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Mac OS X "Tiger" Enters Final Candidate Stage

Orangez writes "Apppleinsider.com reports that 'Tiger' reaches the final candidate stage. 'With massive software projects such as Tiger, Apple will sometimes seed several final candidate builds before one is declared gold master...'" The final release has widely been speculated to be in the next month or two.

583 comments

  1. News ? by mirko · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It has been rumoured for a long time so this final candidate stage is obvious.
    It also appeared on my Swiss reseller's catalogue last week.
    I'm however glad it'll support my Samsung 213T rotation.

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
    1. Re:News ? by eatmywake · · Score: 0

      tout qui substance magnifique de technologie, mais les rideaux roses?? ;)

    2. Re:News ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is this news?(tm)

  2. before anyone else does it... by thesixthreplicant · · Score: 3, Funny
    But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!

    thankyou you've beening such a wonderful audience

    ciao

    1. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 4, Informative

      Its far more than a point release . The fact it adds many new features to the OS it is far more of an upgrade than most.
      The new search tech is fully integrated .
      The new G5 optimised code in the kernel is implemented iirc
      The Dashboard looks very cool ;)
      A reworking of many of the key areas of the functionality of the OS
      Read the article and read any review of the tiger betas out there to find out for yourself why this is more than a mere update.

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    2. Re:before anyone else does it... by varmittang · · Score: 4, Informative

      For the love of God!!! Its not a point release. Man, just because Linux goes by that way of point releases doesn't mean OS X does. 10.x is not points but a full independent version, 10.x.y is a point release.

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    3. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like dropping $199 to go from Windows NT 5.0 to 5.1.

    4. Re:before anyone else does it... by thesixthreplicant · · Score: 2, Funny
      well i'm actually agreeing with you. i just wanted to stop all those people saying how stupid Mac people are for paying for a point release etc etc

      you know what i mean

      i though we all assume posts are sarcastic until modded otherwise?

      ciao

    5. Re:before anyone else does it... by cowscows · · Score: 5, Informative

      The fact that it's a a point release is basically just semantics. Apple sort of painted themselves into a corner with the name OSX. It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after? OS XI? That looks weird. And a little too close to XP. So they've gone with 10.whatever, and used 10.x.x for what'd normally be considered a point release. 10.4 has been a long time coming, and it's got plenty of big changes over 10.3, such that a bigger name change wouldn't be that surprising, if apple could come up with a better name for it. That's probably why they've been making the big cat code names more official. Jaguar, Panther, Tiger...

      If you want, you can complain that Apple's devaluing the normal versioning numbering system, but I don't think they'll care much if you do.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    6. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dude, I can't believe neither the mod nor the others who answered you actually believed you meant what you wrote.
      It was obviously irony... A typical Slashdot-culture item...
      Don't let this flamebait mod prevent you from starting again : it's only karma :)

    7. Re:before anyone else does it... by TylerL82 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Lots of people did it for Windows XP (WinNT 5.1).

    8. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      ;) Nope , on a mac thread we all asume its a troll till proven otherwise

    9. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a POINT release...for the love of god!

      So, the fact that Apple named it 10.4 instead of 11.0 suddenly makes all the changes inside it less interesting?

      If you think that mac OS X 10.4 is not worth of paying for it just because its 10.4 and not 11.0, then Mac OS X is NOT the right good OS for you, keep yourself in the Microsoft World, where marketing people try to twist your mind to make you think that a new release is really new (look at all those major MSDOS version and the "huge" differences between windows 95 and windows 98)

    10. Re:before anyone else does it... by thesixthreplicant · · Score: 0
      yeah, makes we want to hand in my white Apple stickers and join the rapid Apple haters at /.

      But thanks for being here in my time of need. greatly appreciated.

      Now...where can i get a BT of it?! ;)

    11. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
      But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!

      You're clearly being facetious, but not everyone will pick up on that. Thus, a point of explanation:

      It's a mere point release, but that's an artifact of marketing. The number and magnitude of changes under the hood is incredible, with huge advances in developer productivity through tools like CoreData, CoreImage, and CoreVideo. The rendering subsystem has been worked over to the point where some operations are hundreds or thousands of times faster than they used to be, and the system takes advantage of modern GPUs to offload even more processing (formerly it was just compositing, not it's a whole lot more). Add to that new versions of Safari, Quicktime that's build on CoreAudio, and a ton of other neat stuff (Automator). You get a lot for your $140.

      And remember, the 2.6 kernel was just a point release!

    12. Re:before anyone else does it... by justforaday · · Score: 1

      If you want, you can complain that Apple's devaluing the normal versioning numbering system, but I don't think they'll care much if you do.

      I think Microsoft can claim responsibility for that particular innovation.

      --
      I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    13. Re:before anyone else does it... by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, the difference between Linux 2.4 and Linux 2.6 is huge. It's the same as in your example: x is the MAJOR version, y is the point release.

      On the other tentacle, this is a case of comparing apples (uh oh) to oranges: OS X is a whole OS, Linux is just the kernel. We should be rather comparing Tiger to, let's say, Debian Woody or Debian Sarge.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    14. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you start counting version of NT with 1.0 (rather than the 3.1 that they started counting at), you'd have the following:

      NT 3.1 = 1.0, NT 3.5 = 1.1, NT 4.0 = 2.0, 2000 (5.0) = 3.0, XP (5.1) = 3.1

      So, we're technically using NT 3.1 if they knew how to count up there in Redmond.

    15. Re:before anyone else does it... by This+is+outrageous! · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!

      You're clearly being facetious, but not everyone will pick up on that. Thus, a point of explanation:

      Man! I thought Slashdot for Seniors was not due until 2037? Why are we having previews? A Final Candidate, already?
      --
      This is...

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    16. Re:before anyone else does it... by mario_grgic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Windows XP is Windows 5.1, Windows 2000 is Windows 5.0. How much was Windows XP Pro upgrade when it was just released again?

      --
      As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
    17. Re:before anyone else does it... by Jellybob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It seems to me that Apple are doing versioning right.

      The way it should work is x.y.z

      z: Bug fixes
      y: New features
      x: Backwards compatibility break

      Since 10.4 appears to have new features, but not break backwards compatibility, it's the right version.

    18. Re:before anyone else does it... by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

      You would think that "thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week" would give it away.

      --
      If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    19. Re:before anyone else does it... by erikdalen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      yup, and I'm waiting for linux 3.0.0 before I upgrade my kernel again :)

      --
      Erik Dalén
    20. Re:before anyone else does it... by SilentChris · · Score: 1

      That said, it's still more economical to get it with a new system. $129 for a CD or $500 for the CD + computer (Mac Mini). I own an iBook -- and I'll probably take the second tact.

    21. Re:before anyone else does it... by Shanep · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Its far more than a point release

      I read in a local PC centric computer mag, that the new sync function requires a .Mac account. This seems absurd to me, especially considering that I and I'd imagine many others, would just want this functionality to sync my data between my Mac's and not a .Mac account. I don't have a .Mac account and I don't want one.

      Can someone put my mind to rest on this? This is the biggest feature I am eagerly waiting for. I was going to just use rsync and some scripting, but if Apple has done this, then I imagine it will be much more polished than what I can whip up without a decent effort that results in something which lacks quirks.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    22. Re:before anyone else does it... by aldoman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wow.

      Sorry, but for most people CoreImage and CoreVideo is going to be utterly useless. Apple still ships shit, shit, shit video processors on the iBook, Mac Mini and only the latest generation Powerbooks, PMs and iMac have the much-needed Pixel Shader on their GPUs. I'd guess probably 10-20% of the Mac userbase uses a Powerbook latest revision, PM G5, or iMac G5. The iBook was Apple's best selling Mac a few months back and I'm sure that the Mac Mini will replace it.

      So are you honestly going to tell me developers are going to bother developing with features that only 10-20% of their already small userbase can use?

      Personally I don't see any one feature that Tiger has that I really want. Hopefully it'll be a lot more polished and have some nice performance increases, but the vast majoirty of stuff in Tiger is totally useless to me: I don't need spotlight since I organise my stuff well, I don't use Safari for anything more than basic browsing (I have a perfectly good RSS client already, thanks), I won't be using automator, quicktime or benefiting majorly from the new 'searchable' system preferences.

      The only thing I'm really looking forward to is the new version of Mail, but it's not something I would spend $140 on -- I'll be getting it free though.

    23. Re:before anyone else does it... by sydtsai · · Score: 0
      But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!


      I saw people stupid enought to get Winows XP (5.1) when they have Windows 2000 (5.0) too :D
    24. Re:before anyone else does it... by varmittang · · Score: 1

      I was talking more of the distros of Linux. Like Red Hat use to go 9.0, 9.1, 9.2 with no real ratical changes. Everytime OS X has done a new release, it had major changes all over the place. This time its Spotlight, and all the other major Core features.

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    25. Re:before anyone else does it... by JeffTL · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Isn't every modern Solaris actually 2.x or something?

    26. Re:before anyone else does it... by Tibe · · Score: 1

      OS XI does look weird, however XP shouldn't be around if Apple keeps this up until 10.9 or even 10.6, given Microsoft haul ass.

      What would also be interesting is Longhorn's offical name.

    27. Re:before anyone else does it... by DolomiteZipper · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That whooshing sound you heard was the joke flying right over your head.

    28. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      ;) not so usefull for those of us who already own MacMinis (and have wives who threaten violence at the purchase of any more tech).
      Oh for those of us who purchsed a mac recently , There is always the option of the paying 20(local curency) to get the upgrade

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    29. Re:before anyone else does it... by b-baggins · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sigh. No, the X was because it's based in uniX. It's a double-entendre. OS X, version 10, based in uniX.

      --
      You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
    30. Re:before anyone else does it... by mikrorechner · · Score: 1


      It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after?

      That reminds me of a question I had for some time:
      Do you pronounce that "Mac OS Ex" or "Mac OS Ten"?
      Most people I know use the former, but the latter also makes sense...

      --
      "Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-my-own-Grandpa." - Dr Hubert Farnsworth
    31. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      No i got it , dont worry .Though i thought i may as well dispell the myths while The opertunity arose ;) .I notice you got moded down as a troll , this is a problem as Mac topics can be very sensitive to trolling , to offten to jokes get caught in the crossfire ;) but trolls have mod points too as you got marked informative to balance it out

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    32. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think he got it , but was using the opertunity to dispell the myths ! , he says it in a post up above

    33. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sorry, but for most people CoreImage and CoreVideo is going to be utterly useless. Apple still ships shit, shit, shit video processors on the iBook, Mac Mini and only the latest generation Powerbooks, PMs and iMac have the much-needed Pixel Shader on their GPUs. I'd guess probably 10-20% of the Mac userbase uses a Powerbook latest revision, PM G5, or iMac G5. The iBook was Apple's best selling Mac a few months back and I'm sure that the Mac Mini will replace it.

      Yes, let's halt all forward progress while we wait for everyone who has an old computer to upgrade.

      While we're at it, to hell with threads! Only 10-20% of the userbase has more than one CPU, so why bother developing for dual CPU systems?

      People have said the SAME EXACT THING about some new feature of EVERY SINGLE OS X release, including OS X itself. Guess what - each time, those people have been wrong.

      Brilliant, Holmes.


      (Psst - you ever consider that maybe Apple doesn't mind if people decide to trade in their iBook for a shiny new Powerbook? Or the next new iBook, which will have a GPU with decent shaders?)

    34. Re:before anyone else does it... by keittl · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know anything about whether iSync will require .mac in 10.4, sorry. But I did want to bring a piece of sync software to your attention: Unison. http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/

      It works wonderfully well. It's a little cleverer than rsync in that it will do bi-directional updates (ie syncing) and also merges conflicts if it is able.

      I work on two macs and with unison I am pretty much able to work on either one without having to worry about which one is up to date.

      I have .mac too and that does a nice job of syncing iCal and Address Book and my Safari bookmarks. But I think Unison would probably do a pretty decent job of that too, although I have not tested that out.

    35. Re:before anyone else does it... by stlhawkeye · · Score: 1
      But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!

      I know you're kidding, but the people who say this are mostly those who were successfully duped by Microsoft's naming scheme, which hides versioning.

      Isn't XP just a pretty Windows 2000? How many people, smiles painted on, went out and got it?

      What about the 95 to 98 upgrade? I seem to recall that the "upgrade" was still a good $90 or so. Isn't it essentially a point update?

      Windows ME? The difference was that Microsoft pulled a sleight-of-hand with their naming convention, whereas Apple just calls it what it is.

      The complaining is silly anyway. Anybody, student or not, can go to the Apple Store and buy a copy using the "student discount" price, which is about half-off. Split it with a buddy and you've each paid about $35 for it.

      Yeah, it's illegal, but this is Slashdot, where we have a God-given right to free music over p2p.

      --
      "I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
    36. Re:before anyone else does it... by slimak · · Score: 1

      what qualifies as recently? I bought my PB back in November -- is that recently? (i hope so, but really doubt it)

    37. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      We should be rather comparing Tiger to, let's say, Debian Woody or Debian Sarge.

      And when the hell will Sarge even start releasing "final candidates"? I thought release early, release often, was the Free Software Mantra. Lately "don't work on the critical bugs, add new features and packages instead" seems to be the Debian mantra.

    38. Re:before anyone else does it... by BluGuy · · Score: 3, Informative

      For syncing to multiple computers, or having an iDisk, you need to subscribe to the .Mac service. I'm sure someone out there has a hack for it, but out of the box, the file sync relies on Apple's Servers. It's just WebDAV though, so a hack isn't that hard. Anyway, to sync your Address Book to you phone or Palm, you just need the right connection (Bluetooth or USB.) Blu

    39. Re:before anyone else does it... by mrm677 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It seems to me that Apple are doing versioning right.

      The way it should work is x.y.z

      z: Bug fixes
      y: New features
      x: Backwards compatibility break


      Does that mean Windows XP should really be called Windows 3.15.8734?

    40. Re:before anyone else does it... by buraianto · · Score: 1

      So Windows should be at about version 3.8.84563342, eh?

    41. Re:before anyone else does it... by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Funny
      Apple sort of painted themselves into a corner with the name OSX. It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after? OS XI?

      Well, people refer to OS X as "Oh, sex", so adding the I on the end would make it "Oh, sexy!"

    42. Re:before anyone else does it... by OECD · · Score: 2, Informative

      Do you pronounce that "Mac OS Ex" or "Mac OS Ten"? Most people I know use the former, but the latter also makes sense...

      The Apple folks say 'ten' (I think because 'Ex' can have negative implications) but everyone I know says 'Ex' (prob. b/c it sounds a bit cooler.)

      --
      One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
    43. Re:before anyone else does it... by Swedentom · · Score: 1

      Do you pronounce that "Mac OS Ex" or "Mac OS Ten"? Most people I know use the former, but the latter also makes sense...

      Steve Jobs pronounces it "ten", and that's supposed to be the "right" way of pronouncing it. But myself, and everyone I know uses the "X" pronunciation. It's just too confusing to spell something in one way, and to say it in another.

      Intrestingly, if you use the Text-to-Speech feature of OS X, and let it speak "Mac OS X", it actually says "Mac OS 10". :-)

      --
      Sig Nature
    44. Re:before anyone else does it... by elynnia · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after?

      Mac OS X-2, of course.

    45. Re:before anyone else does it... by rohanl · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't know about 10.4 (and if I did know I wouldn't be allowed to say) but I'm guessing that it's not that much different to the way iSync works now in 10.3.

      You can sync between one Mac, your phones, iPods, Palms, etc. without requiring a .Mac subscription. However for Mac to Mac syncing you do need .Mac

      However, if you have access to your own server somewhere, it is possible to fake it to look like .Mac Here are some instructions on how to do that.

      Note: I haven't actually tried it myself (yet)

    46. Re:before anyone else does it... by HiyaPower · · Score: 1

      They have been doing this with Windoze for years...

    47. Re:before anyone else does it... by rohanl · · Score: 1

      After a closer read of that site, I see that iSync support is missing. He points at another site with initial investigation into getting that working.

    48. Re:before anyone else does it... by Creepy · · Score: 2, Informative

      well, it is $129, but after rebate for preorders from Amazon, only $94.

      The rumors about a month ago were for an April 1 announcement and in stores by the 15 (the announcement wouldn't surprise me, but in stores would). April 1 is Apple's 29th birthday. It also wouldn't surprise me if Apple sent that rumor out as an April fools prank. A ship date Amazon leaked said March 31 in stores, but I think that is out of the question now.

    49. Re:before anyone else does it... by Benley · · Score: 1

      It's normally about a month before the release date. So no, last November is probably not recently enough, sorry. I bought my new ibook in March and that's probably not recently enough either.

    50. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what qualifies as recently? I bought my PB back in November -- is that recently? (i hope so, but really doubt it) I have recently fought WWI, you insensitive clod!

    51. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Basically, it's the same numbering scheme that Sun uses for their SunOS releases. A new major version means a major break in compatibility and architecture (for example, the transition between SunOS 4 and SunOS 5 was a transition from BSD to System V), whereas minor releases just add new features, but don't break compatibility. (For example, a program compiled on SunOS 5.6 will happily run on SunOS 5.9.)

      The screw-ups happen when marketing comes in and decides that a move from x.6 to x.7 doesn't sound dramatic enough, and that one should go straight to version 7. Combined with the fact that Sun has always had a very schizophrenic numbering scheme, this leads to total confusion: At Sun, the base operating system has a different version number from the complete distribution (kinda like RedHat version W uses Linux version X.Y.Z.) The distribution is called Solaris, the operating system is called SunOS. So SunOS 4.x was Solaris 1.x, SunOS 5.x used to be Solaris 2.x up until SunOS 5.6 which was Solaris 2.6. But then came SunOS 5.7 as Solaris 7, SunOS 5.8 as Solaris 8, and so on ...

      Makes one wonder what Apple is going to do ... MacOS X Release 4?

    52. Re:before anyone else does it... by Bishop923 · · Score: 4, Funny


      z: Bug fixes
      y: New features
      x: Backwards compatibility break

      Does that mean Windows XP should really be called Windows 3.15.8734?


      You probably want to drop the z value a bit :-)

    53. Re:before anyone else does it... by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      Us Windows users have been paying $99 for point releases for years just to make sure that when our original OS gets dropped we still get security patches.

    54. Re:before anyone else does it... by mccoma · · Score: 1

      he forgot to tell people to tip the waitstaff.

    55. Re:before anyone else does it... by Have+Blue · · Score: 5, Informative
      • It's sad that this has to be said in every single Tiger thread, but Core Image/Video will not refuse to work on older Macs. It has an AltiVec fallback path that is slower than the GPU path but produces the same results.
      • The real importance of CI/V is not how cool it looks applying Photoshop filters to movie trailers; it's having an advanced image and video transformation infrastructure built into the OS and available to all developers. Apple is clearly planning for the future here, and the real benefits of CI/V will not be felt until months after Tiger ships and apps start appearing that were designed taking blur/distortion/etc for granted. That 10-20% is only going to grow in the future.
      "If I don't want it, it's utterly worthless" is one of the most persistent and insidious memes on Slashdot. Please don't succumb to it.
    56. Re:before anyone else does it... by i+wanted+another+nam · · Score: 1

      Oh, god. If you don't need the features of OSX, then please, for fuck's sake, use Linux. Hate to break it to ya, but advanced hardware graphics features like pixel shaders are available to less than 20% of the computer market as a whole. I highly doubt that the Intel 810 chipset (With up to 32 MB integrated memory!!) featured in so many budget computers has PS support. Call it a hunch. Just because you expect a 3D workstation with a 256 MB graphics card for $500, doesn't mean those lowest-end of the low-end computers are going to actually have that. Feel lucky that there's a $500 Mac out there, period. Not to mention the fact that it has real, actual, honest-to-goodness dedicated video RAM.

      --
      The image is a dream, the beauty is real. Can you see the difference?
    57. Re:before anyone else does it... by mbbac · · Score: 1

      Core Image can also be executed in the Velocity Engine (AltiVec) when a sufficient memory card isn't available.

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      mbbac

    58. Re:before anyone else does it... by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

      You do realize that Konfabulator is available in its original form, Desk Accessories.

    59. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I don't know. I am still running 2000.

      XP home edition upgrade is 89.94 on staples website, I don't know the price at the time of release. That is probably the most anyone is going to pay for it. We are talking about home users, aren't we?

      Another question would be, how many people actually upgrade every time Microsoft releases a new version?

    60. Re:before anyone else does it... by trans_err · · Score: 1

      In that case rest easy-- as no one will force you to buy something you don't want. Free will is really great sometimes.

    61. Re:before anyone else does it... by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      Yes, like TeX, Windows should have a versioning system approaching pi. TeX is currently at v. 3.141592, and so is Windows, but because of a buffer overflow it would really be 3.15.8734. Windows 2000 was because of a really hairy miscalculation of a division by zero error added to that. Trust me, you don't want to know.

    62. Re:before anyone else does it... by CokeBear · · Score: 1

      You do realize that Desk Accessories are available in their original form, real items on your desk like clock, calculator, notepad and calendar.

      --
      Reality has a liberal bias
    63. Re:before anyone else does it... by Palshife · · Score: 4, Funny

      He did. You're looking at an overflow.

      --
      Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
    64. Re:before anyone else does it... by ktistec · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs pronounces it "ten", and that's supposed to be the "right" way of pronouncing it. But myself, and everyone I know uses the "X" pronunciation.

      I had thought -- when I started seeing "OS X 10.2", etc. -- that they had "surrendered" to the "Oh Ess Ecks" pronunciation...

      I thought I could see why, too: as you say, "everyone says it that way"; then too, "it ends in 'X'", and that's kinda cool -- just on general principle, and on all-those-*n*x's-that-end-with-"X" grounds.[1]

      Was I wrong?

      Or, to put it another way, will there be a "Mac OS XI"? I really did think they'd concluded that they'd serendipitously hit on a neat name, and would stick with it...

      If Ecks-not-Ten is not "sanctioned", what is the point of "OS X 10.4"? How am I supposed to say that? Does Jobs actually say, Oh Ess Ten Ten Point Four"??

      1. Except for the *BSD's, which, I believe, end with "D". ;-)

    65. Re:before anyone else does it... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      My new motto is: Don't let the modtards grind you down. I'd translate that to latin, but I don't know the latin word for "retarded moderators". Modtardi?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    66. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you miscounted new features releases.

      Also, the bug number is off a bit, but I think things start off like:

      3.14.15926535...

      (I think I read somewhere that Microsoft promises longhorn once they work the bugs out of the current OS.)

    67. Re:before anyone else does it... by Creepy · · Score: 2, Informative

      yep - you can count on some slashdot nerd to correct your versioning:

      technically, it'd be 4.y.z

      Windows 4.0 was the internal name for NT and actually was the version reported by Windows itself. XP is derived from the kernel and source of NT and is not backwards compatible to Windows 3.x. Windows 95/98/ME technically should have been Windows 4.0, since they broke backwards compatibility with 3.1, but since NT came first and took the version (at least internally) they went with a new naming scheme. The only reason Windows 95/98/ME and 2000/XP interoperate is because they use the same APIs. Underneath, they run completely different (this is also why WINE can run Windows apps without emulation on Linux).

      Incidentally, the internal version of 2000 is 5.0, so they broke the versioning scheme with that release, as well. If I recall correctly, XP and 2003 are also 5.0 internally (go to Control Panel->System if you're really inclined to find out).

    68. Re:before anyone else does it... by qube99 · · Score: 0, Troll

      If you want to use those high tech two button mice in OSX you have to get the new version. Those brainiacs at Apple finally figured out how to make and support a two button mouse!

      Although I do have to admit that an OS that even Terry Schiavo could use can't be THAT bad....

    69. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ;) some people with Slashdot mod points are known to mod "no the earth revolves around the sun " as flamebait /troll .
      Fcastro--

    70. Re:before anyone else does it... by LordNimon · · Score: 3, Informative

      FYI, Unison was reviewed in the most recent issue of Linux Journal: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7712.

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    71. Re:before anyone else does it... by Napalm+Boy · · Score: 2, Funny

      It seems to me that Apple are doing versioning right.

      I don't know about this whole point release thing. I mean, personally, I want my operating system to go to eleven. OSX doesn't go to eleven!

      --
      Well, the door was open...
    72. Re:before anyone else does it... by mbbac · · Score: 1

      That should have read...

      Core Image can also be executed in the Velocity Engine (AltiVec) when a sufficient GPU isn't available.

      --

      mbbac

    73. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after? OS XI?

      BTW, it's "Mac OS X", not OSX and it's not sort of, it was the 10th version of Mac OS. The last version before Mac OS X was Mac OS 9.2. They were being clever with the roman numeral since X is also widespread in the Unix world, such as X Windows, linux, XTerm, X Motif, etc.. However, I agree with you that Apple now is stuck with it and resort to 10.major upgrade.minor update versioning numbers.

      I think Apple should no longer insist that X is a roman numeral and pronounce it as "Ecks". They should just use it to signify the Unix foundations. Then they can just call the new version Mac OS "Ecks" v. 4.0. But then again, with the big cat nicknames, laypeople don't care about the version numbers.

    74. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who is this stuff targeted toward? I don't have any clients who use video anything. Who is watching all this stuff or is there a hobby underground somewhere which makes use of these features? My guess is that if you are watching movies on the job, you don't have enough real work to do.

