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OS X Businesses Operating Systems Apple

Jaguar is Over 835

Posted by pudge from the sir-my-mac-is-on-sir dept.
Steve Jobs announced the end of Jaguar, and the newness of Panther, today at his WWDC keynote address. Panther is to be available as a preview release now, and by the end of the year retail, for $129.
Mac OS X 10.3 / Panther has 100 major new features, according to Jobs. Lower-level enhancements include NFS file locking, built-in X11, FreeBSD 5.0, IPsec-based VPN, and various SMB and Active Directory enhancements.

The Panther Finder is brand-new, with a new brushed metal appearance, and enhanced column view, with the items used most commonly in the far left column. Searching is "live" and a lot faster, and is more user-centric instead of computer-centric.

The Finder now has labels, and icons can resize with window resizing.

The iDisk now caches itself locally, so it can be used offline, and the user can copy to and from it more efficiently (with the real copies happening in the background).

A new feature called Expose allows minimizing into a smaller window, all open windows, to temporarily move everything out of the way, sort of like workspaces.

File Vault can encrypt a user directory and decrypt it "on the fly."

Faxing is now built-in, and available system-wide.

Pixlet is a new compression codec that does video compression without noticable artifacts, for 48 bits per pixel: at 960x540 and 24 fps, can be decoded on a 1GHz Power Mac.

Preview is significantly faster, with searching, and PS to PDF conversion.

Panther features fast user switching, a feature in Windows XP, allowing under-one-second (on the demo machine) switching between two different users.

FontBook is a new "pro" app for font management.

iChat AV is an update to iChat that does audio and video conferencing in addition to text, that works with any built-in or USB mic, and any DV video camera, connecting using only a user's screen name. It is going to beta today, and will be included in Panther, and will be sold for $29 to Jaguar users. Apple will sell iSight for $149, a small camera that does audio and video over FireWire.

Apple is preparing a new set of developer tools called XCode, which works with GCC 3.3, does distributed compiles (using available resources on the network), and has other cool stuff. It is fast, it has improved searching (like the Finder, and over entire projects), and it looks like an iApp (though it isn't metal). It removes the need to link; onnly link objects you need to launch. It starts compiling while you are editing, cutting the time you need to compile drastically. It can modify the program while it is running.
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Jaguar is Over More

Jaguar is Over

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  • Had to say it... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:10PM (#6275304)
    Jaguar is dead? Hmmm, I figured it would have nine lives.

  • Jaguar is dead... (Score:4, Funny)

    by goldspider ( 445116 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:12PM (#6275328) Homepage
    ...but did Netcraft confirm it?

    I'm sorry, but someone had to say it!

  • Damn, I need new hardware for first post! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:12PM (#6275335)
    Darn it! I was hoping to be able to buy a new 970-based PowerMac to be able to get first post faster!

  • Ugh! Another $129 x 2 Machines! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dochood ( 614876 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:12PM (#6275344)
    Ugh!

    Another upgrade! I just bought Jaguar for one machine about two months ago!

    Got to do it, though.... too much cool stuff in Panther to just pass by.

    dochood

    • Re:Ugh! Another $129 x 2 Machines! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Roofus ( 15591 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:17PM (#6275457) Homepage
      If the Apple store was up right now, I'd point you to the "Family License" version that costs $199, and is good for up to 5 computers.
      • That family license is an awesome idea. I wish I could buy PC software that way (what little proprietary stuff I use, anyway). One purchase covers the whole fam. With multi-computer households becoming incresingly common, how long until this becomes standard?

    • Another upgrade! I just bought Jaguar for one machine about two months ago! Got to do it, though.... too much cool stuff in Panther to just pass by.

      Well, that's the thing. Is the stuff in Panther worth $129? If so, then there's nothing to complain about (except that maybe you didn't get your money's worth out of Jaguar, but that's just unfortunate timing).

      If it's not worth it, I'm sure Apple will support Jaguar for quite some time. As long as these (now semi-) annual upgrades aren't effectively mandat

  • Very Impressive (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ajiva ( 156759 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:14PM (#6275382)
    OSX is definitly very, very impressive. With regular updates (every ~6-9months), Apple will be so far ahead before Longhorn comes out, that MS might actually have to try to compete! All I can say is that as a long time PC fan, way to go Apple

  • Let me be the first to say... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jocknerd ( 29758 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:14PM (#6275388)
    What about an upgrade price for Panther? I just spent $129 last fall for Jaguar.

