Expanded multi-user controls, QuickTime sharing spotted in new Tiger builds
New developmental versions of Apple's Tiger operating system reveal a rich set of multiple user controls and new QuickTime Player enhancements.
Work on Apple Computer's next-generation operating system continues at an aggressive pace this month, with the specifics of several undisclosed features coming into focus via new builds of the software.
Family Controls
According to information passed on by well placed sources, Tiger's new Family Controls are now in place and functional. The feature—only partially implemented in previous builds and yet announced—provides administrative account holders with a set of controls to limit the functionality in some of Apple's most popular applications. In previous versions of the Mac OS X, administrators retained the ability to grant or restrict access to applications, but could not alter the individual capabilities of programs.
The Family Controls panel appears in the "Accounts" preference pane and offers configuration options for the Mac OS X Finder, Safari, iChat, and most recently Mail. The simplistic configuration panels for iChat and Mail allow instant messages and e-mail correspondences to be restricted to a specified list of screen names and email addresses. An additional Mail option appears to offer a means of moderating a user's access to e-mail messages by allowing an administrator to approve email address or messages as they arrive.
Screenshots: Family Controls; iChat Config; Mail Config; Finder Config
Configuring Safari with limitations works similarly, but takes place within the browser's preference pane rather than from inside the Account panel. Administrators simply manage a list of web sites or domain names that the user is permitted to access. Finder configuration controls remain similar to those found in Mac OS X Panther, with the addition an option to allow for supporting programs and printer administration privileges.
Tiger's account login options have also expanded with options to display an input menu on the login screen, hide password hints, and enable VoiceOver at login. Another option enables the appearance of the fast user switching menu to be customized.
Screenshots: QuickTime Pro Menu; Login Options; Platinum Mail Interface
QuickTime Sharing
QuickTime 6.6, which could likely turn into QuickTime 7.0 just prior to its release, has been under development alongside Tiger. With most of the technical enhancement in place, Apple has begun to integrate.
The latest builds of QuickTime Player sport a pair of handy options that will allow users to quickly share media files by publishing them to a .Mac account or through e-mail attachments. The sharing dialog for both options lets users select a file size—small, medium, or large—and then provides an export summary, including approximate file size, audio quality and expected frame-rates.
Sources also say the new version of QuickTime Player will leave all premium (QuickTime Pro) menu options visible to the non-paying user through the player's menus. Users who have not upgraded to QuickTime Pro will be able to see the Pro options, albeit grayed out and disabled.
Screenshots: QT Email Sharing; QT Web Sharing; Network Diagnostic
Tiger Early Start Kit for Developers
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is currently undergoing very limited seedings both in and outside of Apple. Earlier today, the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) launched a new Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger developer program, suggesting that more widespread distributions of the unreleased operating system are yet to come. The Tiger Early Start Kit for Developers is priced at (US)$500 and includes: a year-long ADC Select membership; pre-release versions of Tiger and Xcode 2.0; exclusive access to the latest Tiger documentation; direct, one-on-one access to Tiger support engineers; special developer discount on the latest Apple hardware; Gold Master versions of Tiger and Xcode 2.0 when available; and more. A free Tiger development training DVD is also being offered while supplies last.
Work on Apple Computer's next-generation operating system continues at an aggressive pace this month, with the specifics of several undisclosed features coming into focus via new builds of the software.
Family Controls
According to information passed on by well placed sources, Tiger's new Family Controls are now in place and functional. The feature—only partially implemented in previous builds and yet announced—provides administrative account holders with a set of controls to limit the functionality in some of Apple's most popular applications. In previous versions of the Mac OS X, administrators retained the ability to grant or restrict access to applications, but could not alter the individual capabilities of programs.
The Family Controls panel appears in the "Accounts" preference pane and offers configuration options for the Mac OS X Finder, Safari, iChat, and most recently Mail. The simplistic configuration panels for iChat and Mail allow instant messages and e-mail correspondences to be restricted to a specified list of screen names and email addresses. An additional Mail option appears to offer a means of moderating a user's access to e-mail messages by allowing an administrator to approve email address or messages as they arrive.
Screenshots: Family Controls; iChat Config; Mail Config; Finder Config
Configuring Safari with limitations works similarly, but takes place within the browser's preference pane rather than from inside the Account panel. Administrators simply manage a list of web sites or domain names that the user is permitted to access. Finder configuration controls remain similar to those found in Mac OS X Panther, with the addition an option to allow for supporting programs and printer administration privileges.
Tiger's account login options have also expanded with options to display an input menu on the login screen, hide password hints, and enable VoiceOver at login. Another option enables the appearance of the fast user switching menu to be customized.
