New York Times Heaps Praise On Panther

T he New York Timesi David Pogue has penned a preview of Panther that heaps praise on the new OS. Panther will be released Friday night during one of Appleis in-store product release events. Mr. Pogue kicks off his piece with a jab at Microsoftis ongoing Windows security problems, and contrasting that with Pantheris FileVault security system that keeps prying eyes out of your files. From the article:

This is a big week for Apple. Last week the company unveiled the Windows version of its popular, free iTunes music-downloading software - and tomorrow, it will release Mac OS X version 10.3 ( or Panther), the next edition of Appleis three-year-old operating system.

That decimal-point increase (from version 10.2 to 10.3) doesnit give the upgradeis 150 new features enough credit. Then again, Appleis not the only company to have trouble with naming schemes. Whatis the logic in the sequence of Windows versions - 95, 98, Me, XP?

In any case, Apple has lost no time in exploiting the publicis fears of computer insecurity. For example, a new feature called FileVault can encrypt your entire "Home folder" - files, Web bookmarks, e-mail and all - and then decode them automatically and invisibly when you log in. If, say, your laptop is stolen, your sensitive stuff is secure and safe. (FileVault uses an encoding scheme so thorough, Apple says, that a password-guessing computer would need 149 trillion years to break it. Just enough time for Apple to reach Mac OS X 11.)

The article continues with a closer look at many of Pantheris other major features. The piece also includes a mild bit of criticism for Appleis lack of upgrade pricing for Panther, the only real negative comment in the whole piece. From the Times:

Now the big one: Apple wants $130 for Panther. Thatis a fine how-de-do for everyone who dutifully paid $130 last year for version 10.2 and $130 a year before that for version 10.1. Microsoft, at least, has the decency to wait a few years between upgrades. (You can also get Panther free with a new Mac, for $100 after rebate from MacConnection.com or as part of a $200 family five-pack.)

Thereis much more in the two-page article in the New York Times, and we recommend it as a very good read.