Mac OS X v10.4
Encyclopedia
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth 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...

 for Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

 computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther (version 10.3), which had been released 18 months earlier. Tiger was succeeded by Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard on 26 October 2007, after 30 months, making Tiger the longest running version of Mac OS X. Some of the new features include a fast searching system called Spotlight
Spotlight (software)
Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer,...

, a new version of the 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...

 web browser, Dashboard, a new 'Unified' theme, and improved support for 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...

 addressing on Power Mac G5
Power Mac G5
The Power Mac G5 is Apple's marketing name for models of the Power Macintosh that contains the IBM PowerPC G5 CPU. The professional-grade computer was the most powerful in Apple's lineup when it was introduced, widely hailed as the first 64-bit PC, and was touted by Apple as the fastest personal...

s.

Tiger was included with all new Macintosh computers, and was also available as an upgrade for existing Mac OS X users, or users of supported pre-Mac OS X systems. The server edition, Mac OS X Server 10.4, was also available for some Macintosh product lines. Tiger is also the first version of any released Apple operating system to work on Apple–Intel architecture machines (Apple machines using x86 processors). The Apple TV, as released in March 2007, ships with a customized version of Mac OS X Tiger branded "Apple TV OS" that replaces the usual graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

 with an updated version of Front Row.

Six weeks after its official release, Apple had delivered 2 million copies of Tiger, representing 16 % of all Mac OS X users. Apple claimed that Tiger was the most successful Apple OS release in the company's history. At the World Wide Developers Conference on June 11, 2007, Apple's previous CEO Steve Jobs announced that out of the 22 million Mac OS X users, more than 67 % were using Tiger. Tiger is the last version of Mac OS X to support a Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

 compatibility layer called Classic Environment. However, Classic Environment will not work on Intel Macs.

The last security update released for Tiger users was the 2009-005 update. The next security update, 2009-006 only included support for Leopard and Snow Leopard. The latest version of QuickTime is 7.6.4. The last version of iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 that can run on Tiger is 9.2.1, because 10.0 only supports Mac OS X Leopard and later. Safari 4.1.3 is the final version for Tiger as of 18 November 2010.

System requirements

Tiger was initially available in a PowerPC edition, with an Intel edition released beginning at 10.4.4. There is no universal version of the client operating system, although Tiger Server was made available on a universal DVD from version 10.4.7. While Apple shipped the PowerPC edition bundled with PowerPC-based Macs and also sold it as a separate retail box, the only way to get the Intel version was bundled with an Intel-based Mac. However, it was possible to buy the "restore" DVDs containing the Intel version through unofficial channels such as eBay, and officially through Apple if you could provide proof of purchase of the appropriate Intel Mac. These grey coloured "restore" DVDs supplied with new Macs, are designed to only restore on the model of Mac that they are intended for. The retail PPC only DVD can be used on any PPC based Mac supported by Tiger.

The system requirements of the PowerPC edition are:
  • A 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 running at 300 MHz or faster
  • Built-in FireWire
  • At least 256 MB of RAM, 128 MB can run it unofficially though (512 MB or 1 GB recommended)
  • At least 3 GB of available hard disk space; 4 GB of disk space including the 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,...

     2 Tools, 2 GB for the minimal install
  • DVD-ROM drive (CD-ROM exchange was available; offer ended on March 20, 2007)


Tiger removed support for older 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...

 Macs such as the original iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....

s and iBook
IBook
The iBook was a line of laptop computers sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2006. The line targeted the consumer and education markets, with lower specifications and prices than the PowerBook, Apple's higher-end line of laptop computers....

s that were supported in Panther; however it is possible to install Tiger on these Macs using 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....

) that overrides the checks made at the beginning of the installation process. Likewise, machines 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 that were dropped by Panther (the preceding release of Mac OS X) can also be made to run both Panther and Tiger in this way. Also, Tiger can be installed on unsupported New World ROM Macs by installing it on a supported Mac, then swapping hard drives. Old World ROM Macs require the use of XPostFacto to install Tiger.

