Mac OS X 10.3 Panther [OLD VERSION]

It is difficult to list every new feature (Apple claims 150 new features). I will describe only the major ones (as well as my personal favorites).

The most significant addition is Expose, which upon a key press or a mouse gesture, shrinks all running windows so you can see them all. Click on one of the windows, it zooms in to a normal size. It is very cool and very effective, possibly the most revolutionary window management technology since the dawn of windowing graphical user interface. Even more impressive, all the windows continue to update themselves even when they shrink, giving you the "control center" view of running applications. Expose also lets you hide all the windows (so you can see what's on the desktop) or hide all the windows but the active one. This is a huge addition, especially for those with lower resolution display.

The next most significant addition is rewritten Finder. Although many may not appreciate metallic design, it has received a ton of new feature and much faster to boot (multi-threaded). The new Finder resembles iTunes: the right pane shows mounted drives and volumes as well as "favorite directories" that you can customize. Located on the upper right-hand corner is a search function that returns matched files in real-time. Another welcome feature is color labels. You can organize files by marking them with one of many color labels (e.g., red for work stuff, blue for family stuff). And you can create zip files directly from Finder.

At this point, most people will probably list Fast User Switching as the next most significant feature. Since my PowerBook is used by only me, I don't find this feature personally compelling. I've tried it and it works well. If you have multiple users, the menu bar will list your name towards the end. Clicking will list users you can switch to. Select one and after the password authentication, the entire screen rotates in 3D, switching to the new user's desktop. Very snazzy. Those with very long name (e.g., Arnold Schwartznegger), may not welcome his/her name occupying precious menu bar space, however.

For me, 3rd most compelling addition is upgraded Mail. It is significantly faster than before. Significantly! And it adds several welcome additions, such as threaded view of messages, enhanced anti-spam features, enhanced HTML email rendering (thanks to Safari), and enhanced integration with the Address Book (which can now print labels, by the way).

One disappointment is FileVault. While great in concept (it automatically encrypts files upon logout and automatically decrypts upon login), it is not very stable. Many users have reported preferences getting corrupted.

Significant changes are summarized as follows.

Pros:
- Expose is one the most revolutionary windows management technologies to date
- Faster faster faster -- Preview (with support for latest Acrobat format), Help, Mail, Finder
- Performance enhancements for G5 processor
- Significantly improved Finder and Mail
- Cool Fast User Switching
- Improved anti-aliasing for LCD displays (and you can enable it all the way down to 4 point fonts)
- System Preferences better organized
- Improved, more professional looking Aqua interface
- Significantly improved DVD Player user interface with new bookmark feature
- TextPad supports Word format
- Emphasis on security with many security fixes, secure empty trash can, and FileVault

Cons:
- Expensive considering Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar is only about a year old
- FileVault has many stability issues (do not use it until Apple offers a fix!)
- iChat AV works with only .Mac and AOL (please open it to support MSN and Yahoo!)
- Improved anti aliasing does not apply to older QuickDraw applications (e.g., Microsoft Office v.X)
- Dock gets none of the much needed enhancements
- DVD Player still lacks support for interactive DVD-ROM contents
- You cannot add/remove features after installing Mac OS X Panther
- Keyboard support is still limited (i.e., cannot directly select the menu item)
- Not high DPI displays friendly (Dots/pixels Per Inch), such as 12.1" iBook and PowerBook -- smaller fonts will be difficult to read still
- Apple menu is still not customizable
- Safari gets only a minor update (still incompatible with many web sites)


Panther Delivers   November 9, 2003
David Kudler
82 out of 84 found this review helpful

Oops! Hit save twice without meaning to, and I can't seem to edit out the rest of this review. Sorry!

I ordered this product because I was suffering some difficulties with an earlier version of OS X (10.2.8), and because this one promised some nice improvements and a speed jump.

Goodness.

Installation was a snap. Several online news sources strongly recommended running disk and permissions repair from the Disk Utility; that took about a half-hour for both--I have a 40GB drive. Then I ran the installer, clicked maybe four buttons, and another twenty minutes later I was running 10.3. Not only does it look cool and contain some fabulous interface improvements--Expose alone is one of those OS doodads you wonder how you ever got along without, and I can finally run the HP driver for my home-networked DeskJet--but the speed and responsiveness of my computer has bumped--this is a subjective measure, but I think a good one--probably 15-25%.