    75. Re:before anyone else does it... by Paradox · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the Dashboard stuff is significantly better than Konfabulator, and it's going to have a development API that isn't retarded.

      Since I'm going to buy 10.4 anyways, why-oh-why would I buy Konfabulator as well?

      --
      Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
    76. Re:before anyone else does it... by DrXym · · Score: 1
      Apple have hit upon the perfect subscription model - release frequent point releases (yes it is a point release) for $129 or so and pull the rug from older revisions as you do so.

      People have no choice but to continue paying every year or so or they're left with a Mac that doesn't run any new software / hardware.

    77. Re:before anyone else does it... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1
      One time I threw a brick at a duck.
      I gotta know - why did you do it, and what happened when you did?

      I think afterward he got a little down on himself.

    78. Re:before anyone else does it... by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 1

      they're running out of cool cat names... I can't think of any more. Calico just doesn't have the same cool factor as Tiger :)

      --
      Kiteboarding Gear Mention slashdot and get 10% off!
    79. Re:before anyone else does it... by pik0 · · Score: 0

      And lest we forget, Apple spends $400,000,000 a year on R&D. Am I willing to help fund that? You bet. Besides it's only $99 on Amazon [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002G71T0 ] if you pre-order.

    80. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do not believe you have any idea what Windows NT 5.1 is. Thus, please stop talking.

    81. Re:before anyone else does it... by Pfhreak · · Score: 1

      (I think I read somewhere that Microsoft promises longhorn once they work the bugs out of the current OS.)

      In other words: never?

      --
      The U.S. Constitution needs to be ammended with a "separation of business and state" clause.
    82. Re:before anyone else does it... by Dylan+Zimmerman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Furthermore, when you pay Apple that $130, you're getting a full install disk set, not just an upgrade. And when you consider that a full OS install disk of Windows NT 5.1 Pro costs $300, Apple's "tax" suddenly seems a lot cheaper.

    83. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      OK that pretty much what i would have said , i do use konfabulator now , but the dashboard improves upon all the areas i have problems with konflab , like as parent said the API

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    84. Re:before anyone else does it... by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

      Beats me, why don't you ask the original poster.

      I was merely pointing out that those Konfabulator whiners aren't even original.

    85. Re:before anyone else does it... by damiam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just keep in mind that buying a Mac Mini doesn't give you a license to put Tiger on your iBook. Not that anyone's stopping you, but if you don't care about proper licensing you might as well just pirate it in the first place. :-)

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    86. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the people making movies as their job?

    87. Re:before anyone else does it... by NardofDoom · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's called OS X because OS 10 was already taken and because it was a major innovation from OS 9 and they didn't want to confuse people.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    88. Re:before anyone else does it... by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 1

      They need to name 10.5 "Kzinti".

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
    89. Re:before anyone else does it... by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 1
      Does that mean Windows XP should really be called Windows 3.15.8734?
      Indeed! My personal favorite release was 3.14.1592653589793.
    90. Re:before anyone else does it... by Moofie · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And Konfabulator also takes up 25-50% of my CPU time! Whee!

      I paid for the program. As a paying customer, I wish that they'd spend a little more time streamlining their code, and a little less time whining about how Apple stole their idea.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    91. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mac OS X-2, of course.

      But if you write it in roman numeral, it becomes Mac OS XII. Whatever happened to Mac OS XI?

    92. Re:before anyone else does it... by cowscows · · Score: 1

      Actually I never did. The story behind that was when I was in college, I had to sit through a little class that was basically an intro to Quark. I was already fairly familiar with quark, so I did most of the assigned tasks in as random and bizarre ways that i could. For the largest piece of text on my final presentation, I came up with the text, "One time I threw a brick at a duck". It wasn't true, but it made me smile. When my assignment was submitted, it caused a little bit of controversy amongst some faculty members who thought it might be true. It wasn't hard to clear up, and the whole situation was actually pretty amusing. So I make it my sig on most forums, cause even if my post is boring, maybe people will talk about bricks and ducks.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    93. Re:before anyone else does it... by aldoman · · Score: 1

      Yes, but with the G4 the FSB is choked to hell already. Chucking down really complex pixel shading effects to do on the _CPU_ is going to slow it down so much it's going to be unusable for anything more than the most basic effects. If it was easy and fast to do on the CPU we would of already seen it. The fact is that you need a dedicated unit for this, on the GPU.

      I agree entirely on your second point, apart from the time frame. I'd guess it'll be 3 years before the majority of the Mac userbase has a pixel shader onboard. I mean, after 5 years of OSX only 60-80% of the userbase has moved, and all that takes is a CD inserted into the drive, and not a new Mac that many will need for PS support.

      I'm sure some of the new features will be useful, but to me it seems that Tiger is being completely overhyped.

    94. Re:before anyone else does it... by vocaro · · Score: 1

      I was going to say basically the same thing, but in a very informative and polite way. This post is so much better; somebody mod up as funny! I'm still LOL...

    95. Re:before anyone else does it... by mikeee · · Score: 1

      iSync in 10.3 doesn't really support very many phones (and no new ones); any word on big changes/updates there?

    96. Re:before anyone else does it... by aldoman · · Score: 1

      The thing is that Apple could put a NVidia 5200 on it and it would be able to do this. But instead they continue shipping the frankly bollocks Radeon 9200. How much would it cost to upgrade it? $10, $15?

    97. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Ecks-not-Ten is not "sanctioned", what is the point of "OS X 10.4"? How am I supposed to say that?

      mac oh ess ten, release ten point four

    98. Re:before anyone else does it... by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Ocelot.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    99. Re:before anyone else does it... by salimma · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not sure that Solaris still follows the 2.x convention, but underneath it, the kernel is still SunOS 5.x

      --
      Michel
      Fedora Project Contribut
    100. Re:before anyone else does it... by feloneous+cat · · Score: 1

      But, but, but who would be stupid enough to pay 129 bucks for a POINT release...for the love of god!

      GEEZ (slaps forehead) how could I be so stupid!!! Thank you for this bit of insight. My god, had I realized it was ONLY A POINT release.

      thankyou you've beening such a wonderful audience

      We'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waiters and waitresses, their hard working folks. And how about the people here at Slashdot? Huh? Let's give them a round of applause!

      --
      IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
    101. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for the story - it really is a cool sig. Great mental image.

    102. Re:before anyone else does it... by rsborg · · Score: 1

      It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after? Mac OS X-2, of course. Uh, how about OS X^2?

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    103. Re:before anyone else does it... by Gorbag · · Score: 1
      some operations are hundreds or thousands of times faster than they used to be
      You know, no matter how much they speed up NOP, the idle loop still pegs out at 99% on my machine!
      --
      -- I speak only for myself
    104. Re:before anyone else does it... by shotfeel · · Score: 1

      Well, the old iSync requires a .mac account for Mac-to-Mac syncing, I don't know about the new one. I'm assuming its the same.

      And yes, it does seem like a stupid limitation. I can sync my Mac with my phone or PDA without going through .mac, but if I want to sync my desktop to my laptop, I have to send the data through the 'net first. The one nice thing is the .Mac account keeps all the sync information, so you've always got a good backup of all that info.

    105. Re:before anyone else does it... by shotfeel · · Score: 1

      As I've said before, Dashboard is great for entry level programming (kind of the Hypercard of the new century). What I'm not so sure of is once again treating "Desk Accessories" as being somehow different than "normal" apps and placing them in their own UI layer.

    106. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Much of the Core Image/Video API will NOT work on G3s.
      2. Some of Core Image will always use a AltiVec rendering path.
      3. The real importance of Core Image, is the new 128-bit color model. (each RBG channel gets its own 32-bits (as floating point number). Plus and alpha channel to make make it an even 128-bit number. (Which conveniently is exactly the size of the AltiVec register.) Core Image also has other color models its supports.

    107. Re:before anyone else does it... by shotfeel · · Score: 1

      I don't know. What kind of cat eats Longhorns?

      I always thought it was amusing that Apple names their OS releases after fast, nimble predators. While MS names theirs after the prey.

      So what does that mean?

    108. Re:before anyone else does it... by utexaspunk · · Score: 1

      z: Bug fixes y: New features x: Backwards compatibility break Does that mean Windows XP should really be called Windows 3.15.8734? You probably want to drop the z value a bit :-)

      Actually, they haven't added THAT many new features, and the bug fixes will be endless, so it should look something like...

      3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993 751058209749445923078164062862...

      well, let's just call it windows pi

    109. Re:before anyone else does it... by utexaspunk · · Score: 1

      Damn! Forgot the second decimal! I knew I shoulda previewed

      z: Bug fixes
      y: New features
      x: Backwards compatibility break

      Does that mean Windows XP should really be called Windows 3.15.8734?

      You probably want to drop the z value a bit :-)


      Actually, they haven't added THAT many new features, and the bug fixes will be endless, so it should look something like...

      3.14.1592653589793238462643383279502884197169399 3751058209749445923078164062862...

      well, let's just call it windows pi

    110. Re:before anyone else does it... by shotfeel · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But the point is, its not going to be any slower.

      What's great about it (and many of the things Apple has done) is that it uses the fastest available hardware to do the job.

      You don't have a GPU that can handle the job, Altivec will do it.
      Don't have Altivec, the core of the CPU will do it.

      On other systems, either you have to have the hardware "required", or each developer has to handle checking for hardware and writing/optimizing all the code to handle the different configurations.

      That's a huge feature IMO. Its not so much doing things that can't be done on "lesser" hardware, its about always using the fastest hardware available for the job.

    111. Re:before anyone else does it... by shotfeel · · Score: 1

      Or maybe, with the given space, power use, and heat dissapation requirements, its impossible at any price.

    112. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You do realize that your desk clock, calculator, notepad and calendar would still be available in their original form if the Aztecs were still around?

      : )

    113. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anubis350 · · Score: 1

      well, define new. When I got my powerbook I had just gotten my motorola v600, synced fine.....

      10.3 is getting old now, I assume 10.4 will support more phones.

      --
      "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
    114. Re:before anyone else does it... by nuggetman · · Score: 1

      Five

      --
      ...and that's all there is to it.
    115. Re:before anyone else does it... by aftk2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you think about it, it's almost like a concession to Windows's application model.

      Wait! Wait! Hear me out.

      On Windows, every app gets its own menu bar. Essentially, every app lives in its own self-contained window. I find this very irritating for 90% of applications (SQL Server, I'm looking at you). On the Mac, by contrast, every app gets essentially full control of its space, including the system's one menu bar, when the app in particular is focused. This, I like.

      90% of the time.

      But what about apps that really are one window apps. This isn't like iTunes, or iPhoto, because these apps have menu bars, and separate palettes. I mean, apps like Stickies, or a calculator. Furthermore, why do I need the calculator sitting in the Dock, when it's just one window, that I don't need to see most of the time?

      Enter Dashboard. Basically, it groups all of these one-window-apps into one place, and lets that particular area come and go as easily as Expose does. Your one-window-apps live in one giant container app, which is then treated like any other multi-window application.

      Anyway. I think it's neat. I'll be buying Tiger as soon as it's available.

      --
      concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
    116. Re:before anyone else does it... by aldoman · · Score: 1

      Sure, it sounds very 'science-fiction cool' to have the system 'automatically' choose the best system and reoptimise it for it, but it's really not very practical.

      The fact is that the GPU will be 10-25x+ faster than Altivec vector processing unit. Altivec will probably be 2-5x faster than the CPU. If this is going to mean you get 5fps on an effect vs 100fps or more it's going to be a big deal. If you can only get 5fps with the vast majority of the userbase you are not going to spend loads of extra programming time and money creating a completetly different codepath for pixel shaders vs altivec vs normal, and scaling down the effects as you go along.

    117. Re:before anyone else does it... by AoT · · Score: 1

      modituri nescimus!!!

    118. Re:before anyone else does it... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      It's just WebDAV though, so a hack isn't that hard

      In 10.3, mount_webdav still doesn't support https. Does anyone know if this is fixed in Tiger? I poked around in the source, but it was fairly arcane, and I don't want to add this feature if Apple are going to do it themselves. To me, WebDAV without SSL is useless - I don't want to broadcast my files across the Internet unencrypted - but with SSL it would be a very useful feature.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    119. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      This is so very true , if you ever feel like posting as yourself to my journal i would be glad to add you to my freinds list , speaking as someone who has read the bible , the quoran , the tora , the sri isopanisad , the tao te ching and several other religious documents i am amazed how often these forth right religious types with firm faiths have yet to read there own books .Just the other day i ahd a couple of mormons over at my door , they gave me a rather puzzled look when i said "let them come unto me" then continued to quote , in the end i told them to piss off as they got it into there head that me quoting a bible verse ment i was A) intrested and B) christian , so i informed them i was neither and was basicaly pointing out the hipocracy
      Fcatsro

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    120. Re:before anyone else does it... by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Almost. The NT kernels are not all 4.0 the first was 3.5. Windows 2000 represented enough change to go to 5.0 and has therefore not unusual in its numeration.

      And Windows XP is 5.1, and Windows 2003 is 5.2

    121. Re:before anyone else does it... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      You can count on another Slashdot nerd to correct your correction.

      The first version of Windows NT was version 3.1 (it was thought people wouldn't buy it if it had a lower version number than non-NT Windows). 3.1 was followed by 3.5, 3.51, 4.0, 5.0 (2000), 5.1 (XP) and (I think) 5.2 (2003). All of these will still run code from Windows NT 3.1, and so do not deserve a major revision number increment. Several NT service packs included new features, so 15 as a minor revision sounds about right.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    122. Re:before anyone else does it... by MemoryDragon · · Score: 1

      I just wonder, CoreImage needs pixel shaders, the mac mini, was in the first time to be regarded as not being able to support core image, but the integrated radeon 9200 can do pixel shading (first generation pixel shader) So what is Apple doing regarding the mini. I cannot see how pumping pixel data over an agp and rather slow mem interface on the mini into altivec and pumping the image data back over agp into the radeon might help speed. It might be even worse once, font rendering is done over core image.

    123. Re:before anyone else does it... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      Did they? I don't think I know anyone who upgraded from NT 5.0 to 5.1. Everyone I know who uses 5.1 either got it with a new PC, or migrated from the 9x series. Those who were on 5.0 already stuck with it.

      On the other hand, I don't know anyone who stuck with OS X 10.2 when 10.3 came out, because 10.3 was packed full of incentives to upgrade. The only incentive to upgrade to Windows NT 5.1 is that support for 5.0 is going to stop soon.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    124. Re:before anyone else does it... by Mr.Progressive · · Score: 1
      the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after?

      OS Xtreme! (they already did it with the Airport)

      --
      Okay, so a philosopher, a philologist, and a philatelist walk into a bar...
    125. Re:before anyone else does it... by object88 · · Score: 1

      I always thought it was amusing that Apple names their OS releases after fast, nimble predators. While MS names theirs after the prey.

      Actually, Longhorn cattle are pretty lethal. My wife witnessed one gut a horse with one sweep of a horn. The guy riding the horse was trying to rope the cattle, and ended up having second thoughts.

      Not that this has anything to do with Microsoft... ;)

    126. Re:before anyone else does it... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I read your Retardist Manifesto.

      One thing. I think you should change "pseudo-intellectual" to "sado-intellectual".

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    127. Re:before anyone else does it... by ChatHuant · · Score: 1

      I always thought it was amusing that Apple names their OS releases after fast, nimble predators. While MS names theirs after the prey.

      So what does that mean?


      It means you don't know what you're talking about. The only Microsoft code name that could be a big cat prey was Impala (NT 4 embedded). You may say so's Longhorn, but the origin of the code name is in reality the name of a saloon positioned between the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, in Whistler BC. Look here for a more complete list of internal code names.

    128. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "X" is actually the Greek letter Chi. The next release after OS Chi is OS Psi. It will have mind-reading abilities.

    129. Re:before anyone else does it... by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      Apple should just rename it to Mac OS 10. Everyone understood what Mac OS 9 meant. Does Mac OS X 10.4 really mean Mac Os "Ten" 10.4? so many tens.. :)

    130. Re:before anyone else does it... by admactanium · · Score: 1
      Just keep in mind that buying a Mac Mini doesn't give you a license to put Tiger on your iBook. Not that anyone's stopping you, but if you don't care about proper licensing you might as well just pirate it in the first place. :-)
      there is something stopping him though. the system restore discs that come with apple computers are specific to those machines and you cannot use them to install the system on other machines.

      i believe there was a crack around for them at one point, but i'd suspect that apple has since closed up that hole.

    131. Re:before anyone else does it... by ktistec · · Score: 1

      a little bit of controversy amongst some faculty members

      Wel-l-l-l... Lor' love a... duck, I guess!

      ...I can just imagine the furrowed brows, the intense whispered conversations, the handkerchiefs ripped in half, the can-you-squeeze-me-in-for-an-extra-session calls to therapists...

      There are a lot of the humor-challenged (in this case, I should say whimsy-challenged, I guess) in the academy, eh?[1]

      Witness "P.C."

      (There. You shoulda said, One time I threw a stone at a white male. That woulda been OK!

      1. Especially when they're dolphin-hugging Mac users! ;-)

    132. Re:before anyone else does it... by iroll · · Score: 1

      Also because it's x-treme.

      --
      Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
    133. Re:before anyone else does it... by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 1

      Altivec is more than 2-5x faster than the CPU, if you're strictly coding an Altivec codepath.

      At the least, Altivec deals with a 128bit data path; if you're processing bytes, that's 16x the data bandwidth, if you're processing floats that's 4x. Of course there's local inefficiencies so you won't really see the max, but on data intensive parts you can come close.

      Also you seem to have forgotten we're talking about CoreImage and CoreVideo; the userbase won't NEED to code for pixel shaders vs altivec vs normal. The whole point of these libraries is that they handle that for you, so you code to CoreImage, and it will handle the CPU, Altivec, and GPU rendering paths.

    134. Re:before anyone else does it... by Gen-GNU · · Score: 1

      I'm way too late for anyone to read this, but...

      rsync is available for the mac. clicky

    135. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's less a point release to X - more a new version.

      Move the decimal over one and it makes sense. They're able to keep the big "X" for the marketing side to continue the fascination/brand of X and make new releases. 10.4 is more akin to OS 14 than a point version of OS X. The same has held true for all the releases of OS X. Don't focus on just the number and look at the parts that make it new. Little fixes are 10.x.x, major new versions are 10.x (OS X, version 1, 2, 3, now 4.)

    136. Re:before anyone else does it... by Creepy · · Score: 1

      That's right, NT versioning followed or was similar to Windows 3.1 originally - I forgot all about it because I barely used it. I never saw/heard of NT 3.1, but used 3.5.1 briefly on Alpha and Intel boxes.

      In any case, it really shoulda been named 4.0 or 1.0 from the onset, depending on the convention they wanted to use. MacOS should be at 8, for that matter, as 8 and 9 were really point releases with version inflation. The APIs between NT and 9x are not 100% backward or forward compatible - you can write Windows 9x stuff that won't run on NT and NT stuff that won't run on 9x (both have kernel specific, mostly deprecated APIs), so it warrants a new version, not a point rev.

    137. Re:before anyone else does it... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      The sad fact is that in some areas, Catholic schools are better than the public schools, and there are no secular private school alternatives. I've known a few Jews who went to Catholic schools, because their parents believed in getting the best education possible. (IIRC, they were excused from religious training).

      From what I know about the Catholic schools in my area, they have an excellent reputation, if you can overlook the religious indoctrination.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    138. Re:before anyone else does it... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      Don't be such a wimp. Just get a pirate copy. If you just explain it was either that or dying at the hand of your spouse, no one will fault you.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    139. Re:before anyone else does it... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Informative

      Last time I checked, you got both system restore and system install disks with an Apple computer. I know that's not always the case on the windows side.

      I'm not even sure what's on the system restore disks, since I've never bothered to use them.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    140. Re:before anyone else does it... by RedBear · · Score: 1

      So are you honestly going to tell me developers are going to bother developing with features that only 10-20% of their already small userbase can use?

      I would think that for the high-end video and graphics applications that CoreImage and CoreVideo will really be useful for, that 10-20% already comprised nearly 100% of their userbase. In other words, the graphics professionals who are going to be using professional graphics applications that make good use of CI/CV will all have high-end Macs which will have the requisite hardware. And, since CI/CV is so cool, more and more graphics professionals will move to the Mac platform, so the userbase will be growing. Also, as someone else said, CI/CV will work on lesser Macs, it will just be a little slower.

      I don't see any real problem. I'm sure the average home user will make do just fine with the stock video cards that come installed in the bottom-end machines. You get what you pay for, and the low-end Mac cards already seem to be better than your average low-end PC video card. The form factor is a large part of the draw of both the Mac mini and the iBook anyway, so most owners won't even care that much about the video cards.

      Nothing to see here...

    141. Re:before anyone else does it... by jKelloggs · · Score: 1

      I believe Windows 2000 and XP are really Windows NT 5.0 and 5.1.

    142. Re:before anyone else does it... by klubar · · Score: 1

      I think the desk accessories were introduced in Mac OS 5 (maybe before). There was a calculator and some other nifty apps. Back to the future.

    143. Re:before anyone else does it... by chrism238 · · Score: 1
      If you want, you can complain that Apple's devaluing the normal versioning numbering system, but I don't think they'll care much if you do.

      No need to complain about Apple's versioning, given what Linus recently did to Linux....

    144. Re:before anyone else does it... by AoT · · Score: 1

      good call.

    145. Re:before anyone else does it... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      I went to a catholic school in scotland (primary school , which is 4-7 , then a secondry school , which is 10/11-16/18 depending)Now we got some excelent science and all round eduction , and the primary school was a flamming convent ( no not homosexual nuns, though that does give me ideas , off to have a cold shower) ..
      some of the teachers were nuns ,and do you know why we got a good education , its because in scotland we have a standerd sylibie and almost all schools( bar expensive or grant funded schools) are state run .Testing is standerdised and performance for all schools can be evenly graded , they must teach us the curriculum and having a nun teach you about eveloution is great fun when she has to tell you the truth . though we did get forced to do a prayer each morning(that did help me with smart arsed paradoy creation skills though,but that and church had persuaded me by age 7 that the chruch was a load of tripe)

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    146. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maine Coon Cat

    147. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I threw a rock at a cow once. All it did was go moo and walk briskly away.

      I would think a duck would make a more squishy and alarmed squack! sound. The duck might not end up as healthy afterward as the cow did. In a cartoonish world, it would be quite funny though.

    148. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Luckily for home Mac users, Apple doesn't cripple the OS like MS does with XP Home.

      Unlike XP Home, OSX can join a Windows domain, and share files and printers to other windows machines (without a domain).

    149. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Recently" is ONLY when Apple makes an official announcement stating that new hardware purchases from x date forward will qualify. Usually that coincides with the announcement of the release date. Which usually happens a couple weeks to a month before release.

      DON'T listen to the people saying it's a month before. This is a widely spread myth, but it's patently false. It's whatever Apple decides to do, and past history has shown it's been less than that in some cases. If you buy expecting to get a cheap upgrade because of these "helpful" people, you've only burned yourself. Wait until the official word from Apple.

      And hey, you never know - they may decide not to do this at all this year. Very unlikely, but possible.

    150. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong! It's Tiger.

    151. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Evolution has been officially accepted by the Vatican since at least the 50s. The Catholic church has been pretty much accepting of most science since the big bang theory became their accepted version of the creation of the universe. Pretty much if it doesn't discount God outright, there's not too much problem with it.

      I remember the first day of my Religion class in grade 9. Fist thing we learned was Darwin's Theory of natural selection and an overview of evolution

    152. Re:before anyone else does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there are system disks that come along with the computer that look like they're restore disks, but they're just installers.

      I've installed to lots of different computers from my ibook install disk.

  3. Question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What will apple do when they run out of felines to name their OSes after?

    1. Re:Question: by FinestLittleSpace · · Score: 1

      Make decent software? SHAZAM!

    2. Re:Question: by FidelCatsro · · Score: 4, Funny

      Apple OS XI "west highland terrier"

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    3. Re:Question: by mirko · · Score: 2, Informative

      Too late: ORA already reserved the right to use canine specimen in order to deal with Apple-related technologies.

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
    4. Re:Question: by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      Sitting with a couple of those books on my desk , i now realise where i got the inspiration for that joke .I knew i should have said OS XI " Lesser spoted african swallow"

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    5. Re:Question: by Stormwatch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why, they will start using canids, of course! Just imagine. Mac OS 10.5 Husky, Mac OS 10.6 Dobermann, Mac OS 10.7 Red Fox, Mac OS 10.8 Jackal, Mac OS 10.9 Timberwolf...

      ...oh wait. What will they do when they run out of numbers for point releases?!

    6. Re:Question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >What will they do when they run out of numbers for point releases?! Since there is an infinite number of integers, that's unlikely. Q: What comes after OS X 10.9? A: OS X 10.10

      ...or did you think OS X 10.9 was "Oh Ess Ten Ten and nine tenths?" ;-)

    7. Re:Question: by Psykechan · · Score: 1

      What will they do when they run out of numbers for point releases?!

      The great thing about numbers is that they can be recycled. Add another digit as a marker and start the count over again at 0.

      Sure, things may not look right and some people may be confused (wait, 10.10 is higher than 10.3?) but who said it has to make any sense.