  • This will be another solid update (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dtolton ( 162216 ) * on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:15PM (#6275404) Homepage
    Microsoft should (but won't) take a page from Apple's book. You can as a company, co-exist peacefully with the Open Source community. Apple has put themselves in a great position IMO for the future. Their releases add actual features, making people *want* to upgrade instead of forcing them to. It's a beautiful thing, because you can still use OS 10.0 if you want to, but they add so many features, bells, whistles and in general cool stuff - people really want to get the newest version of their software.

    Kudos to Apple for that.
    • "Their releases add actual features, making people *want* to upgrade instead of forcing them to."

      Where do you see Microsoft forcing people to upgrade??? Where the hell does this common troll spew come from? Microsoft recycles their code, refining it and rewriting various parts with each new release of Windows. They add an array of new features that prior versions didn't have to provide incentive for current computer owners to upgrade. Apple and every other software vendor out there does the same thin

      • Re:This will be another solid update (Score:5, Interesting)

        by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:56PM (#6276065)
        Personally, I see Apple forcing their users to upgrade since they don't make it simple for developers to write their code once and have it run on all their system versions.

        Don't forget about all the software that requires 10.2, like Safari. Those of us who haven't spent the $130 for Jaguar can't run Safari... MS may be evil, but they never forced me to buy a new version of windows to get the latest web browser.

      • Re:This will be another solid update (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Equuleus42 ( 723 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @03:02PM (#6276148) Homepage
        Do you see Apple providing updates for System 7.5 anymore?
        No, but do you see Microsoft hosting a copy of Windows 95 on their FTP site [apple.com]?
  • There's a blog from the Berlin conference at OnlineBlog, Guardian Online's Blog [onlineblog.com]. It's kind of amusing (since I'm not there), as it seems a storm has knocked out the satellite feed, and they're watching the QuickTime stream, and alternately getting drunk...

  • Predictive Compiling (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:15PM (#6275413)
    Xcode:
    Completely new set of Developer Tools. Speedy: fast compiles using GCC 3.3, Finder UI built (over 100,000 lines of code) in 377 seconds on a Dual 1GHz G4. Distributed builds can speed building by using other machines on a network (built in 208 seconds with an extra machine and 96 seconds with four machines). Zero Link only links objects needed to launch. Predictive Compile literally starts compiling before the program is told to compile. Fix and Continue can make changes to apps while they are running. A single fix turnaround in Xcode takes about 3 seconds on average.

    [source: http://www.4osx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1449 ]

    • Re:Predictive Compiling (Score:5, Interesting)

      by zulux ( 112259 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:27PM (#6275617) Homepage Journal
      A single fix turnaround in Xcode takes about 3 seconds on average.

      If this works - this may change the way people develope large C++ projects.

      I typically imbed a small parer into all of my large apps so I can quickly tweak the behavoiur of the app without a compile/link cycle.

      IF I can tweak things and compile/like at this speed - who cares?

  • Apple + PPC970 = True! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Equuleus42 ( 723 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:17PM (#6275440) Homepage
    Steve Jobs just confirmed at the WWDC Keynote [macworld.com] that Apple systems with the PPC970 are a reality! No word yet on availability.

  • G5's announced (Score:4, Informative)

    by alfredo ( 18243 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:21PM (#6275530)
    Apple shows off the worlds fastest PC with three things: chip (G5), system, product. The G5 has some amazing properties: it's a 64-bit processor, runs up to 2GHz, and has a 1GHz front-side bus. It offers full SMP ("designed entirely for SMP"). The G5 has a the industry's highest bandwidth using an entirely new architecture. It has a 12 unit core with 2 FPUs.

  • What comes next after Jaguar and Panther... (Score:4, Funny)

    by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:22PM (#6275544) Journal
    OS X 10.4 = Bengal
    OS X 10.5 = Lion

    And then Apple will have to move to the non-feline NFL franchises. Names to look forward to are Titan, Giant, Jet, Raider, Buccanneer, Eagle, Falcon and Raven but Packer, Ram, 49er, Colt, Redskin and Seahawk don't sound too good.

