Friday, April 29, 2005
Geek Event of the Day: Apple Mac OS X "Tiger" Release
Today was April 29, and that meant that it was time to escort/drag my fiancée, still hobbled by a terrible sunburn from our vacation, across the city to the Nagoya Apple Store. Today, Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" was released.
Many of you probably woke up this morning thinking that you would have no trouble making it through the day without dropping $150 on an operating-system upgrade. So did I. The difference is that by noon (i.e., minutes after I woke up), I was feeling the itch.
It's the same itch you get when you haven't locked each deadbolt twice, or you forgot to Purell after touching the elevator buttons, or you think you left that corner of the envelope unlicked and would really appreciate it if the post office would just give it back and let you take another pass. Right, you know the one.
I get the itch when I'm a version number behind, too, especially for something like Tiger, which offers 200-plus new features over predecessor "Jaguar." (My girl suggested that the next one be called "Tabby." I almost didn't let her come along after that.) Under no circumstances could I live without:
Character Search — Easily find any glyph by typing its Unicode name or Unicode ID.
About This Mac — View the name of the startup disk in the enhanced About This Mac menu. Great if you have multi-drive setups.
Korn Shell — Run scripts written for Sun Solaris more easily via AT&T's ksh.
With only a 30-minute subway ride between me and a Korn Shell, the decision was easy.
The Apple Store attempted to create a "party" atmosphere by hiring a DJ and cranking the techno beats up to 11 on enormous speakers. It was a nice sentiment, but given the clientele—sweaty Japanese nerds—the effect was less than convincing.
We were greeted at the entrance by two young Apple reps handing out small black cards. The customer before us swatted away the cards, but when I approached, I saw that they were scratch-off dealies offering the chance to win a new PowerBook. I eagerly snapped mine up.
I already have a PowerBook and don't need an upgrade (the itch is easier to ignore when the scratch costs $2,500+), but I desperately wanted the satisfaction of finding that the self-important jerk swatted himself out of a new computer. Instead, I won a keychain with a little light, touting "Spotlight," Tiger's new search feature.
It's hard to get schadenfreude from a keychain.
Congratulations to the Apple Mac OS X "Tiger" Release. You are the Geek Event of the Day.
P.S. I've got the software home now, so you're reading the first Tiger-riffic post. My review: looks pretty, runs fast, but formerly-great Mail is hideous.