      I mean I still get dizzy thinking about OSX which came after OS9 but can run X11 which hasn't had a major number increase in X years.

    8. Re:Question: by Mechcozmo · · Score: 1
      What's wrong with 10.10? You aren't using REAL numbers here. Just numbering version releases. Version: 10, Sub-Version: 10, Update: 0

      10.3.10 is looking like a reality currently...

      You could have 10.341890834.1 if you wanted.

    9. Re:Question: by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      I can't help but wonder if anyone has ever had a version 3.141592?

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    10. Re:Question: by Pollardito · · Score: 1

      i'm sure every developer wants to hear their OS runs like a dog

    11. Re:Question: by cyber11 · · Score: 1
      TeX
      $ tex
      This is TeXk, Version 3.141592 (Web2C 7.5.2)
      %&-line parsing enabled.
      (/usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.tetex/web2c/cp8bit.t cx)
      **
    12. Re:Question: by mirko · · Score: 1

      TeX current version is 3.14.

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
    13. Re:Question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Knuth's TeX uses pi as its version number, each new release gets a new digit so the version number gets more like Pi.

      When he dies, TeX will be "done" and its version number will change to "Pi".

    14. Re:Question: by toQDuj · · Score: 0

      > I can't help but wonder if anyone has ever had a version 3.141592? actually that would be 3.141593 since if you round off pi (3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939931 058) it would be closer to 3.141593 than 3.141592 given the 6 as the eight number. B.

      --
      Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
    15. Re:Question: by John+Harrison · · Score: 1

      I for one am anxiously awaiting OSX 10.10.10, Miniature Daschund.

    16. Re:Question: by timholman · · Score: 1
      ...oh wait. What will they do when they run out of numbers for point releases?!

      I think the answer is obvious. Several years from now, after OS X.9 has been released and gotten long in the tooth, Apple's subsequent OS upgrade will be OS XX. Then Apple will start all over with OS XX.1, XX.2, XX.3, etc.
    17. Re:Question: by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I'm still waiting for the Cocker Spaniel book. I don't care if it covers technology I'll never use. I just want an O'Reilly book with a Cocker Spaniel on the cover.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    18. Re:Question: by circusboy · · Score: 1

      mmmmm OS XXX... but I wonder if that will mean you get to look but not touch... virtual interfaces anyone?

      side note, when will someone develop the theremin mouse? would would people STILL be complaining about the lack of buttons?

      --
      -- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
    19. Re:Question: by sedna · · Score: 2, Interesting


      Well TeX is at 3.141592. Donald Knuth is converging the version number to PI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX/

    20. Re:Question: by onlyjoking · · Score: 1

      Didn't stop O'Reilly.

    21. Re:Question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ultimate man's OS: Pussy.

      There will be a dual release with the ultimate woman's OS: COX

    22. Re:Question: by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 1

      What will apple do when they run out of felines to name their OSes after?

      I think there are at least 40 species of felines, so given the current release rate I think in the year 2075 or so, when it becomes an issue, they will have to think of something new.

    23. Re:Question: by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      What will apple do when they run out of felines to name their OSes after?

      They start naming them after hybrid species...

      Futur mac rumour: "I heard that OSX 'Liger' would be coded for it's skills in magic!"

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    24. Re:Question: by IntergalacticWalrus · · Score: 1

      Still plenty of feline species. My estimates show they'll most likely have to worry about the Year 2038 problem first. Then, six years later, in 1976, they will run out of feline names.

    25. Re:Question: by proverbialcow · · Score: 1

      OS X.9453: "CowboyNeal"

      Of course, they'd have to go through "Ocelot" first, which would be kick-ass.

      --
      The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
  4. FP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I woulda got first post but Bittorrent is using all my bandwidth downloading OS X Tiger Final Canidate.

    sgarringer@gmail.com

    1. Re:FP? by BandwidthHog · · Score: 1

      It's been all I could do not to snag a copy from the warez scene. It's been even worse than trying not to sneak a peak at the presents before christmas morning. I'm very proud of myself for having resisted the temptation. Now SHIP THE FUCKING THING ALREADY!

      --

      Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
  5. And when Tiger is released... by jwthompson2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I will bow down and pay tribute for my copy...

    --
    Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
    1. Re:And when Tiger is released... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      pay tribute for my copy...

      Do you think a goat or lamb will suffice? Or maybe an oxen?

    2. Re:And when Tiger is released... by jwthompson2 · · Score: 1

      I'm betting on a couple of turtledoves and at least one four-eyed virgin...

      --
      Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
    3. Re:And when Tiger is released... by JHromadka · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm waiting on Tiger so I can buy a Mac mini to use as a test server. Thing is, Apple has historically released OS X updates on the 24th of the month, and that falls on a Sunday. If no major issues in the FC, perhaps it will ship on Fri the 22.

      --
      "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft
    4. Re:And when Tiger is released... by MooseByte · · Score: 1

      "I'm betting on a couple of turtledoves and at least one four-eyed virgin..."

      I don't think it's the eyes you should be wishing that virgin has four of.

      This monkey only has three asses! It is of no use to me! -Dr. Mephisto

    5. Re:And when Tiger is released... by badriram · · Score: 1

      I think will just pay 500, and get a computer with my OS. Tribute, well i will leave that when this OS dies and the next one comes along....

    6. Re:And when Tiger is released... by DoctorPepper · · Score: 1

      Actually, I will buy the family pack 5 license version for $199. My wife and I both own iMacs, and it is cheaper to upgrade them that way. We did the same thing when Panther came out.

      --

      No matter where you go... there you are.
    7. Re:And when Tiger is released... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think any Tiger would enjoy a tasty zebra. ... or perhaps it could devour a Longhorn steer. ;)

    8. Re:And when Tiger is released... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amazon has a $50 rebate coupon for the Tiger Family Pack, so only $149.

  6. Grrrrrr by jimijon · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's Great!

    --
    Mind | Body | Spirit | Cash
  7. Innovation! by ischorr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Interesting... Tell me more about this "release candidate" thing that Apple seems to have invented for large software products? =)

    1. Re:Innovation! by Peer · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately it's patented, so I can't really tell you about it.

    2. Re:Innovation! by Gneral+Tsao · · Score: 1

      I believe it's "A Method for Teasing Customers Under the Appearance of Quality Control", but I though MS owned it.

    3. Re:Innovation! by Mechcozmo · · Score: 1
      "Unless something is majority screwed up with it, this is a pretty good idea of what you're gonna get when you buy that CD or DVD."

      Yes, Tiger can and does come on DVDs.... Panther did.

  8. Paying again... by xtracto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to see them ship this sooner rather than later. People are excited about this release and we'd like to get our hands on it to become familiar with it.

    I hope this release sticks around for a few years and Apple chooses to update it rather than come up with some new cat name and ask people to pay for it. I doubt that, however, since OS updates seems to be a major cash cow for Apple.

    They are inadvertently (or purposefully) creating a situation where people are running 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and now 10.4...makes it very tough for developers. We can't assume that everyone has the money to upgrade their OS all the time (and yes, I know they should).

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    1. Re:Paying again... by medazinol · · Score: 1, Funny

      You'll get your wish soon enough. Watch Apple's (and everybody else's site) on friday ;)

    2. Re:Paying again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FWICS it doesn't "make it tough for developers", the developers just ignore versions latest. I run 10.2, but lately whenever I try and find software all I see is "this requires 10.3.4 or later". Fuckwits. Not everyone has $150-odd to spend on OS updates.

    3. Re:Paying again... by elbobo · · Score: 4, Informative

      You know, you don't have to pay for each new OS each year. You can skip one, or hell, two if you like.

      The incredibly amount of work that goes into each new major OS X version easily justifies putting a price tag on them. These aren't Windows 98 to Windows Me steps, these are considerable feature and functionality upgrades.

      As to writing software for them, my understanding is that they haven't often broken backwards compatibility, and thus haven't broken forwards compatibility. If you want your app to work for multiple versions, then only use the feature set exposed by the lowest version you want your app to be capable of running on. I don't think that's creating an unfair situation for developers at all.

    4. Re:Paying again... by birdman17 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      They are inadvertently (or purposefully) creating a situation where people are running 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and now 10.4...

      Don't forget the folks running 10.0!

      I got off the upgrade bandwagon at 10.2. I have seen various applications that run on 10.2 and 10.3 but not 10.1, so I think the 10.2 move was a good one, but I haven't found a lot of reasons for going to 10.3 for $129. If stuff starts coming out that I want to run and it no longer runs on 10.2, I might think about upgrading. But from the release notes I've seen, it looks like 10.2 and 10.3 are more or less identical from an API point of view, at least for the average application. (Applications don't seem to have separate binaries for the two OS versions.) So if this is the case, developers who support 10.3 will probably inadvertently be supporting 10.2 as well, and so I won't have to worry for a while yet.

    5. Re:Paying again... by mbbac · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you haven't noticed already, their OS X release schedule is slowing. The first major revision was free and a few months after 10.0. 10.2 and 10.3 were close to a year apart. 10.4 looks like it will be released about 18 months after 10.3.

      --

      mbbac

    6. Re:Paying again... by znu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not every user has $129 to spend on OS upgrades every 12-24 months... but on the other hand, not every developer has hundreds of hours to waste implementing functionality on 10.2 that you get 'for free' on 10.3. Given the incredible new features for developers in 10.4, I'd expect there to be a lot of Tiger-only software.

      Hell, I've been waiting for Tiger to even start writing a shareware app I'm planning. Some of the new stuff, particularly Core Data and the improved SeachKit, are going to save me absolutely huge amounts of time and make my app better. Sure, it'll be Tiger-only, but I'm willing to trade off compatibility for quality and convenience. Otherwise I'd be a Windows user....

      --
      This space unintentionally left unblank.
    7. Re:Paying again... by TomorrowPlusX · · Score: 5, Informative

      In fact, Apple provides build configurations such that you can specificallly target, say 10.2 or 10.1 from 10.3, and be confident that you'll have the correct API & ABI versioning.

      That said, with each version of OS X, shareware developers salivate to use the new features, since they often make the dirty work easier, or negligible ( for exampe, Cocoa Bindings for 10.3 ).

      Obviously, the big development houses, Adobe, Quark, etc will not generally use these new features.

      --

      lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
    8. Re:Paying again... by znu · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But from the release notes I've seen, it looks like 10.2 and 10.3 are more or less identical from an API point of view, at least for the average application.

      They're not. There are some pretty big differences, most notably Bindings, which only work on 10.3, and can save developers a huge amount of drudge word implementing a GUI. Thing is, most apps presently on the market predate Bindings, and switching an app over is a lot of work, so the technology hasn't been widely adopted and a lot of apps still work on 10.2.

      With Core Data (which basically takes all the drudge work out of data modeling), Tiger is introducing something almost as significant. Maybe more significant for some apps.

      If you're writing an new OS X app now, you'd be crazy not to use Core Data and Bindings -- they'll literally save you hundreds of hours.

      Maybe large development houses have the luxury of investing all those hours to support older systems, but small operations and one-man projects generally don't. So, expect to see a lot of new apps from the small guys be Tiger-only.

      --
      This space unintentionally left unblank.
    9. Re:Paying again... by MrLint · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Id rather have it out later and have it be finished.

      If you think there is no value in the systems updates then dont buy one. Perhaps youd like win98 second edition that add neat to nothing and isnt an upgrade for the thing that do need fixing?

    10. Re:Paying again... by BioCS.Nerd · · Score: 1

      Someone probably beat me to this, but I'm pretty sure Jobs or someone at Apple mentioned that they'll be releasing major OS updates (e.g. 10.4) on a much slower schedule. Perhaps from one a year, to one every two years. I can't find a link at the moment to verify this, but I'm sure someone else will.

    11. Re:Paying again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps youd like win98 second edition that add neat to nothing and isnt an upgrade for the thing that do need fixing?

      Er, except for all the little features like the ability to use multi-gigabyte hard disks, I guess?

    12. Re:Paying again... by dmaxwell · · Score: 1

      An Apple sales rep I've talked too said as much. Apple pretty much intends a point release every 18 months.

    13. Re:Paying again... by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      You WAITED so you could save time?

    14. Re:Paying again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Skip one or two releases ?

      Hell if it does what I want I skip permanenetly until either I can't get replacement hardware for something that's died or my needs fundamentally change. I don't buy a new fridge just because a newer model comes out.

      And on this note your comparison between Windows 98 and ME made me chortle. IMHO ME was a step DOWN with 98 being only slightly better than 95.

      Yours the "guy who just surfs, emails, plays a bit of music, takes the odd digital camera snap and is STILL quite happy on a P200 64 Mb RAM Windows 95 machine (now behind a firewalled router)" guy.

    15. Re:Paying again... by Colol · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you're writing an new OS X app now, you'd be crazy not to use Core Data and Bindings -- they'll literally save you hundreds of hours.

      I agree wholeheartedly with you, but it's worth pointing out you've got to know your target to make this determination. A lot of users, particularly in the academic arena, are hanging on to Jaguar or stuck (in the case of IT departments with no budget) with Jaguar.

      One of the first feature requests I received was for Jaguar compatibility, and that was in December. Some of them are likely waiting for Tiger, but some of them will stick with Jaguar (and have said as much). And we'll see the same thing with Tiger -- some people will be all over it the first day, and some people will stick with or be stuck to Panther, leaving you without Core Data, depending on your target market.

      If the app in question was more complex, I'd probably release a final version for Jag and launch into using bindings -- writing glue code is boring, boring, boring. Key-value observation all the way, baby!

      So for all the developers new to the Mac platform: put out feelers before you commit to one set of technologies. The new stuff is cool (I'm very excited about the changes in Tiger), but it's not going to get you any love (or cash) if 50 or 60 percent of your audience isn't using a compatible version of OS X. If you're targeting academia at any level, support backwards as far as you can without ripping your hair out.

      And it's worth learning how to check the user's version of the OS and bail out gracefully if you're not supporting that version. Despite clearly stating the original system requirements as Panther, I had a dozen users contact me in the first week of release to tell me it didn't work when run on Jaguar. I have no idea where they got the impression it should work, but a dialog box could have saved me a lot of time.

    16. Re:Paying again... by ceejayoz · · Score: 1

      Windows 98 to Windows ME was a step? I'd call it a stumble...

    17. Re:Paying again... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I guess you haven't heard. 10.3 Panther is snappier!!

      And who doesn't like a snapping pussy?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    18. Re:Paying again... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      No, he waited to avoid extra work. Haven't you heard? Laziness is next to godliness (at least in my book).

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    19. Re:Paying again... by MrLint · · Score: 0, Redundant

      fat32 was introduced in win95(b) OSR2

      http://www.project9.com/fat32/

    20. Re:Paying again... by Gorbag · · Score: 1
      They are inadvertently (or purposefully) creating a situation where people are running 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and now 10.4...makes it very tough for developers. We can't assume that everyone has the money to upgrade their OS all the time (and yes, I know they should).
      That's why I hope you'll be supporting House Bill 3274.23, which guarentees every American the latest OS of his or her choice, through a large payment transfer program that will be funded by an annual tax on matter. Bill himself vouches for the program, suggesting, "it's the only thing that can possibly keep us competitive" and "Our latest OS will install itself on every machine in your household, from embedded 4 bit processors in your toaster, to that old Symbolics 3600 in your basement. Just say 'no' to so called 'free' software - it's much more expensive in the long run than just bending over."
      --
      -- I speak only for myself
    21. Re:Paying again... by rjung2k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Anyone actually believe Apple's engineers and coders like putting together a major OS release every year?

      While the initial blitz of MacOS X updates was necessary to get it established, slowing down to 18-24 months between releases is better for Apple and customers in the long term.

    22. Re:Paying again... by Angostura · · Score: 1

      Jobs has said that he expects OS X revisions to slow down a bit after Tiger.

    23. Re:Paying again... by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see them ship this sooner rather than later.

      Yeah, waiting for final QA is such a drag... finding all those exciting new bugs on our own would be fun!

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    24. Re:Paying again... by daviddennis · · Score: 1

      Bad example. Panther actually improved performance significantly on a PowerBook G4/400 (the oldest Titanium model) compared to any previous version of MacOS X.

      It's not like Windows, where the hardware upgrade is virtually compulsory for every new version of the OS.

      D

    25. Re:Paying again... by Redundant+offtopic+t · · Score: 1

      You wouldn't find that a curious concept if you had to commute in Redmond/Seattle.

    26. Re:Paying again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want your app to work for multiple versions, then only use the feature set exposed by the lowest version you want your app to be capable of running on. I don't think that's creating an unfair situation for developers at all.

      Some of us developers do.

      If you create a new feature that doesn't need any new system-level stuff in the new OS release, and you make it available as a library that developers can ship with their apps, then any version of Mac OS X can run the app.

      At first, it seems to provide less incentive for users to upgrade: I can run all my cool apps with 10.3, so why buy 10.4? But I think it actually works out better. The big apps (like Photoshop) don't use these features; Adobe has the resources to make Photoshop run on 10.2 still. But people would gladly upgrade their OS ($129) to be able to run the latest Photoshop ($600). It's the little apps ($20 shareware stuff) that this affects, because they're 1-man jobs, and they're precisely the sort of things people won't upgrade their OS for.

      Apple's cool linking mechanism just *begs* for this ("use the system library if it's at least version Y, else use the version of that library included with my app").

    27. Re:Paying again... by RedBear · · Score: 1

      The incredibly amount of work that goes into each new major OS X version easily justifies putting a price tag on them. These aren't Windows 98 to Windows Me steps, these are considerable feature and functionality upgrades.

      You forgot one of the best things: speed. Every release of OS X from 10.0 to 10.3 has run faster on the same hardware. Panther runs as well on a 1999 slot-load 350MHz iMac as OS 9 did when the machine was new.

      Every release of Windows from 1.0 to XP has run slower on the same hardware, but people continually fork over the cash for the latest version without getting nearly as many new functional features as Apple has managed to pack into each new version of OS X. Compared to the evolution of OS X, going from Windows 95 to Windows XP amounts to a bunch of driver updates and a GUI tweak, along with being forced to buy 2-4 new computers along the way to keep up with the hardware requirements.

      Anybody who thinks it's unjust to pay $129 ($99 if you find it on sale) every 18 months for such a powerful tool has a twisted view of things. Hell, I gave Mandrake $120 a year for the last two years because I felt it was important to support a good Linux distro that I happened to be using, and OS X is twice the desktop OS that Linux is. I'll bet a lot of people here pay more than $129 every 90 days to keep their gas tank full. What is the big deal? Apple has made an incredibly good and quickly improving operating system that lets you get things done. They're simultaneously providing competition for Microsoft and motivation for Linux to improve itself so that it can also compete with Microsoft effectively. They're supporting open source technologies like LDAP, CUPS and Samba. I think the deserve some monetary support if you want to use their OS.

    28. Re:Paying again... by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      I'm sure your 6 customers will be very happy with your decision.

      On the other hand, writing your app in C# will allow you to access many platforms and increase your pool of potential customers dramatically.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
  9. Count them twice by amling · · Score: 1

    Or perhaps as an Appple puppet?

    --
    70e808a22cb027cde4a6abddf6435d55
  10. Upgrade plans for new systems? by Mean_Nishka · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know what Apple typically does for new systems? I bought my G4 Powerbook about a month ago and curious if I will have to pay the full rate for the upgrade. I recall in the past there have been special discounts/freebies for new owners.

    1. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by allgood2 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Typically, there's a 30 or 60 day (I forget which) period, that if you've purchased new equipment you can get the new OS either for free or the cost of shipping, something like that. I know I got Jaguar for less than $25 when it came out, because I had just purchased a laptop before its release.

    2. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by eSims · · Score: 1, Interesting
      You're SOL...

      My personal gripe about apple... I bought an Imac 19 days before 10.3 Panther was released. Apple refused to give me the new version.

      From my experience Apple's customer service reputation is mostly hype. I have dealt with them on several issues and like the one cited above they have fallen flat every time.

      But like most people... what? Ooooo... Pretty hardware!

      --
      I .sig therefore I am!
    3. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must have called the wrong Apple, because Apple Computers, Inc. would have given you a free copy of Panther. Mod troll down.

    4. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Macs purchased after the release date of Panther that shipped with Jaguar got a free ($20 S&H) upgrade to Panther. The offers usually last until all new Mac models actually ship with Tiger, which takes a month or three.

      You won't get Tiger for free (expect the same $20 S&H) unless you purchase a new Macintosh after Tiger is released, not when it's announced. Just because Steve Jobs is announcing Tiger soon does not mean that people who purchase Macintoshes around the time of the WWDC get it for free.

    5. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      I bought my PowerBook a month or so before Panther was announced officially. There was an upgrade program for people who had bought their machines between the official announcement and the release, and so I didn't qualify. I figured I'd try anyway, and registered for the upgrade on the Apple site. A few days later, it arrived.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Upgrade plans for new systems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit. I don't understand how this myth gets spread.

      Apple has ALWAYS offered cheap upgrades to people who bought a machine AFTER the release date of OS X was ANNOUNCED. Not one minute before. There is no 30 days, no 60 days, they have NEVER done that! 10.1 was a bit of an exception, but again it was not a 30 or 60 day thing. Anyone with 10.0 could get 10.1 for $20.

      Panther was announced either 2 or 3 weeks before release. That was the window for getting a cheap upgrade, AS DETAILED in Apple's announcement. Jaguar was announced about a month before release, so its window was a bit longer.

      DO NOT listen to all these idiots spouting the same myth. WAIT until Apple makes an official announcement, and MAKE SURE it says that they will offer the cheap upgrade option. If they don't say it this time around, then it's likely that they are not doing it. If saving $129 means that much to you, then you can always wait until Tiger is available in stores. At that point, new machines will have a Tiger CD in the box (but Panther preinstalled) until they clear inventory of Panther-installed Macs.

      Shit, I wish I had read this story yesterday so I could have gotten up higher and tried to dispell the myth. A lot of people are going to buy now and be PISSED!!!!

  11. Running older hardware?! by mariox19 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Any word on how it's expected to run on older hardware: meaning, any G4 from the last 4 or 5 years?

    Every newer OS X has run better than the previous version on these machines from my experience, and from what I've heard others say. Realistically, how long can that go on though until newer versions start to overwhelm older hardware?

    Anyone with their hands on a pre-release version of Tiger have any insight into this?

    --

    quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.

    1. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Every newer OS X has run better than the previous version on these machines from my experience, and from what I've heard others say. Realistically, how long can that go on though until newer versions start to overwhelm older hardware?

      Mac OS X is a very young OS, it has been getting better WRT old machines just because first version were painful and there was a lot of places to polish, just like there'd be in any young OS who haven't had time to madurate (a good analogy would be to compare the performance of KDE 2.0 and 3.4)

    2. Re:Running older hardware?! by Sentry21 · · Score: 1

      Anyone with their hands on a pre-release version of Tiger is either a pirate or is under an NDA, so I doubt you'll get many answers, but I fully expect a performance boost across the board.

    3. Re:Running older hardware?! by mbbac · · Score: 3, Informative

      Reports are saying that Tiger will run faster than Panther on the same hardware.

      --

      mbbac

    4. Re:Running older hardware?! by Wiz · · Score: 1
      Every newer OS X has run better than the previous version on these machines from my experience, and from what I've heard others say. Realistically, how long can that go on though until newer versions start to overwhelm older hardware?

      The one thing is - does it run faster because the original code was so poor, or because the newer code is better?

      Some speed-ups also come from new graphics drivers as they come out too mind (as the GUI becomes more "snappy"!).

    5. Re:Running older hardware?! by alanQuatermain · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't have the latest seed installed yet (I'm still a couple builds behind latest here), but it seems surprisingly spry on an old slot-loading G3 iMac. So, I can confirm your expectations.

      That said, I would expect that the performance difference be less noticeable on newer machines - although I haven't seen it run on a G5 yet...

    6. Re:Running older hardware?! by drsmithy · · Score: 0, Troll
      Any word on how it's expected to run on older hardware: meaning, any G4 from the last 4 or 5 years?

      Probably the same way it runs on them now - barely adequately.

    7. Re:Running older hardware?! by Mechcozmo · · Score: 1
      No... Macs tend to seem like they are running as fast as ever-- until you head down to the Apple Store and drool over the Dual 2.5 GHz G5s there. Then your computer seems really slow. But before that, it was flying!

      Personal experience speaking, here.

    8. Re:Running older hardware?! by outZider · · Score: 1

      That could probably be used to describe a 350 MHz iMac, but on any 450 G4 and above I've used, as long as you have 512 meg of RAM, it's pure gold.

      --
      - oZ
      // i am here.
    9. Re:Running older hardware?! by drsmithy · · Score: 1
      That could probably be used to describe a 350 MHz iMac, but on any 450 G4 and above I've used, as long as you have 512 meg of RAM, it's pure gold.

      I call my 768MB, 1Ghz, 8MB-cache HDD iBook barely adequate. Which is to say, it does what I bought it to do (occasional on the road web browsing, email and DVD playing) quite well, but I'd hate to have to do any real work on it involving more than a couple of applications or windows open at once.

    10. Re:Running older hardware?! by Colol · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Amen! As long as you stay away from the newer stuff, you're good.

