Tiger Next Year. Why I’m Happy About That

First, even Apple has acknowledged that the pace of development of the heralded Mac OS will slow. It’s been a breakneck development pace for more than four years; each new release costs the user about $130 (less discounts). So far, the updates have arrived once per year, usually in the fall.

The current version of Mac OS X, Panther, arrived last fall. It contained over 150 new features. Expect that many more from Tiger when it’s released, “sometime in the first half of 2005.”

I’m still digesting Panther. And frankly, there’s plenty to digest. And Panther, now at version 10.3.4, is rock solid dependable. I have a laptop running Panther that hasn’t been shut down in nearly a year. There are two servers in my office that only get rebooted when there’s a security update (and Apple has one about every month; that’s a good thing).

So, why am I glad to see Tiger show up next year? Because a major introduction once per year is too much to digest, that’s why. It takes three or four updates after a major release to get stability back in to the system. If Apple introduced Tiger in, say, September or October, that means we’d have another new version available, and have to pony up another $130 or so. Or buy a new Mac and get it free.

Enough is enough.

Mac OSX is arguably as stable and dependable an OS as you can get; considering all the applications available, and the variety of hardware it runs on. A Mac OS has never been this good, had this many features, worked so well, or placed as much “joy” in daily use.

It just works.

Windows friends complain all the time about bugs, blue screen of death, viruses, worms, and on and on.

Most Mac users never have those issues to content with, so getting another new version to work on is a pleasure, not a pain.

Still, I’m glad to see that Tiger won’t be growling at my local Apple Store for a few more months, maybe nearly a year.

It’ll save me some money. It allows me to use what I’ve got for awhile (and what I’ve got is working very well, thank you very much).

They say “timing is everything” so it’s becoming obvious that Apple is “timing” the launch of Tiger for a variety of reasons. Not the least of the important reasons is that a major competitor on the desktop, Microsoft, won’t be releasing their next version of Windows (called “Longhorn” for some dimbassed reason) until sometime in 2006.

Besides, I’m due for a new Mac next spring (or right after MacWorld in January) and that’ll get me a new OS X, too.

Grrrrrrowwwwwl.