OS X Tiger?

[iZero]

hmm i think i will go and buy it, considering i got panther as a gift.

 

[mindbend]

I don't know when it was, but within the last few years, a growing number of Apple users suddenly became a bunch of cheapasses.

Since when is $130 once a year (at best) such a big deal?

I was a poor student once too. It meant I had to wait longer to upgrade. That's life.

None of these upgrades are mandatory. If it has features you need and want, they should be worth paying for.

 

[bobbo]

i got os x for my imac G3 when it first came out. Then, Jaguar was released a few months later. I was annoyed but thought it would be ok to still run 10.1. However then when all of Apple's software and plugins would only run on 10.2 Jaguar I felt cheated almost. I ended up getting 10.2, and now 10.3. I just received an iBook G4 and I know I'll soon be finding myself needing to get Tiger. I'm glad I have a University connection so I can get it for $50.

 

[bobbo]

and also, it's for me not so much about getting the new features, but that I got this after i knew tiger would be released, and it will be out within a few months, and apple will make me pay. It's kind of like with iLife. Updates that used to be free, as a way of Apple saying, "thanks" for being customers and acknowledging that you already bought a software, are now being charged for. Even though I had an iMac G3 and so would only be able to use iMovie/Photo.

And if anyone is going to point out that i should have waited to get this iBook, I got a large chunk of it as a gift, I had been planning to get it myself once Tiger was released.

 

[Anim8r]

I would suggest everyone use the pro edition since home is a feeble, hobbled OS.
My wife's machine runs home... it has the most problems of any of the machines in our house (8 at the moment, and that includes an old OS9 iMac), from networking to app starting up to restarts to just up and quitting stuff for no reason.

I am going to upgrade her to pro when I get the chance, but she has already said her next personal machine will be a Mac. Sigh... I love my wife!

OH! And when I bought XP Pro from Circuit City a while back I bought the full version (DUH!), and it was $299 retail. I know, I know... but I really needed it fast.

Just another clarification:
Windows XP UPGRADE can be found for $90 dollars on Amazon. First we started at 400, then 199. So it could actually be said thta it is cheaper, as they offer an upgrade. The full version is 199. That is for the Home Edition and not the pro, but for most people there is no need for the pro edition. Im not saying that it is better because of that, it certainly isnt.

First of all, I agree that apple does seem to release OS's much faster than Microsoft. That is usually a great thing because we are constantly getting new features, and only need to pay for the upgrade if we need it.

But I have also noticed many software programs that only support panther for some feature or another etc. I think apple needs to do a better job of making sure that they dont leave people in the dust or force them to pay for an upgrade. All new programs should at least support panther, and tiger should be an extra.

In the end we all just need to realize that Apple is a computer company, and as all companies do, they are going to try to make money. If you need to upgrade because some key feature of your OS now wont work then you'll have to upgrade. Thats how it goes in the computer business.

 

[nmm88]

Okay, but to be fair:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade
Date first available at Amazon: August 24, 2001

What did it cost on August 24, 2001? And why haven't they updated it in the last 3 years?

Ya, im sure it cost a lot more back then. Point Taken. I was just stating that now you can get XP for 90, and not 400 as was stated. However, you can also find Jaguar for around 30 bucks on eBay. We need to be careful in not using false figures to promote OS X, its got enough power and innovation to promote itself.

I would suggest everyone use the pro edition since home is a feeble, hobbled OS.

Home may not have as many features as Pro, but it is not feeble or hobbled. In my experience with both, they do not have any noticable difference. Of course hardware is probably the main factor

 

[nojay]

i got os x for my imac G3 when it first came out. Then, Jaguar was released a few months later. I was annoyed but thought it would be ok to still run 10.1. However then when all of Apple's software and plugins would only run on 10.2 Jaguar I felt cheated almost. I ended up getting 10.2, and now 10.3. I just received an iBook G4 and I know I'll soon be finding myself needing to get Tiger. I'm glad I have a University connection so I can get it for $50.

I don't claim to be a historian on all things Apple, but it should be understood that OS X represented a completely revolutionary rebuild of the Mac OS. It was 4+ years in the making. Version 10.0 really amounted to a public beta of OS X. And version 10.1 was a free upgrade, but not with the polish of Jag and Panther (which you had to pay for). The above scenario was really the only really unfortunate one I see -- getting the somewhat flaky Cheetah at the end of the product cycle and having to pay to upgrade.

