Apple Previews Mac OS X “Tiger”
New Breakthrough Features Extend Apple’s Leadership in Software Innovation
WWDC 2004, SAN FRANCISCO-June 28, 2004-Apple today previewed Mac OS X
version 10.4 “Tiger,” the fifth major version of Mac OS X that will ship in
the first half of 2005, extending Apple’s leadership in software
innovation. Tiger continues Apple’s blazing pace of innovation with more
than 150 breakthrough new features including Spotlight, a revolutionary way
to instantly find any file, document or information created by any
application on the Mac; Safari(tm) RSS, a new version of Apple’s acclaimed
web browser that incorporates instant access to RSS (Really Simple
Syndication) data feeds on the web; Dashboard, a dazzling new way to
instantly access a new collection of accessory “Widgets;” and a new version
of Apple’s iChat instant messaging client with the industry’s first
multi-person audio and video conferencing in a stunning 3D interface.
“With OS X Apple has become, once again, the industry innovator in
operating systems and Tiger will further widen the gap,” said Steve Jobs,
Apple’s CEO. “Others are now following OS X’s taillights, and Tiger will
make it even harder for them to ever catch up.”
Spotlight is Apple’s new lightning fast way to find any file, document or
information created by any application on the Mac. Much like users can
instantly find songs in iTunes by their name, artist or album, Spotlight
enables users to instantly find just about anything-including emails,
presentations, images, appointments and Microsoft Office documents-then
automatically organizes and displays the results by kind, time or people.
Spotlight technology also powers Smart Folders in the Finder(tm), Smart
Mailboxes in Mail and Smart Groups in Address Book that work like Smart
Playlists in iTunes to automatically keep a user’s information organized
and updated.
Safari RSS, a new version of Apple’s acclaimed web browser uses the
emerging RSS Internet standard to provide instant access to the most
current information from leading sites such as The New York Times,
BusinessWeek and the BBC. Safari RSS automatically discovers an RSS enabled
site and displays a special icon, which when pressed instantly transforms
Safari into a full featured RSS reader displaying the discovered RSS feed.
With Safari RSS, users can easily create their own personal news clipping
service with up to the minute information from several RSS feeds merged
into one easy-to-read interface.
Dashboard offers users instant access to a new class of accessory
applications called “Widgets.” Built on Apple’s Expose technology
introduced in Panther, Dashboard provides fingertip access to everyday
tools and information such as stock quotes, webcams, calendars and
calculators. Tiger includes several Widgets and provides a rich developer
environment for developers to extend Dashboard with third party Widgets.
iChat in Tiger supports the new industry standard H.264 video codec for
dramatically better picture quality with no increase in bandwidth. In
addition, the new iChat adds multi-way audio and video conferencing, so
that users can audio conference with up to 10 people and video conference
with up to three other people using a stunning new 3D interface.
Additional new features in Tiger include:
* Core Image and Core Video provide the foundation for new image and video
processing applications, building on the success of Core Audio which is
leading the next generation of innovative audio application development;
* QuickTime support for the next-generation MPEG-4 video codec H.264
delivers incredible scalability across the entire bandwidth spectrum, from
3G mobile media to High Definition broadcast and beyond;
* Tiger can natively run 64-bit processes for database, engineering and
scientific applications to take advantage of the increased performance
unleashed when accessing massive amounts of memory while still running
side-by-side with existing 32-bit applications;
* .Mac Sync using a completely new Sync engine in Tiger ensures that .Mac
subscribers can synchronize their contacts, bookmarks, email preferences
and calendar across multiple machines;
* Automator, an innovative easy-to-use application that automates simple,
complex, or repetitive tasks without requiring the user to write scripts;
* major advances to the open standards UNIX-based foundation including an
updated state-of-the-art kernel with improved SMP scalability, 64-bit
virtual memory, modernized network services and Xgrid, Apple’s easy-to-use
distributed computing software;
* improved Windows compatibility that uses powerful open standards-based
networking technologies to make it even easier for Mac OS X users to access
a Windows-based home directory and authenticate against Microsoft’s Active
Directory; and
* Xcode(tm) 2, the latest version of Apple’s powerful suite of developer
tools, designed to make it even easier and faster to build innovative Mac
OS X applications.
Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X version 10.4 “Tiger” will be available in the first half of 2005
through the Apple Store, at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple
Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US). Users with
a .Mac membership can take full advantage of all the innovative new
features in Tiger to synchronize their information between multiple Macs.
More information on Tiger can be found at www.apple.com.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple
II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to
students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world
through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.