Wednesday, April 27, 2005

On Friday, Apple Computer will pull back the curtain on the latest major upgrade to Mac OS X. In keeping with its penchant for playing major product launches close to its vest, few outsiders have seen a working version of Tiger, as Mac OS X 10.4 is known. Even most employees have had to wait.

But I knew someone with a copy and managed to finagle an unofficial demo. So after playing with Tiger for the better part of an evening, I can say it's full of welcome surprises.

I think it's a success. I'm relatively new to Macs -- I switched only last fall after a lifetime on Windows machines -- and I'm not an OS X power user. But I can already see how this upgrade is a definite step up from the previous version of OS X, known as Panther.

The feature I'm most jazzed about, and the one that will have the biggest impact on how I interact with information on my Mac, is Spotlight.

Ultimately, I think Tiger is well worth its $129 sticker price, but I don't think I'll be waiting in line to buy it the minute it hits store shelves.