Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" Quicky Summary

Update Looks like the apple os/x page has been updated, as has the main site.

Ok, just finished "watching" the Apple WWDC keynote on IRC with about 1100 other people, and the previously noted webpage at macrumors. The summary for features in OS 10.4 went something like this.

• Live, full system searching via the search box (searches inside pdfs, metadata, etc etc). Sounds like WinFS, but is actually here. Sorry Redmond.
• Full RSS integration into safari. Wasn't that something that Microsoft was looking at as well? Sorry Redmond.
• A visual scripting language. Visual Basic + Apple script?
• "Dashboard" - apps that sit on the desktop, a la karamba and gDesklets.
• Modified System Prefs/Control Panel. Yawn.
• IChat can now have 10 people in audio chat and 3 people in video chat.
• New video/audio codec which allows realtime application of filters with the SDK available to devs. Like GStreamer?

I'm sure there were other things as well (maya pro available RSN for example), but you can hit the macrumors page for the full list. Some images of some of the various things are available from here as well. Check out the safari rss one as well as the sysprefs series for some of the searching stuff.

My thoughts are that there are some neat things (searching, RSS) but the rest is a bit of a yawn. However, Apple is known for putting out evolutionary updates, not revolutionary ones, and this will be the 5^th new release in as many years of their OS since Windows XP was put out as well. If you're upgrading that often you really can't have every release being as huge a change as OS9 to OS/X was.

This is all shipping in Q1 of 2005, so until then this stuff is as "real" to me as the wonderful features in Longhorn that the evangelists have been yakking about for the last year. Until it's in my hand I won't believe it. Of course, I fully belive I'll have Tiger before I have longhorn.

Anyone else have any thoughts?



Posted by Arcterex at June 28, 2004 12:07 PM