      I made the mistake a couple years ago of playing with a Power Mac G4 back when all I had was a 500MHz iBook G3. CompUSA offered a trade-in shortly thereafter (which, frighteningly enough, was nearly market value), and out the door I went with a new Power Mac.

      I made the mistake recently of playing with an iMac G5. But I've got other things I need more, so I'm safe from the upgrade bug for the moment. If $1100 magically dropped in my lap, though... That said, the bigger part of my iMac experience was screen envy (I'm stuck at 1024x768 because my freakish eyes see flicker below 85Hz) -- the 20" is downright immersive and the 17" is plenty gorgeous and capacious.

      So yes, if you go to the Apple Store, don't touch the computers unless you're shopping for one. Wander around the gadgets and the software and don't make eye contact with the systems. Just plug your ears and shout "la la la" when some customer gasps over how fast the G5 is or how big the display is.

    11. Re:Running older hardware?! by airdrummer · · Score: 0

      sorry 2 feed a troll, but x3.8 works just fine on a 300mHz G3 clamshell:-)

    12. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A little bit from Column A, a little bit from Column B.

      A lot of the stuff that OS X is based on wasn't really designed for anything other than x86, so a lot of the optimizations are for x86 hardware. They've been constantly refactoring and retooling it to run better on PowerPC hardware. I'm told they're also using IBM's PowerPC optimizing compiler for some added speed boost for 'core' OS functions.

    13. Re:Running older hardware?! by mariox19 · · Score: 2

      Can you recall where you may have read any of these reports?

      I mean, you wouldn't mind if I verify, right? ;-)

      --

      quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.

    14. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well the, I call you full of shit. I'm running on exactly that, and I use 6+ applications and apps like Final Cut Pro on it.

      If you're actually being serious about your performance, I suggest you take your laptop in for servicing, because there's something badly wrong with it.

    15. Re:Running older hardware?! by SSpade · · Score: 1

      10.4 pre-release (which will have debugging code and will likely be slower than the final release) is running as well as or better on my 800MHz iLamp than 10.3 release does on my 867MHz PowerBook.

    16. Re:Running older hardware?! by mbbac · · Score: 1

      Go to it, I'm sure you know how to use Google as well as I.

      --

      mbbac

    17. Re:Running older hardware?! by myov · · Score: 1

      I'm now using a Powerbook for the same reason. We bought new G4's at work a few months before, and they were so much faster than my G3.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    18. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've got to be kidding me. I am running the bejeezus load of apps on a lowly g4 400mhz powerbook. This machine is not fast but still quite adequate.

      You are an insensitive clod.

    19. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First, you get the code to run correctly. THEN you speed it up.

      Optimization takes time, and there's not much point in jumping into it full-bore until the system is running right. Among other things, you may have debug code still in place well after initial release, etc.

    20. Re:Running older hardware?! by alc6379 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Reports are saying that Tiger will run faster than Panther on the same hardware.

      BALDERDASH! Everyone knows that Jaguars run faster than Panthers, and Panthers can run faster than Tigers!

      My thoughts would have been they'd start with the slowest cat, and move onto the fastest cat with later releases: Tabby, Ocelot, Lion, Tiger, Jaguar, Panther, Cheeta, etc... But what would happen once they got to the fastest cat? Move to birds or lizards? I'd personally hold out to see a Mac OS X : Komodo, or OS X: Jesus Lizard . :D

      --
      I don't moderate anymore. Karma penalty for 90% fair mods? Can I mod that unfair?
    21. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every newer OS X has run better than the previous version on these machines from my experience, and from what I've heard others say.

      Interestingly, with the exception of 9.x-to-10.0, every new operating system from Apple I've ever used has gotten faster. (Anybody remember GS/OS? That got faster from release to release. 6 was faster than 5 was faster than 4.)

      Also, the Linux kernel has generally gotten faster with each release.

      Come to think of it, Microsoft's systems are the only ones that consistently go slower on the same hardware.

      Realistically, how long can that go on though until newer versions start to overwhelm older hardware?

      The only reason newer versions would necessarily "overwhelm" a system is if they do more. But Apple seems to have made performance a priority, so I don't see them adding core features to the operating system that slow down everybody's system.

      I can't wait to see how well new versions of GCC are going to work. Autovectorization of all of the software on your Mac ... drool ...

    22. Re:Running older hardware?! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      This doesn't answer your question about Tiger performance on older G4 hardware, but you might be interested in taking a look at this or this from here.

      It's really not that much more to get a Mac mini, when you think about all you get with a mini. But if you need those slots, and you've got money invested in the hardware . . .

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    23. Re:Running older hardware?! by Nosferax · · Score: 0

      Except that Cheeta is not a strickly speaking a cat... It as a bit too many "Dog features" like it's paw and dentition.

      --
      Remember... A boomerang IS NOT the best way to deliver a bomb.
    24. Re:Running older hardware?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you skip OS 8 or something?

    25. Re:Running older hardware?! by drsmithy · · Score: 1
      Well the, I call you full of shit. I'm running on exactly that, and I use 6+ applications and apps like Final Cut Pro on it.

      I'm glad the UI sluggishness of OS X doesn't bother you. It does, however, bother me and it definitely bothers many others.

      This is not a raw hardware performance criticism, it is an OS responsiveness criticism. As such, it's largely a matter of perception - and I perceive OS X to have a sluggish UI.

      If you're actually being serious about your performance, I suggest you take your laptop in for servicing, because there's something badly wrong with it.

      No, there's not. Indeed, for a 12" 1Ghz iBook it actually has above average performance because of the much faster drive I had installed. It's just that a) it's not a particularly fast machine in the first place (by today's standards) and (more importantly) b) OS X is slow.

      I've used just about every Mac made in the last ~6 years. The only ones I've found OS X to be even close to "fast" on for non-trivial usage are the top end dual G4s and the [Power|i]Mac G5s.

  12. So, where's the... by rfinnvik · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...torrent ? :D

  13. Logistics by LittleGuernica · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rumurs are that it will be presented this Friday (april 1st) and that it will be "unleashed" on April 15. Is it logistically possibly that right now it's not even "gold master" and that 2 weeks later millions of discs are pressed and packaged?

    So I believe the 15th as release date is very improbable (by Zarquon), maybe June 6th at WWDC?

    1. Re:Logistics by Benley · · Score: 1
      So I believe the 15th as release date is very improbable (by Zarquon), maybe June 6th at WWDC?

      So here's something I don't get. I just got email from Apple about WWDC, and one of the options you can buy is a "Tiger Early Start Kit", for several hundred dollars more than the normal attendance fee. Does this imply that Tiger still won't be released by then? I certainly hope that it comes out by the end of April, but I agree that it's starting to look like WWDC is more likely.

    2. Re:Logistics by lowe0 · · Score: 1

      I've seen major game titles go from gold to retail in two weeks before. I'd assume this isn't a much bigger challenge.

      The question is, will it be gold on April 1st?

    3. Re:Logistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      The "Early Start Kit" has been out for a while -- basically since the last WWDC when attendees obtained a developer's copy of Tiger. Obviously not every developer went to WWDC.

      The "Early Start Kit" is nothing more than an Apple Select membership, which gets you copies of pre-release Apple Software (i.e., Tiger).

      I would suspect Tiger will be shipping before WWDC, though I don't have any sort of inside information to prove that.

    4. Re:Logistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Pressing and packaging moves surprisingly fast; bear in mind that the actual box, manual and collateral material are almost assuredly complete and just waiting to be wrapped around a shiny new CD in its case. Build in a little time for shipping and it's not at all inconceivable if it goes gold on Friday.

    5. Re:Logistics by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Uh, what makes you assume that?

      Most of what's on a game CD is data. Most of what's on a Tiger CD is code.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    6. Re:Logistics by lowe0 · · Score: 1

      I was simply referring to the logistics of it. In my previous post, I said the real question was whether it would be done by April 1, not whether they could go from a gold master to retail copies in two weeks.

      Unfortunately, the only people who know what shape Tiger really is in are all bound by NDAs.

    7. Re:Logistics by dootbran · · Score: 1

      What do the contents of a CD have to do with the length of time from GM to shipping? In the end its all 'data' anyway, whether you'd consider it part of the executable or part of the collection of graphical/audio assets used by the program.

    8. Re:Logistics by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Code has to be tested more thoroughly than data (that doesn't change nearly as often during the development process).

      Just as a f'rinstance, more than 5/6 of the bits in Wing Commander IV were movies. Sure, you have to check and make sure all the movies work, but those data files basically didn't change throuhgout the testing phase. That's an example from my personal experience.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  14. Re:MacRumours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Take a look at the topics list. There are more topics that this site deals with than just Linux and technology.

  15. Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by cmefford · · Score: 0, Troll

    current hardware?

    10.3.x works quite well on Apple's current run of machines, the G4 powerbooks and such. I've always been a bit cynical about Apple handing out bloatware to punish the Apple faithful.

    Now, the hype will say that Tiger will be /faster/ than Panther, (which really was faster than Jaguar, big suprise!) and so on.

    If this hype were based in reality, Then Tiger should run like a raped ape on a Mac IIci, (which
    shipped I think with 6.2) as every Mac OS increment has always claimed performance improvements over the existing product.

    I have over 30 "modern" deployed at work. I am not at all happy about the impending release of Tiger. not without a significant bump in available hardware. Yes, the dual g5 (maybe quad soon?) is a wonderful box, but even with Panther, fully updated, it IMHO only runs as it should. You ask
    it to do something, it does it. No more, no less.
    Like Word Perfect 4.2 on DOS on a 286 (my personal
    benchmark of performance). I've always felt that over the years the good folks at Apple bring stuff to a nice plateau, and then punish us by bringing out an OS that chokes our none-too-cheap hardware that WE JUST BOUGHT.

    Please Apple, hold this OS until you update the platform (give us SLi) and then warn the
    drooling macophiles that you'd do well to stick
    with Panther until you can upgrade your hardware.

    Thaz all.

    --what's happening up the hollar?
    http://www.bearwallerhollar.net

    1. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by agraupe · · Score: 3, Funny

      I had never heard the expression "run like a raped ape". I think I shall have to use it now :)

    2. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by TylerL82 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nobody would've claimed that 10.0 was a "massive speed improvement" over 9.2.2 and before.
      All the compliments like "omg Tiger is sooo much faster" is compared to either Jaguar or Panther.

      In fact, some people would say that Panther and Tiger are back up to OS 9 levels of responsiveness...

    3. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by cmefford · · Score: 1

      " Nobody would've claimed that 10.0 was a "massive speed improvement" over 9.2.2 " Your right, no person did. But I'm pretty sure there was some Apple hype about how much better, faster, more responsive, OSX was over 9.2.2. But I could very well be wrong. On the other note, I think 10.3.x (panther) is (on appropriate hardware) more responsive than 9.2.2 But, yes, point taken.

    4. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've always been annoyed by the confusion of "faster" with "responsive." Want the interface more responsive? 'nice' it to the highest priority and it'll be nice and snapppy, but everyting else will crawl. To me, faster means that by the end of the day I got more work done. A more responsive interface does not imply that I will.... In fact, it could mean just the opposite -- OS 9 may have had a more responsive interface, but I'm a helluva lot more productive with OS X. That's faster.

    5. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      The hype *is* based in reality. I run Panther on old hardware (a souped-up 7500). Panther really was noticeably faster than Jaguar, which was noticeably faster than 10.1, which in turn was noticeably faster than 10.0. I'm hoping Tiger a) runs on the box and b) is faster than Panther. Currently I have no reason to expect otherwise. OS X have a proven track record of increasing performance on any given hardware for each new version.

      So what's your beef? Tiger won't be slower, and there's no magical cutoff that prevents you from sticking with 10.3.

      Wait a second....I know you. You're that guy who would also complain that Tiger doesn't run on existing hardware if that were the case. In that case, nevermind.

    6. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      10.3.x works quite well on Apple's current run of machines, the G4 powerbooks and such. I've always been a bit cynical about Apple handing out bloatware to punish the Apple faithful.

      I've heard that Tiger will be delivered only in DVDs. Machines without DVD won't be able to upgrade - sounds like a reasonable way to do things, a full-featured 2005 OS can't run so well in a 5 years old machine no matter what you do

    7. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "If this hype were based in reality, Then Tiger should run like a raped ape on a Mac IIci, (which
      shipped I think with 6.2) as every Mac OS increment has always claimed performance improvements over the existing product."

      That's ridiculous. Even if Apple didn't drop support for old hardware, one would assume performance improvements converge on the theoretical maximum amount of work the chip can do. An OS running on a IIci could go through hundreds of revisions, each faster than the last, without getting particularly fast.

      That said, 10.0 was not claimed to be faster than 9. Everyone knew it was slower. That was a generational shift. Since then, Apple's been finishing the OS, and it now runs reasonably, when before it did not.

      Moreover, Apple does drop support. Every time they drop an old computer model, they're able to tune the new OS by cutting out all the code that was needed to handle the old hardware. The result is that the fastest Mac OS for any system is almost always the last Mac OS that system supports. Again, the exception is systems that only support 10.0-10.1. Blueberry iBooks, for example, are best off with classic.

    8. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by wandazulu · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, I believe it came from "Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder. The main character in the story, Tom West, uses the phrase to describe how fast their new machine, the Eclipse, will run when compared to a VAX.

    9. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by sgtrock · · Score: 1

      Really? Actually, it was pretty common back in the late '70s and early '80s among the gearheads and sailors during my misspent youth in high school and the Navy. Generally used to describe a really fast car/boat/motorcycle/whatever. :)

    10. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by thesixthreplicant · · Score: 0, Funny
      my favourite "new" saying is :
      I laughed like a walrus on acid
      I think it was from Empire magazine for a movie review. Have no idea what it was though.
    11. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by rohanl · · Score: 1
      I've heard that Tiger will be delivered only in DVDs. Machines without DVD won't be able to upgrade

      It's easy to boot, and install from an external Drive. And if you don't have an external DVD drive, then you can use any Mac with Firewire in Target Disk Mode. I have done this on an old TiBook with a busted optical drive. It was actually much faster since the TiBook's drive was only single speed.

    12. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      Obviously the ape didn't run fast enough in the first place.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    13. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by CausticPuppy · · Score: 2, Funny

      I had never heard the expression "run like a raped ape". I think I shall have to use it now :)

      A raped ape is still approximately 33% slower than a bat out of hell.

      --
      -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
    14. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 0

      Some people, but not me.

      My home machine is an old G4 450dual / Radeon which has shown substantial speed gains with every point release of OSX thus far. Tiger might be the step too far for this machine's gfx card, so I'm not expecting huge UI gains anymore.

      So Apple, it's time for those Powerbook G5s we all want - I'm really starting to feel the perfromance gap between my work G5 2500dual / 9800 and my home machine...

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
    15. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by nsayer · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      I like my women like I like my coffee: ground up and boiled.

      That's a horrible thing to say! Coffee should NEVER be boiled!






      Do I smell karma burning?

    16. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by myov · · Score: 1

      Not quite. Officially, 10.3 doesn't support Beige G3's. But I'm running it using XPostFacto. Compared to 10.2 it doesn't seem like anything has been dropped - my ADB keyboard and old serial ports still work, the floppy doesn't (but it's never been supported by X)

      All G3 machines will run 10.2 at a minimum. With the exception of the beige G3's, everything else runs 10.3. Some early machines however will need a ram and processor bump.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    17. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by podperson · · Score: 1

      Actually System 7 was massively slower than System 6, so any machine (such as the IIci) which shipped with 6.0.x was never as fast with post 7 systems as it was with pre 7 systems.

    18. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      re your sig: I believe the joke is supposed to be: "I like my woman like I like my coffee: ground up and in the freezer."

    19. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's another myth that's making the rounds. It's bullshit. The developer seeds of Tiger were distributed as DVD images (so I've heard) so that developers wouldn't have to burn multiple CDs just to install a new seed. And besides, if you can afford the $500 to be in the minimum ADC level to get seeds, you can buy a damn DVD drive.

      Tiger will either be on multiple CDs, or available in both/either. My wife recently bought iWork and apparently you have two choices - either DVD or CD (but not both). Perhaps Tiger will be the same, but why don't they just include both in the same box? A small percentage of dumb or inattentive people will buy the DVD version when they only have a CD drive. Then they won't be able to return it because they opened the box. Fuck!

    20. Re:Wonder how bad Tiger will punish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you misheard it.

      I have always thought it was:

      "Run like a raped DATE!"

  16. new things. by toQDuj · · Score: 0

    I hear that it incorporates some more bluetooth capabilities, allowing to patch the phone call through to your BT headset. Can't wait until the next version of BluePhoneElite and Salling Clicker after the release of 10.4. B.

    --
    Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
    1. Re:new things. by chillmost · · Score: 1

      QUIET BOY! do ya want ta get sued?

    2. Re:new things. by Krusty+Da+Klown · · Score: 1

      Nice "The Shinning" reference there!

    3. Re:new things. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The BluePhoneElite site states that Tiger will allow you to use any non-BT speakers and microphone as a BT headset (i.e. the Mac can act as a BT headset). Being able to patch calls through to a BT headset seems less useful (can't the phone and headset do this without a Mac involved?)

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    4. Re:new things. by toQDuj · · Score: 0

      >(can't the phone and headset do this without a Mac involved?)

      Well no. Most phones will only connect to one device. The trouble therefore is that it can connect to a computer, which will be able to control the phone (i.e. phone rings, computer displays name, number and photo, allowing the user to pick up, hang up or other), but the computer doesn't have the option yet to patch the call through to the bluetooth headset.

      In order to use a bluetooth headset, the use of the computer has to be circumvented. which is a shame in my opinion.

      B.

      --
      Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
    5. Re:new things. by mamladm · · Score: 1

      You can do this already with Asterisk

      http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Bluetooth+c hannels

      Asterisk runs on OSX, though I am not sure if anybody has tried the BT channel modules with Asterisk on OSX yet.

      --
      the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm
  17. Will it cost money? by phooka.de · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yes, it will cost money.


    No, this is nothing new.


    Yes, the version number seems to indicate it's not a new version but only an update. You have to simply ignore the leading "10.". It ain't that hard.


    Yes, this is actually like Microsoft charging you for XP (NT5.1) after you already bought Win2000 (NT5.0) or NT4.0 or NT3.51 - the leading "10." is like the leading "NT" from Microsoft.


    Yes, this is old news, but the issue comes up every time Apple releases a new version of OS X.

    1. Re:Will it cost money? by Moraelin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Before I get started, this isn't really supposed to be a troll. I'm just trying to give you an insight into _why_ we're wondering about people buying every MacOS point release. And in return maybe you'll help me understand why you do that.

      You know, for all the being called "Redmond fanboys" or whatnot, we Windows people don't go buying every single release. Yes, Microsoft fully expects you to pay for XP, but most sane people will not actually upgrade to XP from 2000.

      My second computer is still happily running Windows 2000, ever since it was my primary box. The newer A64 machine is on XP only because (A) there was no price discount to buy an older version, and (B) I really wanted the NX bit protection, what with all the buffer-overflow viruses on the Internet. (Not that I ever got virused on 2000 either, but I figured you can't ever have enough layers of defense.)

      And even that computer still running Windows 2000 is not that much of an exception. You'd be suprised how many computers still exist out there with Windows '98, or even Windows '95, or in some pathological cases Windows 3.1.

      Or here at work until recently NT 4.0 was still the corporate standard.

      In fact, I think that in the Windows world, it's safe to say that the OS is the _least_ important part. It's there just so the applications will load. We'd run just as happily (or actually happier) without any OS, if the same apps could be booted directly without an OS. Hence, the lack of Windows people creaming their pants at the thought "woo, we can pay for a new release."

      Unless the new version is absolutely needed to run some application, most of us couldn't care less about it.

      So in a nutshell that's why we're wondering about it. Because over here on this side of the fence, sticking to an OS for 4-5 years is really the norm. Seeing people getting all excited at the thought of buying yet another yearly remake of the same OS is, well, a bit strange.

      So, pray tell, just for my curiosity: _what_ applications didn't work with the old release? Was there some killer-app or killer-game announced that requires Tiger to run? Is there some much needed functionality comes in this release and was sorely missing in Panther? I'm just, you know, curious.

      --
      A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
    2. Re:Will it cost money? by Sircus · · Score: 1

      I'm only a Mac user insofar as I've spent the last day testing our Java app on a Mac Mini we bought for that purpose, but I can tell you that Java 1.5 (also, confusingly, formerly known as Tiger) will only be available for Tiger. 10.3 is stuck with Java 1.4.2.

      Since the performance of our app (which is fine on Win32+Linux) sucks on 10.3's current 1.4.2, we're eager for the upgrade. It may not help, but there's little else we can do.

      --
      PenguiNet: the (shareware) Windows SSH client
    3. Re:Will it cost money? by swb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      IMHO OS X wasn't fully baked out of the oven.

      10.0 was buggy as hell, missing features and nobody really used it for production. 10.1 and 10.2 were massive bugfixes and feature adds. Hard-core Mac fans will dispute this, no doubt.

      I actually think that 10.3 was where things leveled out, software vendors caught up with X versions of their applications that worked reliably and so on.

      Apple's managed to produce an OS that was stable _enough_ that people would use it, but in reality was highly beta-ish. I think 10.4 is actually going to be more like a _true_ point upgrade to what should have been the 10.0 version, 10.3.

    4. Re:Will it cost money? by nine-times · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Yes, Microsoft fully expects you to pay for XP, but most sane people will not actually upgrade to XP from 2000...Seeing people getting all excited at the thought of buying yet another yearly remake of the same OS is, well, a bit strange.

      I understand what you're saying, but a few points:

      • There were a lot of people who excitedly went out and purchased (or illegally downloaded) an upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows XP.
      • There will be a lot of people who will stick with Panther after Tiger is released. There are a lot of people still running Jaguar at present.
      • If there were as many substantial improvements between Windows 200 and Windows XP as are slated to be in Tiger, many more people would probably rush out and purchase it. As it is, Windows XP pretty much is Windows 2000 with a slightly uglier skin on the GUI.
    5. Re:Will it cost money? by micromuncher · · Score: 1

      This is one of my biggest Apple peaves...

      You buy a computer with (example) 10.1...
      Two weeks later 10.2 is here! with essential bug fixes.
      And you need to shell out another $80 bucks for it.

      It's almost as funny as telling a guy who sunk $20k into Apple hardware /w high performance SCSI externals for DV that the new hardware has no SCSI support.

      But hey, I can plug in an iPod.

      --
      /\/\icro/\/\uncher
    6. Re:Will it cost money? by lurch_mojoff · · Score: 3, Informative
      You'd be suprised how many computers still exist out there with Windows '98, or even Windows '95, or in some pathological cases Windows 3.1.
      Well, there are quite a few people running Mac OS 9 or even Mac OS 8. I just don't get your point.
      In fact, I think that in the Windows world, it's safe to say that the OS is the _least_ important part. It's there just so the applications will load. We'd run just as happily (or actually happier) without any OS, if the same apps could be booted directly without an OS. Hence, the lack of Windows people creaming their pants at the thought "woo, we can pay for a new release."
      I'm also a Windows user and I totally agree with that. And that's the problem. Microsoft throws a bunch of code and call it an OS. Application developers are the the ones that are expected to sort things out, to find the hows and whys of making programs work. In Mac OS world the operating sistem offloads some of the work from developers (if you're curious how note technologies like CoreData,CoreAudio, CoreImage, CoreVideo, Spotlight, Automator and some more(i'm tired of pasting links and, besides, if you're that iterested in the subject you'll find whatever you need)). And since all of these techs also make applications better, faster, and feature rich, users are "creaming their pants" too. So for both Macintosh users and developers a new OS release is someting big.
      So in a nutshell that's why we're wondering about it. Because over here on this side of the fence, sticking to an OS for 4-5 years is really the norm. Seeing people getting all excited at the thought of buying yet another yearly remake of the same OS is, well, a bit strange.
      I guess you've already realised that, but, unlike Win2000 and WinXP, Mac OS 10.4 (aka Tiger) is very close to a different operating system (ok, I'm stretching it a bit here, but you get my point). Nothing strange in this department, buddy.
      So, pray tell, just for my curiosity: _what_ applications didn't work with the old release? Was there some killer-app or killer-game announced that requires Tiger to run?
      Nope! Tiger is not out yet. But in the very near future, astoundingly great apps, made specifically for OS 10.4 willbe all over the place.
      Is there some much needed functionality comes in this release and was sorely missing in Panther? I'm just, you know, curious.
      I hope I satisfied your curiosity. :) Enjoy!
    7. Re:Will it cost money? by shawnce · · Score: 2, Informative

      Seeing people getting all excited at the thought of buying yet another yearly remake of the same OS is, well, a bit strange.

      1) I wouldn't call it a remake... you get new features and capabilities (for both users and developers) more often then the 4-5+ year cycle seen on the Windows side and in a single package. I personally like this.

      2) It isn't yearly by any means and in fact Apple has said now that Mac OS X has matured (said around the time of 10.3 release) that major revisions will come less frequently then before (hinted to 18+ month cycle), Tiger is an example of that.

