Apple to Start Selling New Macintosh Operating System

[DaveinOlyWA]

Apple to Start Selling New Macintosh Operating SystemBy JOHN MARKOFF
Published: April 13, 2005

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 12 - Apple Computer said on Tuesday that it would begin selling the fifth version of its Macintosh OS X operating system later this month.

The program, which is named Macintosh OS X 10.4 Tiger and will sell for $129, has a variety of new features and some new internal technologies, as well as improved compatibility with Microsoft's Windows.

Steven P. Jobs, the company's chief executive, has at earlier events given brief demonstrations of some of the new features. On Tuesday, the company described the software's new capabilities, including a file search feature called Spotlight; four-way videoconferencing and 10-way audio conferences; and a system called Dashboard that will display on the screen small functions like calculators, currency converters and airline flight schedule trackers.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., plans to make the Tiger software available at retail stores on Friday, April 29. The company first announced Tiger last June, and said Tuesday that it had met its self-imposed deadline of making the software commercially available in the first half of 2005.

The new software is expected to have an immediate impact on Apple's revenue, according to Wall Street analysts.

"I think Tiger is going to be a far more important upgrade than previous versions," said Charles Wolf, a financial analyst with Needham & Company in New York, who holds shares of Apple. He estimated that there were about 20 million Macintosh computer users and that as many as 2 million to 3 million might be expected to upgrade their operating systems to Tiger within the next two quarters.

That would generate more than $200 million in revenue for Apple and would easily cover the software's development costs, he said.

Tiger adds pressure on Microsoft, which is developing a new version of its Windows operating system called Longhorn. The Microsoft software is reported to have many of the same features as Tiger, but will not be available until next year.

Apple executives said on Tuesday that they believed the new program gave them a significant technical lead on Microsoft, the world's dominant software publisher.

"This has created even more distance between us and Microsoft," said Philip W. Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide product marketing. "We're becoming a tiny dim red light in their headlights."

David Caulton, group product manager in for Microsoft's Windows client division, said "Apple is obviously doing interesting stuff within a closed solution." By contrast, Microsoft, he said, prefers "to take on the problem of platform solutions with a lot of different partners."

Both Apple and Microsoft have focused on adding file retrieval and graphics technologies to their operating systems. Analysts have said that this is partly a response to the growth of Internet search, which has transformed the way computer users hunt for information.

Apple's new Spotlight retrieval feature automatically indexes information without regard to whether the information is in a word-processing document, spreadsheet, digital image or any other file type. Microsoft has a similar feature available with its MSN service and has said it plans to integrate it into Longhorn.

[jkash]

I've been waiting for this new release for a while. Now I will order my new iMac G5. I'm skipping the G4 completly. My current computer is a 400 Mhz original slot-loading iMac. The speed difference should be quite noticable.

[jfschultz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jkash\";p=\"81034)</div>

I've been waiting for this new release for a while. Now I will order my new iMac G5. I'm skipping the G4 completly.  My current computer is a 400 Mhz original slot-loading iMac.  The speed difference should be quite noticable.[/b]

You might want to wait a bit. There are indications that the iMac is about due for a speed bump.

[DaveinOlyWA]

ahhh waiting for hardware upgrades is a never ending cycle. speed bumps happen on a regular basis and waiting for the next one almost never is worth it unless its a major hardware overhaul

[Dave]

Dashboard looks sweet. Very practical.

[jfschultz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"81103)</div>

ahhh waiting for hardware upgrades is a never ending cycle. speed bumps happen on a regular basis and waiting for the next one almost never is worth it unless its a major hardware overhaul[/b]

True, but if you are sitting at the end of the cycle, it might be worth waiting a few weeks.

At least when I got my 700 Mhz iBook, the 800 Mhz came out in about a week. The Apple Store had me bring in the receipt and on paper they took it back at the old price and sold it back at a reduced price.

[DaveinOlyWA]

so are you saying that the G6 is on the horizon? and more importantly, will it be in a laptop?

[jfschultz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"81389)</div>

so are you saying that the G6 is on the horizon? and more importantly, will it be in a laptop?[/b]

No. Indications are that soon after Tiger is released the iMac will be speed bumped to top off at 2 Ghz. The standard memory will go to 512 MB and a 160 GB drive on the 17" and 250 GB on the 20". There should also be a speed bump on the G5 desktops.

Check out the ThinkSecret web site.

[jkash]

I saw the report on Think Secret as well. Sounds like waiting for a little bit may be worth it.
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0504macs.html

[DaveinOlyWA]

ah thinksecret... the dissident mac employee website...