The cat is out of the bag

It’s official. Mac OSX 10.4 aka. Tiger is going to be available on April 29.

The list price is $129 USD, but the educational canadian price is only $89.40. And in case anyone is wondering why they should upgrade, a visit to the Apple Mac OSX page should fill you in. However I will list some of the highlights:

• Spotlight – This is a whole new way to think about your file system. Instead of navigating your directories to try and find files that you need, simply search and Spotlight will find it, whether you are looking for contacts, email, documents, movies whatever. You can even keep customized meta data on your files that will aid in future searchs. And your searches can be saved as auto-updating smart folders.

• Dashboard – All those quick tools and reference information available at your fingertips. With one keystroke you can have access to the latest weather, stock tickers, calendars, or whatever else you want in the form of an interactive widget that floats above your desktop.

• iChat AV – An updated version of this powerful video and audio conferencing software which will allow for more than two parties to participate in audio and video chats.

• Automator – Streamline your workflow with a simple tool that lets you automate tasks that you may perform frequently. And do it without programming – no Applescript knowledge required.

• Other updates include added features to Safari, Mail and Quicktime.

While I will agree that this upgrade contains a lot of merit on its own, I would say that power users are the ones who will benefit the most. The customizations that you can now perform directly within the operating system itself is pretty exciting.

April 12 16:53 PCPC is selling Tiger for $89 as well – to students. They say that they will actually have them to hand to people on April 29th. :)