OS X is now a mature product. Software Updates allow us to continually compute on a stable and secure platform. If Tiger has any benefits for those of you out there, then so be it -- shell out the funds to get the latest and greatest. My iMac came preloaded with 10.2, but with installation discs for 10.3 in the box. I would probably have paid (using a teacher's discount -- I am a college faculty) for 10.3 had it not been included, for the improved Windows networking on my home LAN. I might find that Tiger has no additional benefit for me and I'll happily stick with Panther. Like other posters on this thread, I may not "need" to upgrade.

I can't imagine 10.2 - 10.3 becoming obsolete or nonsupported in the near future because they really are so fully developed.

 

[guilly]

i got os x for my imac G3 when it first came out. Then, Jaguar was released a few months later. I was annoyed but thought it would be ok to still run 10.1. However then when all of Apple's software and plugins would only run on 10.2 Jaguar I felt cheated almost. I ended up getting 10.2, and now 10.3. I just received an iBook G4 and I know I'll soon be finding myself needing to get Tiger. I'm glad I have a University connection so I can get it for $50.

This is the sort of thing I'm referring to. It is not a matter of being poor or rich (at the beginning of this thread which I opened, I clearly stated that my economy is "healthy" (wealthy)).

It is a matter of feeling cheated.

When I bought my iBook, 2-3 months later came Jaguar with no update price whatsoever. And not much later came all those updates which demanded Jaguar.

Now I just bought my PowerBook G4 with Panther, and I'm pretty sure Apple will do it again. Bets are opened?

 

[guilly]

I can't imagine 10.2 - 10.3 becoming obsolete or nonsupported in the near future because they really are so fully developed.

I really really hope you are right. However 10.2 should have been a free upgrade if 10.1 was considered a pre-release or something similar.

I can't help feeling distrustful towards Apple software policy. Their software are of the best quality, but somehow I feel like if they were radically profiting from Mac users fidelity.

 

[soulseek]

first of all, noone knows anythin bout Tiger.

apple is doin a great job at keepin EVERYTHIN and everyone silent!!!

the rumour sites dont get anythin right.

any speculation that comes out to be true, is made 1 or 2 days before the anouncement of the product.

so.. NO .. nobody knows anythin bout tiger...


what i have said before and insist on it is OSX upgrades.(meanin price)
ive upgraded to Jaguar and Panther, and will immediately upgrade to Tiger.
but havin paid that much money,it would be nice to get a discount for my next upgrade!!!

id also like to mention bout OS support.
some ppl get worried that apple will stop supportin their OS just because theres a new one out. thats wrong. since jaguar apple , with every update is supporting jaguar! for example if theres a security update, its also made available for jaguar.

on the other hand, new features are not available for older systems for 2 mutual reasons; the OS does not have the technology to support new features and at the same time Apple wants u to upgrade to the newer OS, easier for them and more money for them....

but ppl dont worry, ur older OS wont be abandoned,it just wont get newer features!

 

[nmm88]

I really really hope you are right. However 10.2 should have been a free upgrade if 10.1 was considered a pre-release or something similar.

I can't help feeling distrustful towards Apple software policy. Their software are of the best quality, but somehow I feel like if they were radically profiting from Mac users fidelity.

No, 10.0 was considered a pre release. 10.1 was closer to being finished and came out later and was offered for free. The reason many things were unsupported with 10.1 and before was because they were still rough around the edges. 10.2 is kind of considered the finished product of OS X. I dont know too many apps that dont support 10.2, so i doubt apple will make it so with the 10.3 to 10.4 switch.

 

[ged3000]

I really really hope you are right. However 10.2 should have been a free upgrade if 10.1 was considered a pre-release or something similar.

We bought our iMac a coupla months before X.2 was released and came with X.1 installed on it.

When X.2 was released, Apple did an amnesty for people who had bought hardware recently, and sent out x.2 upgrade disks to them, if they claimed it by sticking their firmware number and date of purchase into a form on their webpage.

I dont know if they did this for X.3, or if theyll do it for X.4, (we havnt bought any hardware in a coupla years, and were still running X.2.8) but this kind of action shows loyalty to recent buyers of hardware...

We just scraped into the deal though...

 

[ex2bot]

Incidentally, Apple recently stated publicly that they wouldn't be able to keep up with making new OS X versions every year for much longer.

Doug

 

[guilly]

We bought our iMac a coupla months before X.2 was released and came with X.1 installed on it.

When X.2 was released, Apple did an amnesty for people who had bought hardware recently, and sent out x.2 upgrade disks to them, if they claimed it by sticking their firmware number and date of purchase into a form on their webpage.

