Examining Mac OS X 10.4's Spotlight

Ton writes "Apple has published a discussion of Spotlight, the radical systemwide search technology that will be part of Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger'. The really interesting part is that metadata will be playing a big role in Spotlight while just a few years ago people were afraid metadata in Mac OS X was going the way of the dodo."

Comments

Re:Pre-emptive post

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac OS X thread, not Mac OS 9 thread, silly.

she/her ???

[Anonymous Coward]

From the Spotlight page:

Pinpoint Accuracy

You can also use descriptive search words to get amazingly targeted results, even across thousands of files. For example, to find portrait-formatted images, simply type "Image" and "Portrait." To find everything from a colleague, simply type the person's name. Spotlight returns every document she authored or edited, every image she may have emailed, messages she wrote (and messages that you sent to her) and her contact information. Results are shown in sorted, automatic categories for easy browsing, picking and clicking.

What if I want to find files from male colleagues?

Re:she/her ???

[MasterMnd]

Who cares about male colleagues, what I want to know is will it also find her nude photos in usenet?

German tanks?

[Zedrick]

What's up with apple and German tanks? First the Panther (http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz4.htm#panther) and now the Tiger (http://www.achtungpanzer.com/tigerp.htm). What's next, the Leopard? When apple releases Mac OS 1x.x Leopard II, then I'm buying a Macintosh!

Re:Im very interested...

[Zemplar]

"If you are wondering what OSX is like, go grab a cheap Mac off of Ebay and try it out. ..."

• Or just visit your local Apple Store.

But be forwarned! Leave your credit card at home is you absolutely don't want to make a purchase; once you use one, you'll want one!

lock your screens

[TVC15]

I've tried Spotlight and suggest that when it comes out, every time you step away from your computer make sure to lock your screen. All someone has to do is type 'porn' into the little search toolbar and within seconds it's all nicely listed.

Perhaps Apple needs to add a feature to turn off indexing for certain directories. ;-)

Re:Metadata? In a time like this?

[UncleRage]

And without a proper search tool, how is it, exactly, that we're supposed to keep track of our fellow insurgents, plans for sneaky attacks, plots to undermine the "powers that be" and means of crippling the status quo?

A disorganized revolution is just a waste of time.

Keeping one's data organized is a priority, bucko. ;)

Re:Im very interested...

[jcr]

So, final conclusion? I love it, so much that I have already placed an order for a G5 Imac.

I predict that you'll be shocked by the difference in speed between the iMac G5 and your B&W G3.

Oh, and speaking as an Apple shareholder: Thanks!

-jcr

Re:What's so special about searching

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm. This sounds a little dangerous. It will make it much too easy for the wife to find your porn collection, your AOL-IM sessions with that weird Goth chick, the draft of your divorce papers, etc. I AM NOT UPGRADING TO TIGER.

How long?

[2nd Post!]

Either until you code it up, or you buy a Mac next year?

Re:Still needs work

[Elwood P Dowd]

(1)
Finder comments do this.

(2)
Whatever.

(3)
Whatever.

Re:Im very interested...

[Dolly_Llama]

Oh, and speaking as an Apple shareholder: Thanks!

And speaking as a former shareholder who bought at 20 and sold and 27 only to see it go to 50... screw you!

=)

Great. Just fricking great.

[ChuckleBug]

So now Apple's given my wife a way to INSTANTLY find all my porn.

I guess I now have to go back to a "download as needed then delete" paradigm.

Sheesh, I wish they'd think these things through.

Re:What's so special about searching

[dr00g911]

Speaking as someone who married a girl geek, I've had to find workarounds for this set of annoying situations already. She's crafty and won't fall for the 'put the stuff in /etc/' trick so that my hypothethical goth and asian schoolgirl porn won't show via a normal search.

Solution?

Save the porn / super personal stuff on an encrypted disk image saved somewhere inconspicuous, and set cronned (or logout) scripts to scrub your various histories and recent items. Make sure that the machine logs you out after no more than 10 minutes of activity.

Hypothetically, that is.

Hi sweety!

Re:New app poposial - Blacklight

[mrchaotica]

I just stick all my porn in a disc image [encrypted]. It's very good, except when I have to resize it.

Re:What's so special about searching

[spir0]

you could just divorce the bitches and get together with someone who doesn't mind you looking at porn.

I have such a big collection of porn that it doesn't fit on any one computer. and I run my own porn site and she doesn't care.

Two things that will always stay in my life before my woman: porn and comics. and computer gear. and other gadgets. ok, four. she's number 5. oo. that doesn't sound too good does it? ah, if she finds out, she'll leave me, and I'll be with someone else until they figure it out.

either way -- the porn stays.

have I gone off topic here?

obnote: if my computer makes it easier for me to find my porn, I'm happy. if she gets upset that she finds porn on my computer because of advanced metadata, then she can buy her own damn machine with her own damn data.