theParagon

Apple - Tiger 10.4

The news of the day seems to be heavily focused on Apple’s upcoming Tiger 10.4. At first glance it’s amazing at all the new features it holds but while looking over all those features I started recognizing some of them. Tools that have been developed by other people and companies other than Apple.

For example, Apple’s new Spotlight looks like a break-through in locating information on your computer. However, Object Development (an Austria - Europe based company) created LaunchBar a couple years ago, which is basically the same thing.

Apple’s new Dashboard is a great way to access nifty new mini-applications called Widgets. That again was developed a few years ago by Konfabulator which also defines its little tools as Widgets as well.

Safari’s RSS reader is a long awaited dream come true but it’s too bad that tools like Shrook never really got a fighting chance. It will be interesting how Safari deals with RSS though. From the movie it seems pretty well thought out (as most Apple products are) but one thing I couldn’t get from the short clip was how it worked with RSS summaries. I know of a lot of sites that don’t offer full RSS posts and when I click to view the full article from my newsreader, it pops up in a background Safari tab. Sometimes I’ll just go down my list of RSS articles and click on the ones I want to read and allow them to open in the background to read later. I hope this simple feature is available.

One thing I’m really excited about with Tiger 10.4 is new iChat. For those of you on a PC - it’s just like AIM but a hell of a lot cooler. iChat introduces a new kind of interface for video conferencing. In its three-dimensional view, your buddies seem more like they’re in the room with you, making it easier to follow the conversation. On top of that, you can participate in audio conferences with up to 10 people.

Overall, I’m really excited about all the new features and will more than likely slap down my credit card to reserve a copy for myself. I just hope that Apple is playing nice with all the developers out there that have help improve it’s already cool OS.

posted on June 28, 2004 | 7:57 PM EST