Tiger was the last version of Mac OS X that supported the PowerPC G3 processor.

History

Apple CEO Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...

 first presented Tiger in his keynote presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference on 28 June 2004, ten months before its commercial release in April 2005. Four months before that official release, several non-commercial, developer's releases of Tiger leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent file sharers. Apple sued these file sharers. On 12 April 2005, Apple announced Tiger's official, worldwide release would be April 29. All Apple Store
Apple Store (retail)
The Apple Retail Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc., dealing in computers and consumer electronics. The stores sell Macintosh personal computers, software, iPods, iPads, iPhones, third-party accessories, and other consumer electronics such as Apple TV...

s around the world held Tiger seminars, presentations and demos.

On June 6, 2005 at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Jobs reported that nearly two million copies had been sold in Tiger's first six weeks of release, making it the most successful operating system release in Apple's history. Jobs then disclosed that Mac OS X had been engineered from its inception to work with Intel's x86 line of processors in addition to the PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

, the CPU for which the operating system had always been publicly marketed. Apple concurrently announced its intent to release the first x86-based computers in June 2006, and to move the rest of its computers to x86 microprocessors by June 2007. On January 10, 2006, Apple presented its new iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....

 and MacBook Pro
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is a line of Macintosh portable computers introduced in January 2006 by Apple. It replaced the PowerBook G4 and was the second model, after the iMac, to be announced in the Apple–Intel transition...

 computers running on Intel Core Duo
Intel Core
Yonah was the code name for Intel's first generation of 65 nm process mobile microprocessors, based on the Banias/Dothan-core Pentium M microarchitecture. SIMD performance has been improved through the addition of SSE3 instructions and improvements to SSE and SSE2 implementations, while integer...

 processors, and announced that the entire Apple product line would run on Intel processors by the end of 2006. Apple then released the Mac Pro
Mac Pro
The Mac Pro is a workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. The machines are based on Xeon microprocessors, but are similar to the Power Mac G5 they replaced in terms of outward appearance and expansion capabilities...

 and announced the new Xserve
Xserve
Xserve was a line of rack unit computers designed by Apple Inc. for use as servers. When the Xserve was introduced in 2002, it was Apple's first designated server hardware design since the Apple Network Server in 1996...

 on August 8, completing the Intel transition in 210 days, roughly ten months ahead of the original schedule.

Tiger is the first version of Mac OS X to be supplied on a DVD, although the DVD could originally be exchanged for CDs for $9.95. It is also the first (and so far only) version of Mac OS that would eventually have an update version number ending with a value greater than 9.

End-user features

Apple advertises that Tiger has 150+ features, including:
  • Spotlight
    Spotlight (software)
    Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates a virtual index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer,...

    — Spotlight is a full-text and metadata search engine, which can search everything on one's Mac including Microsoft Word documents, iCal
    ICal
    iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server....

     calendars and Address Book
    Address Book
    Address Book is an address book for Apple's Mac OS X. It features various syncing features and integrates into the rest of the OS.-Features:*Exports and imports cards to and from vCard 3.0 format....

     contact cards.. The feature is also used to build the concept of smart folders
    Virtual folder
    In computing, a virtual folder generally denotes an organizing principle for files that is not dependent on location in a hierarchical directory tree...

    into the 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...

    . Spotlight will index files as they are saved, so they can be quickly and easily found through a search-as-you-type box in the menu bar. As a side-effect, it adds hidden folders and indexing files to removable media like USB flash drives.
  • iChat AV
    IChat
    iChat is an instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its Mac OS X operating system. It has audio, video and screen-sharing capabilities as well as text messaging...

    — The new iChat AV 3.0 in Tiger supports up to four participants in a video conference and ten participants in an audio conference. It also now supports communication using the XMPP
    Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
    Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...

     protocol. A XMPP server called iChat Server is included on Mac OS X Tiger Server.
  • Safari RSS
    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...

