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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.
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
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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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?
Take a look at the topics list. There are more topics that this site deals with than just Linux and technology.
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.
Lots of people did it for Windows XP (WinNT 5.1).
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.
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.
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!
Looks like there will be a 10.3.9 update soon, interestingly enough.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Reports are saying that Tiger will run faster than Panther on the same hardware.
mbbac
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.
Online Coupons |
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.
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.
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?
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...
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
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.
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)
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.
- 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.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. 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.
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.
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
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).
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
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
Not sure that Solaris still follows the 2.x convention, but underneath it, the kernel is still SunOS 5.x
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
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.
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.
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.
.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.
PS: Apple has made a release every 12-18 months on OS X (every
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
u me ntation/index.html
e re ncelibrary/API_Fundamentals/Cocoa-fund-date.html
- dev
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/doc
The introductory stuff on Cocoa is at
file:///Developer/ADC%20Reference%20Library/ref
For resources check out
http://www.stepwise.com
and join the Cocoa Developer mailing list at
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa
other resource links, including book referrals, ar at
http://www.stepwise.com/StartingPoint/Cocoa.html
the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm
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.
"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.
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