More Mac OS X 10.4 Screenshots

[MacRumors]

As a followup to the debate on the initial Mac OS X 10.4 Screenshots, here are a few more...

Safari About Box
Safari RSS Feed
Pipeline About
System Preferences About

Image removed at request of Apple Legal

[MacCoaster]

It seems as if they've released so many screenshots that it couldn't possibly be fake; unless they had way too much time on their hands? Just speculating. I love the idea of Pipeline as I come from the UNIX world where that is known as piping commands.

I hate the "new" Sys Prefs. 10.3 has it right for that, IMO.

Edit: I forgot to include my observation that the version numbers don't have "v" before them, as do all apps from Apple. It's just (58), not (v58). I guess we'll find out Monday.

Edit: Meh, grammar.

[arn]

yeah... real vs. lot of time on their hands.

arn

[stoid]

Same stuff, new images. Looks like exactly what the peanut crowd wanted. I still don't like the idea of the gaussian hi-light in the system prefs, but hey, it's not done yet. The hour of truth draws ever nearer!

[stoid]

Originally Posted by MacCoaster

It seems as if they've released so many screenshots that it couldn't possibly be fake; unless they had way too much time on their hands? Just speculating. I love the idea of Pipeline as I come from the UNIX world where that is known as piping commands.

I hate the "new" Sys Prefs. 10.3 has it right for that, IMO.

Can you explain in laymen's terms what Pipeline would do? Is it just an extension of the Terminal, or would it be a more 'everyday normal user' application?

[themadchemist]

These don't seem very earth-shattering, whether they are real or not. For the most part, everything seems to be about the same.

The changes in System Prefs are interesting, but I'm not sure what to make of them. I suppose that's a little bit different and might cause some debate.

However, I'm leaning toward someone have too much time on his/her hands. It just seems that an inconsistency like the 'v' thing mentioned above would be the kind that isn't likely from Apple, but much more likely from someone PSing the thing together. But that's just me.

edit: I was just commenting on the GUI. Obviously, new apps like the fabled Pipeline are causing buzz, as they should.

[MacCoaster]

Originally Posted by stoid

Can you explain in laymen's terms what Pipeline would do? Is it just an extension of the Terminal, or would it be a more 'everyday normal user' application?

It basically seems to connect many applications together, gluing them to perform a more specific task, automatically.

In the UNIX world, we'd use scripts with piping, like this:

balboa:~ will$ app1 | app2 | app3

Which translates to, give the output of app1 to be processed by app2 which will give its output to be processed by app3. Problem with this is that it's obviously very linear, which is solved with "scripts," which allows for decision-making. For example, you noticed a few things in the pipeline screenshot. You can find Items from the Address Book. If I added a few photos to iPhoto and added them to a category, I want to automate the exportation to a HTML gallery, uploading to a web server, informing people by mail, etc. You can combine all that in one single program which is really a script.

Really, really powerful if you take it the correct way. Pipeline just seems to make it easy for the average joe to achieve what UNIX people have been enjoying for years with advanced knowledge of their systems. Of course you could do what I just described in Panther but you'd have to learn AppleScript.

I think the concept is very real and Apple knows it can be an untapped source of power for the average joe to do MUCH more with his computer by automating it.

Edit: Of course I could be totally wrong. We'll see Monday!

[2A Batterie]

Geez, when is this stuff gonna end? At first, these rumors get me giddy but I just don't know if someone is putting out a load of fakes for their amusement. Thank God the WWDC is on Monday... after that all of the new rumors probably will be for the next OS (code name kitty-cat) and/or the the new quad-powered powerbook G7

[Fuchal]

It takes 2 seconds to make an about box from scratch.

[nsb3000]

Originally Posted by MacCoaster

It seems as if they've released so many screenshots that it couldn't possibly be fake; unless they had way too much time on their hands? Just speculating.
Edit: Meh, grammar.

Ya, I am starting to agree. I used to think these were fake, but now I think they are real. If they are real though, why no screen shots of the finder, for example?

[stoid]

Exposé:Panther::Pipeline:Tiger perhaps....

If there is a new version of Mail, my biggest request is that it still shows the new mail badge on the dock icon if one of my 'rules' has moved the message out of the main folder into a sub-folder. Here's to Monday!

[stoid]

Originally Posted by nsb3000

Ya, I am starting to agree. I used to think these were fake, but now I think they are real. If they are real though, why no screen shots of the finder, for example?

Remember last year, Steve said something to the effect of "We redid the finder, and we think we got it right this time." Hopefully after so many re-vamps of the Finder, it will be other parts of the OS that are the selling point of Tiger.

[broken_keyboard]

Now I am even more sure they are real. The use of the domino to represent the concept of "pipeline" is very Applesque.