    — The new Safari 2.0 web browser
    Web browser
    A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

     in Tiger features a built-in reader for RSS
    RSS (file format)
    RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...

     and Atom
    Atom (standard)
    The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources.Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a...

     web syndication
    Web syndication
    Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website's recently added content...

     that can be accessed easily from an RSS button in the address bar of the web browser window. An updated version of Safari, included as part of the free Mac OS X v10.4.3 update, can also pass the Acid2
    Acid2
    Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web page rendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML. Named after the acid test for gold, it was developed in the spirit of Acid1, a relatively narrow test of compliance with the Cascading...

     web standards test.
  • Mail 2
    Mail (application)
    Mail is an email program included with Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. Originally developed by NeXT as NeXTMail, a part of their NeXTSTEP operating system, it was adapted, following Apple's acquisition of NeXT, to become OS X's Mail application.Mail uses the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP protocols,...

    — The new version of Mail.app email client included in Tiger featured an updated interface, "Smart Mailboxes" which utilize the Spotlight search system, parental controls, as well as several other features.

  • Dashboard — The Dashboard is a new mini-applications layer based on HTML
    HTML
    HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

    , CSS
    Cascading Style Sheets
    Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...

    , and JavaScript
    JavaScript
    JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

    , which returns the desk accessories concept to the Mac OS. These accessories are known as widget
    Widget (computing)
    In computer programming, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given...

    s. It comes with several widgets such as Weather, World Clock, Unit Converter, and Dictionary/Thesaurus. More are available for free online. Its similarity to the Konfabulator application caused some criticism.
  • Automator
    Automator (software)
    Automator is an application developed by Apple for Mac OS X that implements point-and-click creation of workflows for automating repetitive tasks into batches for quicker alteration, thus saving time and effort over human intervention to manually change each file separately...

    — A scripting tool called Automator to link applications together to form complex automated workflows (written in AppleScript
    AppleScript
    AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....

    , Cocoa, or both). Automator comes with a complete library of actions for several applications that can be used together to make a Workflow.
  • VoiceOver
    VoiceOver
    VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...

    — VoiceOver is an accessibility interface that offers the user magnification options, keyboard control and spoken English descriptions of what is happening on screen. VoiceOver enables users with visual impairment the ability to use applications via spoken commands. It also allows a user to work collaboratively with other users on a single Mac by allowing multiple users give voice commands to scroll text, etc. VoiceOver is capable of reading aloud the contents of files including web pages, mail messages and word processing files. The complete keyboard navigation lets the user control the computer with the keyboard rather than mouse, a menu is displayed in a window showing all the available keyboard commands that can be used.
  • A complete built-in Dictionary
    Dictionary
    A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...

    /Thesaurus
    Thesaurus
    A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...

    based on the New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition
    New Oxford American Dictionary
    The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....

    , accessible through an application, Dictionary, a Dashboard widget, and as a system-wide command (see below).
  • .Mac syncing — Though this is not a new feature, .Mac syncing in Tiger is much improved over Panther. Syncing tasks in Tiger are now accomplished through the .Mac system preferences pane rather than the iSync
    ISync
    iSync is a software application published by Apple Inc. It runs only under Mac OS X and is used to synchronize contact and calendar data from Address Book and iCal with many non-Apple SyncML-enabled mobile phones via a Bluetooth or USB connection. Support for many devices is built-in, with newer...

     application.
  • 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...

     7
    — A new version of Apple's multimedia software has support for the new H.264/AVC codec which offers better quality and scalability than other video codec
    Codec
    A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...

    s. This new codec is used by iChat AV for clearer video conferencing. New classes within Cocoa provide full access to QuickTime for Cocoa application developers. The new QuickTime 7 player application bundled with Tiger now includes more advanced audio and video controls as well as a more detailed Information dialog, and the new player has been rebuilt using Apple's Cocoa API
    Cocoa (API)
    Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and...

     to take advantage of the new technologies more easily.
  • New Unix
    Unix
    Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

     features
    — New versions of cp
    Cp (Unix)
    cp is a UNIX command used to copy a file. Files can be copied either to the same directory or to a completely different directory, possibly on a different file system or hard disk drive. If the file is copied to the same directory, the new file must have a different name to the original; in all...

