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OS X Panther Overview
By Steve Manke Panther will be shipping by this years end. For those loyal to OS X Jaguar, you maybe upset when you have to pay the $129 upgrade charge. For those who are still loyal to OS 9, youre about to be left in the dust. The new features that will premiere in Panther will make it impossible to resist the upgrade. Security: A new Secure Erase Trash function makes sure that your file is really gone when you empty the trash. Conventional computer systems leave the document on the hard drive even after the trash is emptied. Even in OS X 10.2, when you delete a file from your drive, it is simply removed from the discs directory. This means that the data is still resident until another file overwrites its position on the disk. Panther will delete the file from the directory and overwrite its previous position on the disk making it virtually impossible to recover. Automatic Sign-in has also been added. This means that, once you have logged into the OS, you will not have to enter your login to access file shares or email. Unless you have a different login to another system, you will never have to enter your password more than once. VPN support will finally be a part of the OS. It may not be essential to all of us, but it does strengthen Apples foothold on high security corporate networks. Virtual Private Networks allow home users to login to corporate networks through an encrypted pipeline potentially giving a home user a secure link to their company resources. VPN is also typically used to connect multiple branch offices over the Internet. Expose: Expose is a next generation file browser and window management feature built into the Mac OS. Using 3 function keys, F9, F10, and F11 a user can quickly and easily manipulate the open applications and their open windows. Expose utilizes Quartz for lightning fast screen manipulation. If your video card supports Quartz Extreme, Expose will likely change the way you use your Mac. iChat AV: If you have a 56K modem (or faster internet connection), you will be able to do real time, full duplex audio chat. If you have a broadband connection and a FireWire web cam, you get to play with the coolest toy video conferencing on the Mac. Who better to do it than Apple? And since Apple built the computer, and because Apple wrote the software, now Apple has built one of the coolest little web cams on the market! Apple calls their new camera iSight. It is a small but versatile camera that will run you $149. It comes with 3 different stands making it easy to mount just about anywhere. And, since FireWire powers it, the same plug that sends the audio/video to the computer also sends the power to the camera. Combine the camera with iChat AV, and you have a full-featured video conferencing software that requires no configuration. Just plug the camera in and click a Buddys name. If they have a camera set up on their system, you are set to videoconference. Font Book: Faxing: But, if you can print a document to PDF, shouldnt it be just as easy to print it to FAX? Once again, many third party companies have offered solutions for years. To be honest, I have tried most of them, and none have gotten it right. That is why Apple stepped in to add the feature to Panther. Now, any document you can print or save to PDF, can now be faxed right from the desktop. Multiple Users: We can expect to see Panther released by the end of this year. When it hits the shelves, it will definitely give OS X 10.2 users a reason to upgrade. Panther promises a host of powerful new features. Some features, like iChat AV should prove to be a lot of fun. Others promise to make our digital lifestyles easier to manage. In the end, a computer is supposed to be easy to use. With Apple and the Mac OS, we get unsurpassed ease of use and still have fun along the way! |