OS X v10.2
AKA Jaguar

by Eden Maxwell

Page 5 of 7

Because Inkwell is fully integrated into the Mac OS X input system, you can write text in any Mac OS X application. To use Inkwell, you must have a Wacom input tablet. You can write anywhere on the screen and Inkwell translates the text you jot down on the tablet into “typed” text on the document you’re working. For artists and graphics professionals who spend much of their time using input tablets, inputting text can now become a natural extension of their current working environment—especially if they can’t type. If Inkwell doesn’t translate your writing correctly, you can adjust its recognition settings until it does. You can also use Inkwell in a graphics mode. I use my Wacom tablet every day and I don’t find it a stretch to use the keyboard for typing text. But, I suspect, Inkwell will have its day.

QuickTime 6. QuickTime is Apple’s software for creating, playing, and streaming high-quality audio and video. Since its release more than 10 years ago, QuickTime has achieved the leadership position in the industry. QuickTime is at the core of Mac OS X and key Apple applications such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, iTunes, iPhoto, and other software applications including: popular games, tools, and educational CD-ROMs. As of this writing, Apple released QuickTime 6.1.1 via the Software Update preference panel. According to the company, the update delivers important bug fixes to MPEG-4 streaming.

With QuickTime 6, Mac OS X v10.2 becomes the first operating system to support the next-generation MPEG-4 video standard and its “author once, play anywhere” capabilities. QuickTime 6 delivers scalable, high-quality video and audio for distribution to networks ranging from narrowband (cell phone networks and modem connections) all the way to broadband and broadcast.
The audio component of the MPEG-4 standard is Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). AAC provides wideband audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio. Full encode and decode of AAC audio is supported in QuickTime 6.

QuickTime 6 takes advantage of the over-buffering capabilities of QuickTime Streaming Server to reduce buffer time for broadband users. This means there is no waiting (most of the time) to begin watching a piece of streamed media or to jump to a different spot in a movie. Since the QuickTime 6 Player can be downloaded for free, including QuickTime 6 Pro, the media-authoring tool in Mac OS v10.2 would have made the OS X Jaguar upgrade cost feel like less of a production (a production?).

Universal Access. Millions of people who find it physically difficult to use computers will find that Jaguar has a full set of accessibility features. With the ability to magnify the screen to see it larger, have highlighted text read aloud and use special keyboard commands such as mouse keys, sticky keys and slow keys, Mac OS X v10.2 meets and exceeds the requirements of the U.S. government Section 508. These features not only benefit people with physical difficulties, it is good business sense for Apple sales to government institutions.

Quartz™ Extreme. The Quartz graphics engine made Mac OS X the first (and still the only) desktop operating system to deliver a composited windowing system. Quartz delivers on-the-fly rendering, compositing, and anti-aliasing of PostScript-grade graphics and text, providing Mac OS X with its unique translucence, drop shadows, animation effects, and interleaved windows. Quartz Extreme further accelerates the drawing of composited graphics by using the power of the Macintosh computer’s built-in graphics card much as a game might. Everything on the screen, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and video, comes through the Mac OS X OpenGL-based 3D graphics engine. The elements are all composited together in real time to deliver the unique user experience offered by Quartz. Jaguar users will enjoy fluid, full-frame-rate graphics even in highly composited scenes such as translucent 3D objects over full-motion DVD video.

Although my G3 doesn’t have the graphics card to take full advantage of Quartz Extreme technology, the translucence, drop shadows, and rendered text effects mentioned above are still superb when viewed on my Princeton 19-inch monitor.

Cross-platform Savvy

Windows compatibility. Mac does Windows seamlessly as it’s designed for cross-platform use, making sharing and transferring files between your Mac and Windows-based PCs a routine matter. A PPTP-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) client allows Mac users to connect remotely to Windows-managed secure networks

Macs and Windows PCs can now see each other on a network with no special software required. And this feature goes in both directions; Windows can see Mac files and vice versa. Mac OS X can also create a PDF version of any printable document. It also appends file extensions transparently, so you can name documents the way you want and still be fully compatible with Windows applications like Microsoft Office. Documents can now have names up to 255 characters long (31-character limit in OS 9), and the Finder will display long file names on two lines if needed. Still, I like to keep my file names as short and meaningful as possible.

Continued
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