Mac OS X Tiger

Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger
Part of the Mac OS X family
OSXTiger.png
TigerDesk.png
Screenshot of Mac OS X Tiger
Developer
Apple Inc.
Website http://www.apple.com/support/tiger/
Releases
Release date 29 April 2005 (info)
Current version 10.4.11 (14 November 2007) (info)
Source model Closed source (with open source components)
License APSL and Apple EULA
Kernel type Hybrid kernel
Update method Apple Software Update
Platform support IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC
Preceded by Mac OS 10.3 "Panther"
Succeeded by Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard"
Support status
Unsupported

Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh 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 Leopard (version 10.5) on 26 October 2007, after 30 months, making Tiger the longest running version of Mac OS X.[1] Some of the new features include a fast searching system called Spotlight, a new version of the Safari web browser, Dashboard, a new ‘Unified’ theme, and improved support for 64-bit addressing on Power Mac G5s.

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 v10.4 branded "Apple TV OS" that replaces the usual graphical user interface with an updated version of Front Row.[2]

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.[3] At the World Wide Developers Conference on June 11, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that out of the 22 million Mac OS X users, more than 67 % were using Tiger.[4] Tiger is the last version of Mac OS X to support a Mac OS 9 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.[5][6] The next security update, 2009-006[7] only included support for Leopard and Snow Leopard. The latest version of QuickTime is 7.6.4. The last version of iTunes that can run on Tiger is 9.2.1, because 10.0 only supports Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 and later.[8]

Contents

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, there were still unofficial places to buy the Intel version such as eBay, although the only Intel discs produced were the gray-colored "restore" DVDs supplied with new Macs that will only install on the model of Mac that they are intended for, unlike the retail DVD that can be used on any Mac supported by Tiger.

The system requirements of the PowerPC edition are:[9]

Tiger removed support for older New World ROM Macs such as the original iMacs and iBooks that were supported in Panther; however it is possible to install Tiger on these Macs using third-party software (such as XPostFacto) that overrides the checks made at the beginning of the installation process. Likewise, machines such as beige Power Mac G3s 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.

History

Apple CEO Steve Jobs 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.[10] On April, 12 2005, Apple announced Tiger's official, worldwide release would be April 29. All Apple Stores 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, 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 and MacBook Pro computers running on Intel Core Duo 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 and announced the new Xserve 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.

New and changed features

End-user features

Apple advertises that Tiger has 200+ features, including:

The Dashboard allows for miniature applications called "Widgets" to appear and disappear rapidly from the screen.

New applications in Tiger

Improvements

Technologies

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 included are Blur, Color Blending, Generator Filters, Distortion Filters, Geometry Filters, Halftone features and much more.
The Mac OS X Core Data 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.
Apple’s Motion real-time video effects program takes advantage of Core Video in Tiger. Core Video lets developers easily integrate real-time video effects and processing into their applications.

Interface differences

In every major new revision of Mac OS X, Apple alters the graphical user interface 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 'glassy' 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.

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.[15]

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.[16]

The judge in the case ruled in Apple’s favor.[17]

Support for Intel processors

Apple–Intel transition

Architecture
Universal binary
Boot Camp
Rosetta

At the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference, 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—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 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 networks. Although Apple had implemented a Trusted Computing DRM scheme in the transition hardware and OS in an attempt to stop people installing Tiger x86 on non-Apple PCs, OSx86 project had soon managed to remove this restriction.[18] 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. By late 2006, the 10.4.8 kernel was cracked.[19]

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 Notes
10.4 8A428 April 29, 2005 Darwin 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 released on same date
8E45 October 19, 2005 exclusively for PowerBook G4s released on same date
8E90 exclusively for Power Mac G5 Dual and Quad 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 released the same date
8N5107 exclusively for Apple TV (formerly codenamed iTV)[20]
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

References

  1. Knight, Dan (2007-04-13). "Leopard Delayed to October. And the Bad Thing Is?". LowEnd Mac (Cobweb Publishing, Inc.). http://lowendmac.com/musings/07/0413.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  2. "Apple TV OS successfully booted on Macs". MacNN. 27 March 2007. http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/03/27/apple.tv.on.macs/. Retrieved 2007-04-15. 
  3. Peter Cohen and Jason Snell (6 June 2005). "WWDC 2005 Keynote Live Update". Macworld.com. http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/06/06/liveupdate/index.php. Retrieved 2006-07-10. 
  4. Apple Inc. (11 June 2007). "WWDC 2007 Keynote". http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/d7625zs/event/. 
  5. Apple Inc. (10 September 2009). "Security Update 2009-005 (Tiger PPC)". http://support.apple.com/downloads/Security_Update_2009_005__Tiger_PPC_. 
  6. Apple Inc. (10 September 2009). "Security Update 2009-005 (Tiger Intel)". http://support.apple.com/downloads/Security_Update_2009_005__Tiger_Intel_. 
  7. Apple Inc. (9 November 2009). "About Security Update 2009-006 / Mac OS X v10.6.2". http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3937. 
  8. Apple Inc. (1 September 2010). "iTunes 10". http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1103. 
  9. Apple. "Mac OS X 10.4: System requirements". Apple. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
  10. "Apple sues 'Tiger' file sharers". BBC News (London: BBC). 2004-12-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4117465.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  11. John Siracusa (28 April 2005). "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger". pp. 17. http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10-4.ars/17. Retrieved 2006-06-11. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 John Siracusa (28 April 2005). "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger". ArsTechnica.com. pp. 4. http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10-4.ars/4. Retrieved 2007-02-25. 
  13. Apple (6 March 2006). "Developing 64-bit applications". Apple Developer Connection. http://developer.apple.com/macosx/64bit.html. Retrieved 2007-03-05. 
  14. "Resolution Independent UI". Apple Developer Connection. http://developer.apple.com/releasenotes/GraphicsImaging/RN-ResolutionIndependentUI/. Retrieved 2006-07-10. 
  15. AppleInsider Staff (28 April 2005). "Apple sued over "Tiger," injunction sought". AppleInsider. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/05/04/28/apple_sued_over_tiger_injunction_sought.html. Retrieved 2006-07-10. 
  16. lawyerguy (28 April 2005). "Some points for TigerDirect". Slashdot. http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=147715&cid=12377926. Retrieved 2006-07-10. 
  17. Kasper Jade (13 May 2005). "Court sides with Apple over “Tiger” trademark dispute". AppleInsider. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/05/05/13/court_sides_with_apple_over_tiger_trademark_dispute.html. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
  18. Mark Baard (12 August 2005). "Mac Hacks Allow OS X on PCs". Wired News. http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2005/08/68501. Retrieved 2006-07-10. 
  19. Tony Smith (25 October 2006). "Mac OS X 10.4.8 runs on any PC...". Reg Hardware (The Register). http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/25/osx_generic_intel/. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 
  20. Apple TV OS 10.4.7 - AwkwardTV

External links