October 25, 2003: Mac OS X Panther arrives on Macintosh computer systems, bringing a number of helpful new options and making Safari Apple’s default net browser for the primary time.
The brand new Exposé characteristic in OS X Panther lets Mac customers immediately view all open home windows directly. And the brand new iChat AV permits folks to speak with audio and video in addition to textual content.
Mac OS X Panther: A minor enchancment
“Panther units the brand new gold customary for working methods,” mentioned Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a press launch saying Mac OS X model 10.3 earlier within the month. “With greater than 150 new options, we’re delivering improvements as we speak that won’t be seen in every other working system for years to return.”
Panther, which adopted Mac OS X Jaguar (and preceded Mac OS X Tiger), wasn’t fairly the key “should have” replace that Jaguar had been. However I definitely discovered Panther to be superb, notably with the addition of Exposé. (Exposé, Dashboard and Areas all obtained rolled into Mission Management in 2011’s Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.) Larger Home windows compatibility additionally made it simpler than ever to work between Macs and PCs.
So far as Safari went, Apple beforehand included the browser as an replace for Jaguar. Nevertheless, Panther marked the primary time Safari arrived because the default possibility on a brand new OS.
Why did it take so lengthy for Apple to default to its personal net browser? When Microsoft bailed out Cupertino in 1997, the deal mandated that Apple help Web Explorer for 5 years. That interval elapsed by the point Panther shipped.
Mac OS X Panther brings new Finder
Panther (aka Mac OS X model 10.3) additionally introduced a revamped Finder — full with a brushed-metal look — that included a sidebar to make it simpler to entry disk drives and networks.
Different smaller, however nonetheless vital, upgrades included the arrival of FileVault, which allowed customers to encrypt onerous drive information with 128-bit keys. The brand new OS additionally provided Xcode for builders and a simplified option to handle system fonts.
OS X Panther got here with a price ticket of $129. (Prospects who purchased a brand new Mac within the prior two weeks obtained the improve totally free.)
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