Sources: Tiger to debut "Graphulator" app, new system sounds
Although news surrounding Apple's next-generation Tiger operating system has slowed in recent weeks, sources say the company continues with its aggressive development pace, tying new enhancements into the system almost daily.
As previously reported, Tiger will ship with a new graphing calculator based on Curvus Pro X, which Apple purchased last fall from a Switzerland-based Arizona Software. Apple has been working to refine and redress the application, and will likely release the it under the name "Graphulator," sources say.
Earlier this month the company applied for a trademark on the word "Graphulator," but the application does not yet reflect this new name in the latest software builds of Tiger.
Tiger also appears to be gaining a new set of interface sound effects, sources said. These sounds are triggered by Finder actions such as emptying the trash, mounting shared volumes, and copying or moving files. The operating system now also includes new screen savers such as Nature Patterns, Paper Shadow, and an RSS Visualizer. Two new Desktop Collections called "Plants" and "Black and White" have also surfaced.
Finally, sources have commented on several handy additions that will make their way into the next version of Apple's DVD player. When a disc stops playing, the new version of DVD player (4.5) can show a picture in the Viewer window instead of a black screen. Some DVD discs ship with a jacket photo that shows a movie frame or other image. Users will be able to select a custom movie frame or use an image file from their hard drive.
DVD Player 4.5 will also acquire a sleep timer function sources said. This feature will let users set a sleep timer to automatically quit DVD Player and then put the computer to sleep, log a user out of Mac OS X, or shut down the Mac completely.
As previously reported, Tiger will ship with a new graphing calculator based on Curvus Pro X, which Apple purchased last fall from a Switzerland-based Arizona Software. Apple has been working to refine and redress the application, and will likely release the it under the name "Graphulator," sources say.
Earlier this month the company applied for a trademark on the word "Graphulator," but the application does not yet reflect this new name in the latest software builds of Tiger.
Tiger also appears to be gaining a new set of interface sound effects, sources said. These sounds are triggered by Finder actions such as emptying the trash, mounting shared volumes, and copying or moving files. The operating system now also includes new screen savers such as Nature Patterns, Paper Shadow, and an RSS Visualizer. Two new Desktop Collections called "Plants" and "Black and White" have also surfaced.
Finally, sources have commented on several handy additions that will make their way into the next version of Apple's DVD player. When a disc stops playing, the new version of DVD player (4.5) can show a picture in the Viewer window instead of a black screen. Some DVD discs ship with a jacket photo that shows a movie frame or other image. Users will be able to select a custom movie frame or use an image file from their hard drive.
DVD Player 4.5 will also acquire a sleep timer function sources said. This feature will let users set a sleep timer to automatically quit DVD Player and then put the computer to sleep, log a user out of Mac OS X, or shut down the Mac completely.
Comments
Still don't know what to think about 10.3.9 supposedly being developed, though. There just may be important fixes that Panther needs, or perhaps some people may not go up to Tiger, and stay with Panther for a little longer, so 10.3.9 keeps these people up to date for a little longer... Just a thought.
I'm guessing an April or May Tiger release, based on this information. But late March would be nice...
I'm guessing an April or May Tiger release, based on this information. But late March would be nice... [/B]
If they's still developing builds, it's going to be mid-to-late May, at the earliest.
The ramp-up takes several weeks, I would think.
lets get a polished product
id be fine with late 05
I am curious though. I have read elsewhere that Google's and Microsoft's desktop search programs have fast indexing periods. Is this because these program's aren't indexing as much as Spotlight is or something else?
Note: I am already aware that Spotlight is a lot more advanced than these two programs because of its tight integration with the OS and its ability to be integrated nicely into other applications. I also am aware that after the first index, everything is indexed automatically as files are changed. I am just curious what is the difference between intital indexing methods?
Mike
Originally posted by nathan22t
the later the better
lets get a polished product
id be fine with late 05
I agree, I prefer them to get it right, take as much time as you need.
Originally posted by MPMoriarty
Yes, Tiger appears to be shaping up to provide a lot of new features and improvements on current ones. The only thing I am hoping they work on is reducing the first initial indexing time of Spotlight. I have heard that it is unusually long.
Unusually long as compared to what?
I have just read many threads that say Spotlight's first time indexing takes a very long time.
Since the only searching program I use on my iBook is Quicksilver and the fact that I have never used Spotlight, I can't compare the times to anything.
Originally posted by MPMoriarty
I don't know.
I have just read many threads that say Spotlight's first time indexing takes a very long time.
Since the only searching program I use on my iBook is Quicksilver and the fact that I have never used Spotlight, I can't compare the times to anything.
In early builds, it [was rumored] to take many hours. In the last 2 builds, it [has been rumored] to take 2 hours.
All these things like sounds and extra screen savers are icing on the cake that dont really require much time. They are just released at a later time with later and later betas.
I'd think March/April is still doable.
Also, a major issue is Quicktime 7. Until it is 110% complete, I doubt Tiger will ship.
It could be that the OSX team is done and finshed and just waiting around for QT and so in the meantime they're doing a lot of nitty gritty testing and adding the "icing".
Is this really how the toolbar in Safari 2.0 looks?
If so, I would prefer if Apple did either of these:
1) Replace the Google search field with the RSS search field when you are in the RSS view mode.
2) Integrate both the search fields into one and use the little arrow in the search field to switch between what items you wish to perform a search for.
Mike
Originally posted by MPMoriarty
In a recent screenshot of the new version of Safari in Tiger, I saw that the toolbar had two search fields. One for Google and the other for searching your RSS fields. All of this was on one line and looked very sloppy and cluttered.
That screenshot was old, the RSS search has moved into the RSS 'mode'
Originally posted by MPMoriarty
Yes, Tiger appears to be shaping up to provide a lot of new features and improvements on current ones. The only thing I am hoping they work on is reducing the first initial indexing time of Spotlight. I have heard that it is unusually long.
I am curious though. I have read elsewhere that Google's and Microsoft's desktop search programs have fast indexing periods. Is this because these program's aren't indexing as much as Spotlight is or something else?
Note: I am already aware that Spotlight is a lot more advanced than these two programs because of its tight integration with the OS and its ability to be integrated nicely into other applications. I also am aware that after the first index, everything is indexed automatically as files are changed. I am just curious what is the difference between intital indexing methods?
Mike
Google's initial index wasn't that fast when I loaded it up on my work PC. Took at least an hour i believe. But it all depends on what's being indexed. Google only indexed a few documents types. Same with MS, I believe. [And I don't think either is extendable, but I believe developers can create spotlight parsers for their own file types]
Anyway, it don't really matter how efficient the initial indexing is, since its done only once. What's really more important is whether Spotlight stores its indexes on a user basis or a global basis ( I would hope user directories, at the least, are user-stored), and whether they adequately protect protected content from those without privilege.
I guess I have just been listening to too many complaints about Spotlight not being super fast at indexing in the beginning.