      10.0 (Cheetah) released March 24th 2001
      10.1 (Puma) released September 29th 2001 (free upgrade)
      10.2 (Jaguar) released August 13th 2002
      10.3 (Panther) released October 24th 2003
      10.4 (Tiger) not released as of March 30th 2005 (possibly in April but all but assured before end of July)

      (see Unix History for dates, including the free minor releases to Mac OS X)

      Unless the new version is absolutely needed to run some application, most of us couldn't care less about it.

      Which is likely true for many Mac OS X users as well...

      So, pray tell, just for my curiosity: _what_ applications didn't work with the old release?

      What do you mean? If the application existed on Mac OS X before Tiger then it must have worked on some release of Mac OS X and if so the existence of Tiger won't make it magically break.

      Is there some much needed functionality comes in this release and was sorely missing in Panther? I'm just, you know, curious.

      Need depends on the user/developer so no one can answer that for you... review Apple's Mac OS X user page (click across the "tour" items) and developer page to understand some of what is new in Tiger.

    8. Re:Will it cost money? by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      "If there were as many substantial improvements between Windows 200 and Windows XP as are slated to be in Tiger, many more people would probably rush out and purchase it. As it is, Windows XP pretty much is Windows 2000 with a slightly uglier skin on the GUI."

      GDI+. System Restore. Windows File Protection. Wi-Fi support. ClearType. Alpha-enabled icons. New theme. Repair functionality in networking. No-hassle hotplug on USB drives. Windows Movie Maker. Networking wizard. New user configuration UI. Fast-user switching. Remote Desktop. CD Burning. Zip-File Support. Firewall. Faster booting. Automatic updates.

      If you don't think XP is a significant upgrade from 2000, you're wrong. Some XP features (IE6, WMP10, automatic updates) have been added to 2000, but XP is - and will remain - a very different OS.

      XP is as different from 2000 as 10.2 was from 10.1.

    9. Re:Will it cost money? by Moofie · · Score: 1

      They release "point" upgrades every year or so. That means, your scenario will be true one out of 25 times.

      And, I think if somebody laid out $20k for DV hard drives, they can spring a couple bucks for a SCSI card.

      But, I wouldn't want any facts to get in the way of your unfounded preconceptions...

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    10. Re:Will it cost money? by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 0, Troll

      Did you actually buy enough RAM for the Mac Mini to run Java apps on it? Mac OS X is RAM hungry, Java is RAM hungry, and the Mac Mini only ships with 256 megs default.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    11. Re:Will it cost money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but most of this is stuff that win2k users have already added via third-party apps, or that 2k already does perfectly well (like WiFi and USB hotplug). The only thing in that list that interests me at all is faster booting, and I keep a win98 partition for rapidly checking my mail before I go out anyway.

      I think SP2 has NX support which I'd really like, but my processor doesn't support it anyway. Likewise, ClearType is good but on my CRT is pointless.

      I agree that I'd probably rather be given a bare install of XP than 2k, just to save time setting up cd-burner apps etc., but it's not worth upgrading when you already have 2k set up.

    12. Re:Will it cost money? by Sircus · · Score: 1

      Ours has 512MB. While not oodles, RAM's not the problem. The painting performance is the issue. If we use none-painting-heavy parts of the app, all is (more or less) well. No star performer, but usable. If we use more paint-intensive parts of the app, everything slows to a crawl.

      (And no, the paint performance is not being impacted by lack of RAM)

      --
      PenguiNet: the (shareware) Windows SSH client
    13. Re:Will it cost money? by micromuncher · · Score: 1

      Thanks for your sarcasm. Its truly unfounded. The fact that you can buy a computer and/or OS to be obsoleted withint a couple months with no free upgrade is piss poor customer service. I also know for 'fact' that many people who invested heavily in the old architecture were confounded by the move to usb and firewire (the latter of which is also being dropped.) SCSI hardware was usually $100 more than IDE or USB ware, so shelling out $300 for some funky adapter that doesn't give you the throughput (USB 10mbps) of ultra SCSI for subsequent versions of an OS that won't fully support any of it kinda explains the reason why the foothold that Apple had in professional DV disappeared.

      --
      /\/\icro/\/\uncher
    14. Re:Will it cost money? by nine-times · · Score: 1
      Well, what happens if we remove everything from your list that either A) almost no one uses, B) is available in Windows 2000, or C) consists in moving around menus and controls? Ok, you got me on better font antialiasing, nicer icons, new theme, fast-user switching, and faster booting. And of those, only fast-user switching is an added feature, the rest are small qualitative upgrades.

      Ok, to be fair, I'll throw in the Movie Maker. I've never met anyone who uses it, but it is an actual extra feature. Maybe even CD burning, since it's hard to find a good freeware CD burner in Windows, but still, it's not as though you couldn't burn CDs in Windows 2000. Microsoft just bundled some CD capabilities, and not even enough. Really, are you considering these substantial upgrades? They all seem cosmetic to me, nothing a person can't live without.

      But all the system restore, file protection, firewall stuff from MS is pretty much junk. If you really want some of that stuff, you'd better get it from a 3rd party.

      XP is as different from 2000 as 10.2 was from 10.1.

      Honestly, I find that a little hard to compare. The meaningful improvements (I thought) between 10.1 and 10.2 were much more under-the-hood, but not so much in features and interface, whereas the difference between 2000 and XP seems to be the opposite-- the under-the-hood is very similar, but the changes were mostly cosmetic. So which is more "different", I don't know. I can tell you, however, which was more worthwhile for my computing needs...

    15. Re:Will it cost money? by Moofie · · Score: 1

      That's ridiculous. OF COURSE your computer and/or OS is going to be obsoleted within a couple of months (if you take "obsoleted" to mean "isn't any more the latest and greatest chromiest thing evar").

      If you're talking about attaching a DVI SCSI array to a computer via USB, you are nuts. Get a PCI card. It fits in the PCI slot in the back of your G3, G4, or G5 PowerMac.

      Are you basing your wild-ass guess about Firewire being dropped on the packaging of the iPod without a Firewire cable? Uh huh. I'm sure you're right, because the market for portable audio players is totally driving what people use for DV production.

      People who invested heavily in the old architecture can still use the old architecture. Or they can buy a card that attaches their big ass array to their new computer. This is very much not a big deal.

      You want to attach one to a mini? Get real. You can't fit a Cummins turbodiesel engine in a Honda Accord. If you bought a Honda Accord thinking you'd be able to put a Cummins turbodiesel in it, somebody is paying you way too much money for your "expertise".

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    16. Re:Will it cost money? by tim1724 · · Score: 1
      10.0 was buggy as hell, missing features and nobody really used it for production. 10.1 and 10.2 were massive bugfixes and feature adds. Hard-core Mac fans will dispute this, no doubt.

      I don't think many will dispute it. It's generally accepted in the Mac community that the reason 10.1 was given out as a free upgrade to 10.0 was because 10.0 was not a finished product.

      --
      -- Tim Buchheim
    17. Re:Will it cost money? by bdash · · Score: 1

      ... were confounded by the move to usb and firewire (the latter of which is also being dropped.)

      Bullshit.

    18. Re:Will it cost money? by Squozen · · Score: 1

      How odd. Panther came out about three weeks after I bought my PowerBook and I got a upgrade for the cost of shipping the discs to me (I think $15?). Then I got 18 months worth of free security patches and extra features. I'm quite willing to pay for Tiger, as experience shows that it'll be more than worth it.

    19. Re:Will it cost money? by micromuncher · · Score: 1

      Surf some blogs... the move from firewire to usb2 on the latest iPod isn't just an attempt to be more compatible with Wintel. Less circuitry is cheaper.

      --
      /\/\icro/\/\uncher
    20. Re:Will it cost money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmmm... once upon a time Apple hardware/software had good tco (even with unreal mark up, and lack of tools) because you could buy a machine with longevity of about 5 years. This was compared to 2 years in the PC world. All those stupid IT/IS managers who argued that Macs were cost effective in any type of enterprise were just idiots huh. Today its the other way around.

      You're telling me I can use these 9600s just fine today for professional DV. How about no? How about I take all that fast SCSI raid hardware, put it on a Wintel box, move my Avid license over, and be able to keep up with the latest greatest in DV and 3d modelling - as well as upgrade the hardware for $500 every couple years.

      In 1995 we had 12 Macs and 2 PCs in our office.
      In 1997 we had 6 and 6.
      Today we have 2 operational Macs - neither used for real work.

      Its because of TCO and investment in previous peripherals, software etc. Most of our PCs are still running w2k. We've never paid for an upgrade, and they're all legit.

      "Proof by analogy is fraud," -Bjarne S.

    21. Re:Will it cost money? by Moofie · · Score: 1

      I confess: I don't know anything specific about the ins and outs of DV editing. I know that Avid took their trucks and went home from the Mac market, because Apple released Final Cut Pro (which, according to the few people I do know who do that sort of thing, is pretty darn good stuff). You're alleging that a $10,000 SCSI DV array isn't compatible with modern Mac hardware, and that's just silly.

      There are all kinds of reasons to switch platforms one way or the other. Not wanting to buy a $300 PCI card isn't one of them.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    22. Re:Will it cost money? by The+Bungi · · Score: 1
      As it is, Windows XP pretty much is Windows 2000 with a slightly uglier skin on the GUI.

      ROFL. Let me guess, they didn't change the calculator, so it must be the same, right?

      Uncanny.

    23. Re:Will it cost money? by bdash · · Score: 1

      Shit, you've convinced me now. The blogs are saying it so it must be true.</sarcasm>

  18. of course tiger would go gold now... by a_greer2005 · · Score: 1
    Because I just bought my new Mac...it is all about timing baby!

    But really, I cant wait for tiger.

    1. Re:of course tiger would go gold now... by nsayer · · Score: 1
      Because I just bought my new Mac...it is all about timing baby!

      Usually they extend a free-but-for-shipping offer to recent hardware purchasers. You might be in luck.

    2. Re:of course tiger would go gold now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not if history repeats itself. The free-but-for-shipping offer has always been valid only for purchases AFTER the release date was ANNOUNCED.

  19. I will wait until two weeks after 10.4.1 by G4from128k · · Score: 1, Insightful

    No matter how carefully tested, any big OS release is a public beta. Until a large number of people have tried the software with a real-world array of hardware configurations, applications, and patterns of usage, nobody knows the hidden gotchas (such as an incompatibility with some old firewire bridge chip that corrupts FW HDs!).

    10.4.1 should fix most of the glaring bugs of 10.4, but a two week, watch-the-forums-for-problems period for 10.4.1 will ensure that bug-fix release is stable and does not add yet another major glitch.

    I realize this strategy of waiting until the dust settles is cowardly and that I am shirking my duty to help Apple debug its OS. But I run production systems and downtime/corruption is something I prefer to avoid even if it means not staying on the bleeding edge of cool software.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
    1. Re:I will wait until two weeks after 10.4.1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      i plan to buy an iBook or even a PB around June/July and use the CD that came with it to update my current Macs

      probably illegal to do this. no?

    2. Re:I will wait until two weeks after 10.4.1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it is illegal. Moreover, it is very unlikely to work well. The install CDs (actually it will probably be DVDs) are customized to the hardware and seldom work on other machines.

  20. Re:And the hardware... by jaavaaguru · · Score: 4, Interesting

    *yawn*

    The Mac Mini (in its default/cheapest config) is perfectly good for surfing the web, checking mail and playing music and DVDs. And it's affordable. I know because I had mine pre-ordered and have been using it ever since it arrived.

    Apple's OS software tends to get faster with every release, so you can be sure that Tiger will work fine on a Mac Mini. In fact we have it running on a Mini at work.

    If you want a Mac, buy one instead of your next PC. If you really dislike the Mini, iBooks are cheap on E-bay.

  21. 10.3.9 update is coming by bach37 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looks like there will be a 10.3.9 update soon, interestingly enough.

  22. Please release a finished product! by Henriok · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I really hope that they don't release Tiger early since an unstable, unfinished product isn't good in any one's book. Apple have a history of updating their operating systems every other month with a point release for stability, small new features and such and it would be nice to actually have a finished operating system from day one for once.

    I LOVE Panther and I am in no need for upgrading, so my message to Apple is: DON*T RUSH IT! There's really no need. Wait a month or two and get it right!

    I would hate it if they released 10.4.1 in May and 10.4.2 in time for WWDC in late June. If they did that (and they will, mark my words) they obviously did a rush job and that'd really suck.

    Why not release a time bombed public beta if they desperately need a larger beta test group?

    --

    - Henrik

    - when the Shadows descend -
    1. Re:Please release a finished product! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most of the problems with any update involve drivers for some company that doesn't follow apple spec (digidesign..wake up!)

      and there is no way to guess just how stupid customers are with their systmes. how are we supposed to know that tiger will perform strangely if you update from 10.1 - 10.2 - 10.3, then archive instaleld back to 10.2 and re-upgraded to 10.3 without installing any updates again.

      this is literally the crap I see every day...and people doing it bitch that apple isn't "testing enough"

      it's hard to test stupidity. it's pretty hard to cook that shit up in a lab.

  23. Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by LanMan04 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I worked as a Mac Genius when Jaguar came out, and there was an official cut-off date about 5 weeks before the official release. If you purchased a mac between then and the release date, you got the free upgrade. Not the stand-alone OS install, mind you, but the "drop in" upgrade discs that they toss in the boxes of new macs at the store that don't have the OS preloaded. They do have a little give around these dates if you whine enough (hope I'm not violating my NDA...=)

    You CAN install the OS from scratch (you aren't forced to do one of those nasty upgrades), but you MUST have the previous OS installed for the discs to work. Which you do, so don't worry. It just means if you ever need to reinstall your OS in the event of a disaster, you'll have to install 10.3 first, then do the format-(or archive)-and-install with 10.4.

    --
    With the first link, the chain is forged.
    1. Re:Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by cpeterso · · Score: 2, Interesting


      How soon after a new Mac OS is released does it appear on new Mac inventory? I assume current Mac Minis ship with Mac OS 10.3.8 installed. How soon after Mac OS X 10.4 is shipped will I be able to buy a Mac Mini with Mac OS 10.4 pre-installed?

    2. Re:Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by xjerky · · Score: 1

      I would like to know myself. I have a friend who wants me to help him pick out his first Mac (either a mini or iMac) next week, but I want to tell him to hold off until 10.4 comes out. I wish I knew for sure when that is. If it does come out April 15th as rumored, then he definitely should wait.

      --
      A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
    3. Re:Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You CAN install the OS from scratch (you aren't forced to do one of those nasty upgrades), but you MUST have the previous OS installed for the discs to work.

      Which you can also do with MS Windows "upgreade" editions, only you don't have to install the older version first. Windows upgrades require you to insert the CD of one of the two previous versions of Windows to verify eligibility.

      I know this is OT, but Mac fanatics like to crow about buying $129 for the FULL version of OS X while Windows only offers an "upgrade" for $99/$199 (Home/Pro).

    4. Re:Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by LanMan04 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That I don't know. The new macs that came in had Jaguar on them pretty quick, and at the rate Minis are going I'd say a week or two tops. Hell, if you ordered one today you'd probably get one with 10.4, since there's a waiting list. Or, once they're in stock, roll into your local Apple store and ask them for one with 10.4. They can open the box real quick and if the install discs it comes with are 10.4, then you'll know.

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    5. Re:Yes, you can get an upgrade (probably) by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      Thanks for the suggestion! :)

  24. great by R.D.Olivaw · · Score: 2, Funny
    Mac OS X "Tiger" Enters Final Candidate Stage

    so only one candidate to vote off and we're left with the winner?

    1. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if the entire state of Florida abstains.

  25. Off topic, Whoever modded this flamebait by cmefford · · Score: 1, Funny

    doesn't have a network of macs to administer I'll just bet.

  26. When attacked with a box of blueberries.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anyone know how Apple and their distributors deal in general with an 'upgrade' of this type? What I mean is, will OSX 10.4 come bundled with new hardware if I buy that hardware after it is released? Or do I have to buy a new power-whatever and the new OS separately?

    I hope somebody attacks Apple with a box of blueberries soon, because I'm looking forward to them releasing the tiger (MontyP)

  27. Re:x86 release? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    wouldnt it be nice it they made OSX for a x86.

    This has been asked in the past, and won't happen. Apple is not a company who aims to own the whole industry like Microsoft has just to get the money. Apple likes doing things well, somewhat like Ferrari

    They could switch and do it, and millions of people could get convinced to use it, but they won't do it. Apple doesn't works that way, period.

  28. point releases by cocoamix · · Score: 5, Funny

    All this talk about "point releases" is just semantics. I know most Slashdotters aren't zoologists, but all significant OS X upgrades are SPECIES updates.

    Jumping over to Family Canidae from Family Felidae, would you upgrade from a Chihuahua that shits on your keyboard to a Golden Retriever that fetches beer and Hot Pockets? I sure would.

    That's about the difference that Tiger is going to be over 10.0 (Cheetah).

    1. Re:point releases by otis+wildflower · · Score: 1

      I agree, I look at OS X releases as being similar to Linux 'stable' releases, less comprehensive at the kernel level but making up for that at the UI level.

      I still think it would make sense for Apple to just go with Mac OS X as the name of the OS, and not link it to the previous OS version.. It really isn't version 10 in line with the previous 20 year chain of development at all. When enough people have migrated off of 'classic' Mac OS, Apple should break the link and just go with Mac OS X as the OS name. Also, you'd have a version 0, which AFAIK would be a first for a production release of an OS (the initial release of Mac OS X, should they change to this mechanism, would technically be Mac OS X v 0.0 ;)

      So the next release should be Mac OS X version 5, or shortened to X.5 (or X.V for the anal).

    2. Re:point releases by nunchux · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately Apple has painted themselves into a corner with the feline names. The next release will clearly be "Lion", and where can you go from there? I'll give them one mythical beast ("Chimera", perhaps) and one made-up breed ("Fantasticat?"), but that still leaves three releases to be named.

      If I was Steve Jobs, I would've started with Bobcat or even Tabby and worked my way up from there (and thus 10.4 would be "Ocelot", a respectable mid-size species that still allows room to grow.)

  29. Re:x86 release? by kidgenius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you price out similarly configured ibooks and dells, you will see that the price is not all that different. Add to the fact that as a student, you can get a discount on the laptops (about $150-200 IIRC), and it's a little sweeter. But, there is nothing on the low end of latptops that the mac can compete with in price. A celeron based laptop for $499 will always beat out an iBook, pricewise. OTOH, you have to use a celeron laptop....

  30. Might not work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The CDs are designed to only run on the model that they came with. You may be able to run the old mac in firewire target disk mode through the Powerbook and install it that way.

  31. Re:Attention Apple Zealots ! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 2, Funny
    Maybe a new, better Linux site will arise.

    Maybe a new better *Linux* will arise. :)

    Hey! I tease! Linux is great. Calm down.

  32. Question by mattmentecky · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Linus and Apple with their Tiger release got together and released an OS would you have a Liger, only like, the best OS ever? Gosh.

    1. Re:Question by Rauser · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sweet! It was bred for its skills in magic...

      --
      The white zone is for loading and unloading only. If you need to load or unload go to the white zone. It's a way of life
    2. Re:Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This comment really isn't getting enough mod love.

    3. Re:Question by alc6379 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If Linus, Apple, and IBM got together, they could call their OS Lager: The tastiest OS ever! Even cooler.

      --
      I don't moderate anymore. Karma penalty for 90% fair mods? Can I mod that unfair?
  33. Amazon has it for $95 by dealcatcher · · Score: 3, Informative

    I agree $129 is a bit much. I just bought a Mac Mini a few months ago, the upgrade should be free. You can pre-order Tiger now at Amazon for $94.99 after a $35 rebate.

    1. Re:Amazon has it for $95 by rbrunner · · Score: 1

      It is unlikely your upgrade will be free. In the past, Apple has mainly provided free (+ $19.95 s/h) upgrades only if the machine shipped after the OS was announced. So if they announce it on Friday, only machines purchased after that will get free upgrades.

    2. Re:Amazon has it for $95 by chasingporsches · · Score: 1

      or, if you're a student, check your campus for a deal the night it comes out. i got panther, full boxed set, same thing as in the stores, for $39 on the "night of the panther" if you bought it between 8 pm and midnight that night, i think it was like october 23, 2003 or something. but if not, the standard educational price is $69.

    3. Re:Amazon has it for $95 by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 1

      Someone is going to interpret this as a flame but, heck, it's not as if you didn't know when you bought your Mac Mini that 10.4 would be out a few months later. And it's not as if Apple's policy on free upgrades isn't already well established either.

      To be honest, although you don't want to hear it, you should have waited until 10.4 was shipping (or at least until it had been officially unveiled by Apple) before you bought your Mac Mini if you wanted 10.4 for free.

      --

      "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    4. Re:Amazon has it for $95 by dealcatcher · · Score: 1

      Your absolutely right I should have waited. But it's always fun to buy stuff when its new and cool. It would be nice if the upgrade was under $50. I've heard in the past Apple charged $20 for people who bought a system within a few months.

  34. Kitties! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1
    There's always the housecat breeds. There's, like, fifteen million of those.

    Mac OS XII (Abyssinian)

    Mac OS XIII (Selkirk Rex)

    Mac OS XIV (Turkish Angora)

    1. Re:Kitties! by Zemplar · · Score: 1
      Perhaps this "Kitty" series can come in other flavours?

      Perhaps:

      Shaved

      Landing Strip

      Full Bush

      etc...

  35. It's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    A friend of mine works for Apple and he is running in his powerbook a one year-old beta version of Tiger. I was never interested in Macinstosh but since I seen him working on it I was amazed with the productivity one can achieve on that system. And that is an year-old beta! I imagine the RC must be great!

    You got to try it!

    1. Re:It's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Getting warmed up for the keynote, are we, Steve?

  36. man pages / netinfo / automount by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Maybe by this point they'll have updated the inconsistencies in their man pages...

    But I doubt it.

    eg "man ps" says "-f" is a valid option, the command tells you otherwise.

    Anyone know if they will be stepping away from the annoying netinfo system altogether? What about the automount system? will it be changed at all?

    1. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Benley · · Score: 1
      eg "man ps" says "-f" is a valid option, the command tells you otherwise.

      Did you file a bug report? They really might not know about that.

      As for NetInfo, yes, it is going away. I can't say how much of it will be in Tiger, but in Panther it's already mostly gone. It only exists for local accounts on a standalone system - the OpenDirectory infrastructure in 10.3 server is based on OpenLDAP and Kerberos, and the only reason NetInfo is around is for compatibility with MacOS 10.2 clients. If it's not needed, you turn it off and it goes away. It seems likely to me that it will stay mostly like that with the next release, since I have not heard about a new way of storing account info.

      I really know nothing about changes to the automount system, other than that I know there are changes. It will probably be somewhat less awkward, but still not the same as what you're accustomed to on your Linux boxes. I doubt you'd actually want that, anyway.

    2. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Cmdr+TECO · · Score: 1

      Until 10.2-ish, OS X included the man page for bad144(8). I don't think the binary was there, though; too bad, as I would like to attach an RP06 to an iBook.

      --
      echo 33676832766569823265328479713269.8639857989Pq | dc
    3. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think they just scarfed all the FreeBSD 3.x man pages as a starting point.

      http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bad144&ap ropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+3.5.1-RELEASE&fo rmat=html

    4. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mmm.. The link points to an article about a DEC RP06. Unfortunately the article has some mistakes.... The DEC RP06 is nothing at all like the IBM 3330. The 3330 was a drawer that you could pull out and top-load. The RP06 was actually made by Memorex, with all the Memorex logic, but with a DEC interface to the DEC interface controller.

    5. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Cmdr+TECO · · Score: 1
      I think they just scarfed all the FreeBSD 3.x man pages as a starting point.

      Yes, a mix actually,

      $ egrep '\$.*BSD:' /usr/share/man/man?/* | sed -e 's/.*\$\(.*BSD\):.*/\1/' | sort | uniq -c
      910 FreeBSD
      363 NetBSD
      109 OpenBSD
      ... at present. Does FreeBSD actually support any hardware that would use bad144?

      (And what good is an <ECODE> tag that strips whie space?)

      --
      echo 33676832766569823265328479713269.8639857989Pq | dc
    6. Re:man pages / netinfo / automount by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know... but it had a picture of an RP06, so that people who've never heard of it could compare it to an iBook, and is located somewhere that won't cost some poor hobbyist's bandwidth.

  37. etc by realitybath1 · · Score: 0

    ... OS 11.4 Spotted Owl, OS 11.6 Turkey Vulture...

    ...OS 14.5 CockaRoach, OS 14.7 Earwig, OS 14.9 Silverfish...

    ...OS 18.5 PungentFungi, OS 18.8 Slime Mold, OS 18.9 Psilocybe Mexicana...

    ...OS 20.0 HeadAsplode...
    ... blah blah blah

  38. Re:x86 release? by ArCh3r · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh I think you are a bit off. Its not that Apple does not aim to own the whole industry. If that was the case, why release the mini to try and get the masses to own an Apple? And the iPod is certainly aimed at owning its whole industry. But it's NOT the software industry that Apple wants to own, its the hardware. What you fail to realize is that Apple is primarily a hardware company, not a software company. Sure they sell software, but only to support their hardware business. That is why style is paramount with Apple hardware. Porting OSX to x86 does nothing to promote Apple's core business, hardware sales. In fact it would really hurt it, so that is why I doubt we will ever see OSX on an x86 platform.

