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Author Topic: Apple's Mac OS 'Tiger' ready to pounce Bob Brown Expert Film Handler Posts: 146 From: Grand Rapids, MI Registered: Apr 2002 posted 06-29-2004 12:24 PM                        http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/06/29/apple.osx.ap/index.html SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs says the 2005 launch of the next Mac OS X operating system will have features "way ahead" of Microsoft Corp.'s next Windows release due out in 2006. "It's going to drive the copycats crazy," Jobs said Monday before an enthusiastic audience at the opening keynote of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center. Code-named "Tiger," the upgrade will be the fifth version of Mac OS X in its four-year history. Among 150 planned new features will be an advanced new searching tool called "Spotlight" that can instantly search for keywords across different types of files in the machine -- whether they're in an e-mail, image, or text document. Finding data on a single, bulging desktop often is more challenging than using Google to search billions of Web sites. That won't be the case anymore with "Spotlight," Jobs said, demonstrating how typing the words "Half Dome" into his computer instantly found the right information, even a digital map of Yosemite National Park with the famous mountain marked. Microsoft's impending "Longhorn" Windows release also will include a more sophisticated searching method. Other highlighted "Tiger" features included support for multiple participants in the iChat video-conferencing program; a new version of the Safari browser that can generate a news feedlike interface for Web sites; support for the next-generation video-compression standard known as H.264; and a "Dashboard" feature that allows users to pull up a custom collection of tools, say, the calculator, iTunes control panel, and a to-do list -- all with one keyboard tap. The new version will be available in the first half of 2005 at a suggested retail price of $129. Jobs also unveiled a new design of widescreen displays for its Apple Cinema line, including a 30" version, the largest high resolution display in the market. Unlike its predecessor, the aluminum-encased flat-panel monitor, which will also come in 20- and 23-inch versions, are compatible with Windows PC machines as well as Macintosh computers. The 30-inch display will be available in August for $3,299. It requires a separate purchase and installation of a $599 Nvidia Corp. graphics card. The 20-inch and 23-inch models will be available in July for $1,299 and $1,999, respectively.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-29-2004 06:09 PM                     I saw this news on Wired Magazine's site earlier. I'm not as excited about the "Tiger" update to OS-X as I am about the new hardware Apple is releasing. 64-bit computing will be supported across much more of the OS in the "Tiger" version; however, until software companies start recompiling 64-bit versions of their apps the whole 64-bit thing is going to be much ado about nothing. Note, AMD is not really making all that many waves on the PC side with their Athlon-64 processor. There's a lot of other features mentioned in this "Tiger" article that will be available across platforms, such as the H.264 codec (that one will be built into future Mac and PC versions of Quicktime). I think it is bigger news that the Mac G5 towers feature dual G5 CPUs and three PCI Express slots. There is one minor downside, the graphics card is still AGP 8X based instead a 16-lane PCI-X card. That should be remedied shortly. Items like PCI-X main boards and Serial ATA-II will yield big performance gains for both Mac and PC platforms. The even smarter move Apple made was in making their new line of widescreen monitors both Mac and PC compatible. I don't see a lot of casual computer users ponying up $3,000+ for that new 30 inch display. But I'll bet Apple gains a good number of sales to engineering types who use WinNT/XP-based CAD/CAM/CAE apps. There have been a good number of large, flat screen alternatives for PC users, but they've usually been more pricey than the $1999 Apple asks for its 23" display. The Apple 23" Studio Cinema Display is really a re-packaged display from LG. And LG's 23" PC compatible unit runs over $3000.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-29-2004 07:50 PM                     Isn't Serial ATA was the root of all evil? Also, I was under the impression that Mac monitors and PC monitors were interchangeable as long as your video card supported the size of the screen. And if this is the fifth version of Mac OS-X, shouldn't it be OS-XV (or at least OS-X.5)?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-29-2004 08:15 PM                        10.0 was the first, but it barely even worked at all, so 10.1 was free. Then came 10.2 which was MUCH better, then 10.3 which was WORSE than 10.2 until 10.3.3 came out (confused yet?) and this "Tiger" will be 10.4. I hate the cat names they pick for the OS. All the Mac people end up calling the OS by their cat names and not the number (I have a hard time figuring out which OS is Jaguar and which is Panther... the naming convention is retarded). Anyway from the first post above it doesn't sound like 10.4 will be very exciting. Fortunately Apple will slow down the release of their OS's after this. As for the monitors, the Apple displays use an ADC connection instead of DVI (until now). Why? I have no idea. Apple likes that proprietary shit. Hopefuly their new computers will not have ADC ports on them. Just ask Brad what he went through with all of that.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-29-2004 08:44 PM                     Apple is teaming up with N-Vidia to provide cards with 4 (yes, 4) DVI conectors. This is because it takes 2 DVI outputs to power the new 30 inch Studio Display, and having 4 will allow you to connect two 30 inch studio displays. As far as Tiger (Mac Os 10.4) goes, the feature I'm really looking forward to is the instant spotlight searching techique. It is a godsend for people like me, who save everything to the desktop untill it fills up, and then shove it into a folder deep within the hard disk. Whats up with Safari RSS? how about fixing existing bugs in safari before adding stupid gimmicks to it? Makes me want to switch right back to CyberDog .  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-29-2004 09:29 PM                     I'm sure some of this dual-DVI input thing is also being driven by the gaming industry. At a recent games expo (I think "E3") Alienware was showing off a high end gaming machine using a customized PCI-X motherboard developed by them and nVidia. The main board sported two PCI-X 16-lane graphics card slots, both equipped with 256MB DDR3 GeForce 6800 Ultra cards. One video card rendered the upper half of the screen while the other card handled the lower half. Alienware claimed this configuration would be 70% faster than a machine equipped with a single GeForce 6800 Ultra. Alienware hopes this will give them a solid edge over other specialty gaming machine makers like Falcon Northwest. Needless to say, that Alienware machine will be horribly expensive when it hits the market. With what some people are willing to do in rigging together gaming machines, it often seems like cost is no object. So that has to be a motivating factor for Apple to abandon that Mac only input and allow PC users to plug a Mac branded monitor directly to a Windows box without some wierd third party adapter. According to Apple's website, the new 20", 23" and 30" monitors use a standard DVI connector. However, the computer's video card must support DDC technology for widescreen viewing. That should cover most video cards with DVI outputs made recently. As a nice added bonus, all the monitors have USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 hubs (two inputs for each). At least I think that is nice because it sucks to have to plug things like camcorders and memory card readers into the back of the machine. It might be interesting to see what the price tag would be on that custom two-card Alienware box bundled with a 30" Apple monitor. Damned setup might cost more than a new motorcycle.  |  IP: Logged

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