Panther Screenshots, Benchmarks, Details

[MacRumors]

- One FunMac thread posts some screenshots from the developer's release of Panther.

- An AppleInsider Newsbyte shows a shot of the Secure Deletion option which is detailed at Apple's Pages -- allowing you to overwrite multiple times for more security.

- One user submitted XBench benchmarks from their PowerMac G4 867 in both Jaguar (10.2.6) and Panther (10.3 build 7A179) benchmarks (Download here) -- while there were some significant differences in both directions, very little should be read into them as Panther is still in an early stage of development.

- Other notes (most info provided by gorman):

- Panther UI seems faster (sheets smoother, window resizing very fast, mail, finder)
- All apps do remain running with Fast User Switching
- Exposé updates apps contents live (in the small windows)
- Keychains remember settings
- New widget styles for many items such as tabs
- Command-Tab App Switcher has a nice Graphical Interface (FunMac shot)
- System Prefs grouped more Logically

 

[mac15]

Benchmarks are great and they seem dramatically better

 

[tpjunkie]

I'm still not happy about paying 129 for the upgrade though

 

[MoparShaha]

Looks very impressive

I think Panther is finally going to finish off OS X, as Steve alluded to Monday. I'm so excited, all these cool new features, and did you see those xBench results? And its only beta!! One thing I don't care for is that iChat logs you out when you switch users. I don't understand why. On WinXP, AIM can be used by multiple accounts simultaneously. Not having iChat remain open does on some level defeat the purpose of the graphical user switching.

Anyways, I can't wait till this comes out, hopefully sooner than later. I'm curious, because Steve said it would be out by the end of the year, whereas the last WWDC when Jaguar was announced, they clearly stated it would be out at the end of summer and it was. Why would it take so much longer to release Panther? Granted its impressive, but I almost think the transition form 10.1 to 10.2 was bigger in terms of the core of the OS. And the transition to 64 bits shouldn't be a huge deal, as was stated durring the keynote.

Sorry, just random thoughts......

 

[mac15]

well the last WWDC was in may like it normally is and the release was in august but its not june and december. So it still ads up evenly

 

[inkswamp]

Any readers here with a preview copy?

I just have one question: has the annoying oversight with text clippings finally been addressed (OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!)

If you're wondering, in OS 9 you could open a text clipping, hit Apple+C and copy the text to the clipboard. Very quick and convenient. In OS X, that no longer worked. Someone please tell me that Panther finally reinstated this feature.

 

[maradong]

m waiting for it ;-)

 

[MoparShaha]

Originally posted by tpjunkie
I'm still not happy about paying 129 for the upgrade though

I don't think $129 a year is bad at all. And I'm a student, so I don't have wads of cash to throw around either. I view the yearly cost of an OS update as a differed payment to apple for all the great stuff we get all the time--for free! iTunes in itself is almost worth the cost of the OS. Need I mention the other iApps? PC users don't get such good apps, and they have to pay for the crappy ones they do get. So before complaining, look at all the great stuff apple gives you for free; I hardly think $129 is too much to ask for all of that, plus its an upgrade in itself, and, its optional. You don't have to pay for it if you don't want to.

It just irks me that people expect apple to to spend millions of dollars developing software, and you think they owe it to you for free. Apple is a business after all......

 

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by mac15
Benchmarks are great and they seem dramatically better

What are you talking about, look at CPU -- jag owns
Memory -- Jag owns
Open GL -- jag again

That is what you use most of IMO.

Disk speed increase is nice tho.

 

[Juventuz]

Any idea as to how a person can get the Beta version of Panther?

And I don't mean a pirated version.

 

[mozez]

you have to be a developer, you can pay apples developer program fee, but it's wicked expensive.

 

[rice_web]

Though the finder window seems a little bar in its new metal skin, I like the overall look of Panther. It looks more solid, it looks like a contender. It looks pro. And, afterall, that's what Apple's doing right now, pushing the limit on processor performance, building a "fast" case design, rather than "cool", and creating an operating system that performs more fluidly than before.

The eye candy's over; it's solid now.

As far as new applications and features go, I'm quickly loving the user switching feature: yet another item for pros that need to go from user to root, user to root. The secure delete will attract the professional users seeking privacy, and the labels will reattract the organizing perfectionist power users.

I think it's a wider issue than looks here, it's a strategy change.

