symantec “forcing” you to use LiveUpdate ?
And they purposely keep changing the file format in Word to try to keep other word processing software so it can’t read and display it perfectly.
The file format in Word hasn’t changed for some time. Not to mention it’s no different from anyone else using a proprietry file format (not that this is a good thing, but Microsoft are hardly the only offender).
My whole thing is people have choices. I’m against any company that tries to reduce our ability to choose what products we use. That includes companies like WallMart. It isn’t just about MS. It’s about their business processes.
Every company has the goal of reducing your choice of product to just theirs. They might choose to do it through extensive marketing, extensive supply contracts or just by having the best product available, but that is their goal – don’t kid yourself.
No company is perfect. But I gravitate to companies that give you choices and good products. I lose nothing but narrow mindedness when I pick Linux, Mac OS X, BeOS, or OS/2. Sure my options might not be great. But the company or people responsible aren’t anal like MS.
Apple are at _least_ as bad as Microsoft. Redhat would like to be, but the GPL stops them from being able to do *too* much. And IBM ? Well, some of us still remember when IBM was the big bad guy and Microsoft was the underdog – if you think their attitudes have changed one iota over the years you’re very naive.
You don’t like me opinion? No problem. It’s you _choice_ to believe anything you want. Ooooh. There is that word again. Choice.
Someone’s been watching the Matrix too much.
You are forced to use IE as a file browser in that you can’t remove it. Apple doesn’t force you to use the updater, every thing in it can be downloaded via their web site or gotten on a CD from a store. The Word format is going to change in the next version of Office due to the upcoming rights management, either way it’s still a closed format. Not many other companies used closed formats like MS does.
As for the cutting out of competitors, that is every companies goal, but doing it isn’t the point. It’s how they do it. As a market leader they have a responsibility whether they like it or not to either support and use someone elses product or keep their product on par with the competition. They owe that to their customers.
You are forced to use IE as a file browser in that you can’t remove it.
Firstly, Explorer is the file browser. “IE” describes the components that are loaded when Explorer happens upon something that requires them.
Secondly, how is this different to Apple “forcing” me to use the Finder ? Or Quartz ? Or Quicktime ? All of those are reasonably difficult to remove.
Apple doesn’t force you to use the updater, every thing in it can be downloaded via their web site or gotten on a CD from a store.
Same with Windows updates.
The Word format is going to change in the next version of Office due to the upcoming rights management, either way it’s still a closed format.
It’s changing to XML. Not quite sure what you think that has to do with “rights management” or how it is “closed”.
Not many other companies used closed formats like MS does.
Except for the ones using proprietry binary formats.
As for the cutting out of competitors, that is every companies goal, but doing it isn’t the point. It’s how they do it. As a market leader they have a responsibility whether they like it or not to either support and use someone elses product or keep their product on par with the competition. They owe that to their customers.
All they “owe” to their customers is to deliver the product they described. Again, this applies to any company. I cannot think of any tangible reason a company should have to help their competitors – be they at the top of the tree or the bottom.
when people say they have more choice (than PC) when they choose mac as their platform…???
You don’t have choice on mac, what’s good with steve, must be good for you too ( that one button mice
So Apple is the only one that makes a USB mouse? wow! Last time I went to a computer store there where a ton to choose from. Guess what? they even said Mac supported. WOW!! Guess what else, it had more than one button. WOW! Who’d of thought it.
People can buy what they like, bottom line. You don’t like it tough. Thats just the way it is in life with all things. Their money, THEIR choice, no one elses.
You don’t have choice on mac, what’s good with steve, must be good for you too ( that one button mice
Hrm… Mabe you havent used the mac in a while, you are able to use a 3 button mouse if you wish (all buttons are useable). One example is Expose. Also to let you know, I have almost every choice as you. The only thing that PC users complain about is that they cannot change their soundcard to one that they found in a sunday sale made in bonswhana 4 years ago. Same for webcams, everyone buys shotty offbrand cams and thinks they are so damn cool because they can make the statement “Oh yeah, well this isnt compatable!” Guys, if you cannot find the name brand on the product, or the website for the drivers ends with .com.tw – of course it’s not supported. The mac doesnt support crap hardware.