    Something tells me that they won't ever be using Bill though.

  • Brushed Metal Appearance (Score:5, Funny)

    by Talking Goat ( 645295 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:23PM (#6275556)
    "The Panther Finder is brand-new, with a new brushed metal appearance..."
    Well, then it must be better! It looks like the future! Ooohh, shiny...

    • Stupid textured windows. Am I really the only one who minds that Steve Jobs is violating his own freaking guidelines [apple.com]?

      This window style has been designed specifically for use byâ"and is therefore best suited toâ"applications that provide an interface for a digital peripheral, such as a camera, or an interface for managing data shared with digital peripherals, such as the Address Book application.

      This appearance may also be appropriate for applications that strive to re-create a familiar physica

  • Brushed Metal == ugh (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Garthnak ( 110033 ) * on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:27PM (#6275615) Journal
    Am I the only one who doesn't like the iTunes/Safari/etc. "Brushed Metal" look? And now they're doing it to the beautiful Finder? I can't imagine that I'm the only one who thinks it looks significantly less pretty than the simpler white look. The dark gray is just too intrusive and distracting, and it just doesn't LOOK as nice. I mean, here..

    http://www.studio2f.com/misc/images/1946sPanther -1 1-med.jpg

    Why is that better than this?:

    http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/finder.html

    I ask you. Am I alone here?

  • "Built for Mac OS X Jaguar" (Score:5, Funny)

    by eMartin ( 210973 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:29PM (#6275644)
    ...says the announcement for QuarkXPress 6 on Apple's front page.

    So Quark has fallen behind once again?

  • PPC 970 confirmed as G5 (Score:4, Funny)

    by Sri Lumpa ( 147664 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:30PM (#6275659) Homepage

    As seen here (and soon on /.): http://www.rumortracker.com/framesets/macrumors/in dex.html

    # One more thing... some of you may have noticed on the net...there was a funny thing that happened last thursday... where specifications were posted.

    # 3 responses: 1) Can't be true 2) It's true 3) It's great marketing

    # "Premature specifications" - it was a mistake, and it's true.

    # We are delivering today - the Worlds Fastest Personal Computer.

    # The Chip - we turned to IBM several years ago.

    # We're calling it the G5. It is a 64-bit processor. The first first 64-bit desktop processor. Runs our existing 32-bit apps no problems.

    # fastest front sidebus - ever. designed for dual processor systems.

    # Massivly parallel. Up to 250 inflight instructions. -- can be processed at the same time. The G4 can do 16. Floating point "monster". Two fully symetric integer units. massive branch prediction logic.

    # This is a new generation architecture.

    Of course everybody expected it, heck, even the Apple WWDC pages used the term Velocity Engine (IBM-ism) instead of Altivec (Motorola-ism) like here: http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/tracks.html (in the last item "Hardware")

    Seeet!

    Now time to save some money and then spend it ;)

    Oh, what the heck, time to get more indebted :(

    Nooo, must resist temptation, DAMN YOU APPLE!!

  • Aw, frickin' crud ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WCityMike ( 579094 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:31PM (#6275673)
    Dear Mr. Jobs:

    Iâ(TM)m not saying I donâ(TM)t want to pay you guys when you upgrade the OS. You guys put a lot of features in every release, and your staff deserves to get paid for it. Panther looks pretty damn cool, for the most part. Just do me a favor. Reward me, even with a paltry amount, for being a customer who likes to keep his OS up-to-date.

    Knock $40 off the price and call it a $89 upgrade fee. Hell, even $30, and $99, would be somewhat palatable. Thatâ(TM)s really not that much to ask, considering the discounts one can find elsewhere on the OS after a few months.

    Itâ(TM)s a bit more palatable than the pure psychological âoeF--K YOUâ of making me buy the operating system over and over and over again with every new release.

    Longhorn users may be waiting until 2005 for their next release, but I doubt theyâ(TM)ll have spent $460 or $690 by that point on keeping their OS up to date.

    Sincerely,

    Quite Unpleased Customer Who's About to Get His Ass Handed to Him By Fellow Mac Loyalists for Even Daring to Question the Wielder of the Reality Distortion Field

    P.S. To all those who decide to flame instead of intelligently reply ... please use a flame more creative than "whiner." Obliged.

