Mac OS X v10.3
Encyclopedia
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

, Apple’s desktop and server operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

. It followed Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...

 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4). Apple released Panther on October 24, 2003.

System requirements

Since a New World ROM
New World ROM
New World ROM computers are Macintosh models that do not use a Macintosh Toolbox ROM on the logic board. Due to Mac OS X not requiring the availability of the Toolbox, this allowed ROM sizes to shrink dramatically , and facilitated the use of Flash memory for system firmware instead of the now more...

 is required for Mac OS X Panther, certain older computers (such as beige Power Mac G3s
Power Macintosh G3
The Power Macintosh G3, commonly called "beige G3s" or "platinum G3s" for the color of their cases, was a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from November 1997 to January 1999...

 and “Wall Street” PowerBook G3s) are unable to run Panther by default. Third-party software (such as XPostFacto
XPostFacto
XPostFacto is an open source utility that enables the installation of PowerPC versions of Mac OS X up to Mac OS 10.4 , and Darwin on some PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh systems that are not officially supported for them by Apple....

) can, however, override checks made during the install process; otherwise, installation or upgrades from Jaguar
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...

 will fail on these older machines.

The system requirements are:
  • PowerPC G3
    PowerPC G3
    The PowerPC 7xx is a family of third generation 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors designed and manufactured by IBM and Motorola . This family is called the PowerPC G3 by its well-known customer Apple Computer...

    , G4
    PowerPC G4
    PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors. Apple has applied this name to various processor models from Freescale, a former part of Motorola....

    , or G5 processor (at least 233 MHz)
  • Built-in USB (indicative of a New World ROM
    New World ROM
    New World ROM computers are Macintosh models that do not use a Macintosh Toolbox ROM on the logic board. Due to Mac OS X not requiring the availability of the Toolbox, this allowed ROM sizes to shrink dramatically , and facilitated the use of Flash memory for system firmware instead of the now more...

     being present)
  • At least 128 MB
    Megabyte
    The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

     of RAM
    Ram
    -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

     (512 MB recommended, 96 MB supported unofficially)
  • At least 1.5 GB
    Gigabyte
    The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...

     of available hard disk space
  • CD drive
  • Internet access requires a compatible service provider; iDisk requires a .Mac account (now MobileMe
    MobileMe
    MobileMe was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for users of Mac OS 9, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription...

    )

Video conferencing requires:
  • 333 MHz or faster PowerPC G3
    PowerPC G3
    The PowerPC 7xx is a family of third generation 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors designed and manufactured by IBM and Motorola . This family is called the PowerPC G3 by its well-known customer Apple Computer...

    , G4
    PowerPC G4
    PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors. Apple has applied this name to various processor models from Freescale, a former part of Motorola....

    , or G5 processor
  • Broadband Internet access (100 kbit/s or faster)
  • Compatible FireWire DV
    DV
    DV is a format for the digital recording and playing back of digital video. The DV codec was launched in 1995 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camcorders....

     camera or web camera


Panther still supported the Classic environment fully for running older Mac OS 9 applications.

End-user features

Apple advertised that Mac OS X Panther had 150+ new features, including:
  • Finder
    Macintosh Finder
    The Finder is the default file manager used on Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications...

    —Updated with a brushed-metal interface, a new live search engine, customizable Sidebar, secure deletion, File label
    File label
    Labels in Mac OS are a type of seven distinct, colored parameters of metadata that can be attributed to files, folders and disks in the operating system. The labels were introduced in System 7 and were kept until the release of Mac OS 9...

    s and Zip
    ZIP (file format)
    Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...

     support
    built in. The Finder icon was also changed.
  • Fast User Switching
    Fast user switching
    Fast user switching is a feature on some modern multi-user operating systems such as Windows XP and newer, Mac OS X, Linux. It allows users to switch between user accounts on a single PC without quitting applications and logging out. Analogous functionality was first developed on consumer level...

    —Allows a user to remain logged in while another user logs in
  • Exposé
    Exposé (Mac OS X)
    Exposé is a feature of the Mac OS X operating system. First previewed on 23 June 2003 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a feature of the then forthcoming Mac OS X v10.3, Exposé allows a user to quickly locate an open window, or to hide all windows and show the desktop without the need...

