Day to day benefits

[Chuck]

G'day,

It's been a while since I was on the forum - gaining two children has a way of taking me away from Mac yarns!

Anyway, just wondering if anyone can tell me what the day to day benefits of Tiger would be, over Panther.

I have to admit, when Panter came out, I thought "Wow, exposé looks great! I'm gonna use that a lot"... But I haven't really, maybe it's just me though. So yeah, just wondering if this upgrade is really worth the expense.

Cheers,
Chuck.

 

[26139]

Nobody has a fully functioning version of tiger. It's only a developer's preview, and the final build is not due out until second quarter 2005.

 

[Chuck]

Yeah, I guess no one can say for sure what the day to day benefits would be, but the sneak peaks are there to speculate on I guess. Just thought maybe some people might have some ideas about the pros of Tiger.

g.

 

[rendezvouscp]

It looks like Dashboard is going to be a huge thing in Tiger. It looks awesome (pictures don't show its beauty), and performs well. I think that Dashboard will really be the pushing feature. Spotlight looks great, but it needs work. By the final version, Spotlight will be all you need for searching. Other things are improved, you'll like the overall refinements of Tiger. I would talk about some other features, but I can't, being under a NDA.
–Chase

 

[rueyeet]

I'd use Spotlight a bunch, personally, and probably let Safari handle my minimal RSS needs as well. Spotlight in particular may be transforming for some people....if it works as advertised, you would never need to worry about how your folders were organized again. Just throw everything in the defaults provided by the OS, and instant-search for it when you need it.

Also if you're going to use any 64-bit programs, that would be a biggie.

 

[edesignuk]

I dunno at the moment, there are 3 main things that stand out, and that Steve demo'd.

Spotlight - Very clever and all, but I for one am quite capable of organising my files myself, so I have no need for it.

Dashboard - I don't use Konfabulator, and that is all Dashboard is IMO, there for i have no use for that either.

Safari RSS - I never really have used RSS feeds, I just go to the sites I want to go to to see what is going on.

 

[javabear90]

I think I will use dashboard a lot becuase about every week or so I will want a calcualtor and I'm to lazy to get it. Also I think I will really like the sticky note thing for taking down phone numbers and such

 

[nuckinfutz]

Tiger will have a bunch of stuff you use daily

Tiger is going to make your computing experience better. Most users don't realize it but they limit themselves from being as efficient as they can for various reasons. Tiger is seeking to make tools accessible to you so that you actually use them

Spotlight - Wow ...another search program. Let's be honest Spotlight sounds like almost every other search program. We've all tried search programs that didn't find what we were looking for. Spotlight looks to be built around the "right stuff" to finally make searching your HD a fruitful convention. I think a lot of people will love it.

Dashboard - I know I'll use this. I'm always in need of a calculator and dictionary and even a sticky note. Dashboard is instantaneous. It's not trying to be Konfablulator widgets embedded into your desktop. It's quickly there when you need it and then gone just as fast. I like that user experience better.

Automator - You will not realize the power of Automator until that light bulb goes off in your head about how to use it to automate a boring task. Anyone with a digicam knows that importing photos and renaming them is boring. Or moving stuff around on a weekly/monthly basis. Trust, you will find at least one workflow that Automator does very well for you that will have you singin its praises.

.Mac Sync - contrary to the name you don't have to have .Mac to use the built in Sync feature in Tiger. If you have a desktop and a laptop/PDA this is going to rock. Keeping things in sync can be a pain but once you have your particular sync needs setup...it becomes transparent. Look for this to yield gold for users with more than one computer.

Of course Tiger will have many other features that have yet to be talked about. Quicktime 7 should ship with Tiger but we know nothing of its features yet. I'm sure the Finder will improve as well as other parts of the OS that don't require SDK for 3rd parties.

Tiger is going to be a must have for most of us. Be prepared to see apps that work together far better than you ever imagined. And for your computer to do things faster than you imagined in some areas. "It's not magic...it's architecture"

 

[mojohanna]

I am curious, does anyone else think that when Tiger comes out, all of the iLife apps will be updated along with it? You would think that they would almost have to in order to take advantage of the new system features/architecture of Tiger.
In that some thought, what could you add to some of the iLife apps to make them better (I;m not saying they are perfect, I am just trying to get a feel for what people think the weaknesses are) sorry if this belongs somewhere else.

