PRESS RELEASE
October 8, 2003
Apple Announces Mac OS X “Panther”
Shipping October 24 With More Than 150 New Features
MARKHAM, Ontario—October 8, 2003—Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X version 10.3 “Panther,” the next major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, will be available on Friday, October 24. Panther delivers more than 150 breakthrough new features including a completely new Finder™ that provides one-click access to a user’s favorite files and folders; Exposé, a revolutionary new way to instantly see all open windows at once; and iChat AV, a complete desktop video conferencing solution for business, education and consumers.
“Panther sets the new gold standard for operating systems,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With more than 150 new features, we’re delivering innovations today that will not be seen in any other operating system for years to come.”
Panther features a completely redesigned Finder with lightning-fast file searching that is up to six times faster than Mac OS X version 10.2 “Jaguar.” The new Finder provides one-click access by putting a user’s favorite folders, storage, servers and iDisk in one convenient location. The new Finder also offers dynamic browsing of the network for Mac®, Windows and UNIX file servers.
Panther also introduces Exposé, a revolutionary new way to instantly view all open windows and choose any of them to be on top. Exposé visually unshuffles overlapping windows on the desktop into an organized thumbnail view so a user can instantly locate and switch to any open window or get to any file on the desktop. Powered by the Mac OS X Quartz™graphic engine, Exposé is a breakthrough in working with multiple files, applications and projects.
Panther extends instant messaging to the next level with iChat AV, the world’s easiest to use desktop video conferencing solution, offering full-screen, full-motion video over broadband, crystal-clear audio and a familiar easy-to-use interface. iChat makes natural conversations over the Internet immediate and effortless, and has been enjoyed by over half a million beta users since its introduction in June.
Other new features in Panther include:
- Fast User Switching to elegantly switch between active users without having to quit applications or log out;
- FileVault, which uses the latest security standards and 128-bit encryption technology to ensure that data in the home directory is kept secure and private at all times;
- Font Book, a new application that provides system-level font management with double-click font preview, one-click installation and an intuitive interface for managing font collections, and activating or deactivating fonts;
- the world’s fastest PDF reader in a significantly improved Preview application, with super-fast text searching that builds an instant index of search results in a PDF, text selection and copying, URL support and support for the PDF 1.4 format;
- a fully integrated iDisk that increases productivity by automatically syncing a user’s offline work to their .Mac Internet server storage once they’re online again, so users can work locally on files with hard drive speeds and have them synced automatically back to their iDisk later;
- enhanced Mail, with advanced spam filtering technology and the ability to organize mail into convenient threads to make it easy to read, file or delete related emails;
- a new Address Book that includes powerful new features for printing labels and easily notifying contacts when a user’s personal information changes;
- integrated faxing synced with the Address Book so sending and receiving faxes is as easy as printing, and includes support for adding cover pages;
- enhanced Windows compatibility that ensures files, printers and network services can easily be shared with Windows users. Support for Microsoft Exchange is built into Mail and Address Book to make it easy to access Exchange email and sync address book entries;
- advancements to the open-standard UNIX-based foundation, including support for the latest open source libraries, commands and technologies, X11 applications, IPv6, Kerberos integration and a greatly improved NFS file system;
- Xcode™, the fastest way to create Mac OS X applications. Xcode combines an easy-to-use interface with proven developer tools such as GCC 3.3 to make it easy for developers to take advantage of the latest technologies from Apple; and
- the latest versions of iSync, iCal™, iPhoto™, iMovie®, the iTunes® Music Store and Apple’s new default web browser, Safari™.
Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther” will be available on October 24 through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $179 (CDN) for a single user license. Visitors to The Apple Store® (102.p.syniva.es/canadastore) can pre-order copies of Panther beginning today. The Mac OS X Panther Family Pack is a single-residence, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $279 (CDN). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchase a new Mac system on or after October 8; all customers who purchased a Power Mac® G5 regardless of purchase date that do not have Panther included; and customers who purchase the Mac OS X version 10.2 “Jaguar” retail product on or after October 8 for a shipping and handling fee of $29 (CDN).
Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther” will be available on October 24 through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $179 (CDN) for a single user license. Visitors to The Apple Store® (102.p.syniva.es/canadastore) can pre-order copies of Panther beginning today. The Mac OS X Panther Family Pack is a single-residence, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $279 (CDN). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchase a new Mac system on or after October 8; all customers who purchased a Power Mac® G5 regardless of purchase date that do not have Panther included; and customers who purchase the Mac OS X version 10.2 “Jaguar” retail product on or after October 8 for a shipping and handling fee of $29 (CDN).
Panther requires a minimum of 128MB of memory and is designed to run on the following Apple products with built-in USB support: iMac,® iBook®, Power Macintosh® G3, Power Mac G4, Power Mac G4 Cube.
Apple Canada Inc. is headquartered in Markham, Ontario and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple Computer, Inc. Apple products are available at more than 450 Authorized Apple Canada Dealer locations across Canada.
- © 2003 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, Power Mac, Finder, Quartz, Xcode, iCal, iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, Safari, Apple Store, Mac and iBook are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.