Screenshots: QuickTime Pro Menu; Login Options; Platinum Mail Interface
QuickTime Sharing
QuickTime 6.6, which could likely turn into QuickTime 7.0 just prior to its release, has been under development alongside Tiger. With most of the technical enhancement in place, Apple has begun to integrate.
The latest builds of QuickTime Player sport a pair of handy options that will allow users to quickly share media files by publishing them to a .Mac account or through e-mail attachments. The sharing dialog for both options lets users select a file size—small, medium, or large—and then provides an export summary, including approximate file size, audio quality and expected frame-rates.
Sources also say the new version of QuickTime Player will leave all premium (QuickTime Pro) menu options visible to the non-paying user through the player's menus. Users who have not upgraded to QuickTime Pro will be able to see the Pro options, albeit grayed out and disabled.
Screenshots: QT Email Sharing; QT Web Sharing; Network Diagnostic
Tiger Early Start Kit for Developers
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is currently undergoing very limited seedings both in and outside of Apple. Earlier today, the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) launched a new Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger developer program, suggesting that more widespread distributions of the unreleased operating system are yet to come. The Tiger Early Start Kit for Developers is priced at (US)$500 and includes: a year-long ADC Select membership; pre-release versions of Tiger and Xcode 2.0; exclusive access to the latest Tiger documentation; direct, one-on-one access to Tiger support engineers; special developer discount on the latest Apple hardware; Gold Master versions of Tiger and Xcode 2.0 when available; and more. A free Tiger development training DVD is also being offered while supplies last.
Comments
come on Apple, stop dickin' around
EDIT: Yay! Voice login is back! Now I can feel really cool, logging in with my voice.
Is vocal biometric login back from the dead? Will we see Jobs give a "my voice is my password" demo along with Schiller?
Good lord I'm getting old if I remember that...
That said, a good (read: reliably working, not OS9-like) voice ID would be cool.
J-23
http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/voiceover.html
That's it. No third theme.
Also, the shots show "Parent" as an admin and "Child" as not. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I wouldn't dare give my parents admin control!
Originally posted by nagromme
Also, the shots show "Parent" as an admin and "Child" as not. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I wouldn't dare give my parents admin control!
...oh and Kasper, fix those links. I'm dying here.
Originally posted by ZO
wonderful.. now just give us easy networking like in windows and I'll be a happy camper. "right click" any folder, 'share this folder" et voila'.
come on Apple, stop dickin' around
You mean like "right-click" 'make alias' then move alias to your shared folder?
Not Voilá enough? maybe a folder action or applescript or service saves a step.
Seems like this is almost exactly as easy now, just not in a windows-familiar form.
Not tough to add, one would think.
Originally posted by ZO
wonderful.. now just give us easy networking like in windows and I'll be a happy camper. "right click" any folder, 'share this folder" et voila'.
come on Apple, stop dickin' around
'Share...' won't appear in a contextual menu before it shows up in a regular menu. So sayeth the UI guidelines.
But it isn't a bad idea.
J-23
Originally posted by kim kap sol
Some of those image links are dead.
Sorry -- Fixed!
-Kasper
Originally posted by J-23
As far as I know there is no "folder sharing" in OS X. You can only share your whole home folder or volumes when the user logs in from remote machine with proper username and password. Guests are limited to drop boxes in user's home folders and obviously cannot see any volumes you may have mounted. Not sure if the undelying file sharing engine allows folder sharing. If it does, maybe this feature is availbale from command line?
J-23
MacOS X Server offers full sharing capabilities of any folder, at any level. You can specify the read/write access based on users or groups.
The current Public folders are read-only, Drop Box is write-only, but you can create a folder in Public that is read/write if you want to. Anything in there shows up as shared.
(Now I'll have to get used to not having that top corner for Expose. THAT would be annoying. Unless Apple adds a delay before Expose kicks in from a hot corner...)
Also, I have a question: With Spotlight now occupying the top-right corner of the menubar, where has the Fast User Switching-menu gone? Is it located in the Apple-menu or somewhere else?
Originally posted by heathpitts
Windows sharing in OSX is based on SAMBA. You could share any folder you want by using the terminal, Webmin, or SharePoints. SharePoints makes this extremely easy.
If you can control it from command line, you could write a script for OnMyCommandCM and create the contextual menu item to turn on/off sharing for control-clicked folder. What are the command line tools to do it for AFP and Samba respectively?
Originally posted by Kickaha
I suspect it's just been bumped left one spot.
What's your thoughts on that, Kickaha? I'm thinking it should probably go in the Apple-menu but your oppinion on the matter would be appreciated! I'm asking since I know your research is in UI-development.