 

[rendezvouscp]

I am curious, does anyone else think that when Tiger comes out, all of the iLife apps will be updated along with it? You would think that they would almost have to in order to take advantage of the new system features/architecture of Tiger.
In that some thought, what could you add to some of the iLife apps to make them better (I;m not saying they are perfect, I am just trying to get a feel for what people think the weaknesses are) sorry if this belongs somewhere else.

As of right now, the iLife apps do not ship with the developer copies of Tiger. You have to copy them over. I think that the iLife apps (except iTunes) will probably be left out, sadly. Although it does sound stupid if they were to do this.
–Chase

 

[blackpeter]

If it works as advertised, Spotlight alone will be worth the cost of admission. Also, if they could further "trim" down Tiger for better performance (as they did with Panther), that would be nice.

 

[jimjiminyjim]

but it could be that after tiger has been out for a little while, they would offer a promotion for iLife '05 and Tiger.

I'll second the note that Spotlight should be worth the price if it works as advertised.

 

[nuckinfutz]

iLife 5

Honestly I don't think we see iLife 5 until Tiger ships. Apple may ship iLife early but it makes sense for iLife 5 to become the "proof of concept" for new Tiger technologies.

Tiger technologies just begging for use in iLife.

iMovie -

#1 AVC. Being able to export to AVC(Advanced Video Coding) will keep the quality high and storage requirements low.
#2 Core Video will turn the sluggish iMovie transitions into fast and fluid effects. iMovie will become "fun" again.
#3 Spotlight to search for files created

iPhoto
#1 Core Image will let us apply nifty effects to iPhoto files
#2 Spotlight to ease searching of photos
#3 .Mac sync will let you take photos on the road and then sync them
#4 Automator to automate the repetitive tasks in dealing with photos.

 

[mojohanna]

Honestly I don't think we see iLife 5 until Tiger ships. Apple may ship iLife early but it makes sense for iLife 5 to become the "proof of concept" for new Tiger technologies.

Tiger technologies just begging for use in iLife.

iMovie -

#1 AVC. Being able to export to AVC(Advanced Video Coding) will keep the quality high and storage requirements low.
#2 Core Video will turn the sluggish iMovie transitions into fast and fluid effects. iMovie will become "fun" again.
#3 Spotlight to search for files created

iPhoto
#1 Core Image will let us apply nifty effects to iPhoto files
#2 Spotlight to ease searching of photos
#3 .Mac sync will let you take photos on the road and then sync them
#4 Automator to automate the repetitive tasks in dealing with photos.

Will Core Video/image help improve the speed at which images and video are rendered in iPhoto and iMovie or does it just add the effects? Also, with CI and CV, these are more dependent on the video cards capabilities, not the CPU, correct? If so, should I be looking to upgrade the GeForce FX 5200 that came with my machine?

 

[nuckinfutz]

Will Core Video/image help improve the speed at which images and video are rendered in iPhoto and iMovie or does it just add the effects? Also, with CI and CV, these are more dependent on the video cards capabilities, not the CPU, correct? If so, should I be looking to upgrade the GeForce FX 5200 that came with my machine?

Yes just the effects are sped up. However I do expect for there to be general improvements in overall apps speed. Tiger has a tweaked Quartz 2D that should make the UI much more responsive and they will probably will improve the database storing iPhotos data speedwise. The nice thing is yes the effect scale with the speed of your GPU.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Exposé is really handy when sending files to other people through msn and such,
as well I use expose whenever I use fcp,
which is almost daily,
I think dashboard will be really hadny because I gives you access to a bunch of little tools without having to launch each respective app, this will free up a lot of space on my dock.

 

[Mord]

on safari you can go into privet browsing mode so it stops putting stuff into history or cache.

dose steve jobs want us to look at porn?

