Mac OS 10.3 - Panther :: The early reviews

[GodKid]

Oki Dokie guys.. you by now should know that I'm gonna try to give you a review of the latest Mac stuff on the block at all times... so here it is.. my early reviews of Panther.


Staying true to its tagline Panther is TRULY the evolution of the species, it is not just an update .. it is so much more!

I've been running Panther fo approx 2 hours now and I must say that I have been BOWLED over again and again.

The first thing that hits is that they've actaully made Panther PRETTIER than Jaguar... how they accomplished this I dunno.. but the did it! Crisp icons that compliment the all brushed metal interface just make you feel like becoming a designer yourself.

but to the more important stuff... what have I fpund that has reallt changed ..

INTERFACE CHANGES

Apple+Tab now brings up a semi-transparent open app band across the middle of the screen instead of shiffling through the apps in the dock.. which made it hard to spot which app was selected

Finder now has a handy-dandy sidebar which makes getting accustomed to navigating through files and folders easier

You can now color code your folders amongst other things (haven't explored that yet but the fact that I get a menu option saying "Configure Folder Options" is a good enough hint ;D) so that important folders can easily be recognized

ALL core apps (preferences/sys utilities/setup etc) have gotten a make over making them nt only prettier but easier to use

LOGS are much more user friendly and will allow even the layman to get some info



CHANGES IN THE MAIL APP

Mail now does a bevy of things including detailing errors, allowing you to specify certain acounts and take them "offline" (you don't need to delete an account to make it inactive ;) ), and the BEST thing I've seen them do is THREADING... when you select an e-mail within a given folder ALL email related to that address becomes hghlighted.. this allows you to follow the discussion with a particuler individual easier... but there's more.. instead of simply highlighting them and having you scroll till you find the next highlighted mail you can have Mail compile all those related correspondences into a chronologically ordered thread so that you have full view and control over the discussion!


CHANGES IN THE INTERNET CONNECT APP

Not only is setup now MUCh easier, and the app MUCH prettier with a better graphical presentation of data streams recieved and sent (if you can imagine that).. BUT now they've added the HOTTEST thing since sliced bread for dial-up users.... a Remaining Time bar!

What this little app does is talk to your ISP and find out the total time allotted to your particaluar account.. then displays that in the window... meaning ... you'll now KNOW when you're closing in your limit (if you don't have an unlimited account).. i was surpriesde when I saw "Remaining Time: Unlimited" on my screen .. WOW!!


Anyways.. that's it for now.. soon put some more... OH... sorry J-Rock ma man.. almost forgot you.. here's an excerpt from the "What's New in Panther" section of the help app..



Windows interoperability



Mac OS X Panther fits seamlessly into Microsoft Windows environments, allowing you to share files and printers and exchange mail and attachments with Windows users.


Mac OS X also takes advantage of existing Windows network services, like Active Directory and Kerberos.


Connect to SMB servers


SMB servers now appear in the Finder's Network browser, so you can browse for available SMB servers in the Finder.


Authentication


With built-in Active Directory and Microsoft Kerberos authentication support, Macintosh clients can authenticate in an Active Directory-managed network with no server-side changes required by network managers.


Home folders


Your home folder can now be stored on an SMB server so you can access it from anywhere on the network without changes to the Windows network directory.


Share files and printers


Mac OS X not only makes sharing files between Mac and Windows computers simple, but now you can print to shared Windows printers or share your own printer with Windows users over the network.


Email attachments


Email attachments are now compressed using the standard GNU Zip (gzip) format, so Windows users can easily open attachments you send from your Mac.


Microsoft Exchange


If you use a Microsoft Exchange mail client or Mac OS X Address Book, the Microsoft Exchange Mail Conduit lets you access personal addresses located on an Exchange server.


VPN


With support for L2TP over IPSec, as well as PPTP, Panther's built-in VPN works with the most popular VPN servers so you can use it for secure connections to Windows VPN servers.

