Tiger

In order for programs to use Tiger's new features, they have to be compiled with Tiger's libraries -- making them Tiger only programs.

There are quite a few new features that may make developers hop onto the Tiger bandwagon. One biggie is the 64-bit memory space for 3rd party applications -- which will only be available for Tiger onward.

For developers they have to decide which is more important, new features or compatibility.

 

You don't have to necessarily pre-order as many people wont be jumping onto Tiger the day it comes out. It'll be some time (read: a few weeks - max 6 months) before apps are tiger only. Many people don't like getting a brand new OS as they feel they are being used as beta testers, which in part is true.

Pre-order if you want. I will be as soon as you can in the UK.

 

I wouldn't necessarily recommend pre-ordering. I'd recommend buying Tiger at some point, perhaps when it starts becoming the norm. But I guess with the whole Amazon rebate thing, you might want to pre-order. Unless you're entitled to academic discounts in which case you want to wait until the release to get your discount which is more than the $35 Amazon is offering.

 

i would recommend pre-ordering...Tiger is going to be great..no matter if you order it now or wait until it becomes the norm.

 

I got into Mac for 10.3 (even though my Mac shipped with 10.2.5 and it took me some time to finally be able to afford to upgrade to 10.3). I was one of the disheartened who saw more and more apps NOT supporting 10.2 during the couple of months in between my Mac purchase and my 10.3 purchase. I definitely think it will happen again with 10.4.

But... it will take some time. I upgraded to 10.3 when 10.3.5 was just out. I waited long enough that most of the bugs and quirks were worked out before I installed it. I'm quite happy with 10.3 now. Tiger (10.4) has a lot of new features, but most of them appear to be in the "bundled applications" category rather than the "system level features" category. I have no intention of buying Tiger before at least 10.4.2 is available because at this point I simply don't need it and would rather wait a little bit for some bugs in the new features to get fixed.

 

On the flip side, will ALL applications work easily with Tiger or will some older stuff be "Panther only"?

 

Most applications that worked with an older OS like Jaguar and Panther should work with Tiger.

There are going to be some apps that include some tricks, kext files, networking, hardware handshaking, GUI tweaks, etc. that will break as Apple updates the method in which background stuff is handled, and closes security loopholes.

It always happens, but most of these developers are quick to release updates that fix bugs.

If something ends up "Panther Only" it'll be because the developer gives up and walks away from an app that crashes/kernal panics in Tiger.

 

Remember, students can get Tiger for only $69!