  39. Re:x86 release? by dick+johnson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, I think they would release the x86 version (reportedly, they have one ready to go, but won't release it), but there are business reasons they won't or can't.

    One would be the riot by their developers.

    It would be not a huge deal for developers of Cocoa applications to recompile their applications to run on OS X x86.

    But many developers took the quicker route of converting their old classic applications to carbon.

    It would not be an easy thing to move these carbon applications over to the new platform.

    I think it's just too soon for apple to try to force these developers to make another move. They need time to recoup their costs on the current platform. If you try to force a move now, many would just quit OS X altogether.

    Also, there's the little detail about Microsoft. I'm not too certain that Microsoft would continue to make Office for the PowerPC OS X in this scenario, yet alone port it to OS X x86.

    I know, there are alternative office applications out there. But at the moment, I think it's still too big a risk for Apple to take.

    My guess is you will eventually see OS X x86. But it's gonna be a couple of years. Once most new applications are written in Cocoa, it would really be a simple matter to move the entire platform to intel.

    But that time isn't now.

    --
    - dj
  40. Re:And the hardware... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yeah, get a mini. the 'i don't have the hardware' excuse doesn't work anymore.

  41. 2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by OlivierB · · Score: 4, Insightful

    However don't expect all the bells and whistles with only 32 Mb of video ram.
    I have a Mini with a 20" Cinema Display and expose is already choppy (Courtesy of the 1600*1050 display).
    I've read Tiger will require 64 Mb of Video Ram for all the cool "Core Video" features.

    Does anybody know if they managed to get these features working on the Mini? Apple would be shotting itself in the foot if a 2005 machine could not run their 2005 OS

    --
    Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
    1. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by thesixthreplicant · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I've read Tiger will require 64 Mb of Video Ram for all the cool "Core Video" features.
      If this is right then I would guess there might be a Mac mini upgrade coming around from the middle of this year. I've never seen Apple ship a computer that couldn't use all of the features of its *current* OS before.

      This is just un undereducated guess.

    2. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It'll run, but the fancy stuff will be choppy. Just like trying to run doom3 on a 32MB video card :P

    3. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by eclectic4 · · Score: 2, Informative

      as stated in a previous post: "Core Image/Video will not refuse to work on older Macs. It has an AltiVec fallback path that is slower than the GPU path but produces the same results."

      --

      "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
    4. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by grunherz · · Score: 0

      I have a Mini with a 20" Cinema Display and expose is already choppy ...

      I'm calling you out.

      I have a Spring 2000 (holy shit my iMac is 5 years old now!) G3 iMac with 8MB graphics memory and 256MB of RAM and Exposé works rather decently. Only about a 0.2 second delay.

      In fact I can't wait to put Tiger on it to how much faster it runs.

      --
      Four weeks, Twenty papers, that's two dollars ... plus tip.
    5. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet you did NOT get the RAM upgrade. All minimac purchasers should get the RAM upgrade or upgrade it themselves.

    6. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by toddestan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I highly doubt you're running that iMac at 1600 x 1050 resolution. If you are, and on the stock monitor... well, your eyes are way better than mine!

    7. Re:2005 Apple OS on 2005 Apple Hardware? by OlivierB · · Score: 1

      I di get the Ram update ..sorta.
      I bought the full spec Mac Mini 1.42Ghz. Comes standard with 512MB of ram.

      For those out there calling bogus on the choppyness, I doubt you have high res screens.
      More resolution eats up more video memory. Simple as that.
      32M is barely enough to drive a 20" screen at 1600*1050 and still have fluid motion.

      Just go to the nearest apple store and check it out yourself.

      --
      Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
  42. Apparently I didn't whine effectively by anomaly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I bought my first mac (a 15" PowerBook 1.25 GHz) as soon as they were announced. As I recall, it was only about 4-6 weeks later that 10.3 was released. I called Apple and asked about using my 'OS Upgrade certificates" to be told "we currently are not running any promotions with those."

    {rant mode on}
    I was very upset to think that they would not offer me the option to upgrade at a discounted rate so soon after I bought a top-of-the-line notebook. I've never dropped $3K on a PC before, and it was shocking.

    I subsequently contacted customer relations, the apple store, the apple on line store, and even though I was polite and respectful, I got nowhere.

    Today my PowerBook sits running 10.2 and I'm counting the days until I can get the 10.4 discs. A couple of months ago, I was at an Apple store, and told my tale of woe to the employees there while they were demo-ing iLife '05 for me.

    I was wowed by iLife '05, and proceeded to buy a copy. I was really frustrated when I got home and it would not install!

    Now, before you ding me by saying 'it clearly says 10.3 on the box' remember that I was not dealing with Linux where you'd better check compatibility VERY closely. I was in a high touch sales situation where I expected that the sales team would tell me that the software would not work.

    On top of that, I have a PC that is less that 18 months old. I bought the top of the line OS from the vendor, and applications from that same vendor won't run on it? Ridiculous! Even Microsoft doesn't act that way.

    I've got apps on Linux that have not been recompiled in 6 years. They run just fine in spite of hardware, kernel, and distribution changes.

    The idea that Apple would leave me stranded, and offer me no options other than to drop an additional $129 on 10.3 which will be obsoleted VERY soon seems outrageous!

    Oh, and I can't return iLife '05 because I broke the seal on the box. Gotta love Apple's support. I loved the way that during my 90 days of free customer support they told me "we don't support network printing." High touch, and extremely helpful - NOT...

    In spite of that, I still love the PowerBook

    {rant mode off}

    --
    But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
    1. Re:Apparently I didn't whine effectively by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As I recall, it was only about 4-6 weeks later that 10.3 was released.

      4-6 is a pretty big difference. At four you probably coul've got it, at six you definitely would not.

      As for iLife, that _is_ your own fault, deal with it.

    2. Re:Apparently I didn't whine effectively by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      I ordered my PowerBook the week before the 1.25GHz ones were released (and got the stock clearance before releasing a new model price). When they announced the 1.25GHz versions, they upgraded my order to one of those (at the same price). When Panther was released, I went to the £15 upgrade page on Apple's site, saw I didn't qualify, figured I'd give it a go anyway, entered my Apple Store order number etc, and got the upgrade.

      I am now using a 1.5GHz PowerBook, because they managed to lose mine when I sent it in for repair and replaced it with a newer model.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  43. Re:x86 release? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple likes doing things well, somewhat like Ferrari.

    Ferraris are pretty, but they're also prohibitively expensive to buy and maintain, unreliable, and utterly impractical for day-to-day use. Are you sure that's what you want to compare Apple to?

  44. 10.4? I can't wait for 11! by microcars · · Score: 5, Funny
    The Catwomen point series!

    11.0 Halle Berry
    11.1 Eartha Kitt
    11.2 Julie Newmar
    11.3 Nastassja Kinski...

    meow!

    --
    I like microcars
  45. This is why Windows is better! by beef3k · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, if you stick with Microsoft you'll only have to pay for a new OS every 7-10 years or so!

    1. Re:This is why Windows is better! by JeremyALogan · · Score: 1

      you mean we were supposed to PAY for those... uh oh

  46. Anyone who upgraded to XP from 2000 by CdBee · · Score: 1

    Windows 2000 = Windows NT 5.0
    Windows XP = Windows NT 5.1. Can you even get XP Pro for $129?

    --
    I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
  47. What's gonna happen... by IdJit · · Score: 0, Redundant

    when all those PC users who wanted to test the Mac waters and bought a Mac mini finally load Tiger on it and it eats up every bit of available CPU to run all the snazzy new eye-candy?

    Not saying it's going to happen...but what if Tiger completely cripples the new low-end Macs?

    1. Re:What's gonna happen... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      but what if Tiger completely cripples the new low-end Macs?

      It doesn't. So why pretend otherwise?

      Andreas
    2. Re:What's gonna happen... by otis+wildflower · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I actually see it the other way round.

      Granted, I bitch and whine all the time about how crap Apple's default graphics boards are so primitive compared to the latest and greatest, and because of that OS X gaming won't be on the cutting edge.

      However, for the UI stuff that doesn't require constant high framerate + 3D rendering + physics + AI, these GPUs should be completely tits for Quartz Extreme.

      That is to say, for nongaming purposes, these GPUs are essentially desktop accelerators and feature enablers. Even the lowly FX5200 and Radeon 9200 w/32 or 64MB RAM is fine for this.

      If Tiger ends up pushing more work onto these (for Macs) underworked GPUs, the UI will actually _speed up_. And the lowest-spec Mac (Mac mini) will have enough GPU to handle Quartz Extreme handily, while those with older AGP Macs should still be able to find 32/64MB QE cards fairly cheap.

      And to be quite honest, one of the main reasons I built a dual celeron back in the day was to have all my KDE candy run more responsively.. I have no problem dedicating a cpu towards UI vanity ;)

    3. Re:What's gonna happen... by Milton+Waddams · · Score: 1

      All the new snazzy eye candy is run in the GPU on Tiger and it's only turned on if the GPU can handle it. The better the system, the more eye candy but the slower systems will run fine. Just with not as much eye candy.

    4. Re:What's gonna happen... by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 1

      Quartz 2D has been hardware-accelerated in Tiger. You're going to see a significant performance boost with any program that uses Quartz 2D. (OmniGraffle is kind of the canonical example, because I believe it's still shipping with new machines.)

    5. Re:What's gonna happen... by wtmcgee · · Score: 1

      All reports have Tiger running BETTER on G4s than Panther does.

      --
      *** For a better tommorow, change your life today ***
  48. Re:And the hardware... by DenDave · · Score: 1
    Apple's OS software tends to get faster with every release


    Funny how that is eh? Windows and even Linux seem to get boggier every release but I must say that OS X runs faster each release! When a buddy o'mine popped panther onto a 600 mghz G3 Ibook it actually speeded up!! ~impressive~ maybe if Tiger keeps up the trend the old machines will be interesting again! LOL!!

    As for the Mini being adequate, considering that it's the samme guts and glory as my Ibook 12 inch, I must agree, the performance is fine especially considering the price and software bundled.

    --
    -if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
  49. Backwards Compatibility by cbelt3 · · Score: 1

    Alas, the model breaks here. Mac OS stuff is deeply backwards compatible- like OSX.x can run Mac software written back to 1985 in most cases.

    1. Re:Backwards Compatibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Alas, the model breaks here. Mac OS stuff is deeply backwards compatible- like OSX.x can run Mac software written back to 1985 in most cases.

      But only via an application that runs the old OS. It can't run classic Mac OS software natively, so I think the model holds.

  50. Re:Diminishing Returns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Looking at the promised new features in 10.4 now. . . I don't see anything that particularly excites me.

    You are obviously not a developer ...
    Mac OS X isn't revolutionary. It really is the synthesis of everything that we all wanted in an OS back in the late 1980s.

    Agreed. Still, I'm grateful it's finally here.
    Where do we go from here? [...] It must be hard to step back and admit that they're done with this OS

    They are not done. CoreData is just being introduced as is SpotLight, CoreImage and CoreVideo. QuickTime is just now being integrated with the Quartz display engine. There are still lots of things to add and make better.

    I for one am looking forward to Lion or whatever the next cat's name will be. :-)
    An operating system [...] should be merely a component -- a part of the computer

    It is.
    The goal should be to provide a stable, efficient foundation for apps to run on

    It is.
    not be to try and dazzle the user with how many new widgets

    New widgets and OS features can make you more productive. Just ask some Mac users about Exposé ...

    Andreas
  51. Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by MarkWatson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am most looking forward to having JDK5 (or JDK1.5) support. I have put off using the new Java language extensions for production code because I do a lot of development work using OS X. JDK5 support alone is worth the upgrade price to me.

    I am also interested in playing with Searchlight.

    1. Re:Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't you know that Java is slow and it's not free so it's not worth using? I used it once in 1996 and I'll never use it again.

      Signed
      Stupid Slashdot poster

    2. Re:Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *cough* spotlight *cough*

    3. Re:Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by nsayer · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I haven't seen any actual confirmation that Tiger (that is, OS X.4) will have Tiger (that is, JDK 1.5) in it. I have seen rumors to that effect, and dearly hope it is true. Does anyone know for sure?

    4. Re:Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by jtrott · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From what I have heard the JDK5 releases have been separate from the 10.4 releases. That implies that they will ship separately.

    5. Re:Looking forward to Java JDK5 support by Squozen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here's some actual confirmation for you:

      http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/

  52. Re:Diminishing Returns by omich · · Score: 1

    This 'component' point of view is valid from the core hardware concepts only but people need solutions. Having a low level component only leaves too much problems open (GUI design paradigms, data and API concepts) to the developer and user. Look at any OS more like a huge set of components all tied together with a specific background and intention. The more high-level the features are the faster and specific the solutions may be.

  53. Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by master_p · · Score: 3, Informative

    What impressed me more is these two technologies. It may lead to a complete transformation of the way we code: by simple drag-n-drop, we can combine inputs and outputs, making components, then combine those components with others ad infinitum...

    1. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by jcr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, not quite.

      CoreData and Bindings do reduce the amount of code you have to write, but they don't reduce the whole exercise to drag-and-drop. Sure, if all you need to do is keep a list of records showing strings, dates, images, etc, that much you can do with no code, but once you have any custom business logic you want to apply in your app, you'll still be writing code.

      That being said, writing an app with Cocoa on Tiger will be less work than it's been to date.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    2. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by eheldreth · · Score: 1

      So, what your saying is it impresses you that a UNIX based OS is adopting the UNIX ideals on software development.

      --
      The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum. - O'Toole's Corollary
    3. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by Rauser · · Score: 1
      Apparently, you haven't heard of the dataflow programming paradigm, best exemplified by National Instruments LabVIEW.

      Interestingly, LabVIEW was first available only on the Mac (in circa 1986 even!) and still is available for various Unixes as well as OS X and Windows. It's an interesting object-oriented programming "alternative reality" compared to C++ and Objective C.

      --
      The white zone is for loading and unloading only. If you need to load or unload go to the white zone. It's a way of life
    4. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by ps_inkling · · Score: 1
      Dragging outputs to inputs like Helix Express? I remember buying it for the Macintosh back in 1989, along with Maze Wars+.

      I found it interesting, but somewhat annoying. Dragging arrows and tiles around to make a for-next loop was lots of work vs. typing two lines of code.

    5. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Add MAX to the list of drag-drop "coding". (MAX is an interactive graphic programming environment aimed at MIDI/music market.) I have never had as much fun programmingas I did on MAX.

      Interestingly, Miller Puckette and David Zicarelli developed MAX on NeXT (later ported to Mac.)

    6. Re:Impressed by Core Data and Core Bindings by Col+Bat+Guano · · Score: 1
      WebObjects had much the same thing for web development, and it was very nice (-was- because Apple seem to be letting it die).

      As soon as I heard about Core Data I thought "ah, WebObjects persistence store lives again!".

  54. Info from Amazon by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 2, Informative
    I heard that you can get a $35-off coupon from Amazon on Tiger. Sure enough, you can. And there are two date-related items involved in this that give a clue as to Tiger's release:

    1. The coupon says you have to pre-order by 5/31/05, and then postmark the coupon by 7/1. OK, that doesn't necessarily mean much, but that 5/31 date looks suspiciously as if the release will be June 1.

    2. After I ordered it, Amazon gave me an estimated shipping date of 6/1/05.

    Now maybe they don't know either and they are just giving themselves lots of room just in case. Or maybe they do know, and this is an indication of a 5/31 or 6/1 release of Tiger.

  55. legally / technically possible for iBook instead? by Freedom+Bug · · Score: 1

    At one point in time, I heard something about
    Apple having a "family" clause in their license. Something like this http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/macosxfamily.html.

    Does anybody know if that clause applies if I buy a new iMac? Could I take the Tiger CD that comes with the new iMac and install it on my iBook as well? Is it technically possible? If it's technically possible, is it legally possible?

    I'm sure Apple would rather get $500 than $130 from me...

    Bryan

  56. If you even need it. by crovira · · Score: 1

    My ex-wife's running a 'bondi blue' original iMac as a firewall for hooking up her LAN linked other PCs to the 'net and the web.

    Its my o-l-d hardware but it does the trick. (Nothing kills a virus like screweing with the instruction set. :-)

    --
    MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
  57. Re:x86 release? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then get a fucking job you cheapskate whiner.

  58. Re:Diminishing Returns by otis+wildflower · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mac OS X isn't revolutionary. It really is the synthesis of everything that we all wanted in an OS back in the late 1980s. If you take the better features of early Macintosh, Amiga, and all those competing projects that were attempting add a GUI to Unix, and mung them all together and then work out most of the kinks, you end up with Mac OS X.

    That sounds more KDE to me! And that's why I prefer KDE to any other non-OS X UI!

    Seriously, the OS X UI and Cocoa frameworks are much cleaner and better thought-out than a munged hodgepodge of paradigms. Apple's value proposition is related to not just the technical underpinnings but the thoughtfulness of design and attention to end users. Apple sweats the interface details.

    And the real question now is. . . Where do we go from here? After achieving the OS that everybody wanted 15+ years ago, now Apple's OS team suddenly find themselves without a goal. They've resorted to tacking on a hodgepodge of minor trinkets and calling it a major upgrade. It must be hard to step back and admit that they're done with this OS, and that continually adding new features to it may no longer be the right approach.

    I'm not gonna try to push Tiger as a huge innovation, I have sympathy for your point here. However, to a certain extent, if maintaining OS X on the cutting edge (which may be a relatively slow crawl at times, if you're waiting for enough hardware to drive the really revolutionary stuff like voice recog or more miniaturization or whatnot) means putting up with continuous point releases to keep engineers working, that's fine with me. The US gov't does this to a degree with companies like Electric Boat: they don't _need_ new ships all the time, but they need to maintain the ability to build them, and they can't afford to let the skilled people become unavailable. If keeping a solid core of engineers at Apple paid and happy means the occasional softball release, so be it.

    And honestly, I don't think Tiger's a softball release. For me, Panther was, and for any particular Macista a particular OSX release may be. But Tiger's got interesting stuff at the framework level, and who knows how useful Spotlight and Dashboard stuff will be?

    If it was up to me, I would focus on maintenance, bugfixes, security, optimization. . . and de-emphasize the OS as a product. Put the OS back in its proper place, I say! An operating system shouldn't be a featured product, it should be merely a component -- a part of the computer, just like the hard drive, the RAM, the processor, etc. -- that is required for running applications.

    Work for Intel then? ;)

    Seriously, when it comes to defining the place for an OS, you have to take the user into account. This attitude is great for hardware folks and embedded developers, but for desktop people it's toxic. As an end user, I want someone _else_ to make a lot of these decisions, because I don't want to waste my time on them. Having an 'advanced user' preference pane to offer finer-grained control of things is nice, but it shouldn't be necessary for normals.

    The goal should be to provide a stable, efficient foundation for apps to run on, because apps are where your work gets done.

    Sounds like a kernel to me, and Darwin does a pretty decent job of this. Cocoa frameworks also contribute, and Apple's OS releases typically contain a ton of interesting framework improvements (like CoreImage and CoreVideo for Tiger for example.. Imagine realtime SGI-like stream filters for video and image effects) that make upgrading worthwhile (and mandatory for the new apps enabled and/or improved by these new optimized libs).

  59. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by otis+wildflower · · Score: 1

    AFAICR there's a separate 'family' license for like $200 which lets you install up to 5 boxes and stay legal.

  60. Re:x86 release? by GileadGreene · · Score: 1

    Why would they want to release an x86 OS X? The PowerPC is hands-down a better architecture than the x86. And besides, Apple is in the business of selling systems (i.e. an integrated package of hardware and sofwtare), not OS's. I doubt they're about to produce x86-based Macs. And I seriously doubt that they would want to divorce their OS from the integrated system of which it is a part.

  61. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Does anybody know if that clause applies if I buy a new iMac? Could I take the Tiger CD that comes with the new iMac and install it on my iBook as well? Is it technically possible? If it's technically possible, is it legally possible?

    Each machine ships with a single license. They also sell a five license version separately. Thus far there has been no serial numbers or any sort of copy protection on any of the OS versions. Technically you can install it on all your machines. Legally you are breaking your license agreement if you do so. I know a lot of people who update their older machines with a single license, but they would also probably have just left the older machines running older software rather than buy a another license. My advice is if you can afford it, buy another copy, if not, upgrade it anyway.

  62. P-P-P-Powerbook by Chris+Daniel · · Score: 2, Funny
    Apppleinsider.com reports ...

    Is that like a P-P-P-Powerbook?

    --
    Don't blame me -- I voted for Roslin.
    1. Re:P-P-P-Powerbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn, can't believe nobody's explained this yet. For those who are wondering, check out http://p-p-p-powerbook.com/. Hilarious anecdote of how this guy totally turned the tables and scammed a would-be eBay scammer. The photos of the P-P-P-Powerbook are priceless.

  63. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At one point in time, I heard something about Apple having a "family" clause in their license.

    Yes, if you buy the $200 family pack that has that license, instead of the $130 single-install-license version.

    Does anybody know if that clause applies if I buy a new iMac?

    No, that clause is only part of the license if you buy a family pack.

    Could I take the Tiger CD that comes with the new iMac and install it on my iBook as well? Is it technically possible?

    Probably, although it might be harder with a restore CD.

    If it's technically possible, is it legally possible?

    No.
  64. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by QS6dot2 · · Score: 1

    This only applies to the Mac OS X Family Pack, which you may install on up to five computers instead of just one. It therefore costs a bit more than a single license ($199 vs. $129).

    So you may not just use the Tiger CD from a new Mac to update your other Macs.

  65. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Browse the Apple online store for Apple software and you'll find the Mac OS X version 10.3 "Panther" Family Pack for $199

    The Family Pack is an easy and inexpensive way of using a single copy of Mac OS X Panther v10.3 to install the operating system on up to 5 Macintosh computers
  66. Someone is still with that OS X for x86 crap? by crovira · · Score: 1

    You'll see OS X for x86 when Apple sells some x86 hardware. Otherwise fuggedaboudid.

    An x86 laptop is NOT cheaper than a comparably brain damaged iBook. (the comparison is backwards so the statement makes sense, really. :-) Its still more bang for the buck than the x86 equivalent.

    Either you're terminally broke, in which case, I feel for ya, (but not enough to send money,) or you're terminally cheap, in which case, I feel for your parents. (You should not be allowed to breed [and probably won't since girls want stuff...])

    --
    MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
  67. Re:And the hardware... by jaavaaguru · · Score: 1

    I have noticed that if I'm running, say, jEdit, iTunes, Firefox, Opera, X11 and a few random X apps (Konqueror and Kate) all at the same time, then it can get a bit slow. 256mb RAM isn't really enough for a busy machine which is also runnning an Xserver.

    It's definitely suitable for most "normal" users though :-)

  68. Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 1

    So, my PB is about a month old. In the Windows world I have always done fresh installs. How so in the MacOS X world? Should I upgrade or do a fresh install? What are the pros/cons to each method?

    1. Re:Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by norkakn · · Score: 2, Informative

      archive and install is often the best. With major steps, upgrading can sometimes caue you to miss out on some features and make it a bit clunkier. A&I will save all of your apps, the majority of your preferences and usually all of you networking settings. Stuff that affects the kernel needs to be reinstalled, but it's a lot less work than redoing the whole box

    2. Re:Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by Mistah+Blue · · Score: 1

      Since I'll be new to this, after the install do you get the option of "un-archiving" to restore your apps and preferences?

    3. Re:Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by flamingnight · · Score: 2, Informative

      When you choose to perform an Archive and Install of Mac OS X (this is valid for Panther at least, but I assume Tiger will be similar if not the same), the current /System directory is placed in a directory called "/Previous Systems" and you end up with what is essentially a fresh install. You also have the option of preserving network and user settings, which will keep your network locations and your user profiles as you have them set up now.

    4. Re:Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by CuriHP · · Score: 3, Informative

      It only archives the system (It'll dump it all in a folder called Old System Folder, or something to that effect.). Applications and data outside of the system folder are unaffected. It will also preserve the vast majority of your settings.

      --
      If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.
    5. Re:Upgrade or Fresh Install to Tiger by Thomas+Roberts · · Score: 1
      Tiger will be my first Mac OS "upgrade" (switched Nov. 2003) and I am going to do a clean install. I will most likely go the extra mile and zero out my drive.

      What I am doing might be overkill, but my reasons are:

      • Hard drive is only 40GB
      • Read that Archive and Install is not 100% accurate.
      • I want no trace of Panther on my system.
      • Only have 9 application to reinstall (10 if you count Norton which I am not)
      • I can move my personal files (mail, ical, iTunes and iPhoto libraries, etc.) to my Win2K machine while I install Tiger.
  69. Re:And the hardware... by Kildjean · · Score: 1

    is the mac mini good enough to play World of Warcraft? That is my only phear... I can port all my work to mac happily but it would suck to just open windows to do some WoW. :P

    --
    Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
  70. Re:And the hardware... by jaavaaguru · · Score: 1

    I've not tried that as I don't own the game. Virtual PC runs Windows XP at a respectable speed, until it uses up the 256mb RAM (I allocated 128mb to XP, but had other apps running in OSX at the same time).

    I'm sure if it can emulate Windows at a reasonable speed (seemed to run as smoothly as it does on my 2GHz Celeron Vaio), then it's CPU is definitely up to the task of running World of Warcraft. I'm not sure of the graphics requirements of the game though.