Apple can't compete at the $199, $249 cheap-PC level and apparently doesn't want to try. Introducing a $1999 entry-level price point is evidence to that. Apple is now the pro market, and it's trickled into Panther so terribly well.

One hundred cheers for Panther's one hundred new features (and ten just for the user switching).

 

[Juventuz]

Originally posted by mozez
you have to be a developer, you can pay apples developer program fee, but it's wicked expensive.

I just noticed on Apple's site. $500 is the cheapest to become a developer.

 

[punter]

Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by MoparShaha
Not having iChat remain open does on some level defeat the purpose of the graphical user switching.
:

were you hoping to have chats with yourself?

$129 is a bummer, but with everything that's on offer (hardware and software) I think I'll be buying a new computer that has panther shipping with it.

I love keynotes, they restore my faith in Apple.

 

[mac15]

I think it just steve jobs though, he's a breathing god

 

[DeusOmnis]

I find it interesting that CPU, GPU, and memory take such a huge hit. I was under the impression that the benchmark wouldnt be affected by the OS in those tests, but i guess it would be. In any case, i'm sure apple will fix that. I dont want a preformance hit on MOHAA when i get panther, that's just dumb.

As far as the iChat AE thing, i'm sure either apple will make that an option (they read get the feedback before the final release) or some third party will make a mod for it and fix it.

I personally cant wait. 127 bucks for a nicer OS? That's definately the best money you can put down. What, beyond the hardware itself, do you use more than the OS? And money in the OS speeds up everything across the board. A w00t for apple!

 

[nosaj56]

Re: Any readers here with a preview copy?

Originally posted by inkswamp
I just have one question: has the annoying oversight with text clippings finally been addressed (OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!)

If you're wondering, in OS 9 you could open a text clipping, hit Apple+C and copy the text to the clipboard. Very quick and convenient. In OS X, that no longer worked. Someone please tell me that Panther finally reinstated this feature.

Text clippings can now be copied and pasted! (I'm running Panther.)

 

[yaggayao]

hey

send the panther beta to my house

 

[tizza]

Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by MoparShaha
I think Panther is finally going to finish off OS X, as Steve alluded to Monday.

Not to mention the fact he's probably running out of big-cat names too

 

[MoparShaha]

Re: Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by punter
were you hoping to have chats with yourself?

Thats not what I meant. The purpose of other user accounts is for other users to use the machine. While its true I'm the primary user of my mac, I have accounts for my college buddies (yeah, I'm in the dorms), and a lot of times they want to use my computer to chat on AIM. As it stands now, I either have to log out of iChat, or I have them use another AIM program (Adium, AOL AIM, ect.). As I see it, if I can't run multiple simultaneous copies of iChat, it defeats the purpose of the multiple graphical logins. True, they could just use AOL's AIM app, but I want to be cool and have two copies of iChat open, just like theres two copies of the finder, safari, ect. open when theres multiple GUI logons.

Just my 2¢

 

[chanoc]

Re: Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by tizza
Not to mention the fact he's probably running out of big-cat names too

How about Mac OS-X Cheetah, the fastest kitty on earth? Meow

 

[arn]

Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by MoparShaha
Not having iChat remain open does on some level defeat the purpose of the graphical user switching.

this may be incorrect... as someone else said you still hear the ichat notifications when that user's screen is not there.

I've removed the claim until someone can verify it

arn

 

[Fukui]

Originally posted by Juventuz
I just noticed on Apple's site. $500 is the cheapest to become a developer.

Actually you can be a developer for free, 500 is the entry-level for the "extra benefits" you might want from ADC.

 

[nosaj56]

Re: Re: Looks very impressive

Originally posted by arn
this may be incorrect... as someone else said you still hear the ichat notifications when that user's screen is not there.

I've removed the claim until someone can verify it

arn

I can fast switch to another user with iChat running and switch back and to iChat and it's back just how i left it.

 

[MacFan26]

Originally posted by nosaj56
Text clippings can now be copied and pasted! (I'm running Panther.)

I was suprised when I read about the copy-pasting thing. I've been using command-c to copy and paste in Jaguar, I thought command-c was fixed a while ago.

Also, I was a little confused about the new user switching, if there is a separate dock, desktop, etc. wouldn't that take up a lot more disk and processor space? Or do I have the wrong idea about this?