By Bill Davies

On October 24, 2003, Mac aficionados around the world began receiving their copies of the latest revision to MacOS X , dubbed “Panther.” This suggests that Apple has stopped developmental work on “Jaguar” and has moved all resources to “Panther” and beyond. Those of you who like to keep up to date on software updates and security patches would thus be well-advised to get yourself a copy of Panther, because this is where the action will be for the next year.

There’s been a ton of stuff written about the “150 new features” contained in Panther, but before I get to the new features, I want to highlight a few things.

“this is the first release of OS X that drops support for beige G3 models. Panther is only designed to run on Macs with built-in USB.”

First of all, this is the first release of OS X that drops support for beige G3 models. Panther is only designed to run on Macs with built-in USB. Likewise, three days before Panther shipped, Apple dropped all Mac models that use the G3 processor, and gave all shipping models 64Mb of video RAM. This is an inferential statement the company has made which says for acceptable Panther performance, use a G4 or better machine, with 64Mb video RAM. It will run on even the original iMac, but clearly Apple knows that it runs best on machines shipping with G4 chips and 64Mb of video RAM.

Secondly, although chatter in gossip forums has suggested how much faster Panther would be than Jaguar on entry level and older iMacs, this writer’s observations are that it really doesn’t seem much faster. Arguably, Apple would like each of you to back up your data to a second drive, erase your main hard drive, and install Panther using the “Erase/Install” method. Then allegedly it will be faster than installing it on top of what you have now. And I don’t fault Apple for making that recommendation. I work with a fellow who has a G4 and every utility we have used to check his hard drive suggests that the drive is locked. Stuff that I install easily shows up with a generic icon on his machine, and double clicking does nothing. Were he to attempt to install Panther on top of this corrupt drive, I am sure it would be nothing short of disastrous. So the “erase/install” method does have some appeal, if you have a way to back up your data.

For novice users, this is a Draconian interruption of your work-flow. I recently did this to my iBook (going from a beta of Panther back to OS X 10.2.6) and I spent about 6 hours backing up my data and applications, erasing my drive, and putting back all my applications, serial numbers, and preferences. There is no commercial utility available to take your data and serial numbers and preferences from an old OS X installation and move the stuff flawlessly to a fresh new OS X installation. Thus, users who are intimidated by the thought of erasing their hard drive should consider an “archive/install,” which is a “mostly clean” installation of Panther, or should just take their chances and install Panther on top of Jaguar.
Terrified yet? For those of you who like step by step instructions, the folks at Tidbits have a US $5 e-book that gives you a checklist of how to do the conversion. Download your crib sheet here: http://www.tidbits.com/takecontrol/panther/upgrading.html

Now, let’s look at the new features. Rather than go through all 150 new features, the question most people will ask is “why should I shell out AU $229 for this?”
I’ll divide the new features into three categories:

New Application Tricks

Panther features colour labels that you can now apply to documents and folders, just like OS9. Encryption returns (a much touted feature of OS9), allowing you to make an encrypted “file vault” of sensitive files, and to do a “secure erase” of files to leave no trace of them on your hard disk. File compression for email attachments is built in, and the operating system defaults to “.zip” compression so that we’re using the same compression format as most PC users. DiskCopy has been folded into a new Disk Utility. File system journaling is on by default. TextEdit can open a Microsoft Word document and show most formatting, although this victory will be short-lived, because Microsoft just released an all new Microsoft Office for Windows suite that closes down some of the file formats.

The “button bar” on the Finder has disappeared, and has been replaced by icons along the left side that mimic Windows XP for “My Places.” Seems like Apple has really tried to make it easier for Windows users to find their way around OS X. Desktop printer icons are back for those who missed them. Safari is much more stable and polished, for those of you who noticed that the version released last Fall was not really very good after you had used it for a few days. (You can’t use the new Safari on Jaguar, so if you want version 1.1, you’ll need to buy Panther.)

Glitzy Screen Tricks

The one shown in the demos is called Exposé. This has some potential to be useful. I find the Dock rather tedious when I have 15 programs running and I need to switch to a specific program to check on a task. Exposé shrinks every window you have open so that you can view every single thing that is going on at that moment. You can then click on the window you want to go to, and your screen will jump back to normal. Unfortunately, it only shows Cocoa and Carbon windows, so my “classic” programs that I need for work do not get displayed. Another important update is to the PDF engine that allows OS X to create and display PDF files. The new “Preview” application is now functional in that your whole machine doesn’t stop responding while it tries to display thumbnails for the 256-page PDF you just opened. Additionally, there is finally the ability to “search” for words within a PDF — better late than never!

Pressing Command-Tab brings up a glorious row of icons across the screen that shows all active programs, allowing you to switch between programs using the keyboard. This is copied almost directly from Windows, and is obviously designed to make Windows users feel more at home. There is a new “Font Book” that lets you add, remove, and preview fonts. Finally, there’s a thing called “Fast User Switching” which allows multiple users to be logged in to a single computer at the same time. John and Jane can both have an OS X login and share a single computer. If John gets up to go to the bathroom, Jane can swoop in, press a hot key, and her OS X user environment, and all the programs she left running, will spin onto the screen. Remember “Switcher” from 1985? Stuff running in the background, for different users, will keep running, even if not visible to the current user.

Networking & Faxing

Panther offers full support for IPv6, the latest and greatest internet protocol. Most providers do not yet use this protocol, but it’s nice to know if the world switches over tomorrow that we won’t be left out. Networking has native VPN support for corporate users, but it’s too soon to tell if Apple’s VPN client will connect to all the different sorts of VPN systems out there. The Networking panel is more informative showing you which of your available network interfaces you are currently using, and how all of them are configured. Faxing is built-in to the operating system, so if your computer has an internal modem, you should be able to fax any document on your screen without any additional software.

So, that’s my wrap-up for Panther. Will it change your life? Probably not. But I typically recommend upgrading any qualifying machine merely to stay on the Software Update gravy train, as security patches and other critical updates will, I suspect, be only offered for Apple’s current operating system, which is now Panther. They have no incentive to develop patches and fixes for Jaguar any more. So if you’re running something older (i.e. “Jaguar”), you are running it at your own risk. And to be fair to Apple, there is a lot of stuff I didn’t mention that will be of interest to corporations and government entities who need various security features that Panther offers, which will be over the heads of most home users, but will help broaden OS X’s penetration into corporate and government sectors.
For more information:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/

Bill is a member of MacNexus UG http://www.macnexus.org/

MACinations November 03