 

[JFreak]

on safari you can go into privet browsing mode so it stops putting stuff into history or cache.

dose steve jobs want us to look at porn?

it will improve system performance because cache will not have to be written to hard drive. those numerous and small files will clutter the drive very fast...

 

[Mord]

it will improve system performance because cache will not have to be written to hard drive. those numerous and small files will clutter the drive very fast...

why is it called privet browsing mode if it's not for stoping people looking at your history

that was a problem on my lc475's 160MB HD but is not on any mac that can run panther (onboard firewire macs have a minimum of a 10GB HD)

 

[JFreak]

why is it called privet browsing mode if it's not for stoping people looking at your history

that was a problem on my lc475's 160MB HD but is not on any mac that can run panther (onboard firewire macs have a minimum of a 10GB HD)

so that people would understand what it does - that's why. and yes, drive cluttering is still a huge problem if the hard drive is not partitioned optimally. system performance degrades gradually and this helps, believe or not.

it doesn't matter if the hard drive is small or large, it will get fragmented over time. this problem doesn't go away until we can have such a storage that has no moving parts...

 

[whooleytoo]

It looks like Dashboard is going to be a huge thing in Tiger. It looks awesome (pictures don't show its beauty), and performs well. I think that Dashboard will really be the pushing feature. Spotlight looks great, but it needs work. By the final version, Spotlight will be all you need for searching. Other things are improved, you'll like the overall refinements of Tiger. I would talk about some other features, but I can't, being under a NDA.
–Chase

After seeing the keynote, I downloaded Konfabulator for a look. Looks great, but after a while, I never used it again. The widgets in Tiger look very similar, so I don't think will add much value.

What does interest me about Dashboard is, because it's included in the OS, a lot of people more people might be tempted to develop for it - it lowers the bar for Mac development significently.

Additionally, the idea of a separate 'layer' for desktop accessories which can be shown or hidden at the touch of a button is very useful. Perhaps Apple might expand upon this idea and add more layers, and allow users to add applications/documents/windows to them. (Effectively a multiple desktop type solution).

 

[Mord]

so that people would understand what it does - that's why. and yes, drive cluttering is still a huge problem if the hard drive is not partitioned optimally. system performance degrades gradually and this helps, believe or not.

it doesn't matter if the hard drive is small or large, it will get fragmented over time. this problem doesn't go away until we can have such a storage that has no moving parts...

thats why theres empty cache, ive never noticed a build up of the cache and it empty's itself alfter a while. if it was for that why dose it stop your history and stop you picking up cookie's it's to stop the evidence.

 

[rendezvouscp]

After seeing the keynote, I downloaded Konfabulator for a look. Looks great, but after a while, I never used it again. The widgets in Tiger look very similar, so I don't think will add much value.

What does interest me about Dashboard is, because it's included in the OS, a lot of people more people might be tempted to develop for it - it lowers the bar for Mac development significently.

Additionally, the idea of a separate 'layer' for desktop accessories which can be shown or hidden at the touch of a button is very useful. Perhaps Apple might expand upon this idea and add more layers, and allow users to add applications/documents/windows to them. (Effectively a multiple desktop type solution).

Dashboard is very different from Konfabulator. I too downloaded Konfabulator after WWDC just to see what all the talk was about. I didn't like Konfabulator at all, way too messy. But Dashboard is very fast and out of the way. You can even do stuff in the background behind Dashboard while looking at your Gadgets (ie, look at a place from a webcam that's in a gadget while talking to someone online behind the gadget). Most people will really like it. BTW, some of the gadgets are addicting, I love to bring up Dashboard and play a game or anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of small games are coded for Dashboard so people can play them and then get them away quickly before their boss comes from around the corner... (The gadgets stay the same from where you left off).
–Chase

 

[jdechko]

thats why theres empty cache, ive never noticed a build up of the cache and it empty's itself alfter a while. if it was for that why dose it stop your history and stop you picking up cookie's it's to stop the evidence.

But private browsing can be/is a really good thing for public access and terminals. I know I wouldn't want someone coming behind me at a library or a coffee shop looking at what I was just viewing. So I think this just helps Apple out in trying to get more public locations to use Apple hardware/software for walk-up users.