Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Apple is getting ready to release a new version of its operating system on Friday 29 April.

The Apple faithful can line up at the company's stores and authorised resellers at 6:00 PM and hand over the company $129.

The operating system might have 200 improvements, it doesn't even come close to being "groundbreaking" or "the most innovative [...] desktop", as Apple's cheerleader Steve Jobs claims.

The most visible improvement is the Spotlight desktop search technology, promising to make it easier for users to search for text inside their emails, word documents and other data. Apple might be the first to ship a desktop operating system with such a search technology build into the OS, but Google and MSN last year beat the company to delivering such a desktop search technology.

Another year, another operating system with a few new features. If Microsoft would release a new OS every year (like Apple does) and charge users $129 for it, the world would be crying foul. But this is Apple. That company that loves its customers – and makes them pay for that love.