Posted on 07/01/2004 9:01:11 PM PDT by Swordmaker
The latest OS X update will have an innovative new search tool that prowls through your files -- and it hints of better things to come
Over the years, secretive Apple (AAPL ) CEO Steve Jobs has announced so many surprises during his keynote speeches at the semiannual Macworld confabs that it's a bit of a disappointment when he doesn't have some shocker. Yet, Jobs left everyone hungry for more after his talk at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 28.
No eye-catching update of the long-in-the-tooth iMac was unveiled, as many analysts hoped. Heck, after hearing a smattering of Beatles songs come over the intercom before Jobs took the stage, this reporter would have bet a day's wages that Paul or Ringo would show up to announce a settlement of Apple's trademark lawsuit with the Fab Four's Apple Corps record label.
"RAISES THE BAR." That wasn't to be. But this year's gathering in San Francisco still had a couple of technical splashes that could prove to be substantive innovations over the long term. Apple's stunning 30-inch flat-panel monitor was certainly impressive (if pricey, at $3,200). The real news, however, involved Tiger, the next release of Apple's three-year-old Mac OS X operating system.
As always, Apple showed the world how to make computers more usable and appealing. Tiger "certainly raises the bar," says Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenbeg. "It will definitely put pressure on Microsoft (MSFT ) to deliver something as functional and as visually appealing" when it releases its next version of Windows, dubbed Longhorn, in 2006 or 2007.
What's the big deal? Besides some under-the-hood improvements, including better graphics and video performance, Tiger has innovations that could change the way people interact with their computers. The most exciting is a new search capability, called Spotlight, for quickly finding and categorizing information on the hard drive.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
In that case Acrobat probably already ran OCR on the documents and stored the text in the PDF file with links to where the words show on the graphically-represented page (at least if you're set up right. Spotlight can just search that data.
As for getting a new iBook, I'm waiting to see if they can squeeze a G5 into a PowerBook in the next year or two (either to get a G5 or to take advantage of G4 closeout prices). Until then, I'm sticking with my current 2001 iBook.
You know, Woahhs, that if you had a Mac, you wouldn't have to take Bill Gates' eleven-finger touch-typing course.
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