Apple Mac OS X 10.4 Oregon

Now that Apple's Tiger--Mac OS X 10.4--has pounced, there is one question on everyone's mind: Is this latest release of Mac OS X worth 129 bucks? The answer is yes. The improvements are not just cosmetic, as Mac skeptics are likely to snicker. Rather, new features such as Tiger's desktop search tool are powerful enough to change the way you use your Mac.

According to Apple, Tiger should work on any G3, G4, and G5 Mac with a built-in FireWire port. The installer comes on a DVD (although Apple will let you swap for a set of CDs). I installed a shipping version of the OS and found the upgrade to be quite easy, taking about an hour on both an aging 867-MHz, 12-inch PowerBook and a newer 1.67-GHz PowerBook.

The breakthrough feature in OS X version 10.4--the reason to get Tiger at all--is Spotlight. This whip-smart desktop search tool rummages through your files, folders, e-mail, and certain applications, and then displays results neatly by category.

Just like the search box in previous versions of the OS, Spotlight's search window dresses the top-right corner of any Finder window. Alternatively, pressing Command-Space summons a search field that drops down from the upper-right menu bar. The first time you use Spotlight, your Mac needs 15 to 30 minutes to index its contents. After that, the OS constantly indexes files in the background. As you would in the ITunes search window, keep typing to constantly refine your search results on the fly.

Spotlight is fast, and its searches can run deep, making it superior to previous Finder-based searches and Windows searches. Spotlight can search by the usual criteria (file name, kind, keywords) but also by a dizzying variety of deeper parameters such as audio bit-rate, codecs, color label, photo aperture, and type of encryption. It searches through files and folders, all Apple applications, and major third-party applications like Microsoft Word and Excel. Spotlight does not search through Microsoft Entourage, however, which is a bummer since not everyone uses Apple Mail.

Using my 867-MHz PowerBook, I performed a generic search for the term "PC World," which quickly produced a results list of just about every related e-mail, document, and graphic containing those words. I was even able to save my Spotlight search as a Smart Folder that continually updates and adds further PC World-related files. That means you can create a Smart Folder for each project you're working on, though you might also lose all incentive to organize your hard drive.

Spotlight might be Tiger's biggest new feature, but you're likely to find plenty of other additions useful. I liked Apple's new Dashboard Widgets, which are attractive mini-applications that aggregate information like stock prices, weather reports, and flight times. Widgets themselves are not new. Mac enthusiasts have long been playing around with Pixoria's Konfabulator widgets, which Apple says are distinct from its own widgets.

I found Dashboard Widgets to be attractive and useful, although you can't work on your machine while a widget is active. Some widgets also occupy a lot of screen real estate. Four or five on a 12-inch PowerBook obscures what's behind them.

Apple improves the Mac's instant messaging chops with IChat AV. The app now supports the Jabber chat protocol and lets you conduct 10-way audio chats and slick-looking four-way video chats, although hardware requirements limit the number of people who can take advantage of this feature. For instance, you need at least a dual 1-GHz Power Mac G4 or G5 and a 384-kbps Internet connection to initiate a four-way video chat. You also need an Apple ISight or a FireWire-connected DV camcorder--IChat did not recognize my Logitech QuickCam Zoom.

Fans of Really Simple Syndication will also enjoy Apple's update to the Safari Web browser, which now supports RSS feeds for reading blogs and news feeds. Apple includes links to about 25 news sources, but it's easy to add your own (I quickly added PCWorld.com's RSS feeds) and to create a page that aggregates your favorite news sources.