Despite all the advances in personal computing, one problem has remained constant: It often is really hard to find a file months after it was created.
Last week, Apple Computer introduced a new edition of the operating system for the Macintosh that finally solves the missing file problem, and introduces other features, including a new “Dashboard” that instantly displays frequently used programs, including a calculator, dictionary and stock tracker.
The new release, called Tiger, is the latest version of Apple’s excellent Mac OS X operating system. Its key feature, called Spotlight, is the first integrated search system ever offered as part of a mainstream consumer PC operating system. In seconds, Spotlight can peer inside e-mail, office documents of all kinds, photos, songs, address books, calendars, and all manner of other files to see which ones match a search term.
Overall, Tiger is the most advanced personal computer operating system on the market, despite a few drawbacks. It leaves Windows XP in the dust.
The new Apple system boasts some key capabilities Microsoft won’t introduce for another 18 months or so, when it finally rolls out its next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn. Chief among these is the universal search. A second is Smart Folders, which can automatically grab files that meet your criteria.
In my tests, installation took about an hour and Tiger performed generally well.
The only significant problem I noticed was that the computers sometimes ran into slight delays.
In particular, Apple Mail was slower. Even Apple admits it will need to tweak this e-mail function and intends to within a month.
Here is a rundown of some of the other important features:
Dashboard. With the press of a single key, a new screen appears that holds large icons for programs you might want to get to quickly, including a dictionary and thesaurus; a calculator; a weather display; a calendar; a language translator; a weights and measures converter; a stock tracker; an electronic yellow pages and a flight tracker.
Parental controls. Tiger is the first operating system I have seen with built-in, system-wide parental controls. You can create a separate account for a child that restricts his or her actions in a variety of ways.
Parents can limit what programs a child can launch and ban the child from burning CDs and DVDs, changing system preferences or even printing.
You can restrict a child’s Web surfing to the sites you specify, and limit his or her exchanges of e-mails and instant messages to the people you specify.
Video conferencing. If you have a video camera on your Mac, Tiger allows you to hold a video conference with up to three others simultaneously.
Web browsing. Apple’s built-in Web browser Safari was already better than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and in Tiger it is now much faster with new features.
One, called Private Browsing, allows you to enter a mode where the browser doesn’t save traces of the Web sites you visit.
Automation. With Automator, nonprogrammers can string together common tasks. For instance, you could create a sequence that would play certain songs.
In addition to the delay problem, I found one other small thing lacking in Tiger. The new version of Apple Mail offers less information on what is happening in downloads of new mail, unless you bring up a special window.
Walter Mossberg writes about personal technology in The Wall Street Journal.
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