I dont know if they did this for X.3, or if theyll do it for X.4, (we havnt bought any hardware in a coupla years, and were still running X.2.8) but this kind of action shows loyalty to recent buyers of hardware...

We just scraped into the deal though...

You are right. That action shows an equal loyalty of Apple towards its faithful customers.

 

[guilly]

Incidentally, Apple recently stated publicly that they wouldn't be able to keep up with making new OS X versions every year for much longer.

Doug

Obviously, OS X seems to be becoming more and more a very round product. There's little they will be able to add in a not very far away future - but however that depends on how hardware evolves and people demands turn to.

For example, Windows 98SE/Me is the top of the MS-DOS system. By the time of MS-DOS 5 with Windows 3.1 it was difficult - at least for us "users" to see any further evolution since multimedia didn't really exist (CD-ROM drives were prohibitive and sound cards were uncommon). This two pieces of hardware - the CD-ROM and SoundCard - added a more processing speed let the SO evolve into a 32 bits architecture focused towards multimedia (Windows 95). A new market demand had been created and it was being fulfilled by making the OS evolve.

A more recent example is the appearance of Wireless technologies, such as 802.11/Airport and Bluetooth - the appearance of the USB ports and for the first time REAL plug-n-play devices. All that has made the OS supporting to evolve towards those new additions.

Mac OS has been adding features very much according to hardware evolution - iPhoto due to the appearance and success of digital cameras, iMovie due to the success of digital DV camcorders, built-in bluetooth support (at the time they supressed the IrDA support), and a very very large etcetera.

What could happen - which happened with the jump from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X - is that Apple one day will decide to rewrite its whole operating system again. That is something Microsoft will never do. Microsoft released Windows XP as a new thingy, but we all know it is a low-end Windows NT with a more fashinable interface.

That will happen the day the code of OS X has become to cryptic to be improved and/or re-worked (yes, that is exactly what happens nowadays to Mozilla and why they are pre-releasing Firefox).

 

[Chazam]

Apple are only cashing in on the same people who:
Buy the latest Football top (or soccer to you americans )
Get rid of their old mobile for the latest new functional one (I think Nokia have about a 6 month refresh rate of new products)
Buy the latest clothes. (One that my wife likes to do)
Companies are doing this all the time. I went from Windows 2000 Pro to XP home when it was released and used about 0% of it's new functionalaty if any (I even went to windows classic mode due to the fisher price look!)

You're saying about new software not working on older versions but you should also appreciate developers using the newer features of the OS! I can imagine it is annoying buying a new OS after seemingly buying an older version but you'll have to control your urges to buy the latest products and use what works!
If panther becomes useless and doesn't run anything that you need then get the update!

 

[fryke]

Feel 'cheated' by Apple's upgrade policy? That's really _your_ fault. Apple hasn't promised anything different from what they're doing. And: After Tiger we'll see slower development, as has been said by Apple. And: You never _have_ to upgrade. And of course you PAY if you DO.

 

[karavite]

I just wonder how many big cat names are left after Tiger - seems the Tiger is the true King of the Jungle!!! Bobcat, Lynx... they just don't do it for me!

Seriously, I am an upgrade junky and though I know I often don't really need every feature in every upgrade, it is a lot of fun since I work in usability and UI design. Expose itself was worth the entire 10.3 upgrade for me - it has changed the entire way I work on my computer and I love it. Perhaps if Apple had more visually recognized changes in all updates it would make more people happy and/or excited about paying for them? Also, it is business. Apple is in business to sell things and the value of an upgrade is up to each person. Like many said here, you don't really need every upgrade.

 

[fryke]

Afaik people _ARE_ very excited about those upgrades. And even more so here on macosx.com, where we read/write about those exciting new builds of Mac OS X all of the time.

However: This of course _creates_ upgrade envy. And while people eagerly anticipate this insanely great new operating system (year after year so far), they WANT to have it. And then notice that they can either buy the upgrade for 129$, buy a new machine soon (which has it already) or stay with that dusty old operating system they almost forgot about in the beta-times but still are using...

I don't think Apple should add more visually recognisable changes. That'd alienate customers, too. And: We all know about those changes well before the OS is actually released to the public, so actually buying it doesn't really unveil so much 'new' stuff.

 

[ged3000]

I just wonder how many big cat names are left after Tiger - seems the Tiger is the true King of the Jungle!!! Bobcat, Lynx... they just don't do it for me!

Maybe Apple are slowing down the rate of OS dexelopment while they try to find more big cat names...