It's also quite stable--not that earlier versions of OS X weren't, but this one has run like a dream. Running on my PowerBook G3 (Pismo/FireWire/2000 model) for the past week and a half, no bombs (of course--in a year and a half of running X, I've had two kernel panics), few application crashes (actually, I'm not sure I can remember any), and only one glitch: if the "Wake for system administrator" box was checked in the Energy Saver "options" tab, my computer would occasionally wake from sleep, but the monitor would be irrevocably black. Fortunately, I don't need to have a SysOp diddle with my system--if I did, I'd probably drop the review a star.

The new 'quick user change' option is a godsend, since my kids occasionally use my computer, and I like to be able to leave my email, etc, on while theire doing their thing. It's incredibly smooth--the only drawback being that you can't (apparently) have the same application opened by two different users at the same time. That includes the Classic environment. In order to switch between my daughters' accounts, I needed actually to log out, since both of them primarilly use OS 9 edutainment apps. Ah well. That's the one thing I'd love the Apple geniuses to rethink for 10.4!

The wonderful thing is that this OS actually breathes new life into my 3 1/2 year old laptop--think of the last time an operating system upgrade didn't actually SLOW DOWN your vintage computer. The smoothness and the features--especially the HP IP printing driver--make it possible for me now actually to consider jettisoning Classic. I think that's a strong enough endorsement of how terrific this version of OS X is. If you've been putting off upgrading from OS 9 till the system got a bit more mature, your patience has been rewarded; this is a beatiful, fully-grown operating system.


Another quantum leap.   October 11, 2003
Maine Writer (Maine, USA)
79 out of 80 found this review helpful

I've had the pleasure to use Panther over the summer, including the version that is now being released by Apple. There are several things you ought to know. (1) Speed. Every Mac I installed it on, from an iMac 500 DV to a G5 1.8 gHz felt easily twice as fast. It really is like getting a brand new computer. (2) RAM. This beast needs plenty of RAM; 512 MB at the least. (3) Expose. The new feature for dealing with multiple open windows and programs is priceless. Alone worth the expense of this software, I couldn't live without it.

This is the best operating system on the market, bar none.


The next step forward.   October 11, 2003
Michael A. Brown (Salt Lake City, UT USA)
41 out of 49 found this review helpful

Jaguar took OS X to the next level. Sure it was a familiar level, but it was a more stable operating environment, and provided several needed enhancements. Now, Panther takes a giant step forward in the evolution of the Mac platform.

An all new, easier to use finder. Upgrades to several of the popular iApps which Apple has been nurturing. Plus, iChatAV instant messaging software which will work seemlessly with the iSight camera. File Vault - 128-bit file encryption. Fast user switching, to make it easier for families who have individual user sets on a single machine. Font Book - to load and keep track of font families. Expose, which will tile all of the windows you have open with the click of a hot key. And, it's all Unix based for faster and easier integration with Windows networks.

On top of all that, it'll work more efficiently on the G5 Macs, and make the G4's work even faster than before.

If I see one problem, it's that this major upgrade comes along too soon after Jaguar. There should be a scaled upgrade platform so that those of us who bought Jaguar last year could get a deal on Panther this year.


A great deal ... if you haven't done this in a while   January 18, 2004
Eric J. Lyman (Roma, Lazio Italy)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful

I upgraded my G4 Powerbook to Panther about two weeks ago and so far everything's gone off without a hitch. But while this system continues the rock-solid stability I was accustomed to and there are dozens of improvements here as detailed by my fellow reviewers and in The Missing Manual (which I loved), I wonder if this update is a good value for money for those who were already using OS10.2 as I was.

It is a clear (even if incremental) improvement from OS 10.2, and at least one friend who is a Mac user told me that an upgrade to OS 10.3 from OS 10.2 eliminated what had been an annoying software conflict. But I think that anyone who is comfortable with OS 10.2 might be better off sticking with what they have and waiting for OS 10.4 or 10.5 before making the leap.

But for users still using OS10.1 or something older, I think this would be a great investment, adding stability (when I used it OS 10.1's stability was undermined by a lot of bugs that were worked out in the following generations), slick new features like Espose, and an interface that's easy on the eyes and more intuitive than previous versions.