Tiger release will be 'biggest in Mac history'
The next version of the Mac operating system will be the biggest release for developers in the platform's history, Apple says.
Apple Computer's Chris Bourdon recently demonstrated some of the new features in Mac OS X Tiger to a group of developers at the O'Reilly Media Mac OS X Conference, Macworld UK reports.
"Of the next iteration of the operating system he said: 'The good news: It has by far the most features and capabilities than any other release. The bad news: There's a lot to learn, so it's going to take some time to get familiar with it.'"
The O'Reilly conference provided only the second up-close look at Tiger since it was previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June.
Over the past 4 months, the company has worked feverishly to build upon the initial preview release of Tiger, which was also made available at this year's WWDC. As of two weeks ago, new features continued to turn up in fresh builds of the operating system.
Apple Computer's Chris Bourdon recently demonstrated some of the new features in Mac OS X Tiger to a group of developers at the O'Reilly Media Mac OS X Conference, Macworld UK reports.
"Of the next iteration of the operating system he said: 'The good news: It has by far the most features and capabilities than any other release. The bad news: There's a lot to learn, so it's going to take some time to get familiar with it.'"
The O'Reilly conference provided only the second up-close look at Tiger since it was previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June.
Over the past 4 months, the company has worked feverishly to build upon the initial preview release of Tiger, which was also made available at this year's WWDC. As of two weeks ago, new features continued to turn up in fresh builds of the operating system.
Comments
Originally posted by matthewwithanm
Just make highlighted icons look less godawful and move the color labels options to the get info menu and I'll be happy.
While they're at it, perhaps they could fix the Finder so that icons don't move around on their own and that clicking the Zoom button on Finder windows would work correctly.
Speaking of Zoom, anyone else think it's unusual that there's no default shortcut for it?
For 10.2, TinkerTool has an option to "enable dark labels for the display of Desktop icons". I'd like that capability available again for 10.4; darker icon text looks better than dirty white with my Desktop background.
Originally posted by jabohn
While they're at it, perhaps they could fix the Finder so that icons don't move around on their own and that clicking the Zoom button on Finder windows would work correctly.
Correctly being zoom to fit or maximize?
Tiger seems to be the next plateau for Apple's long-term OS plans. In some ways even Tiger is going to seem like an OS in transition because the user experience is still changing. But from what I gather about the developer documentation and APIs being exposed to them, it sounds like this is arguably the biggest stepping stone since 10.0/1 in terms of developed code and functionality under the hood.
And I do think we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Finder as we know it. Not that it will totally go away, but that other tools will take similar prominence, and possibly take some of its functionality as well as offer new tools. That seems like the real significance of spotlight IMO.
-MacRules101
Originally posted by BuonRotto
Correctly being zoom to fit or maximize?
I mean, it needs to work like it did in Jaguar and like it did in OS 9. Before when you clicked zoom, the window would expand or contract to fit around all the icons in that folder (within your monitor space) with no scroll bars etc. Clicking it again would go back to the way it was before you clicked it.
In Panther, you click Zoom and most of the time it zooms the window down to encompass your icons imprecisely - it leaves the scroll bar visible and you can scroll up or down one click. Clicking Zoom again usually just yields another variation of the previously imprecise zoom. In fact, I just went to the Finder to check this on my Documents folder, and clicking the Zoom button repeatedly toggled between 3 slightly different window sizes.
Window and icon placement seem to have become much less polished in Panther.
Originally posted by macrules101
I really really hope they release piles. I think thats an incredibly great idea, that will add plenty of eye-candy and usability, and help identify some easy metaphors for non-computer people. I also think that the dock piles idea is really clever and is an obvious addtion to this. It doesnt seem like this should be too hard. Its basically just a special kind of folder.
-MacRules101
They are releasing piles...it's called 'Smart Folder'.
Originally posted by matthewwithanm
move the color labels options to the get info menu and I'll be happy.
Wouldn't that just make it less discoverable? Wouldn't be very practical to get info on every file you want to change the labels on IMHO..
If it was in the get info, and you wanted to do more than one, you'd select them all, and use the multiple item pane to change it. If you were doing a whole bunch of different labels, then you could use the inspector. I don't use labels, so I don't care where it is, but I think it could work either way.
Originally posted by Mike Peel
Isn't Piles some kind of disease? Or have I missed something?
Yes, you missed this one.
SpotLight simply makes getting to the files and information you are looking for faster. It's all about displaying connections between pieces of data so you find similar files.
I will always continue to use the Finder to organize where my files are stored. This is just good practice for when you are making backups or transferring files between different computers.
But I will use SpotLight on my Mac to get to those files faster instead of having to remember where I stored files and burrow down through folders to find them.
Mike
Originally posted by Sopphode
Wouldn't that just make it less discoverable? Wouldn't be very practical to get info on every file you want to change the labels on IMHO..
It needs to be in the get info window, theoretically, since its supposed to be showing info about the file, and a label is 'info'.
But it needs to stay in the File menu as well.
And people won't let Apple get rid of the finder. Why? Because too many people have it ingrained in their head that the finder should work a certain way (hell, why do you think certain folks spend way too much time complaining about how unspatial the finder is, and how great OS 9's finder was, when, in fact, it wasn't that great). Smart Folders and Searchlight are a move in the right direction, keeping users from having to remember where files are stored, or having to put important file info in the file name in order to find your data.
[Another example of this is how some treat their MP3 libraries. Rather than just let iTunes, or whatever software you use, just manage the library structure, some insist that the folders be structured in a specific way, that files be named following some set rules, even to insist that the files have such metadata as the track number part of the file name. Exactly why someone would want such complete control over the individual files, when software is far better at managing/sorting/finding the files through their metadata (although even MP3 files and their ID3 tags are not even close to being a good metadata format, but its certainly better than using folders/files to track your music).
But, like I said, some will refuse to change their ways.
[/rant]
They can have Mac OS X Leopard, Lion, Lynx, Bobcat, Puma, Cheetah, Ocelot.. er.. what else?
Originally posted by Morgoth
Does anyone ever wonder what'll happen when they run out of big cat names? How many do they have left.. hmmm.. let's see
They can have Mac OS X Leopard, Lion, Lynx, Bobcat, Puma, Cheetah, Ocelot.. er.. what else?
Well I think you have a decade right there and by then they may be thinking about their next OS.
Originally posted by Morgoth
Does anyone ever wonder what'll happen when they run out of big cat names? How many do they have left.. hmmm.. let's see
They can have Mac OS X Leopard, Lion, Lynx, Bobcat, Puma, Cheetah, Ocelot.. er.. what else?
Actually, 10.0 and 10.1 were Cheetah and Puma, but they weren't marketed as such.
Still, maybe more big cats will be discovered in some jungle before they use up all of the names. If not, they can just switch to marsupials or something.
Originally posted by rogue27
they can just switch to marsupials or something.
http://www.mammals.org
Originally posted by DanMacMan
I want the return, and official release, of Home on iPod.
Well, until then you could use this application...
youPod
http://www.kaisakura.com/youPod/index.html
It's sorta like having the Home on iPod feature.
Mike