  71. Slow FSB still dogs the Powerbook by gilesjuk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Powerbooks still use a stone age FSB speed, unchanged since 2001. I believe it's 167Mhz? stone age for such a sought after piece of hardware.

    1. Re:Slow FSB still dogs the Powerbook by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 1

      Yes, so what is your point?

      A 167MHz FSB makes the computer unusable?

    2. Re:Slow FSB still dogs the Powerbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A 167MHz FSB makes the computer unusable?

      Nope, just that performance-wise the G4 Powerbooks are going to get spanked by all but the crappiest Celeron laptops (Dell, I'm looking at you).

  72. Dates by anomaly · · Score: 1

    Apparently 4-6 was a reasonable estimate.

    I checked http://www.macrumors.com and found that the 1.25 GHz PowerBook was released on 16 Sept 2003 and that 10.3 was released on 21 Oct 2003.

    This is exactly 5 weeks apart. Should Apple have offered me an OS upgrade at a discount, given that I bought a high-end system from them a few weeks before and that 10.3 was a substantial improvement over the OS that shipped on my PowerBook? I think so. Did they? no. They essentially told me to 'talk to the hand.'

    Anyone have any whining tips for my future reference?

    --
    But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
    1. Re:Dates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, I thought I bought my G5 before then, and I got a free upgrade. I think everyone who bought a G5 did.

    2. Re:Dates by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 1

      Yes, go to an Apple Store and talk to a human in person face-to-face. Online stores suck for customer service, even Apple's. Always go talk to a human at a brick-and-mortar store.

  73. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by mbbac · · Score: 1

    I'll bet the 11.0 "Halle Berry" version sucks.

    --

    mbbac

  74. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by ricosalomar · · Score: 0

    Um, hello? Did you forget Lee Merriwether?

  75. Re:Native Compatibility by cbelt3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hmm- Insightful note, and generally true, except.... Since "All Operating Systems are essentially emulators", I'd tend to claim that it still is truly backwards compatible. Classic mode is what I would call a "Quasi-Emulator"- it's sufficiently embedded into OSX that its performance does not suffer the common emulator problems.
    In the same respect, Windows XP is backwards compatible to DOS, so it's not a Mac vs. PC argument.

  76. Free upgrade for Mac Mini users? by Gopher · · Score: 1

    I'm new to the Mac world. If I bought a Mac Mini in the middle of February, will I be eligble for a free upgrade to Tiger?

    1. Re:Free upgrade for Mac Mini users? by nsayer · · Score: 1

      Often Apple does extend a free-for-the-cost-of-shipping upgrade to recent purchasers of hardware. I was able to get my copy of iLife '04 that way. But usually it only goes back a month or so. I'd be a bit surprised if buying in February would get you a free upgrade in April.

    2. Re:Free upgrade for Mac Mini users? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Well, depends. Are you black?

    3. Re:Free upgrade for Mac Mini users? by Colol · · Score: 2, Informative

      Probably not. Usually, the "Up-to-Date Program" (how Apple offers upgrades when new software is announced) is only offered for systems purchased after or just before -- generally two weeks -- the product is announced for release.

      Tiger's release still hasn't been finally announced by Apple, so unless they radically change their program, there's no way a system bought in February will qualify (as would also be the case if you bought a Dell and Longhorn was magically announced for release two weeks from now).

      If you qualify for student, corporate, or government pricing, use it when Tiger is released and save yourself some cash.

  77. Re:Diminishing Returns by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    Having an 'advanced user' preference pane to offer finer-grained control of things is nice, but it shouldn't be necessary for normals.

    I've heard that OS X has had an 'advanced user' preference pane called Terminal for quite a while now. =)

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  78. Re:Diminishing Returns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't OS 9 have voice rec? I swear I remember playing with it one day...

  79. Lee Merriwether by microcars · · Score: 1

    OK, so where would you put her in the lineup?

    --
    I like microcars
  80. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

    Technically, it's possible to install your Tiger updgrade on multiple computers. Legally, it is not. The 5 license pack is around $200 so if you want to stay legal, I would just get that instead of paying for 2 single licenses. If you have friends/family with Macs, you could all chip in. That way your portion is only like $80 for 2 licenses.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  81. Re:legally / technically possible for iBook instea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most likely, not.
    Usually Apple provides specific OS that comes with your computer. Thus, the the OS that is on the CD/DVD included with your iMac won't work with an iBook or a PowerMac or a PowerBook since it lacks specific drivers or firmwares. If you want an install CD/DVD that works across all range of Mac hardwares, you should get the boxed retail version.

  82. They are going to run out of big cats too by MichaelPenne · · Score: 1

    Maybe they'll be like the US Air Force (B-60 to B-1) and restart after Lion with OS X--Puddy Tat!

    1. Re:They are going to run out of big cats too by nathanm · · Score: 1
      Maybe they'll be like the US Air Force (B-60 to B-1) and restart after Lion with OS X--Puddy Tat!
      Huh?
    2. Re:They are going to run out of big cats too by MichaelPenne · · Score: 1

      OS 10.42-- "Kodkod"? (6lb wildcat)

      OS 10.43--"Housecat"?

      OS 10.44--"Ocelot"

      IOW, where do you go when you run out of cool big cat names? They've got cougar (a step down from tiger? just another puma?) & lion and then cats get alot less impressive...

      Where are they going to go if they abandon cats? To the dogs? Not much room for upgrade there. To the ungulates? Maybe to easy to make accusations of bloat (OS XI--Water Buffaloe!). To the sea? OS XV--"Blue Whale!". It starts to get a bit less impressive..

      Maybe they will go mythical? OS XX--Gryphon! Unicorn--Dragon, hmm, now we're getting somewhere....

    3. Re:They are going to run out of big cats too by nathanm · · Score: 1
      Sorry I wasn't more specific. I was asking a question in regards to:
      Maybe they'll be like the US Air Force (B-60 to B-1)
      There wasn't a B-60, and the predecessor to the B-1 was the B-52 (although the XB-70 would've been an intermediate if it hadn't been cancelled).
  83. Don't Forget to Pay SCO by sabat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pay your $599 license fee, you slack-off bastards!

    --
    I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
    1. Re:Don't Forget to Pay SCO by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      Nah. OS X includes big chunks of *BSD, not Linux, so all you have to do is promise not to sue AT&T if they used your code.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    2. Re:Don't Forget to Pay SCO by sabat · · Score: 1

      You forgot that SCO owns all *.h files as well as the UNIX ABI. Pay your $699 licensing fee, you lazy ass!

      --
      I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
  84. Re:And the hardware... by Kildjean · · Score: 1

    i dont know how power pc/osx architecture runs... but i know 1gb of ram makes anything on any hardware just run :) I guess ill find out soonish. I know if you run WoW with only 256mb even on an imac g5 it runs choppy...

    --
    Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
  85. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really hard, I hope.

  86. Re:x86 release? by Cmdr+TECO · · Score: 2, Insightful
    wouldnt it be nice it they made OSX for a x86.

    If everyone who says that had actually bought it when it was called NextStep / OpenStep / Rhapsody, they probably still would be.

    --
    echo 33676832766569823265328479713269.8639857989Pq | dc
  87. Re:x86 release? by Kildjean · · Score: 1
    because when something is released for one platform the other wants it. This is why we got emulators. Now, like it has been explained before, apple contrary to what most people say is in the business of hardware, or like steve jobs likes to say, the human interfacing business. If they did release for x86 (which would save me $500 asuming it happened now), then they would become in a software company, since their os would have to tackle all the videocards in the market, all the sound cards and so on and so forth.

    I like any other would like to see OSX on a x86, but with solutions like the mac mini, i guess if that little thing holds, its a good investment.

    --
    Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
  88. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eartha Kitt as an upgrade to Halle Berry? I guess on the "News for Nerds" site, eyecandy really doesn't matter!

  89. New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? MS? by klatty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From what I hear, every release of OS X get *faster*, allowing older hardware to run the new OS better than it could it's previous OS.

    I would think Micro$oft would want to take a look at this....Of course this would mean people wouldn't have to buy PCs as often...I wonder how Micro$oft's relationship with PC makers compares with Apple making their own hardware...

    Something to think about. Any thoughts?

  90. Academic price (if you can get it) is $69 by JavaRob · · Score: 1

    ...but you can't pre-order, so this is my assumption that the Tiger price will be the same as the (currently shown) 10.3 price.

  91. Re:x86 release? by dick+johnson · · Score: 1

    One reason they might is the past inability of Motorola and IBM to provide the chips in the quantity that Apple required.

    There have been a number of times in the recent past where Apple couldn't ship a product because these two companies were unable to provide enough usable chips.

    Sure, Intel and AMD might have similar problems. But then you're looking at a dissimular situation.

    If Apple can't get the newest chips from Intel/AMD, then presumably neither can HP, Dell, etc.

    --
    - dj
  92. Re:x86 release? by dick+johnson · · Score: 1

    One other thing.

    You need to think differently. :)

    I think you and many others make the mistake of believing that if Apple were to release an x86 version of OS X that it would automatically mean that any beige pc would be able to run the OS.

    As always, the situation isn't that black and white.

    Apple could decide to use the x86 chips, but keep the system a closed one. Meaning they would still have the tightly integrated hardware/software. But the systems would just use a different chip.

    There are a number of ways the company could use Intel chips while keeping their system closed.

    I'm sure there would be efforts by others to crack it and get OS X running on some junkie Dell box.

    But Apple could just make it a moving target with software update. (just as they do now with companies trying to open up the ipod to other music stores.)

    --
    - dj
  93. Re:Diminishing Returns by grunherz · · Score: 1

    New widgets and OS features can make you more productive. Just ask some Mac users about Exposé ...


    As a daily user I'm glad to authenticate your statement. =)

    I can't for the life of me understand how I did my day to to work with 5-20 windows open without Exposé.

    I had to use a Jaguar machine the other day and felt naked without being able to use it.

    Perhaps I'll feel the same way about Spotlight ... who knows?

    --
    Four weeks, Twenty papers, that's two dollars ... plus tip.
  94. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    Great, I'll pay $129 for that!

  95. This is why Apple can't compete with MS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Release candidates? Bug fixing? Beta-testing? Feh! This is why Apple can't compete with Microsoft! Microsoft releases their software the second its finished compiling (1 year compile time due to code bloat).

  96. Isn't that what BT is for ;-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you feel like you deserve to get 10.3, just go download it insted of whining!

  97. Re:x86 release? by GileadGreene · · Score: 1
    Apple could decide to use the x86 chips, but keep the system a closed one. Meaning they would still have the tightly integrated hardware/software. But the systems would just use a different chip.

    Sure, but then what's the point of moving to x86? The OP, like many others, seems to want OS X on x86 because they somehow think it'll be magically cheaper. It won't unless Apple allowed "beige box" systems. Which they won't. So why keep asking for x86 OS X? There's no advantage to using the x86 architecture aside from a perceived price gain. I'd rather see Windows, Linux, BSD, etc move to the PowerPC architecture.

  98. The "other" Unison software by bodrell · · Score: 1

    I had to check your link to make sure it wasn't the newsreader Unison, which is also pretty nifty. Though I think someone needs to change their name to avoid the confusion . . . Who came first?

    --
    Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a soportar Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a espabilar
  99. Re:x86 release? by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    But that would be pointless. Why change the Mac to use an inferior processor architecture?

  100. Re:x86 release? by GileadGreene · · Score: 1
    If they did release for x86 (which would save me $500 asuming it happened now), then they would become in a software company, since their os would have to tackle all the videocards in the market, all the sound cards and so on and so forth.

    Isn't that what I just said?

  101. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by FranksChickenHouse · · Score: 0

    And that lickable interface! Mmmmm :)

  102. no release soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tiger is a technology release, unlike Panther & Jaguar which included major new applications.

    Tiger is all about empowering third-party developers, and therefore the "near GM" candidate will linger for a while in the hands of developers before Apple releases it to the public.

  103. Re:Shhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought your comment was funny.

    (owner of many Macs and AAPL shares)

  104. I'm with you on this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple should really figure out how to stay up with the current versions. Java 5 is a huge improvement over Java 1.4 in terms of startup speed and many other aspects. As a Java developer I'm a bit reluctant to get a Mac because I'm worried that I might have to wait a year to get a Java version after it has been released.

  105. 129 bucks for geek babble? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    come on.

    i can buy a decent chainsaw + safety equipment
    for 129 dollars.

    it cuts wood really fast.

    what does tiger do for me?

    other than synergize my updated driver kernels

  106. Re:Why does Mac insist on being a hardware company by MacDaffy · · Score: 1

    Because it would be a massive support headache. Every idiot with a PC would install Mac OS and immediately expect nirvana. Apple would have to expand help staff exponentially to deal with the floodtide of yokels wondering why OS X doesn't work on their x386 box with 64 MB of memory.

    Control freaks? Maybe... but smart control freaks.

  107. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by PenGun · · Score: 0

    OK children a little lesson from a 58 year old. Women are interesting creatures and with a little experience you will find the cutness and hotness factors do not nescesarily relate to each other.

    I'd take Ertha in an instant over Halle and I bet my ride would be way wilder than one who chose otherwise.

    Posting at 0 to avoid the assholes.

    PenGun
    Do What Now ??? ... Standards and Practices !

  108. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by burns210 · · Score: 2, Informative

    That is due to the way they focused on OS X. Apple focused on all the groundwork(10.0, .1, etc) and foundation and only in .2 and .3 have they focused on optimizing what is there. Each release gets faster because 1. the past release (early OS X) was quite slow) and 2. they optimize non-optimized code. There is a ceiling, one can only assume, on how long Apple can improve speed on each release on moderate/old hardware.

    PS: Apple has made a release every 12-18 months on OS X (every .x release, that is), Steve Jobs has said that this pace is too break neck and they will be slowing down for 10.5 (11?) and on. Can't blame them, their release cycle has been unreal.

  109. Re:x86 release? by Coryoth · · Score: 1

    There's no advantage to using the x86 architecture aside from a perceived price gain.

    Actually there is the issue of availability. Apple has had issues with the supply of PowerPC chips, particularly G5s. On the x86 side of the fence there are no such availability issues as Intel and AMD already have large markets adn produce extremely large volumes. That said...

    I'd rather see Windows, Linux, BSD, etc move to the PowerPC architecture.

    If this actually happened then the situation would likely reverse as the volume of PowerPC chips in demand would be huge, and some serious productuon facilities would get built to deal with it.

    In the meantime Apple will have minor supply issues. Given the costs of switching/porting to x86 I don't see how the gains (in availability) could possibly be worth it.

    On another note: Where exactly are the Linux PPC systems? PPC Linux works quite well from what I've heard - why aren't there any people selling Linux PPC desktops or laptops?

    Jedidiah.

  110. iSync Supported Device List by lullabud · · Score: 1

    Apple keeps a list of iSync's Supported Devices on their site.

  111. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot one..

    11.4 Lee Meriwether

  112. Don't get too excited.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple usually does 2 or 3 "Final Canaidate" releases before going gold.

    Probably 15-30 days before it goes to the cd press.

  113. Re:x86 release? by GileadGreene · · Score: 1
    Actually there is the issue of availability. Apple has had issues with the supply of PowerPC chips, particularly G5s. On the x86 side of the fence there are no such availability issues as Intel and AMD already have large markets adn produce extremely large volumes.

    Given that derivatives of the PowerPC 970 (aka G5) are being used in the X-Box Next and Nintendo's Gamecube follow-on I'm not sure availability will be an issue in the future. Other PowerPC chips are widely used in embedded systems - there's arguably a larger market for the PowerPC architecture (in general) than there is for x86.

    Where exactly are the Linux PPC systems? Well, you could start by looking here.

  114. What will happen... by jonr · · Score: 2, Funny

    When Apple runs out of cool cat code names? Mac OSX "Hello Kitty"?

  115. You cannot install onto an older machine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative
    Technically, it is VERY difficult if not impossible to take the OS on a new system and put it onto another machine. The reason? Because each system's "restore CDs" include the OS as part of a bundle that is designed to install exclusively on that machine. You don't just open up that new machine and see a shiny new "OS X TIGER" CD laying in the box. You see a series of DVDs now, numbered one and two, that contain the entire "restore system to factory condition" set of software, which will NOT boot up another machine to install them on.

    Trust me, I know from experience. While I have been able to get other APPLICATIONS off these DVDs/CDs (like Quicken 2005...came with my Mac mini, but I want to use it on my iMac instead, and NOT on the Mac mini), I have never been able to get an OS install to work. But if you can do it, best of luck to you!


    ONE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION: If you buy your machine and it is after the "on sale" date of Tiger, AND it does not have Tiger installed, you can get Tiger by mail from Apple for $20. This CD *CAN* be used to update other systems. But if your new machine includes Tiger, you cannot get that $20 upgrade CD (the CD is free, the $20 is, of course, for shipping and handling).

    1. Re:You cannot install onto an older machine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't know much about macs do you. It is very easy to take the OS on a new system and put it on an older (but not to old) system. All you need is a firewire cable, a keyboard with a working 'T' key.

      Boot up the target mac in firewire mode and mirror the OS of the mac you want to copy onto it.

    2. Re:You cannot install onto an older machine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny you should say that. Someone I know has just installed OS X 10.3 on his G3 iMac from restore disks that came with a G4 PowerBook. No problems, all works perfectly OK (except a little sluggish due to only 128MB RAM).

  116. Jolly good for you by anomaly · · Score: 1

    I'm glad that someone's happy with Apple

    --
    But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
    1. Re:Jolly good for you by Razor's+Edge · · Score: 2, Informative

      I had a few problems when it came to an iPod order and a Powerbook repair. In both cases once I sent a formal written letter I got what I wanted. In both cases I had been flat-out turned down previously for what I thought was a reasonable solution.

      In summary, I think that the first-line support is generally not so good at Apple. Getting beyond them, service gets much better.

  117. TIGER, TIGER... by shadowlight1 · · Score: 1

    TIGER PUNCH ;)

    1. Re:TIGER, TIGER... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no, no...

      It's... TIGER CRAW!!

    2. Re:TIGER, TIGER... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (take a deep breath) tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!!!! (inhale) tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger tiger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!!!!

      (filter defeat below)

      # Please try to keep posts on topic.
      # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.
      # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.
      # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.
      # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)
      # If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account.

      Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.

    3. Re:TIGER, TIGER... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where's the magic?

    4. Re:TIGER, TIGER... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Tiger by William Blake (1757-1827)

      TIGER, tiger, burning bright
      In the forests of the night,
      What immortal hand or eye
      Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

      In what distant deeps or skies
      Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
      On what wings dare he aspire?
      What the hand dare seize the fire?

      And what shoulder and what art
      Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
      And when thy heart began to beat,
      What dread hand and what dread feet?

      What the hammer? what the chain?
      In what furnace was thy brain?
      What the anvil? What dread grasp
      Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

      When the stars threw down their spears,
      And water'd heaven with their tears,
      Did He smile His work to see?
      Did He who made the lamb make thee?

      Tiger, tiger, burning bright
      In the forests of the night,
      What immortal hand or eye
      Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

    5. Re:TIGER, TIGER... by Zcipher · · Score: 1

      TIGER PUNCH ;)

      That's TIGER UPPERCUT, you insensitive clod!
  118. Could we please look at this objectively? by Paradox · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Wow, an Anit-Apple troll by any other name...

    Sorry, but for most people CoreImage and CoreVideo is going to be utterly useless. Apple still ships shit, shit, shit video processors on the iBook, Mac Mini and only the latest generation Powerbooks, PMs and iMac have the much-needed Pixel Shader on their GPUs.

    CoreImage and CoreVideo are going to make these effects go as fast as they can on your hardware. It puts the power to do what the Quartz EX people have been doing into the hands of developers. Of course it won't be as fast on older machines, but that doesn't mean it's going to be any slower. Indeed, I'm sure we'll see a speed boost. And when developers can leverage these algorithms then suddenly 3rd party apps become faster too, which really helps with the perception of OSX's speed.

    CoreImage and CoreVideo are groundworks for future apps, and proof that Apple really does care about the quality of tools available for its developer community.

    So are you honestly going to tell me developers are going to bother developing with features that only 10-20% of their already small userbase can use?

    If we based our criterion for software features based solely off how many people could derive immediate benefit, we'd end up with Windows, where the masses rule your OS. Apple is growing the OS towards certain goals. CoreImage and CoreMovie are cool, but they're only pieces in a larger puzzle.

    Personally I don't see any one feature that Tiger has that I really want. Hopefully it'll be a lot more polished and have some nice performance increases, but the vast majoirty of stuff in Tiger is totally useless to me

    Then I suspect you're not paying attention. Or not thinking about the implications or these products.

    I don't need spotlight since I organise my stuff well,

    See? What did I tell you. You're missing the point. Let me bold it so you don't miss it: Spotlight unifies application and file data together! You may be the king of organization, fastidiously organizing every file, but when it comes time you find an address in AddressBook or a Mail in Mail.app, you still need to open these apps.

    Spotlight is going to make the content of various apps searchable from a single point. So instead of deciding where to go, opening that app, and using its search feature, you open one search dialog and get all the relative hits. Any Mac user who's tried LaunchBar or the up-and-coming Quicksilver can attest to how powerful this idea is. Being able to open and control apps all from one small, powerful, searchable interface is fast, fun, and efficient. It also follows the theme of Apple caring about its developer community. Your app provides the data in an indexed format and Spotlight integrates the searching into the OS for almost not cost (you need to tell spotlight how to read your data).

    This means that your bookmarks, RSS feeds, IRC/IM logs, text files, OmniGraffle documents, whatever, they all get cheap, fast, OS-integrated searching at minimal developer cost.

    I don't use Safari for anything more than basic browsing (I have a perfectly good RSS client already, thanks)

    Excellent example of where Spotlight could do some good. Searching your feeds. Safari stores them and makes Spotlight.framework aware of them, and you get powerful, fast, integrated searching of your feeds.

    NetNewsWire and NewsFire will add this as soon as Tiger comes out. You watch.

    Incedentally, it seems that the next Safari is going to have incredible HTML and CSS support. This RSS thing is probably just an example to show how to leverage their new XSLT and CSS3 handling. The new web framework looks amazing, if the developer's blogs are to be believed.

    I won't be using automator, quicktime or ...

    For anyone who does develop

    --
    Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
    1. Re:Could we please look at this objectively? by aldoman · · Score: 1

      Ok. I take what you say onboard. I do like what you say about automator and spotlight, and to be honest maybe I was not giving enough thought to them (especially automator, from Apple's screenshots it looks to me to be little more than some terribly limited graphical applescript).

      Spotlight sounds intresting. I have used somewhat similar apps like Quicksilver (and some other one I can't think of) and it promised the same and failed horribly. Inaccurate, slow and unresponsive. So,

      I really think that Apple is pushing the hardware _too_ hard. I think it will be amazing for someone running it on a dual core Powermac G5 3.0GHz. But for the millions (the majority) who are running on G3 iBooks or G4 iMacs/Powerbooks/eMacs/iBooks then I think it's going to be a pretty bad experience.

    2. Re:Could we please look at this objectively? by Squozen · · Score: 1

      Care to link to any of these dev blogs for us? I only know of Dave Hyatt's one, and it hasn't been updated since January.

    3. Re:Could we please look at this objectively? by Squozen · · Score: 1

      Every report I've read from people using G3/G4 laptops has been very complimentary actually. I haven't heard a single person say that Tiger was slower than Panther on the same hardware. In fact, most of them sound like they're bursting to tell us exactly how much better 10.4 is, but are afraid of being sued. :P

  119. You're on to something there. by Paradox · · Score: 1

    You're totally right that sometimes we need menubar-less applications, and I think that Dashboard is going to be the king of these sorts of things.

    The problem with apps that do that sort of thing on OS X these days is that they're hard to get right. The developer has some hard choices. Do you clutter the Dock with an icon? No? If so how do I close your app, how do I relauch it? Do you put a Menubar Item up there? Isn't that contributing to the clutter? Do you make the app float on top or below? How do you explose it to the apple-tab mechanism?

    Dashboard is going to resolve all that and give us a slick new way to microapps.

    --
    Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
  120. Fewer kernel panics, I hope by Pausanias · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I hope there are fewer kernel panics with this one. I have a intel linux laptop and a G5 PowerMac. The laptop has never, ever crashed (since 2002). But I've had about 5 inexplicable kernel panics over the past 18 months with OS X 10.3. My office mate has a G5 PowerMac and he's had a similar number of kernel panics over the past 2 years.

    I love OS X but it still isn't quite 100% there as far as stability from my experience.

    1. Re:Fewer kernel panics, I hope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the hell are you two doing to your Macs? My house has three Macs in it, all used a lot, all staying up-to-the-week on updates, and not one has had a kernel panic since 10.1

  121. Re:And the hardware... by iroll · · Score: 1

    I have heard it is. Several of Apples' recent software updates (10.3.whatever) have, I am told, been very favorable to WoW (tweaks that speeded it up)--basically, Apple going out of their way to make sure this popular game works great on the machines Blizzard says it will work on.

    --
    Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
  122. Re:And the hardware... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or he could just buy the Macintosh version of WoW and forget about all that kludge...

