[OT] My Panther Comments

[Tarik Bilgin]

I know I missed the boat a bit on the Panther upgrade (only just 
upgraded) but since my last post about Finder in OSX ruffled some 
feathers I'd thought I'd post on my thoughts on 10.3

10.3 is quite clearly the first "polished" release of OS X that I have 
used. A big thumbs up to Apple. I have started openly "selling" it to 
my PC friends, and can see myself buying an XServe in the next 2 years.

On the plus side:


* The real-world speed of Finder and most of the commonly used apps 
have been nicely refactored giving us a big speed bump

* Mail.app is around 300% faster on my Ti 400 than it was before. 
AWESOME!!!

* Exposé, which I earlier had hailed as a "gimmick" to turn PC user's 
heads, is so much more than that. ON my Ti 400 where desktop space is 
at a premium I am using it _all the time_! It has replaced my usual 
command-option clicking on dock icons to achieve similar feats...

* Threaded mail in Mail.app actually gives me a feature that goes above 
and beyond Outlook, and being able to partially hide the Folders drawer 
is good too.

* the revamp of attachment handling in Mail.app is a LOVELY addition.

* I don't know if I am imagening this, but the new trash empty sound 
seems better optimized for playback through my crappy Ti speakers...not 
sure if this changed, I could be imaging this.

* The clean up up some of the previously slightly confusing preference 
panes is VERY welcome

* Finder IS easier to use with that left hand bar, and more economical 
on space. I didn't use the "Actions" cog yet, but it seems like a good 
idea.

* Switching to "Aqua Finder" by clicking in the top right of a FInder 
window is genius. It won't confuse users happy with the brushed metal 
finder as most users won't even know it's there. That's the way to do 
it ;)

* AddressBook is improved in usability -- I think they could go further 
though.

* HELP VIEWER IS FINALLY WORKING AT A USEABLE SPEED DUE TO THE MOVE TO 
A SAFARI ENGINE.

* Software Update is improved

* Xcode is looking nice, a  friend and I even wrote our own 
(rudimentary) browser using the new "Safari" WebViewer object in under 
15 mins. This is the stuff OO programmers dream of.

On the negatives:

* I still don't like the dock (but that's more of a design issue than 
anything else) but since I have Launchbar installed I don't need to 
rely on it

* The "Open" and "Save" dialogs still seem more cramped than what I 
would expect.

Neutral:

* I am yet to test some of the advanced Windows compatibility features:

* support for logging on to windows Domains/ActiveDirectory, was tried 
by a  friend  and was impressed!

* Support for Kerberos for single sign on to Windows systems is great!

In summary:

Apple have released an impressively fast, stable, reliable, useable and 
downright sexy OS.

The HELP system was made usable. I love this.

I think Panther is much more than any of the other +0.1 upgrades we 
paid for in the past.

--
Tarik Bilgin
opalblue