[GodKid]

just noting another exciting imporvement.. boot time has been reduced (by my calculations) between 30 - 40% ... i now boot in avg. of 1 minute.. (cold boot counting from the moment i push the power button to the moment I can actually work on the machine without interrupting startup apps).. whereas under Jaguar I was close to 2 mins boot time

[GodKid]

screenies available at http://www.digisolvit.com/screenies later today

[jamrock]

The out of the box interoperability with Windows and Samba is impressive.

I know of some advertising/media/public relations companies that will benefit from this. They run Macs for the creative/graphics people and Windows for the accounting people.

They can now mix and match to their heart's desire. A user can log on to any machine and have access to his files.

Cool.

[kknight]

Alright alright... A gwain update mi G4 to 10.3...The new features are too enticing at the moment.

[GodKid]

well then KKnight you should get it from the ONLY AUTHORIZED APPLE RESELLER in Jamaica.. DigiSolve Limited!

drop em a line at sales@digisolvit.com and they'll give you price and everything!

[nder]

Thanks for the info GodKid! Didn't know there was an Authroized Apple Reseller in Ja! Now if only they would update their site...

Installed 10.3 on my G3/400 with 256MB RAM (bought it second hand in January and still love it). It runs faster than 10.2! Love it already.

[GodKid]

I'm guessing you're talking about the DigiSTORE? Not to worry... projected down time left = less than one week

[nder]

Please let me know when its up. I curious how much it will cost to buy a Mac out here.

[GodKid]

not much more... the prob is the GCT and shipping costs.. THAT's where the bulk of the difference is.

[kirkcaldyj]

A Couple of things here that cool in Panther

Address Book - You can customize the default set of fields in the Template portion of Preferences, adding such things as an ICQ address or department/manager information.
*   Desktop Pictures - Your iPhoto library now shows here. Nifty.
*   Energy Saver - In Options on desktop computers you can make the power button not sleep the computer.
*   Expose - Hold shift and do it.   
*   Fast User Switching - If FUS is on and a user has locked the screen then the dialog that pops up asking for a password will have button that allows another person to, instead of unlocking it, login to a separate session with their account, leaving the locked user logged-in. Great if you just want to check email and then move on.
*   Finder - Select a file or folder. Choose Create Archive from the File menu. You now have a ZIP file that, if decompressed in the Finder, preserves Mac file information. Decompressing it elsewhere gives you a folder with all the metadata/resource information along with the files (which may not work).
*   Finder - Open System Preferences, then Keyboard and Mouse, then Keyboard Shortcuts. Add an item for Finder and call it "Secure Empty Trash" and set the key combo to something like CMD-SFT-OPT-/ (forward; backward does not work for this). Now that key combo will access the currently unbound menu item in the Finder. This works elsewhere, of course, but is particularly helpful here.
*   Mail - Click on the reply arrow in the list view for incoming mail to view the reply (finally).
*   Terminal - Terminal now uses Rendezvous to look for other computers for SSH, SFTP, Telnet, and just about anything else. If you have lynx installed, tell it to look for the service _http._tcp and use the full path to lynx as the command to run.
*   Window Manager - (your graphical shell, as it were) Command-Option-Escape has always brought up the Force Quit dialog box in Mac OS X, but now holding down shift as well (certainly a two-handed trick) will kill the frontmost program without question. Great when the system isn't responding as quick as can be, or some full-screen app has bitten it

[GodKid]

kirkc - JaMUG (http://jamug.digisolvit.com/forum)

10.3.3 makes SMB networking that much SWEEEEEEEEEETER

[kirkcaldyj]

Indeed, and since the introduction of Virtual PC its event better..

[GodKid]

VPC been around for a while tho... but can't wait for the G5 compatible release

[kirkcaldyj]

I know this, I have a G5 using and cant get to have the WVPC?...do you have any experience with xservers?

[GodKid]

Xserves require special training.. (which I'm doin shortly), but Apple is NOW VERY guarded about XServe distribution in the LAC because of bad experiences..

If you're thinking of getting one.. DON'T until you have some especially trained to deal with it!

[jamrock]

10.3.3 makes SMB networking that much SWEEEEEEEEEETER

For real. Someone showed me how easy it is to connect to a SMB network. The connectivity is built right into the product.

Really nice. 8)