I’m glad that your righteous indignation against anyone who would dare try to use cheaper hardware, has made it too hard for you to simply say “The mac does not support a lot of hardware.”
“I’m against any company that tries to reduce our ability to choose what products we use.”
“For instance IE. Yes you can use other browsers for some things. But not for updating Windows.”
You can install any Web browser on any version of Microsoft Windows and use it to download updates for your operating system at http://www.microsoft.com/download/.
You cannot use the Windows Update site to scan your computer for needed updates if your browser of choice does not support Active-X controls. This is the only technology that allows this functionality from a Web page. A Java applet cannot do it, for example.
If your chosen browser does not support Active-X controls, but you still choose to use the Windows Update site, you can use Microsoft Internet Explorer for that site and keep your preferred browser as the default.
Microsoft gives you every possible choice, Sabon.
“And they purposely keep changing the file format in Word to try to keep other word processing software so it can’t read and display it perfectly.”
It is common for new versions of programs to use updated file formats. This is because the new versions introduce features that create new types of data that the application must save and retrieve.
Microsoft Word’s file format has been the same for Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002 and Word 2003. That spans four versions and seven years. It seems that Microsoft is making an effort to keep the file format stable, rather than trying to shuffle it up.
You can choose to save documents in the universal RTF, HTML and XML formats for compatibility between applications and platforms.
Microsoft has put a lot of effort toward adding XML capabilities throughout the Office suite in version 2003. This gives Microsoft’s customers more value while reducing a barrier to entry for the Office competition. That is a good strategic tradeoff.
Rather than making dubious denunciations of Microsoft, observe how its software benefits customers. Businesses continue to choose Microsoft products because they perceive them to be more valuable than what others are offering. That is much more significant than tricky browsers and file formats.
You can choose to save documents in the universal RTF, HTML and XML formats for compatibility between applications and platforms.
The average Joe doesn’t know what XML, RTF or HTML is. I would venture to say 90% of consumer or office users, wouldn’t even care what an XML is, all they want to do is “send this recipe to anne so she can open it on her computer”
keeping consumers in the dark does not constitute choice.
Rather than making dubious denunciations of Microsoft, observe how its software benefits customers. Businesses continue to choose Microsoft products because they perceive them to be more valuable than what others are offering. That is much more significant than tricky browsers and file formats.
Benefit? Of what benefit to a business is it to have a software vendor, charge ridicules prices just to ‘rent’ software? only to be locked down to a future of DRM and have their IT department on remote control by Microsoft….? Businesses only choose MS products because the know no different. Not because it benefits them.
The reality is, businesses are realizing they are being shafted using MS products and consequently are looking for alternatives. Open-source is one such alternative which is on the rise- dramatically. Thankfully the next generation of executives and consumers will know how to use these tools, which will produce a generation of educated computer users, and choice will stem from this fact.
To: Goldstein
“If Apple stopped the hyperbole, they’d probably sell more computers.”
Can’t quite figure out why you’re so concerned that Apple doesn’t sell more computers? Please enlighten us.
To: guest (IP: 202.155.147.—)
What is the hangup with the Apple’s one-button mouse? Gee, let’s see, with Windows I get a three button mouse and a crappy OS! Wow, now that’s a choice!
lol? So what your saying is, if you don’t have a MS Active X browser called IE, your fucked. excellent illustration stooge.
No, what he’s saying is that if your browser can’t do ActiveX then you can’t use Windows Update – you have to download the updates and install manually or find some third party tool that will do it automatically.
This is no different to the way OS X does things. Or the way Redhat does things.
The average Joe doesn’t know what XML, RTF or HTML is. I would venture to say 90% of consumer or office users, wouldn’t even care what an XML is, all they want to do is “send this recipe to anne so she can open it on her computer”
keeping consumers in the dark does not constitute choice.
How are Microsoft “keeping consumers in the dark” ?
Benefit? Of what benefit to a business is it to have a software vendor, charge ridicules prices just to ‘rent’ software?
Why don’t you ask all those companies leasing hardware – they seem to think there’s some benefit to it.