    , mv
    Mv
    mv is a Unix command that moves one or more files or directories from one place to another. Since it can "move" files from one filename to another, it is also used to rename files. Using mv requires the user to have write permission for the directories which the file will move between...

    , and rsync
    Rsync
    rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...

     which support files with resource fork
    Resource fork
    The resource fork is a construct of the Mac OS operating system used to store structured data in a file, alongside unstructured data stored within the data fork. A resource fork stores information in a specific form, such as icons, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and...

    s. Command-line support for features like the above-mentioned Spotlight are also included.
  • Xcode 2.0
    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,...

    — Xcode 2.0, Apple's Cocoa development tool now includes visual modelling, an integrated Apple Reference Library and graphical remote debugging
    Debugging
    Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...

    .

New applications in Tiger

  • Automator
    Automator (software)
    Automator is an application developed by Apple for Mac OS X that implements point-and-click creation of workflows for automating repetitive tasks into batches for quicker alteration, thus saving time and effort over human intervention to manually change each file separately...

     — Automator uses workflows to process repetitive tasks automatically
  • Grapher
    Grapher
    Grapher is a software program bundled with Mac OS X since version 10.4 that is able to create 2D and 3D graphs from simple and complex equations. It includes a variety of samples ranging from differential equations to 3D-rendered Toroids and Lorenz attractors. It is also capable of dealing with...

     — Grapher is a new application capable of creating 2D and 3D graphs similar to that of Graphing Calculator
    NuCalc
    NuCalc, also known as Graphing Calculator, is a computer software tool made by the company Pacific Tech. The tool can perform many graphing calculator functions. It can graph inequalities and vector fields, as well as functions in two, three, or four dimensions. It supports several different...

    .
  • Dictionary
    Dictionary (software)
    Dictionary is an application developed by Apple for its Macintosh computers. It was introduced with Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger", and provides definitions and synonyms from the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition and Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, 2nd Edition...

     — A dictionary and thesaurus program which uses the New Oxford American Dictionary
    New Oxford American Dictionary
    The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....

    . It has a fast GUI for displaying the Dictionary, and allows the user to search the dictionary with Spotlight, to print definitions, and to copy and paste text into documents. Dictionary also provides a Dictionary service in the Application menu, and Cocoa and WebKit
    WebKit
    WebKit is a layout engine designed to allow web browsers to render web pages. WebKit powers Google Chrome and Apple Safari and by October 2011 held over 33% of the browser market share between them. It is also used as the basis for the experimental browser included with the Amazon Kindle ebook...

     provides a global keyboard shortcut (ctrl-⌘-D by default) for all applications that display text with them. Its use was furthered in the next version of OS X by providing definitions from Wikipedia
    Wikipedia
    Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

    . The Dictionary application is a more feature-filled version of the Dictionary widget.
  • Quartz Composer
    Quartz Composer
    Quartz Composer is a node-based visual programming language provided as part of the Xcode development environment in Mac OS X for processing and rendering graphical data....

     — Quartz Composer is a development tool for processing and rendering graphical data.
  • AU Lab — AU Lab is a developer application for testing and mixing Audio Units
    Audio Units
    Audio Units are a system-level plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio in Mac OS X developed by Apple Computer. Audio Units are a set of application programming interface services provided by the operating system to generate, process, receive, or otherwise manipulate streams of audio in...

