Tiger, new OS or just a service pack?

[marknicholls]

I have installed Tiger, and only had a chance to play with it for an hour or so, but i cant believe this is a Major release, i think spotlight is cool, and i love the new mail app with the ability to sync mailboxes and rules with my .mac account.....but im stuggling to see why this is a major release?

I dont like doubting apple, but i have to admit, this is like the different between windows 98 and ME.....

 

[Lacero]

Read Anand's review. Basically he sums it up like this.

"..the argument that Apple charging $130 for Tiger is like Microsoft charging $130 for Service Pack 2 is quite possibly the worst argument I've ever heard."

 

[Lacero]

Or better yet, read Ars Technica's brief review on the changes in Tiger. Don't worry, it's a fairly light read.

 

[Sun Baked]

While the GUI may look the same, Apple did most of the work under the hood.

Major kernal changes, compiler updates, libraries, etc.

You know there are a lot of changes when apps that have been working through several OS releases finally break.

 

[marknicholls]

While the GUI may look the same, Apple did most of the work under the hood.

Major kernal changes, compiler updates, libraries, etc.

You know there are a lot of changes when apps that have been working through several OS releases finally break.

Most "under the hood changes" should not be a selling point of a new O/S

I an glad i bought Tiger, im to much of a geek to not buy a new OS when it is released, just a little disappointed with the major updatesof the OS

 

[Lacero]

Most "under the hood changes" should not be a selling point of a new O/S

Core Image? Core Video? Core Data? Quicktime 7? Quartz 2D Extreme? Metadata Indexing? Expanded 64-bit functions? These are the foundations for the next gen OS for the next decade! It's gotta start at some point.

 

[Soulstorm]

I have installed Tiger, and only had a chance to play with it for an hour or so, but i cant believe this is a Major release, i think spotlight is cool, and i love the new mail app with the ability to sync mailboxes and rules with my .mac account.....but im stuggling to see why this is a major release?

I dont like doubting apple, but i have to admit, this is like the different between windows 98 and ME.....

Actully, the fact is that it is something between a major upgrade and a service pack. Yes, the base is still the same: A unix with windows-like environment. But the change are so numerous, that this can't be considered just a service pack.

Not only it is faster, but also the kernel has been rewritten, so that it allows developpers to take advantage even more the g4 and g5 architexture, and in the near future, this fact will provide us with better, more stable and faster applications.

Actually, Apple failed to mention the numerous little things that when put together give us a complete new os. Updated OpenGL, CoreImage, CoreVideo new xCode (yeah, xCode 2 could not be supported by 10.3). Dashboard, Spotlight, implementation of H264, new and better applications, automator, and this is only the beginning. God knows (and apple ) what changes they made to the OS kernel to make it friendlier to software development companies.

"So", you say, "what does this have to do with me? Many of these functions are useless to me..."

Just give tiger some time. The same thing happened with the upgrade from Jaguar to Panther. It had to pass some time and THEN panther showed its strength.

Example: Remember when CoreAudio first came out? Noone knew how to use it, and very few knew its full potential, so music software and hardware developers did not fully supported it at first. But now, every music software and hardware product in OS X which respect itself uses coreaudio. So, now you see in the packages: Windows ME and XP users need to have drivers version "12039.124.4jjak turbo super hyper..." or something like that, but in OS X they say "All you need is to open MidiSetup from the Utilities and the hardware will automatically be recognized". (midi setup utilizes exclusively CoreAudio). My father is a musician, and that's why I used that example.

Wait and see what happens when CoreImage and CoreVideo start to be used...

So, as you see Tiger is more of an Upgrade, and less of a service pack.

 

[Sun Baked]

Most "under the hood changes" should not be a selling point of a new O/S

I an glad i bought Tiger, im to much of a geek to not buy a new OS when it is released, just a little disappointed with the major updatesof the OS

Window XP was a major under the hood change...

Though Tiger isn't quite that drastic, the kernal changes are quite major.

And on unix, the under the hood changes are the selling points for quite a few of the big number changes. And we undertook a major number change, not a point change.

While the GUI went through a simple point change, and feature update.

 

[Lacero]

I sense the confusion between real under the hood changes vs. cosmetic changes. If Spotlight and Dashboard doesn't change how you use your computer, I can't imagine how moving from Windows 95 to Windows XP could be any better.