  123. Apppleinsider.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Excuse me, I have to go p. I have an extra now.

  124. New developer resources? by nvrrobx · · Score: 1

    I finally bit the bullet and order a DP 2.5 G5 this week, and I've been reading through developer.apple.com, but, does anyone have any good books to reccommend for learning OS X development for an old Windows developer and not-as-seasoned Linux developer?

    1. Re:New developer resources? by Colol · · Score: 4, Informative

      Before even cracking a book, I'd probably start out with Apple's own "Getting Started" developer documentation. It's included with Xcode, and the introductory material is clear, fairly concise, and offers a lot of tutorials and code samples so you can easily see the concepts in action (this is particularly helpful if you haven't worked extensively with MVC development before).

      If you intend on developing end-user stuff, be sure to check out the Human Interface Guidelines -- Mac users have expectations for how applications should "feel" and Apple has spent a lot of time and money developing and revising the HIG over the years. If it feels like a typical mediocre X11 app, it'll get torn to shreds by rabid users.

      As for books...
      Aaron Hillegass' Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X is an excellent primer and my personal favorite. It's not cheap at US$44.99, but well worth it. The first few chapters are essentially a Cliffs Notes version of Apple's free introductory material, and from there the book tackles a little bit of everything -- Objective-C basics, bindings, custom views, localization... you name it.

      O'Reilly's Learning Cocoa (aka Learning Cocoa with Objective-C in its second edition) by James Duncan Davidson isn't horrible, but isn't the best. It also isn't as up-to-date as the Hillegass book, but they'll both be dated pretty shortly with Tiger coming out in the next few months (or a couple weeks, if you believe the rumor sites).

      Once you get out of the starting gate, there aren't a whole lot of applicable books (but Cocoa and Objective-C are fairly easy to pick up). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Apple's mailing lists are a great resource and the developer and API documentation is quite good in most areas.

    2. Re:New developer resources? by mamladm · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'd recommend you don't waste your time with Carbon, which is the API associated with legacy support. Learn Cocoa instead. Cocoa is the future.

      For learning Cocoa, the gold standard is Aaron Hillegass' "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X", Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-321-21314-9.

      In addition, read Apple's online developer documentation. Just install the developer tools and then point your browser at

      file:///Developer/ADC%20Reference%20Library/docu me ntation/index.html

      The introductory stuff on Cocoa is at

      file:///Developer/ADC%20Reference%20Library/refe re ncelibrary/API_Fundamentals/Cocoa-fund-date.html

      For resources check out

      http://www.stepwise.com

      and join the Cocoa Developer mailing list at

      http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa- dev

      other resource links, including book referrals, ar at

      http://www.stepwise.com/StartingPoint/Cocoa.html

      --
      the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm
    3. Re:New developer resources? by CreateWindowEx · · Score: 1
      The Apple online docs are mostly at the API level, and lacking in the higher-level overview department. I found "Cocoa Programming" by Anguish, Buck, and Yacktman to be pretty useful, because they give a decent birds-eye view of the Cocoa design patterns.


      I'm more of a command-line, straight-to-the-win32 API programmer, so if you're used to using MFC or something, there might be a better resource that maps from MFC to Cocoa. I found Cocoa programming to be really fun--Objective C is very easy to pick up, and it's amazing how you can write rich GUI apps with very few lines of code. With Cocoa and CoreAudio I was able to throw together a simple, working multitrack audio recording app pretty quickly with effects and everything, although when GarageBand came out, I abandoned it as being redundant.


      I've usually written apps with the Model-View-Controller structure, and kept the Model layer in C++ with a C interface, so that it can be cross-platform. I keep meaning to try writing some sort of Win32 partial subset of Cocoa (sort of an equivalent to mingw32/cygwin) so that I could develop apps for Cocoa and be able to port them to other OSs--there is GnuStep, but I would prefer to be able to build a "pure" Win32 target, even if it meant writing some sort of NIB-to-C translator or some such... although that would break my current system of having all hobby programming be on the Mac and all work programming be on Wintel... ;)

    4. Re:New developer resources? by jcr · · Score: 1

      Just install the developer tools and then point your browser

      You can get to all the same content, and gain a comprehensive searching capability, by just launching Xcode and going to the "Help" menu.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  125. Plenty of room to run by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple sort of painted themselves into a corner with the name OSX. It's sort of the 10th version of the Mac OS, but the X was to make it sound cooler and sort of clever, but what comes after? OS XI? That looks weird.

    I think they've done just the opposite.

    The difference between 10.0 and 10.3 is *huge* -- almost impossible to overstate. What they've done is say "Wow, look at these hundreds of improvements -- and it's only a point release!" for a few years. They're driving expectations up.

    When they announce what they're working on for "Mac OS 11", can you imagine how psyched-up the rumor sites and fan bois are going to be? They'll go positively ape-shit.

    It's like shipping G4 boxes for several years -- everybody drools just at the thought of having a G5.

    They've also made an implicit claim that new major OS releases don't have to look the same as the previous one: when you change the kernel and APIs, you change the interface, therefore when you ship a new major version with a new interface you're allowed to change APIs.

    Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 all look subtly different, but overall they're variations on the same theme. They're very different from Mac OS 9. Perhaps they're saving Mac OS 11 for another inside-and-out change. It certainly won't be as big as 9-to-10 was, but maybe they're saving all of the cool things they can't do backwards-compatibly for a big OS 11 release.

  126. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple also closes the door on older hardware quite fast. It's likely 10.4 will be the last OS X version to support the G3. Or the last one to support it with any optimizations. We know the CI/CV have no G3 fallback, requiring at least a G4 to run. Core-Data and Spotlight probably are not optimized well for the G3. It's likely Apple spent most of the optimization resources on speeding them up on the G4 and G5.

  127. New Hardware by anticypher · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Disclaimer: I am not under any Apple NDA, nor does any of this information come directly from someone under NDA.

    There is some new hardware coming out, sometime between "now" and "the end of 2005" (how is that for vague). This new hardware will require extra drivers and code to support some new features. The beta testers have only been able to run Tiger on this hardware, released versions of 10.X don't work much, or at all.

    Since releasing Tiger before the hardware is announced means that legions of Mac fanatics will be picking it apart, they will quickly find the code relating to new hardware names. So it is almost a certainty that Apple will release Tiger at the same time they announce the new hardware. The hardware might ship later, but at least it will be announced by the Tiger ship date. Tiger may be announced as much as a month in advance of its ship date, if past announcements are any guide.

    So the speculation is centred around which events in Apple's calendar would be good for announcing a new round of hardware upgrades and new models, as well as releasing Tiger. The WWDC has been a favorite target until recently, as it is now approaching rapidly and Tiger is still in beta, MacPsychics are looking further into the summer for good announce dates.

    the AC
    My money is on the WWDC for a ship date

    --
    Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
    1. Re:New Hardware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disclaimer: I am not under any Apple NDA, nor does any of this information come directly from someone under NDA.

      In other words, you're making it up entirely, and using the disclaimer to actually increase your credibility.

      There is some new hardware coming out, sometime between "now" and "the end of 2005" (how is that for vague).

      Hey, that's very good! Since you're not actually saying anything specific, you can't possibily be proven wrong!

      Nevermind the fact that Apple releases new hardware every six to twelve months anyway, and a dead monkey without a brain could tell you that they'll probably release something later this year.

      This new hardware will require extra drivers and code to support some new features.

      Wow. I've never heard of new hardware requiring drivers before.

      The beta testers have only been able to run Tiger on this hardware, released versions of 10.X don't work much, or at all.

      What "beta testers"? People with developer previews, or people inside Apple? Why *would* it run on older versions? Backported drivers have *always* been released after a product launch. Even if you aren't making this up entirely, your conclusions are fucked.

      Since releasing Tiger before the hardware is announced means that legions of Mac fanatics will be picking it apart, they will quickly find the code relating to new hardware names. So it is almost a certainty that Apple will release Tiger at the same time they announce the new hardware.

      You don't know what "certain" means, do you?

      The hardware might ship later, but at least it will be announced by the Tiger ship date. Tiger may be announced as much as a month in advance of its ship date, if past announcements are any guide.

      Ah, it seems you don't. Once again you've mastered the rumor-site technique of being so incredibly vague and covering all your bases, that you can't possibly be wrong.

      So the speculation is centred around which events in Apple's calendar would be good for announcing a new round of hardware upgrades and new models, as well as releasing Tiger. The WWDC has been a favorite target until recently, as it is now approaching rapidly and Tiger is still in beta, MacPsychics are looking further into the summer for good announce dates.

      Tiger isn't "in beta", it's had a dozen or more very different development releases, and I can say (having used several), that it's very mature and and as close to "finished" as you can get. The official bug list from a recent build includes only includes some really rare and obscure issues, mostly relating to foreign language support (which is hard to test for extensively).

  128. Sorry. by Paradox · · Score: 1

    I didn't see the troll-post, had been modded. I thought you were one of said whiners.

    My apologies.

    --
    Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
    1. Re:Sorry. by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

      Apology accepted.

      Let's drink a toast to the Font/DA mover.

  129. Re:x86 release? by mrbass · · Score: 1

    Sorry I can't find the article on line. I have Popular Mechanic magazine here and basically Jay Leno say's Ferrari's clutches suck requiring a new one ($5,000 a pop) after only about 5,000 miles. So perhaps you should say Apple is more like Porsche.

    comment from here

    Posted Feb 17, 2005, 10:43 AM ET by Jon F.

    Jay is definitely hardcore. He has an uber car collect though he's still concerned with economy. He's been pretty public in saying that he doesn't like to challenge people with is Lambo (4wd car) because "I could take him, but i don't want to waste a $5000 clutch". He states it in the article, and he's said it a few other times. A lot of people can afford to own a Ferrari, not all of them can afford the maintenance. Jay can, but he'd rather improves his collection and drive his cars rather than see them in the shop.

  130. Mac Rumors by mickyflynn · · Score: 1

    I've owned a few Macs in my day, so I don't really mean this as an outsider or a troll but:

    who the fuck sits around and reads rumors about a computer company?

    Seriously. I get the feeling that I could just make up any shit that I want to, put it on a mac rumor site, and people would eat it up. Hell, that's probably how Apple gets most of their product ideas -- reading rumor sites filled with made up crap by people who like to laugh at MacHeads.

    I really don't get how anybody could be that attached to a piece of plastic or the company who made it. It's not like an ancestoral sword which almost sort of has a life of its own. It's a bloody fucking computer -- a soulless tool that one doesn't even need to get along in life.

  131. I second that by dsalmon9 · · Score: 1

    "Just ask some Mac users about Exposé ..."

    Though no one asked, I have to say that I can attest to how useful Expose' is. Not having the dough to buy a monitor right after buying my PowerMac, I used an old 17" CRT monitor and whenever I had multiple panels (I can't even call them windows) open, it was very useful in dealing with the lack of screen real estate.

  132. but Apple DO make OSX for x86 by mamladm · · Score: 4, Informative

    "wouldnt it be nice it they made OSX for a x86"

    But they do, they just don't sell it.

    In an interview last year, an Apple executive confirmed that an x86 port of OSX, aka Marklar does exist in Apple's labs and that they are keeping it on par with PPC development.

    Before the release of the G5, Steve Jobs said in another interview that they do not plan to move to x86 but that they like to keep their options open.

    If you take these two statements and add one and one together, it should become obvious that they have no intent to change their business model from making and selling "hardware including software" to "software including hardware" or even "software only". In other words, Marklar is just an insurance policy against unpredictable disaster scenarios where Apple would be forced to move to another CPU and as a result, Apple have a stronger negotiating position with IBM.

    Consequently, for as long as IBM do a good job on fostering PPC, for as long as PPC is competitive, Apple have very little reason to move.

    And should they ever decide to move, or should they decide to offer OSX on x86 in addition to PPC, their business model will almost certainly remain the same, meaning OSX will continue to be made to run on Apple hardware only, regardless of CPU compatibility.

    So, you would then see an x86 Mac with exactly the same treats as today, from OpenFirmware to Apple's own motherboard designs, not compatible with other x86 hardware. In fact, such an x86 Mac might even have a custom x86 CPU, made only for Apple, ie bolted on AltiVec compatible SIMD. Without specific hacks, OSX would not run on other x86 machines. Likewise, Windows would probably not run on such an x86 Mac without some extra software from Microsoft, eg. Virtual PC or Mac/x86. Such an arrangement would also likely have Microsoft continue MS-Office development for the Mac - even more reason for Apple to choose such a path if they ever were to go x86.

    So, whether or not Apple will release OSX on x86, if you want OSX on non-Apple x86 hardware, you will almost certainly have to rig your own.

    Mind you, you can do this within limits already today. Darwin, the core of OSX, is available for x86 and it's a free download ...

    http://www.opendarwin.org/en/downloads

    You can get GNUstep and run it on top of Darwin x86

    http://www.gnustep.org

    GNUstep is the GNU implementation of OPENSTEP, the foundation on which Cocoa is build. In addition, GNUstep has some, but not all of the things Apple has added, so you get Cocoa compatibility within limits. This is as close as you can get OSX on x86 today. It's free, but it requires a little more effort than an OSX installation on a Mac. And if you want the OSX eye candy, you will also need to do a bit of DIY. If you do, consider becoming a contributor to the GNUstep project.

    Thus, it comes down to paying a little extra for convenience or save some money and put in some work. You can't have it both ways. Remember, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

    --
    the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm
    1. Re:but Apple DO make OSX for x86 by eboot · · Score: 1
      Well if you find someone who could steal the source to their x86 tiger Im sure I could find someone who will hack it to work on x86 and release it anonymously to some sort of encrypted, easy to use, Bittorrent like network (hell I'd learn how to do it and how to create a program like that) Then lots of people would get a taste of OS X on the PC but would soon find it is difficult to use because of lack of support However they would be unable to blame Apple as they offer no support. Unable to quit their addiction to OSX they would then go out and buy an Apple meaning many would be forced to buy a mac, thus bringing balance to the Operating System market

      Disclaimer: I know none of this would work. And that it would bring imbalance to the hardware market.

      --
      Two tears in a bucket. Motherfuck it.
  133. Re:10.4? I can't wait for 11! by hondo77 · · Score: 1

    There shouldn't be any versions after Julie Newmar. Having achieved perfection with that release there wouldn't be a need for further upgrades.

    --
    I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
  134. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by phrasebook · · Score: 1

    Any thoughts?

    Yeah. The early versions of OS X were dogs, and if you bought into them you got ripped off. Best way to make users think their hardware is running new software better? Make the first releases crap.

  135. Re:And the hardware... by DenDave · · Score: 1
    256mb RAM isn't really enough
    Oh I am with you on that 100%!!! 512mb is a minimum!!! Anything less and OSX gets a headache, should've mentioned that in my original post!
    Konqueror and Kate
    ee, I just got Fink to try out my favourite linux apps but I keep getting dcopserver errors... can't even fire up quanta, you got your packages from fink or did you compile?
    --
    -if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
  136. Tiger is a pretty big leap by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    So, pray tell, just for my curiosity: _what_ applications didn't work with the old release? Was there some killer-app or killer-game announced that requires Tiger to run? Is there some much needed functionality comes in this release and was sorely missing in Panther? I'm just, you know, curious.

    It's a little harder to argue why people would buy previous versions - I started around 10.1, bought 10.2 for some reasons I cannot remember. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

    The switch to 10.3 was partially for performance boost, but a lot for Expose. It works so much better than the stupid Windows Taskbar for switching or searching for windows or even accessing the desktop it's amazing.

    But 10.4 (Tiger) has some very compelling features both for the developer (me) and user (me again). First of all, Spotlight looks like a great searching mechanism and I'm already planning to hook a few custom filetypes into the search API.

    I also have some ideas for apps that make use of Spotlight, core data, and core image features. These are all new and pretty significant API updates, you may not see a lot of programs that leverage them at first but they are so powerful that as a developer it's a no-brainer to buy Tiger.

    Basically Mac users buy updates when they see a set of features that are worth the money to them, and so far they have been. If you think about it ~100 is not much if it improves your working efficency even in some small way, much less dramatic steps.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  137. Easy plan - combination by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    At this stage after running out of names they can treat future names as bianry inclusion of the past titles - so the next would be Tiger-Jaguar (or whatever the first one was).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Easy plan - combination by PaxTech · · Score: 1

      Tig-wire?

      --
      All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
  138. Thought it was the other way by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I thought Software Assurance was a plan to pony up dough to Microsoft to keep them from releasing another OS on you. As soon as the "software assurance" funds start to dry up, they release another OS and make threatening noises about new OS'es and whole new technologies just a year or so off...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  139. Same experience by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I have some family using a G4 450 for real work - not just browsing and such that many Slashdotters do, but day to day use of Photoshop, scanning, and document creation with InDesign.

    For these tasks it performs pretty well. One thing that really helped was springing for a 64MB video card and a bit more RAM (1GB total now I think, can't remember what I bumped it up to).

    I did wait for 10.3 to upgrade them from OS 9 though.

    For those that think multiple apps are a problem - not really, as that's more a disc issue than anything. Only multiple CPU intensive apps would kill older processors, about the only things that would really be bad news are a lot of heavy-duty compiles or perhaps video work with a lot of effects. Most other serious use is going to be idling when the user is not actively using it.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  140. There can be only one! by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    The "release" as it is called, is actually a final sword duel to the end between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates atop the Seattle Space Needle. When the skies of seattle light with an unearthly golden glow, you will know either Tiger or Longhorn is releasing that fortnight.

    Thus the term "Gold Master".

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  141. Re:x86 release? by godless+dave · · Score: 1

    And I'm sure Apple's stance on this has absolutely nothing to do with secret clauses in their agreements with Microsoft. Nothing at all.

    --
    "If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." -
  142. You still have ADB because... by solios · · Score: 1

    ... the blue G3s have ADB, and they run 10.3.

    Oh, and {i|power}book keyboards are ADB. :-)

  143. RAM Quality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Almost guaranteed, you put in RAM that doesn't cut it. Powermacs are so picky about RAM that it hurts. The result is that you have to buy RAM that costs about twice as much, though not as much as Apple's BTO.

    The other option is some sort of hardware defect. I bought a single G5 and it panicked twice on the first day. I decided to swap up for a dual model anyway, so the store did the exchange without me bothering to ask about the panics. The new model hasn't crashed on me once. Every manufacturer makes a certain number of broken computers. That's what warranties are for.

    1. Re:RAM Quality by Pausanias · · Score: 1

      AC Quote:
      Almost guaranteed, you put in RAM that doesn't cut it. Powermacs are so picky about RAM that it hurts. The result is that you have to buy RAM that costs about twice as much, though not as much as Apple's BTO.

      The other option is some sort of hardware defect. I bought a single G5 and it panicked twice on the first day. I decided to swap up for a dual model anyway, so the store did the exchange without me bothering to ask about the panics. The new model hasn't crashed on me once. Every manufacturer makes a certain number of broken computers. That's what warranties are for.


      All the RAM was factory-installed by Apple. Both my office mate and I have powermac G5s, and both of us have had repeated kernel panics, all with totally 100% apple-installed RAM. My office mate did buy a 3rd party hard drive, but I doubt that has had anything to do with it.

      Don't get me wrong---I love OS X and everything. It is stable "enough"---only three kernel panics over the past two years. But still, it is not as stable as Linux.

  144. *Technically* possible - here's how by The+Mutant · · Score: 1

    Carbon Copy Cloner will clone an OS X installation from one machine to another.

    It works Mac to Mac, across a Fireware cable. I've used it on everything from Clamshell iBooks to G3 iMacs to 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBooks, from 10.2.x to 10.3.8 - no problems at all.

    Unless you format the destination drive it's sorta hit or miss, but they clearly point this out.

    So yes, it's *technically* possible. Legal? Other folks have already posted about that aspect.

  145. Actually, Mac OS had it before Windows by @madeus · · Score: 1

    If you think about it, it's almost like a concession to Windows's application model.

    Actually I think it's more inteded to be a return to the origional Apple concept of 'Desk Accessories' which appeared in System 1.0. This included Calculator, Puzzle, a clock/calendar, Notepad and Scrapbook.

    I'm really looking forward to having them back (at the moment I have stickies, the address book, iCal and the calculator in the Dock and Dashboard sounds like a much better solution).

  146. What I would really want to see included in Tiger by Nosferax · · Score: 0

    Hi! What I really miss on OS X is a simple graphic apps like Paint on windows. Once upon a time there was Mac Paint but it fell of the back of the truck when they whent to OS X from Mac OS. Having to start photoshop or Gimp just to do draw a filled square or some other simple form is a bit overkill for me.

    --
    Remember... A boomerang IS NOT the best way to deliver a bomb.
  147. Hello, Mister Troll! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who the fuck sits around and collects stamps?

    I get the feeling that I could just make up any shitty picture I want to, put it on an official USPS stamp, and people would eat it up.

    I really don't understand how anybody could be that attached to a piece of paper with a sticky backing or the picture on it. It's a bloody fucking stamp -- a soulless marker for the post office that one doesn't even need to get along in life.







    Seriously. Different strokes for different folks, asshole.

  148. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by The+Bungi · · Score: 1
    Yes, "Micro$oft" Windows XP runs faster on most hardware than Windows 2000 did. In most cases. On my two PIII/700 boxes, at least.

    Server 2003 runs faster than Server 2000 in some configurations, especially if you have SCSI on the box instead of IDE.

    Perhaps your experience is due to the fact that previous versions of OS X were so terribly slow. Certainly didn't impress me the first time I saw a Powerbook with 512MB of RAM.

    Those are my thoughts on your witty "Micro$oft" comment. You're welcome.

  149. Stealing? by mamladm · · Score: 1

    It would seem you totally got the wrong idea what my post was all about. In no event would I encourage anyone to steal code. My message was and still is this ...

    Don't expect Apple to provide a free lunch. Instead, if you want to have a meal that's not on the menu, go to another restaurant or stay at home and cook for yourself.

    Let me say this once again ... those who want OSX technologies on x86 have it pretty good. Apple have made their core OS available as open source and there is even a binary installation kit for x86. In addition, their primary API is based on an open standard, OPENSTEP, for which there is an open source implementation, even including development tools that are comparable to Apple's. If anybody wants to roll their own, they don't have to start from scratch, they can jump right in and contribute towards completing any missing bits.

    Instead of fantasising about stealing Apple's code, jokingly or not, you should rather be grateful that Apple has made it fairly straightforward for anyone committed enough to use and replicate OSX technologies on other platforms if they wish.

    So, by all means, I encourage you, go ahead, install Darwin x86 and GNUstep on your PC and contribute to the project.

    http://www.gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Use r/GNUstep/README.Darwin

    Sure, this means you have to do some work and I agree it would be nice if there was an ISO CD image from which x86 PC owners could install both Darwin x86 and GNUstep all in one go so they could more easily give this a try and perhaps become supporters of the project. Then again, there is nothing that stops you or anyone else from building such an ISO CD image and make it available.

    --
    the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm
    1. Re:Stealing? by eboot · · Score: 1

      I dont need to fantasise about stealing code or anything else because I have the whole part and parcel, a fully paid for Powerbook (although partially by the govt. but a free lunch off of them is a totally different story!) It was just a joke, or rather an amusing anecdote pointing out that an unofficial release of x86 Tiger might alter the computer market forever and benefit Apple.

      --
      Two tears in a bucket. Motherfuck it.
  150. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by klatty · · Score: 1

    ...Windows XP runs faster on most hardware than Windows 2000 did.
    Are you out of your mind? I've probably done 100 Windows 2000 installs and probably over 500 XP installs and I've never seen an installation of XP run faster than 2000 on comparable hardware. I think anyone with even limited experiences with 2000 will have no problem saying it's faster than XP.

  151. Re:And the hardware... by jaavaaguru · · Score: 1

    I used the Fink source code packages. Everthing worked fine. I miss KScope though, and it's not available in Fink (or Debian, so it would appear).

  152. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by The+Bungi · · Score: 1
    A tweaked XP install with unnecessary services turned off and no eye candy is faster than 2000, in my experience. Disk I/O is faster, applications load faster, there is less swapping and if you turn off QoSvc networking is also faster.

    On the same hardware. A PIII/700 384MB RAM, a single PIII/1GHz with 512MB RAM and a dual PIII/1GHz (Abit mobo) with 1GB of RAM.

    Hope that helps.

  153. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by klatty · · Score: 1

    A tweaked XP install with unnecessary services turned off and no eye candy is faster than 2000, in my experience. Disk I/O is faster, applications load faster, there is less swapping and if you turn off QoSvc networking is also faster.

    I'm not saying you *can't* make XP comparable to speed as 2000. You can definitely tweak the hell out of a standard install. But guess what? You can do that with 2000 too.

    Ever hear the automotive term "there is no replacement for displacement"? Bascially what it means is that of course you can put a turbo onto a 4 cylinder motor, to make it comparable to a bigger V-8. BUT, you can put a turbo on a V-8 too, which then again makes it put out more power than the 4 cyclinder. With XP and 2000 it kind of works in reverse since you're trying to strip it down instead of add to it, but it illustrates the point. You start with a much bigger OS in XP. Of course you can strip it down to be comparable to 2000, but then again you can tweak 2000.

    It's like taking a slow station wagon and putting a giant motor in it and saying but no station wagons are faster than Mustangs. Idiotic.

  154. Re:New releases getting *faster* on old hardware? by klatty · · Score: 1

    Ahh, interesting. I hadn't thought of it like that before.