RSSApple Unveils Tiger, Displays
By Eric Steil | Published June 28, 2004, 5:06 PM
During his keynote address Monday at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced Tiger, the next version of Mac OS X, as well as a new lineup of displays. He previewed a handful of the new features in Tiger, including the Spotlight search technology and updates to iChat. The displays were updated with a new enclosure and a 30-inch model.
The new Cinema Displays range in size from 20 to 30 inches and feature an aluminum enclosure with a thin bezel, dual USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports on the display, and use a DVI connection instead of the previous ADC connection. The 20 and 23-inch models may be used on both Mac and Windows systems, while the 30-inch model requires a new graphics card that supports DVI Dual Link and its 2560-by-1600 resolution. All three models have a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio.
The 20 and 23-inch Cinema Displays will be available in July for US $1,299 for the 20-inch and US $1,999 for the 23-inch model. The 30-inch model will be available in August for $3,299. The NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL graphics card will also be available for the Macintosh in August for $599.
Mac OS X Tiger, labeled as version 10.4, includes features designed to make it easier to find and access information, automate actions, enhance streaming video quality, and video and audio conference with multiple people.
One major new feature of Tiger is Spotlight, which allows quick system-wide searches and automatically organizes the results. Spotlight uses an index of meta-data and contents for each file, and can be integrated with installed applications. Spotlight is also used to provide Smart Folders in the Finder and Mail, which are similar to the Smart Playlists in iTunes.
The Safari web browser is being enhanced with support for RSS and Atom feeds. Sites which have RSS feeds can be automatically discovered and the aggregated headlines can be searched using Spotlight.
Dashboard is a new addition to Expose that allows access to applets called "Widgets." Dashboard allows instant access to these widgets, such as a calculator or the address book, by a single keystroke. Developers will be able to create their own widgets using JavaScript.
Automator allows users to automate repetitive tasks by linking actions together in a graphical environment. An action is a single task, such as finding a certain file. The workflows, as the series of actions are called, can be saved and reused.
Tiger's version of QuickTime includes support for the next-generation MPEG-4 codec H.264. Recently approved for use in HD-DVD, H.264 allows higher quality video in the same file size.
iChat AV has been upgraded to take advantage of H.264, allowing better video quality without any increase in bandwidth requirements. iChat AV will also support video conferencing between four people, and audio conferencing between up to 10 people.
More information on Tiger can be found on Apple's site. Mac OS X Tiger will be available in the first half of 2005 for US $129. Developers attending WWDC will receive an early preview copy, which includes SDKs for Automator, Dashboard, and Spotlight.
As usual, we in the UK get ripped off.
On the Apple US site the 23inch monitor costs $1,999 USD. On the Apple UK site, the exact same monitor costs £1,549.00 pounds (which is $2,788 dollars).
Even allowing for tax, this is still nearly $400 dollars more than Americans pay for the exact same thing.
It amazes me how often I see people in the US complaining about prices. They should be grateful they don't have to pay UK prices (e.g. $33 dollars for a music CD). We even pay way over the odds for software (like Microsoft Windows). But despite this, Microsoft still can't even be bothered to give us a localised version of Windows - we just have to put up with the US English version.
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.X updates for 130 usd? no, thanks! duh
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I'm looking at the feature set and I think it might actually be worth it. I try to ignore version numbers and focus on what's actually being improved, and it looks like these things are major feature additions.
Two things that I'm really looking forward to is the metadata search (especially if it is really as fast as has been claimed) and being able to pull up common utilities/tools via an expose key.
It's still a bit too early to be deciding. I'd still like to see what else will be included before I decide to go out and buy this, but at least they got my attention.
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So I'd have to pay $130 to get a new search function and a couple of silly updates to already-existing software? Every single new feature that they implemented in Tiger should've been free. None of it is worth paying $130 for. If spotlight is worth paying for, it would definitely not have to cost more than $30.
EDIT: That was supposed to be a reply to Kircle :\
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Well, that's your opinion, but I think making comments such as "silly updates" and "every new feature that they've implemented ... should be free" is just that, silly.
Actually, I figure Mac developers are probably the ones most looking forward to this release. 64-bit addressing, upgraded tool set, being able to incorporate new technologies (such as, surprise, metadata searching) into their apps, etc. Some regular folks may love being able do a 4-person video chat or a 10-person audio chat. And some folks who are visually impaired or even blind may be looking forward to Tiger (no pun intended). The list goes on and on. Different strokes for different folks.
To me, metadata searching is a big deal. I was just as excited to hear that MS was adding that to their next OS (yes, I'm a Mac AND PC user), but I highly doubt Longhorn will be sold for $30. You may not be willing to pay more than $30 for this OS, but I'm sure there are many others who are willing (especially if they haven't upgraded from Jaguar yet).
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