 

[JFreak]

if the GUI already looks good, why judge upgrades based on cosmetic changes? the change from good to better is always more subtle than a change from bad to decent - and apple needs to only polish the better to even more better, which change doesn't look so dramatic at all.

it's what you cannot see that counts. car analogies are so lame, but let's get one more: if you take a regular car from store and upgrade its engine to a race model, you probably cannot see anything or at least visual changes are very subtle. but when you press the pedal, you instantly know what's changed.

i actually cannot believe how apple always manages to make new operating system work faster on same hardware, whereas microsoft's releases always tend to be slower and require better hardware to achieve same performance. in my book that alone is a good reason for calling tiger a major upgrade.

 

[jrober]

Mmmmmmm?

It is a good question but I agree with most of the sentiments above. Tiger gives me many new features but our Finnish friend hits the nail on the head. Faster performance with same hardware (except slow mail app come on 10.4.x fix) is a real result.

As long as they keep to their promise to hold the major releases for a while so they can focus on other apps to take advantage of Tigers abilities than I will stay happy with the new release approach.

John

 

[marknicholls]

i actually cannot believe how apple always manages to make new operating system work faster on same hardware, whereas microsoft's releases always tend to be slower and require better hardware to achieve same performance. in my book that alone is a good reason for calling tiger a major upgrade.

One thing i must praise apple on is how Tiger has made my system faster, i must admit, my mail app used to take about 2-3 seconds to click on a new mail and to open it (even though the hard copy is on my HDD) and even though i simply upgraded the OS rather than a clean install, it is now instant - 2-3 seconds may not seem like a lot of time.....but it is!

I also love the spotlight feature, it took 1 hour to index all my files, and when i showed it of to my partner, who uses Windows XP, he was amazed how fast it is.

I am glad i upgraded, and wasnt aware of all the under the hood features (i have only been a mac user for about 7 months)

The small plus point i have noticed are all good

The only other thing i have noticed is my download rate appears to have increased, i am downloading at a rate of about 40-45kbps rather than 25-30kbps that i used to achieve - and that cant be Coincidental....can it?!

 

[RacerX]

I dont like doubting apple, but i have to admit, this is like the different between windows 98 and ME.....

So a theme change would be worth the price of a new OS, but a new OS without a theme change is not worth it to you?

And where is the comparison to a service pack coming from?

 

[marknicholls]

Does anyone know how many copies of Tiger have been sold so far?

 

[iindigo]

So a theme change would be worth the price of a new OS, but a new OS without a theme change is not worth it to you?

And where is the comparison to a service pack coming from?

Ditto RacerX.

I think Tiger will really be amazing in a few months, thanks to all Apple has given developers in Tiger - I've only read over a fraction of the new development benefits in Tiger and they are great - Not only big things like Core Data (instant database! yay!) but little things too, such as the new editable WebKit. Thanks to just these two features, in a few months you'll most likely see very nice Cocoa-based databases that possibly even compete with FileMaker and a Cocoa WebKit-based equivalent of Dreamweaver - And this is only the tip of the iceberg. With Core Image and the new Quicktime framework, you can expect to see Photoshop competitors and new excellent video editing apps. I can't wait.

IMO Tiger is fully qualified as a major release with under-the-hood changes alone, let alone with all the "cosmetic" and "visual" changes.

 

[840quadra]

So a theme change would be worth the price of a new OS, but a new OS without a theme change is not worth it to you?

And where is the comparison to a service pack coming from?

That is exactly what I was thinking.

This OS change is similar to the changes between system 8 and system 8.5 back in the classic days. Granted the two were similar in many ways, there were vast changes in the core of the OS that made the ladder much easier to use, and more powerfull for the users running on the 601 based PowerPC chipped computers. Just because there is no major "bling" factor, dosen't mean that there isn't allot of changes inside.

Like others have said, 10.4 will give developers more horsepower to make applications shine, and run faster in Tiger, then they did on Panther. This new OS will also support the NEXT generation of Powermacs and iMacs that Apple will later release. With the new OS release schedule, this will give apple more time to work on making the hardware stronger and faster!