    • Updates Anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by d3xt3r ( 527989 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:44PM (#6275897)
      What does $129 buy you? OS, application and security updates until Apple EOL's the product. You're not just buying a OS, you're getting updates and support for the life of the product as well.

      For those who are counting, that's 5 minor releases of 10.2 since it was released and numerous security updates within 24-48 hours of the publishing of vulnerabilites.

      Oh, and it all just works.

      Nothing's free my friend. You can pay Red Hat $60/year or Apple $129. I think the Apple user experience is worth the extra $69 to support actual R&D, don't you?

      • What does $129 buy you? You're not just buying a OS, you're getting updates and support for the life of the product as well.

        Yeah, all eight months of it.

        "Introducing Bobcat!"

    • Re:Aw, frickin' crud ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by jo42 ( 227475 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:49PM (#6275967) Homepage
      ...waving hand in Jedi manner...

      These aren't the Panther ISOs you where looking for...

    • Re:Aw, frickin' crud ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by NaugaHunter ( 639364 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @03:05PM (#6276189)
      Dear QUCWAGHAHHBFMLEDQWRDF,

      Thank you for noting that our "guys" put a lot of features into this release. Thank you for also noting that our "staff" deserves to get paid for it. However, I'm feel I would be remiss if I didn't point out that we also have to pay the CD manufacturers, box manufacturers, and print houses. Not too mention that our "staff" is probably a good deal larger than you think, and are, as you can imagine, premium people all around.

      As to your suggested pricing structure, we will take you advice into consideration. Far be it for us to know the worth and cost of our work so well that an unsolicited suggestion won't completely turn us around.

      Also, I am sorry to hear you feel that I am "making" you buy the operating system "over and over and over again". I am sure you will notice that your computer will continue to function with the software you have already purchased and installed. If that is not the case, please contact Apple Support for assistance.

      It is not generally my comment on a competitor's product, but rumor has it Longhorn users will pay a heavy price indeed.

      Sincerely,
      Mr. Jobs

  • Why they've gone to names (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NaugaHunter ( 639364 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:36PM (#6275760)
    It seems to me that rather than being analagous to 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, etc. OS X's 10.1, 10.2, are more like System 7, System 8, System 9. Each version has entirely new features on top of entirely different underpinnings. Apple is using the cat names as an attempt to shed the 'They're charging for an upgrade!' stigma.

    Not that I'm looking forward to the price, mind you. However, they haven't (that I've seen) given a release date, and as I'm looking to buy a new computer it probably will work out for me. Even if I weren't, I don't think my graphite iMac would take it anyway. :(

  • Pricing (Score:3, Informative)

    by peachawat ( 466977 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:38PM (#6275790) Journal
    3 models, all available in August :

    1.6 GHz, 256 MB, 80 GB $1999
    1.8 GHz, 512 MB, 160 GB $2399
    Dual 2.0 GHz, 512 MB, 160 GB $2999 (Wow!)

  • G5's won't ship today (Score:5, Informative)

    by bobdotorg ( 598873 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:39PM (#6275802)
    The Photoshop guy just said, "We'll be releasing new software at about about the same time these machines ship."

    Well, my credit card, which has been quivering in my wallet's deepest darkest crevices all morning, is safe for now.

  • Pic of iSight (Score:5, Informative)

    by kawaichan ( 527006 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:41PM (#6275845) Homepage
    iSight [ntlworld.com]

  • Intergrated X11!!!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Jennifer E. Elaan ( 463827 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:44PM (#6275883) Homepage
    The one reason that I thought that OSX was too little when it was released was that it had no native support for X applications. With built in X11 support, this should make OSX a full-fledged *nix-compatible OS.

    This could very well pull some of the crowd who love UNIX workstations, especially with the specs on that new chip.

  • Image of the new PowerMac G5 (Score:3, Informative)

    by kawaichan ( 527006 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @02:44PM (#6275896) Homepage
    Power Mac G5 [mac.com]

  • Strange enough... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by singularity ( 2031 ) * <nowalmartNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday June 23, 2003 @03:06PM (#6276204) Homepage Journal
    I am writing this from the Apple Store in Shaumburg, IL. The strangest thing I have seen is that the Apple Store website is currently down. THis is depite the fact that the only addition they have made today that is currently selling is the new video camera (so far... They just got done releasing the new G5 computers).