[MacCoaster]

Originally Posted by nsb3000

Ya, I am starting to agree. I used to think these were fake, but now I think they are real. If they are real though, why no screen shots of the finder, for example?

and...

Originally Posted by stoid

Remember last year, Steve said something to the effect of "We redid the finder, and we think we got it right this time." Hopefully after so many re-vamps of the Finder, it will be other parts of the OS that are the selling point of Tiger.

Exactly. Finder is just about as tuned as it can be to our knowledge. Any improvement to Finder is probably just a few cosmetic changes or tweakings. Maybe they're adding further integration to other stuff (NFS! NFS! NFS! Dammit, you listening Apple? NFS is important to us UNIX geeks. And we don't want to be bothered by the NetInfo, which I hope will be gone in 10.4). Who knows.

I can't wait, especially for Xcode 2.0 which Apple has hinted support for Subversion!

[nsb3000]

Originally Posted by stoid

Remember last year, Steve said something to the effect of "We redid the finder, and we think we got it right this time." Hopefully after so many re-vamps of the Finder, it will be other parts of the OS that are the selling point of Tiger.

Well I hope not, cuz the finder needs a lot of work, but that is a discussion for another day..

[MacCoaster]

nsb3000, hmm? It needs work? Like what?

[macnews]

I agree with leaving the finder alone. Previous rumors have hinted at a very MS like web desktop. I much like the new finder in 10.3. A few tweeks but not much more thank you - although I have heard the same NFS statement from a few Unix geeks I know. That would be good as the Unix crowd are a big supply of switchers.

Pipeline sounds interesting. I need to learn applescript!

[MacCoaster]

macnews: I think the best thing about Pipeline is that you don't, that's right, you don't have to learn AppleScript to garner the power from it (at least from my understanding).

[stormfield]

Originally Posted by broken_keyboard

Now I am even more sure they are real. The use of the domino to represent the concept of "pipeline" is very Applesque.

Indeed. The 'About Pipeline' box is the most convincing evidence that these screenshots (or, some subset of them) are real. That, or they're crafted by a pixelpusher whose creativity matches their Photoshop abilities.

[macnews]

Originally Posted by MacCoaster

macnews: I think the best thing about Pipeline is that you don't, that's right, you don't have to learn AppleScript to garner the power from it (at least from my understanding).

I hope you are right! That would be great because there are some common tasks that I would love to automate. For the past few years one of my "to do" things is learn some basic applescript and learn how to script in Adobe apps. Would be huge time savers for students in my lab. But.... as you can tell it is good for students to learn the "whys" behind some things instead of just automation.

[broken_keyboard]

Originally Posted by stormfield

Indeed. The 'About Pipeline' box is the most convincing evidence that these screenshots (or, some subset of them) are real. That, or they're crafted by a pixelpusher whose creativity matches their Photoshop abilities.

It made my day seeing that domino actually. Now when I have to explain to clients about how interfaces have to match up I can just talk about dominoes (I am a developer). And that to have a pipeline you have to have all matching interfaces - what a fantastic analogy.

[broken_keyboard]

Originally Posted by MacCoaster

nsb3000, hmm? It needs work? Like what?

I don't like any of the view options myself. The icon view just doesn't show enough files - look at all that whitespace they waste. The list view has no way to put all the directories at the top and still have alphabetical order, also it is hard to follow along with your eyes from the filenames on the left to the metadata on the right because they don't use the alternating blue and white lines that other list views have. The column view is a nice way to view hierachy without indentation, but I think a lot of people don't have very deep directory structures anyway - they maybe have 5 dirs they put their stuff in and no subdirs, so this view is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. It is useful maybe to programmers looking for docs is a deep hierarchy, that sort of thing.

- there is no way to just type in directly the dir you want to go to, you have to search or browse.
- the border is too fat - the thick grey border makes the controls domniate instead of the files themselves, and the actual files should be the focus.
- there should be an easy way, no matter what program you are in, to get a finder window up. e.g. shift-click on the finder face in the doc open a new window, instead of popping existing to front.
- the first thing I thought would go in the next revision of mac os x is those default bllue folder icons, they are so bad. Doesn't anyone else think so? I know they are supposed to be suggestive of water, but how is being suggestive of water useful? Just the sight of them irritates me.

[rosewoodAt5th]

Notice the copyright is missing from Pipeline about box. I dont know either way but just interesting.

[Trowaman]

Okay, the first set of screen shots I still don't buy. This second set, I may believe. Safari 2.0 seems like a sure call. System prefs, I could see it. Pipeline, I like where this is going. Question though. What is going to knock my socks off to where a regular person is going to want to upgrade?

[applekid]

Originally Posted by Trowaman

Question though. What is going to knock my socks off to where a regular person is going to want to upgrade?

That is what matters. People keep saying we will be blown away, but we haven't had any profound leaks. Gotta wait for Monday...