    —Helps the user manage windows by showing them all as thumbnails.
  • TextEdit
    TextEdit
    TextEdit is a simple, open source word processor and text editor, first featured in NeXT's NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. It is now distributed with Mac OS X since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep application for other Unix-compatible operating systems such as Linux...

    – TextEdit now is also compatible with Microsoft Word
    Microsoft Word
    Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...

     (.doc) documents.
  • Xcode
    Xcode
    Xcode is a suite of tools, developed by Apple, for developing software for Mac OS X and iOS. Xcode 4.2, the latest major version, is available on the Mac App Store for free for Mac OS X 10.7 , and on the Apple Developer Connection website for free to registered developers Xcode is a suite of tools,...

     developer tools
    —Faster compile
    Compiler
    A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...

     times with gcc
    GNU Compiler Collection
    The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...

     3.3.
  • Preview—Increased speed with PDF
    Portable Document Format
    Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....

     rendering
  • QuickTime
    QuickTime
    QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...

    —Now supports the Pixlet
    Pixlet
    Pixlet is a video codec created by Apple and based on wavelets, designed to enable viewing of full resolution, HD movies in real time at low DV data rates. According to Apple's claims, it allows for a 20-25:1 compression ratio. Similar to DV, it does not use interframe compression, making it...

     high definition video codec
    Video codec
    A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression. Historically, video was stored as an analog signal on magnetic tape...


New applications in Panther

  • Font Book
    Font Book
    Apple's Font Book is a font manager that comes with Mac OS X since version 10.3 .The program enables users to:* Preview and install font files, avoiding multiple instances of the same font....

    —Font Book, Apple's font manager, simplifies viewing character maps and installing fonts. It also allows the user to sort fonts into categories.
  • FileVault
    FileVault
    FileVault is a system which encrypts files on a Macintosh computer. It can be found in the Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" operating system and later....

    —On the fly encryption
    Encryption
    In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...

     and decryption of a user’s home folder
  • iChat AV—The new version of iChat. Now with built-in Audio- and video-conferencing.
  • X11
    X11.app
    XQuartz is Apple Inc.'s version of the X server, a component of the X Window System, for Mac OS X. The current version of XQuartz is a DDX included in the X.Org Server and implements support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics , hardware OpenGL acceleration and integration with Aqua, the Mac OS...

    —X11 is built into Panther
  • Safari
    Safari (web browser)
    Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...

    —New browser made to replace Internet Explorer for Mac
    Internet Explorer for Mac
    Internet Explorer for Mac was a proprietary web browser developed by Microsoft for the Macintosh platform. Initial versions were developed from the same code base as Internet Explorer for Windows...

    , developed when the contract between Apple and Microsoft
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

     ended. Internet Explorer for Mac was still available but not supported by Microsoft or Apple. Safari 1.0 was included in an update in Jaguar but was used as the default browser in Panther.

Other

  • Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows
    Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

     interoperability improvements
    , including support for SecurID
    SecurID
    SecurID, now known as RSA SecurID, is a mechanism developed by Security Dynamics for performing two-factor authentication for a user to a network resource.- Description :...

    -based VPNs.
  • Fax
    Fax
    Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...

     support
    built-in.

Release history

Version Build Date OS name
Uname
uname is a software program in Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems that prints the name, version and other details about the current machine and the operating system running on it...

Notes
10.3 7B85 October 24, 2003 Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....

7.0
Original retail release set
7B86 Server Edition
10.3.1 7C107 November 10, 2003 Darwin 7.1 Mac OS X Update 10.3.1: Information and Download
10.3.2 7D24 December 17, 2003 Darwin 7.2 Mac OS X: About the Mac OS X 10.3.2 Update
7F28 Updated retail release
10.3.3 7F44 March 15, 2004 Darwin 7.3 Mac OS X: About the Mac OS X 10.3.3 Update (Combo)
10.3.4 7H63 May 26, 2004 Darwin 7.4 About the Mac OS X 10.3.4 Update
10.3.5 7M34 August 9, 2004 Darwin 7.5 About the Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update (Delta); Updated retail release set
10.3.6 7R28 November 5, 2004 Darwin 7.6 About the Mac OS X 10.3.6 Update (Delta)
10.3.7 7S215 December 15, 2004 Darwin 7.7 About the Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update (Delta)
10.3.8 7U16 February 9, 2005 Darwin 7.8 About the Mac OS X 10.3.8 Update (Delta)
10.3.9 7W98 April 15, 2005 Darwin 7.9 About the Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update (Delta)
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