    .
  • Dashboard — Dashboard is a widget
    Widget engine
    In computer software, a widget engine is a software service available to users for running and displaying applets on a graphical user interface, such as that of the desktop.The widget model in widget engines is attractive because of ease of development...

     application. Tiger widgets include: a calculator, dictionary, a world clock, a calendar, and more (full list). A user can also download and install more widgets, including one for the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Improvements

  • An upgraded kernel with optimized kernel resource locking and access control list
    Access control list
    An access control list , with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects. Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject...

    s, and with support for 64-bit
    64-bit
    64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...

     userland
    User space
    A conventional computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into kernel space and user space. Kernel space is strictly reserved for running the kernel, kernel extensions, and most device drivers...

     address space
    Address space
    In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity.- Overview :...

    s on machines with 64-bit processors.
  • An updated libSystem with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions; combined with the aforementioned kernel change, this allows individual applications to address more than 4 GB of memory when run on 64-bit processors, although an application using Apple libraries or frameworks other than libSystem would need to have two processes, one running the 64-bit code and one running the code that requires other libraries and frameworks.
  • A new startup daemon
    Daemon (computer software)
    In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...

     called launchd
    Launchd
    launchd is a unified, open-source service management framework for starting, stopping and managing daemons, applications, processes, and scripts...

     that allows for faster boots.
  • The printing dialog in Tiger now features a drop down menu for creating PDFs, sending PDFs to Mail, and other PDF related actions. However, the user interface has been criticized for creating a hybrid widget
    Widget (computing)
    In computer programming, a widget is an element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given...

     that looks like a plain button but acts like a pop-up menu. This is one of only three places in the entire Mac OS X interface where such an element appears.
  • Dock menus now have menu items to open an application at login, or to remove the icon from the dock.
  • The Window menu in the Finder now features a "Cycle Through Windows" menu item.
  • The Get Info window for items in the Finder now includes a "More Info" section that includes Spotlight information tags such as Image Height & Width, when the file was last opened, and where the file originated.
  • Early development of resolution independence. Apple notes that this will be a user-level feature in a future version of Mac OS X. Among the changes, the maximum size of icons has been increased to 256x256. However, the Finder does not yet support this size.

Technologies

  • A new graphics processing API
    Application programming interface
    An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

    , Core Image
    Core Image
    Core Image is a pixel-accurate, near-realtime, non-destructive image processing technology in Mac OS X. Implemented as part of the QuartzCore framework of Mac OS X 10.4 and later, Core Image provides a plugin-based architecture for applying filters and effects within the Quartz graphics rendering...

    , leveraging the power of the available accelerated graphics cards.
Core Image allows programmers to easily leverage programmable GPUs for fast image processing for special effects and image correction tools. Some of the included Image Units are Blur, Color Blending, Generator Filters, Distortion Filters, Geometry Filters, Halftone features and much more.
  • A new data persistence API, Core Data
    Core Data
    Core Data is part of the Cocoa API in Mac OS X first introduced with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and for iOS with iPhone SDK 3.0. It allows data organised by the relational entity-attribute model to be serialised into XML, binary, or SQLite stores. The data can be manipulated using higher level objects...

    , that makes it easier for developers to handle structured data in their applications.
The Mac OS X Core Data
Core Data
Core Data is part of the Cocoa API in Mac OS X first introduced with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and for iOS with iPhone SDK 3.0. It allows data organised by the relational entity-attribute model to be serialised into XML, binary, or SQLite stores. The data can be manipulated using higher level objects...

 API helps developers create data structures for their applications. Core Data provides undo, redo and save functions for developers without them having to write any code.
  • A new video graphics API, Core Video
    Core Video
    Core Video is the video processing model employed by Mac OS X. It links the process of decompressing frames from a video source to the rest of the Quartz technologies for image rendering and composition...

    , which leverages Core Image to provide real-time video processing.
Apple's Motion
Apple Motion
Motion is a software application produced by Apple Inc. for their Mac OS X operating system. It is used to create and edit motion graphics, titling for video production and film production, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual effects.-History:...

 real-time video effects program takes advantage of Core Video
Core Video
Core Video is the video processing model employed by Mac OS X. It links the process of decompressing frames from a video source to the rest of the Quartz technologies for image rendering and composition...

 in Tiger. Core Video lets developers easily integrate real-time video effects and processing into their applications.
  • Core Audio
    Core Audio
    Core Audio is a low-level API for dealing with sound in Apple's Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. It includes an implementation of the cross-platform OpenAL library....

     integrates a range of audio functionality directly into the operating system.

