Get the scoop on Mac OS X 10.3, codenamed “Panther”
Today at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, Steve Jobs unveiled the next version of Mac OS X, codenamed Panther and scheduled to ship sometime before the end of 2003 for $130
Default Folder X & QuicKeys X: Upgrade Before Panther! St. Clair Software has published version 1.9.1 of their popular Open/Save dialog enhancement utility, Default Folder X
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther bounded out of its lair over the weekend, giving us the opportunity to start using the shipping version and see how it compares to what was promised by Apple at the Worldwide Developer Conference in June (see "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Springs at WWDC" in TidBITS-685)
Jeff Carlson has walked you through the marquee features of Apple's new Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, but my experience with the previous version, Jaguar, was that the changes that made the difference for me were more subtle
Security Update 2003-10-28 Released -- Although Mac OS X 10.3 Panther fixes a number of security-related flaws that existed in previous versions of Mac OS X, Apple has wasted no time in releasing Security Update 2003-10-28 via Software Update last week
When a new version of an operating system is released, we expect to run into bugs or incompatibilities that didn't get shaken out during the testing phase
WPA Weakness Discovered, but Easily Solved -- Following last week's article about the implementation of WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) in AirPort Extreme cards and base stations (see "AirPort 3.2 Update Adds New Security Options" in TidBITS-704), a security expert alerted me to a weakness in choosing keys for the WPA system
So you've installed Panther, started to get used to the new Finder, and worn the ink off the F9 key showing off Expose to your friends. Isn't there more to Mac OS X 10.3? In TidBITS-703, I looked at some of Panther's marquee features, while Adam poked around the corners of Apple's newest operating system (see "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Unleashed" and "Interesting Bits of Panther")
With Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Apple made sweeping changes to the operating system's language handling and internationalization features, which are key to the Mac's acceptance throughout much of the world and for many people who regularly work in multiple languages
We weren't the only ones in a mad rush toward the end of the year, and some of Apple's engineers probably enjoyed their holiday breaks more after shipping a variety of updates
We've been uniformly negative about FileVault, the new security feature that Apple added to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, but that doesn't mean we dislike the idea of protecting sensitive data
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.3.3 -- Just as we were about to go to press, Apple released the latest free update to Mac OS X 10.3. Version 10.3.3 offers a long list of enhancements (see Apple's Knowledge Base article), but one we're pleased to see is the inclusion of network-mounted volumes in the list of volumes shown in the sidebar of Finder windows and Open/Save dialogs
When Apple released Mac OS X 10.3 Panther last October, many people (though by no means all) had serious difficulties with their FireWire hard drives. Affected users found that, after restarting their computers under Panther with the drives connected, the drives become completely inaccessible - unable to mount on any operating system, and so badly damaged that even disk recovery applications could not retrieve their data.
Not long after the problem surfaced, Apple acknowledged an issue affecting FireWire 800 hard drives that use the Oxford 922 bridge chipset with firmware version 1.02 or earlier
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.3.4 Update -- Apple has released Mac OS X 10.3.4, a free update for owners of Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. (A similar update was also released for Mac OS X Server 10.3.) Apple says the update addresses issues in Mail, Safari, Address Book, Stickies, QuickTime Player, and DVD Player; and improves behavior with iPods connected via USB 2.0, mass storage devices, and video cameras connected to PowerBooks via FireWire
Quicken 2005 Released -- Intuit has released Quicken 2005, the latest version of its financial management application. The new version adds online support for more financial institutions, streamlines new account creation and category management, and ties into iPhoto to generate a visual home inventory