    Maybe that is just to make sure no rumors start circulating. I am not sure.

    The keynote has been great so far.

    Seeing the dual Xeon stutter on things that the dual G5 is able to handle without sweating is great.

    iChat AV looks nice. It will work really well when combined with Rendevous.

    He just said that Safari is going 1.0 today.

    8GB of RAM supported? Serial ATA? USB 2.0? 1 GHZ frontside bus? I said these things were too fantastical to be real. Apparently I was wrong... Glad to be wrong for once.

    Keynote just ended, nothing new for sale.

    About 120 people here watching. The most amazing thing? I got told that I could not take pictures with my camera. Weird...

  • Keynote Highlites (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 23, 2003 @03:15PM (#6276326)
    Steve Jobs takes the stage. [13:02 ET]
    We have so much great stuff for you today, we may need to take a break in the middle, says Jobs. [13:03 ET]
    3800 attend Keynote [13:04 ET]
    300,000 Airport Extremes have shipped. [13:06 ET]
    58 Apple retail stores: 17 million visitors so far. [13:06 ET]
    Jobs showing a rendered pic of the upcoming San Francisco Apple store. [13:06 ET]
    Later today Apple will ship its one millionth iPod. [13:08 ET]
    Apple has sold 5 million songs on its online music store. [13:08 ET]
    5 million Safari beta downloads since January. [13:10 ET]
    Safari 1.0 final will be available for download in a few hours. [13:10 ET]
    Apple also releasing Safari SDK for developers. [13:11 ET]
    Over 100 new features in Panther, the next major revision of Mac OS X. [13:12 ET]
    Mac OS X is now the most popular UNIX in the world, says Jobs. [13:13 ET]
    Panther to offer lots of UNIX features and Windows operability. [13:14 ET]
    Jobs says the old Finder was 'computer-centric' and Apple wants something 'user-centric' [13:15 ET]
    Panther features a one-column Finder, brushed metal Finder window, fast searching, an 'Action" button, the return of Labels, and New open and Save panels. [13:16 ET]
    Jobs demoes Panther. [13:17 ET]
    There is a new iChat 2 icon with a camera in the middle that Jobs has not mentioned yet. [13:17 ET]
    The searches appear tremendously fast in the new Finder. Jobs says it is "The best the world has ever seen." [13:18 ET]
    New .Mac to offer auto-syncing of files. [13:19 ET]
    Next up: "Expose" [13:20 ET]
    Expose is a new feature for organizing windows. [13:21 ET]
    Jobs says it makes it easier to find the window you are looking for. [13:22 ET]
    Expose shrinks all of the windows in order to display them all on the screen at once, so you can find what you are looking for easily. [13:23 ET]
    Users can assign any key on their keyboard (or assign screen corners) to perform this feature. Lots and ooohs and aaaahs from the audience. [13:23 ET]
    Expose uses Quartz Extreme. [13:25 ET]
    FileVault: secures a user's entire Home folder. [13:26 ET]
    It encrypts and decrypts on-the-fly. [13:26 ET]
    Mail to be optimized for Panther. [13:26 ET]
    The new Mail app will be much faster, offer Safari rendering built-in, allows you to manage your mail by threads, and Addresses are now 'Objects' [13:28 ET]
    Jobs demoes HTML emails. [13:28 ET]
    Jobs demoes thread view in Mail. [13:29 ET]
    IPSec-based VPN is built-in to Panther. [13:30 ET]
    Built-in fax in Panther -- every print panel has a fax button. [13:30 ET]
    'Pixlet' features a breakthrough new QuickTime codec with studio-grade quality -- 48 bits / pixel source data, no noticeable visual artifacts, no inter-frame compression. [13:31 ET]
    Jobs demoes Pixlet by showing a Finding Nemo trailer. [13:33 ET]
    Jobs shows Matrix Reloaded trailer. The quality is outstanding. [13:35 ET]
    Preview: Jobs talks about PDF. [13:35 ET]
    Apple has updated Preview to be the fastest PDF reader in the world. Jobs compares the render speed to Windows Acrobat 6 -- Acrobat gets trounced. [13:35 ET]
    By the way, Jobs has a small camera hooked up to the top of his Cinema display. No mention of it yet however... [13:37 ET]
    Scrolling a large PDF document is very fast in the new Preview. A search feature has also been added. [13:38 ET]
    Preview offers on-the-fly postscript to PDF conversion. [13:39 ET]
    Faster User Switching: there is now a menu in the corner to switch between multiple users on a machine. [13:40 ET]
    The Fast Switch in awesome - loud applause from the crowd. The Desktop literally spins around to the new one, kind of like Keynote. [13:40 ET]
    FontBook: handles professional font management. One button to install a new font. [13:42 ET]
    Offers a nice preview feature and instant searching. This is built into Panther. [13:42 ET]
    Jobs says he saved the best for last... iChat. [13:43 ET]
    25% of Apple customers use it routinely. [13:43