Interface differences

In every major new revision of Mac OS X, Apple alters the graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

 somewhat. In Tiger the menu bar displayed at the top of the screen now features a colored Spotlight button in the upper right corner; the menu itself has a smoother 'glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

y' texture to replace the faint pinstripes in Panther.

Also of note, Tiger introduces a new window theme, often described as 'Unified'. A variation on the standard, non-brushed metal theme used since the introduction of Mac OS X, this theme integrates the title bar and the toolbar of a window. A prominent example of an application that utilizes this theme is Mail
Mail (application)
Mail is an email program included with Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. Originally developed by NeXT as NeXTMail, a part of their NeXTSTEP operating system, it was adapted, following Apple's acquisition of NeXT, to become OS X's Mail application.Mail uses the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP protocols,...

.

Tiger trademark lawsuit

Shortly before the release of Mac OS X Tiger, the computer retailer TigerDirect.com, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that Apple infringed TigerDirect.com's trademark with the Mac OS X Tiger operating system.

The following is a quotation from TigerDirect.com's court memorandum:
Apple Computer's use of its infringing family of Tiger marks to expand sales of products besides its operating system software is already evident — for example, Apple Computer is offering free iPods and laptops as part of its Tiger World Premiere giveaway. In short, notwithstanding its representation to the PTO that it would only use Tiger in connection with their unique computer operating system software, Apple Computer has in recent weeks used a family of Tiger marks in connection with a substantially broader group of products and services, including the very products and services currently offered by Tiger Direct under its famous family of Tiger marks.


The judge in the case ruled in Apple's favor.

Support for Intel processors

At the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, commonly abbreviated WWDC, is a conference held annually in California by Apple Inc. The conference is primarily used by Apple to showcase its new software and technologies for developers, as well as offering hands-on labs and feedback sessions...

, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple would begin selling Mac computers with Intel processors in 2006. To allow developers to begin producing software for these Intel-based Macs, Apple made Developer Transition Kits available for sale which included a version of Mac OS X v10.4.1 designed to run on x86 processors.

This build includes Apple's Rosetta
Rosetta (software)
Rosetta was a lightweight and dynamic binary translator for Mac OS X which Apple released in 2006 when it transitioned the Macintosh from PowerPC to Intel processors. It allowed pre-existing software to run on the new systems without modification....

—a translation process that allows Intel processor versions of the OS to run PPC software with little penalty. This is contrasted with the current Mac OS 9 Classic
Classic (Mac OS X)
Classic, or Classic Environment, was a hardware and software abstraction layer in Mac OS X that allowed applications compatible with Mac OS 9 to run on the Mac OS X operating system...

 mode, which uses comparably larger amounts of system resources.

Soon after the Developer Transition Kits began shipping, copies of Tiger x86 leaked onto file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...

 networks. Although Apple had implemented a Trusted Computing
Trusted Computing
Trusted Computing is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group. The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialized meaning. With Trusted Computing, the computer will consistently behave in expected ways, and those behaviors will be enforced by...

 DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

 scheme in the transition hardware and OS in an attempt to stop people installing Tiger x86 on non-Apple PCs, OSx86
OSx86
OSx86 is a collaborative hacking project to run the Mac OS X computer operating system on non-Apple personal computers with x86 architecture and x86-64 compatible processors...

 project had soon managed to remove this restriction. As Apple released each update with newer safeguards to prevent its use on non-Apple hardware, hacked versions were released that circumvented Apple's safeguards. However, with the release of 10.4.5, 10.4.6, and 10.4.7 the hacked versions continued to use the kernel from the 10.4.4 because later kernels have hardware locks and depend heavily on Extensible Firmware Interface
Extensible Firmware Interface
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware...