 

[snickelfritz]

Tiger probably represents the last of the OSX releases that break applications.
Details like global dictionary and spellchecker make so much sense, that it's hard to believe that WinXP does not yet have these features.
Spotlight and automator can work together in a way that will change forever the way we store and retrieve files.
I hope the next revisions of apple video software include CoreImage/Video; this will certainly revolutionize amateur video editing on the desktop, and facilitate much better artistic expression. (waiting for a 10 minute render to see if a certain effect is working is hardly conducive to an artistic workflow)

BTW, the only thing about Tiger that truly bothers me is the "shiny white plastic" menubar.
The subtle horizon-line reflection in the center of the Tiger menubar is just not working, mainly because the menubar text and icons do not appear to be rounded or embossed in white shiny plastic. The 3D illusion of a smooth, rounded contour falls apart.

IMO, Apple is shooting themselves in the foot with this three-ring circus GUI they're cultivating; it just seems out of place on a serious workstation.

 

[daveL]

One thing i must praise apple on is how Tiger has made my system faster, i must admit, my mail app used to take about 2-3 seconds to click on a new mail and to open it (even though the hard copy is on my HDD) and even though i simply upgraded the OS rather than a clean install, it is now instant - 2-3 seconds may not seem like a lot of time.....but it is!

I also love the spotlight feature, it took 1 hour to index all my files, and when i showed it of to my partner, who uses Windows XP, he was amazed how fast it is.

I am glad i upgraded, and wasnt aware of all the under the hood features (i have only been a mac user for about 7 months)

The small plus point i have noticed are all good

The only other thing i have noticed is my download rate appears to have increased, i am downloading at a rate of about 40-45kbps rather than 25-30kbps that i used to achieve - and that cant be Coincidental....can it?!

So .... what was the point of this thread, again? You started off with the statement that under the hood stuff doesn't count.

 

[marknicholls]

So .... what was the point of this thread, again? You started off with the statement that under the hood stuff doesn't count.

As i have just said:

I also love the spotlight feature, it took 1 hour to index all my files, and when i showed it of to my partner, who uses Windows XP, he was amazed how fast it is.

I am glad i upgraded, and wasnt aware of all the under the hood features (i have only been a mac user for about 7 months)

The small plus point i have noticed are all good

The only other thing i have noticed is my download rate appears to have increased, i am downloading at a rate of about 40-45kbps rather than 25-30kbps that i used to achieve - and that cant be Coincidental....can it?!

 

[DavidLeblond]

Window XP was a major under the hood change...

Compared to Windows ME, yes.

Compared to Windows 2000, no.

 

[daveL]

As i have just said:

I also love the spotlight feature, it took 1 hour to index all my files, and when i showed it of to my partner, who uses Windows XP, he was amazed how fast it is.

I am glad i upgraded, and wasnt aware of all the under the hood features (i have only been a mac user for about 7 months)

The small plus point i have noticed are all good

The only other thing i have noticed is my download rate appears to have increased, i am downloading at a rate of about 40-45kbps rather than 25-30kbps that i used to achieve - and that cant be Coincidental....can it?!

I guess my point was that you seemed to have answered your own question. No big deal.

 

[Zaty]

The problem with comparing Tiger to Windows Service Packs is that most SPs didn't bring new features, they mostly improved what was already there. Those improvements were sometimes quite significant (e.g XP SP2), sometimes they were just under the hood changes (NT 4.0 and 2000 SPs). Anyhow, Tiger is more than a Service Pack, it's a true upgrade IMHO.

 

[hodgjy]

Whenever I hear arguments about OS X releases only being "point releases," and not a "real" new OS, I just think about this from the world of Windows:

Windows 95 was version 4
Windows 2000 was version 5.0
Windows XP is version 5.1

I need not say more. OS X 10.4 is an awesome major release.

 

[auxplage]

Whenever I hear arguments about OS X releases only being "point releases," and not a "real" new OS, I just think about this from the world of Windows:

Windows 95 was version 4
Windows 2000 was version 5.0
Windows XP is version 5.1

I need not say more. OS X 10.4 is an awesome major release.

Yeah, it amazes me how some think XP is just so much better than 2000. I have used both and there is no real difference save a few, and the fact that XP is slower.

 

[5300cs]

This looks bad with the brushed metal of iTunes & Safari, and horrible with an app like Mozilla. Mail is also pretty ugly If the GUI were the only thing changed in Tiger I'd be pretty pissed