  • Apple's ubiquitous humor.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Vengie ( 533896 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @04:16PM (#6276930)
    From the panther preview section....


    Unix-lover Heaven
    Panther will include a final X11 client for Unix-based applications, improved NFS/UFS, FreeBSD 5 innovations as well as support for popular Linux APIs, IPv6 and other important acronyms.


    "Other important acronyms" hehehe ;)

  • HA HA sense of humour at apple (Score:5, Funny)

    by panck ( 69848 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @04:44PM (#6277231)
    On the Panther page [apple.com] look at the right side column on the bottom under "System-wide enhancements".

    Unix-lover Heaven. Panther will include a final X11 client for Unix-based applications, improved NFS/UFS, FreeBSD 5 innovations as well as support for popular Linux APIs, IPv6 and
    other important acronyms.

    Well, that belted a laugh out of me.

    • "Because we can" (Score:5, Funny)

      by Shenkerian ( 577120 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @05:12PM (#6277604)
      That's not all.. On the Fast User Switching [apple.com] page, their final point is this:

      Because we can
      Mac OS X animates transitions from one user to another. The current desktop becomes a texture placed on a 3D cube that rotates out of view while the incoming account desktop rotates into view on another side of the cube.

      I'm glad they decided to flaunt the Quartz engine this way. And they're really doing it just because it's cool.

  • The lesser of evils.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by digital photo ( 635872 ) on Monday June 23, 2003 @06:04PM (#6278227) Homepage Journal

    Being a recent convert to the Mac/Apple fold, I find I have both concerns about these upgrade cycles and at the same time, I feel they are justified.

    Let's take a look and see what we are comparing so we aren't comparing Apples and well.. you know.

    In my mind, there are really only three platforms out there: Apple, Windows, and *nix(Linux,BSD,Solaris,etc).

    Let's look at the "cost" of upgrades for each of these, shall we?

    With Apple, it seems you pay $129 for each major revision change. People who were using 10.0-10.1 were charged to go to 10.2 and now it seems that 10.2 users(myself included) will be charged to go to 10.3.

    My experience with my iBook running 10.2.6 has been about as damn near perfect as I have ever experienced on any platform with a user interface to match. Sure I paid top dollar for a laptop which won't beat my fellow co-workers' 1-2Ghz laptops anytime soon, but I also won't be cursing at my laptop for wiping out my data either. That has got to be worth something.

    With Linux, we get free kernel and OS upgrades. However, each time I went through the upgrade process, I had to literally double check every software package and perform countless recompiles to get things right again. On average, with every major kernel release I have had to spend the better part of an afternoon performing "installation" exercises. With every minor release, I have had to recompile the kernel. I didn't pay cash on the barrel for the upgrade, but I paid for it in time.

    With Windows, it has always been a struggle. People say *nix is unfriendly. I say it is Windows which is unfriendliest of all. You have to pay about $149 for an upgrade to the OS or in my case, $349 for the "full" version of the software. To top it off, if I have any aspirations of a marginally stable system, I have to perform a clean install and not just an upgrade on top of my existing system. This results in at least a full day of work on my part in re-installing the OS and all of the applications on the system. I pay in time and money.

    Now. With that in mind, I'm looking at the prospect of paying $129 for the 10.3 version of Mac OSX:Panther for my iBook which will run better with other systems and be even friendlier.

    I think I can live with that.

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