. By late 2006, the 10.4.8 kernel was cracked.

At MacWorld San Francisco 2006, Jobs announced the immediate availability of Mac OS X v10.4.4, the first publicly available release of Tiger compiled for both PowerPC and Intel x86 based machines.

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
10.4 8A428 April 29, 2005 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....

 8.0
Preinstalled on much of new line
8A432 Original retail release
10.4.1 8B15 May 16, 2005 Darwin 8.1 About the Mac OS X 10.4.1 Update
8B17 May 19, 2005 Server edition
10.4.2 8C46 July 12, 2005 Darwin 8.2 About the Mac OS X 10.4.2 Update (Delta)
8C47 Server Edition
8E102 October 12, 2005 exclusively for Front Row iMac G5
IMac G5
The iMac G5 was a series of desktop Macintosh computers designed and built by Apple Inc. using the PowerPC chip architecture. It was the last line of iMac computers that used a PowerPC chip, making it the last of the iMacs that could run Mac OS 9 applications. In August 2004, the iMac design was...

 released on same date
8E45 October 19, 2005 exclusively for PowerBook G4
PowerBook G4
The PowerBook G4 are a series of notebook computers that were manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple, Inc. between 2001 and 2006 as part of its PowerBook line. It uses the PowerPC G4 processor, initially produced by Motorola and later by Freescale, after Motorola spun off its semiconductor...

s released on same date
8E90 exclusively for Power Mac G5 Dual and Quad
Power Mac G5
The Power Mac G5 is Apple's marketing name for models of the Power Macintosh that contains the IBM PowerPC G5 CPU. The professional-grade computer was the most powerful in Apple's lineup when it was introduced, widely hailed as the first 64-bit PC, and was touted by Apple as the fastest personal...

 released on same date
10.4.3 8F46 October 31, 2005 Darwin 8.3 About the Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update (Delta) Updated retail release
10.4.4 8G32 January 10, 2006 Darwin 8.4 About the Mac OS X 10.4.4 Update (Delta) PowerPC
8G1165 About the Mac OS X 10.4.4 Update (Delta) Intel
10.4.5 8H14 February 14, 2006 Darwin 8.5 About the Mac OS X 10.4.5 Update (delta) PowerPC
8G1454 About the Mac OS X 10.4.5 Update (delta) Intel
10.4.6 8I127 April 3, 2006 Darwin 8.6 About the Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update (delta) PowerPC; Final retail release
8I1119 About the Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update (delta) Intel
10.4.7 8J135 June 27, 2006 Darwin 8.7 About the Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update (delta) PowerPC
8J2135a About the Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update (delta) Intel
8K1079 August 7, 2006 exclusively for Mac Pro
Mac Pro
The Mac Pro is a workstation computer manufactured by Apple Inc. The machines are based on Xeon microprocessors, but are similar to the Power Mac G5 they replaced in terms of outward appearance and expansion capabilities...

 released the same date
8N5107 exclusively for Apple TV (formerly codenamed iTV)
10.4.8 8L127 September 29, 2006 Darwin 8.8 About the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Update (delta) PowerPC
8L2127 About the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Update (delta) Intel and Universal Server Edition
10.4.9 8P135 March 13, 2007 Darwin 8.9 About the Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update (delta) PowerPC
8P2137 About the Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update (delta) Intel and Universal Server Edition
10.4.10 8R218 June 20, 2007 Darwin 8.10 About the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update (delta) PowerPC
8R2218, 8R2232 About the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update (delta) Intel and Universal Server Edition
10.4.11 8S165 November 14, 2007 Darwin 8.11 About the Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update PowerPC
8S2167 About the Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update Intel and Universal Server Edition

External links

  • Ars Technica Mac OS X Tiger Review at Ars Technica
    Ars Technica
    Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...

  • Mac OS X Tiger at Wikibooks
    Wikibooks
    Wikibooks is a Wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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