Apple Previews Next Version of Mac OS X

[Mac Reporter]

Mon 28 June, 2004 22:47
By Duncan Martell
REUTERS
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. on Monday previewed the next version of its Mac OS X operating system, which it said would include powerful search features that would put it far ahead of the next major update to Microsoft Corp.'s market-leading Windows software.

Cupertino, California-based Apple also introduced a 30-inch flat panel display -- its largest yet -- in a sleeker and trimmer housing, which adds to the 20-inch and 23-inch displays it already offers. That new offering puts Apple up against other PC companies that sell large flat panels, such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Apple's search technology, which it calls Spotlight, lets Mac users find any file, document or information created by any application on a Macintosh by entering the query in a search at the upper right hand corner of the desktop.

Simplifying the search process on a PC's hard drive has emerged as one of the major goals of both Tiger and Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, which is due out in 2006.

"What they've (Apple) done with search is a key element of Longhorn," said analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, adding that Apple's next version of OS X, code-named Tiger, will be available to consumers at least a year or more before Longhorn.
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