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When Apple Computer released Panther, its third upgrade to Mac OS X, in late 2003, huge crowds swarmed the company's dozens of retail stores, eager to be among the first to get their hands on the heavily anticipated software.
This Friday, Apple will unveil Tiger, the fourth OS X update, and if anything, it appears the Mac community is even more excited this time around. Apple has scheduled special launch events at its outlets -- though it won't say what surprises it has in store -- and in all probability, it will be a madhouse at many locations, with hundreds or even thousands of people lining up before the 6 p.m. unveiling.
To many people, Tiger is the most significant of the four OS X upgrades since the operating system was first released in 2000.
Simon Yang, a Los Angeles high school student and recent Mac convert, said he would "hang out with some friends in the afternoon, and then plan to arrive (at the Apple Store) around 5:30 or so. It's just being there, and being a part of the group. This was one of the reasons for me to switch: the sense of community among Mac users."
Most prominent among the 200 new features in Tiger are Spotlight, which lets users quickly search their entire computer for any kind of file related to a keyword, and Dashboard, a pop-up collection of reference tools, or widgets.
The new OS also gives Mail new muscle, brings RSS support to Safari and helps users automate complex work-flow tasks. And Tiger's server version has a built-in blogging engine, complete with templates, which could make it easy for enterprises to set up corporate blogs.
In the days and weeks leading up to Tiger's release, Mac-oriented forums have lit up with discussion about the new release. Some admit to "drooling" over Tiger, while others say they're taking a more cautious approach. Either way, people can't stop talking about Tiger, and Apple is taking the buzz to the bank.
"I think the buzz is created and perpetuated by people like me," said mechanical engineering student Mike Barca, "who think that their computing experience will be reformed by the new operating system." Barca volunteers tech support at MacOSX.com, a Mac support site.
Some are just anticipating Tiger because its collection of new features gives them the excuse they need to switch to the Mac platform after years on PCs.
"It is making me want to abandon my Linux ways and just get a Mac mini and/or a PowerBook to do my stuff," said Aaron Brashears, a San Francisco software engineer. "The excitement for me stems from the fact that I knew Tiger was coming and have promised myself I wouldn't buy a Mac before the OS upgrade was available."
Naturally, not everyone thinks Tiger is worth getting sweaty over. Some worry that the first iteration of Tiger will be unstable and could cause problems, while others think it isn't that substantial an upgrade.
"I feel that while there are some great improvements, it isn't great enough to warrant the ($129) cost to upgrade," said Mac user Seiji Ohashi. "The main consensus is that (only) two programs are the bulk of the upgrade: Spotlight and Dashboard."
One common sentiment among Mac users is that Tiger's release highlights what they call Apple's commitment to innovation, especially when compared to Microsoft, which hasn't had a major upgrade to Windows since 2001. The next iteration of Windows, code-named Longhorn, isn't expected until at least next year.
Tiger is "important in the fact that it accomplishes a lot of what Longhorn seems to be trying to do," said Stewart Graff, a 3-D modeler who uses Macs for work, "and it's getting out at least a year before."
Microsoft, of course, begs to differ. While the company won't talk at length about Longhorn's features, it says the Windows upgrade will give individual and enterprise users a wide range of technologies to make their computer experience more productive.
According to Greg Sullivan, lead product manager in Microsoft's Windows Client division, Longhorn will have several innovative new elements. Foremost among them is a desktop search and organization feature he said is more about managing data than Tiger's Spotlight.
He also said Longhorn will enable things like tablet PCs with auxiliary displays, complete with their own processors, which would be able to do simple tasks like e-mail or music playback without the computer even being turned on.
But given that Longhorn's desktop search is one of the most frequently mentioned upcoming features, Apple seems to have little to fear.
"I think when you position Tiger against Longhorn," said Chris Bourdon, Apple's senior product line manager for Mac OS X product marketing, "the huge difference is that Tiger is (about to be) available. You can get your hands on it."