Only to be locked down to a future of DRM and have their IT department on remote control by Microsoft….?
Conspiracy theories will get you everywhere in the right crowd.
Businesses only choose MS products because the know no different. Not because it benefits them.
If it didn’t benefit them somehow, they wouldn’t do it.
The reality is, businesses are realizing they are being shafted using MS products and consequently are looking for alternatives. Open-source is one such alternative which is on the rise- dramatically. Thankfully the next generation of executives and consumers will know how to use these tools, which will produce a generation of educated computer users, and choice will stem from this fact.
Bollocks. Choice will stem from having numerous viable options to choose from.
Secondly, how is this different to Apple “forcing” me to use the Finder ? Or Quartz ? Or Quicktime ? All of those are reasonably difficult to remove.
i know you were making a decent point, but just to be a stickler..
there is an alternative called http://www.cocoatech.com/>path
an alternate to quartz is right http://www.xfree86.org/>here console at the login window to skip quartz entirely.
forcing one to use quicktime? well thats just silly.. i dont know if you mean the quicktime api’s, or the player. or what so i can’t point out alternatives there
oops, didnt know links worked that way
the first is path finder at
http://www.cocoatech.com
the second xfree86 at
http://www.xfree86.org
Pathfinder is a supplement to Finder. IIRC, Finder is responsible for displaying the Desktop (amongst other things). Take Finder away and you lose that.
Similarly, using XFree instead of Quartz means you can’t run anything that uses it. Which is, let’s face it, just about everything most people would want to run.
I was referring to the entire Quicktime package – components and player.
And my point wasn’t that it’s flat-out impossible to replace these things, merely difficult, rarely worth the bother and on the whole counter-productive.
One thing is for certain. I don’t miss acrobat. I love preview.
The average Joe doesn’t know what XML, RTF or HTML is. I would venture to say 90% of consumer or office users, wouldn’t even care what an XML is, all they want to do is “send this recipe to anne so she can open it on her computer”
That is a good observation, Danger mouse. Average Joe would simply click File, Send To, Mail Recipient. Word would then send the recipe to Anne’s computer as an e-mail with an RTF or HTML body and a plain text body as a fallback. The file formats are transparent to average Joe.
There are two competing requirements for file formats, innovation and compatibility. A constantly improved application will need a proprietary file format because it will have features that the universal file formats cannot represent. It is important, however, that the application also support the universal file formats for compatibility with other applications. As an example, Adobe Photoshop has a proprietary file format, but also supports JPEG, GIF and PNG.
Benefit? Of what benefit to a business is it to have a software vendor, charge ridicules prices just to ‘rent’ software?
A business certainly has choices when buying Microsoft software. One option is to purchase a license for the current version and then buy an upgrade license when Microsoft releases a new version. An alternative is to purchase a license for the current version and then pay a fixed amount at a regular interval. This entitles it to all future versions as long as it keeps current on its payments. In neither case does the business loose the license it purchased for the current version if it does not pay for upgrades.
When Microsoft sells a software license to a customer, both agree on what Microsoft will provide and what the customer will pay for it. Both parties perceive the transaction as beneficial to themselves, or they would decline it. On what basis can you call the price ridiculous? You have no insight into the customer’s cost vs. benefit analysis.
only to be locked down to a future of DRM
Yes. In the future, if someone creates, with their own creativity and labor, an original work, say a piece of music or a movie, and sells a copy to a customer, the customer will not be able to surreptitiously make an immeasurable number of copies and distribute them worldwide using Microsoft software. The customer does not have the right to do that because he did not create the work. DRM does not take away his rights to the work because he never had any. DRM protects the rights of the artist, who created the work and has all rights to what he produced. If the artist works for a business, then the business owns the work. If the artist or business wishes to grant others full rights to the work, DRM does not get in the way.
Microsoft is championing our rights as creators and producers by providing us Digital Rights Management. If Open-Source Software does not do this on principal, I will consider it the software of thieves. In the future, commercial digital media will only play on protected systems such as Windows.
and have their IT department on remote control by Microsoft….?
Can you tell me a bit more about this, Danger mouse?
You can have Path Finder displaying the desktop.